Running Room Individual Assignment
What do you think about the train-the-trainer approach used at the Running Room? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
The train-the-trainer program teaches subject-matter experts how to design and deliver training programs (264). They are often asked to do training programs because they have unique knowledge and the needs of a particular group of trainees. I am not sure if a store manager would really be considered a SME with unique knowledge and skills. A store manager who is new to the company may not know how to train other employees in general. A manger may also not have the best customer service skills, but knows how to sell or do merchandizing.
I think the Running Room may want to train the managers of the various Running Room stores more than once a year possibly. I do think it is an advantage that the Running Room provides a forum for managers to discuss training issues, initiatives and challenges. The only problem is that they have 111 managers, and I think having one training program once a year for that many of them is not a good idea. For one, since there is such a large the amount of managers that are there, I highly doubt every single one would be able to voice their opinions about their training problems and concerns. If you think about it, if every manager had only one minute to speak, that would be almost 2 hours of managers just voicing their concerns before the training day really begins. For two, due to the vast amount of managers from all over North America, the ones in Canada will also face different issues than those in the United States. Maybe certain stores are larger and have more employees to train, compared to a smaller area. Are the challenges the same in small towns and big cities? Are training laws different in Canada and the United States? I also think that with 111 different personalities, trying to all train them using the role play method is also a disadvantage. As our textbook discusses, people learn in many different ways. Maybe some of the managers would find role playing beneficial, and others may prefer a lecture or a video. Maybe a lot of the role playing situations do not match a lot of the Canadian Running Room concerns, and only match the United States. There are many factors to take into consideration with a small group of trainees, let alone 111 managers from around North America.