What is training - what is the advantage over seminars and lectures, differences from courses and coaching

AUTHOR:

Dmitry Stadnik
If you think that this topic does not concern you, then...

• Infobusiness
• Sales

What are trainings and why are they needed - 6 facts in simple language

If you think that this topic does not concern you, then I hasten to disappoint you. Every modern person must know what trainings are and why they are needed. Why, you ask?

It’s simple: this is the next stage in the development of humanity in the field of information and educational services. I am sure that the moment will come when every inhabitant of our planet will attend training at least once in their life!

And if you are prepared for this type of training, the result will be much higher than even what you expected when you signed up to participate in the event. This article is also a kind of confession of a person who over the past year has completed 4 very worthy intensive courses in personal development.

Here's another reason why this material should appear on the pages of Yourselfbranding. It is my duty to tell everything I know about training for ordinary people in an accessible language. Because behind every unfamiliar term in the field of training education, there are hidden very familiar words for ordinary people. I am sure that if a person is informed, he is armed. Do you agree?)

Who am I to be trusted? Here are several of my credentials, which indicate that I have a certain right to speak on this topic. Here are the questions we will consider in this article:

• What are trainings?
• Main types of training
• Why are trainings needed?
• How are the trainings conducted?
• Coaching style training
• How to choose training to suit your goals?
• Why do trainings produce results?

And at the end of the article, all the most important conclusions about the trainings that I have completed over the past year. So, are trainings a waste of money or a new life?

Similar forms of training

Not only trainings are aimed at obtaining practical skills. Here are a few types of training that are most similar to them:

1. Courses .
   Did you take English courses as a teenager? So, this is the same training, only more extended in time. The amount of material covered in both cases will be the same, but in the courses the information is given in portions, and in the training - all at once. For example, public speaking courses can last for 15 lessons of 1 hour each, while a similar training will take place over 2 days of 7.5 hours.
2. Coaching .
   The word is derived from the English coaching, which translates as training. Coaching is intended for personal training under the guidance of a trainer (coach), and is the most effective type of gaining knowledge and skills. In simple terms, this is a training for one or two people. If there are more students, coaching turns into training.

Courses are most often chosen by students, businessmen and entrepreneurs prefer training, and business managers prefer coaching.

What are trainings?

I admit honestly that until recently I didn’t really understand the difference between training, coaching, consultation and seminar. Literally until 2018, when I became a professional coach and am ready to tell the whole truth about such training.

The fact is that I took my first sales training in 2003, working as a sales representative. But I understood the essence of this type of training only after I was on the other side of the barricades, when I held several of my events.

To explain the essence of training, let’s imagine that we decided to tighten our body and signed up for a gym. How will the training process take place? Alternatively, you can just come and, without preparation, start working with the weight that we can handle at the moment.

What will happen the next day? That's right: you probably won't be able to get out of bed to drink a cup of morning coffee, let alone somehow get to your desk. Or is there another option.

You work with a personal trainer, who will first give you instructions, then show you a set of exercises to warm up your muscles, select the right types of exercise equipment for your body, and calculate the optimal load based on your data. As a result, you get a whole set of actions that are designed individually for a person.

All people differ in their abilities. The heavyweight program will not be suitable for those weighing less than 70 kg.

So: the brain, just like muscles, needs training. Without constant stress, this organ may stop working effectively, which will affect a person’s results in all areas of activity.

Train with knowledge

Training is a gym for the brain, with an individually selected training program for an individual or group of people. Typically, collective training is carried out for an audience whose participants have similar characteristics in the type of activity.

For example, activities for those interested in yoga, muscle stretching, painting or the topic of seduction. In the business sphere, trainings can be conducted for the entire sales department, HR department, middle or senior managers.

Such events can take a person out of his comfort zone, make him feel the situation through role-playing games, and find a way to solve problems that stand in the way of achieving goals.

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To put it even more simply, we place our mind in a stressful situation, which can stimulate the discovery of a person’s internal resources.

The main goal of the training is for a person not just to receive new information, but to take certain actions in practice and experience new experiences in the real world. Naturally, all this takes place under the strict supervision of the coach and his assistants.

Who needs trainings

The trainings are suitable for anyone who wants to improve their professionalism in a certain area or learn a new skill. Such classes will be especially useful in cases where a person :

1. not confident in one’s own strengths and capabilities;
2. uncommunicative;
3. wants to increase his income;
4. has certain fears;
5. wants to develop his creative potential;
6. suffers from bouts of aggression and regularly becomes involved in conflicts.

Main types of training

If you look through the eyes of the average person, all trainings can be divided into 3 large categories. They differ in the style of conduct and in the areas of human activity that affect them. I warn you right away that there is no direct relationship between the type of training and the results that the participant then receives. It all depends a little on other factors, which we will look at below.

Soft

This type is suitable for those participants who want to undergo training in a comfortable environment, without changing the usual rhythm of life. In such trainings, role-playing games are used that simulate various life situations. Having immersed himself in the game, a person understands where this or that problem in his life came from. Based on this new knowledge, conclusions are drawn that lead to internal transformation (change).

This type of training includes the following topics: relationships, happiness in the family, increasing sexuality, changing attitudes towards money, career growth, finding a calling in life.

Solid

In the case of this style of training, strict regulations and rules apply. A very common situation is a fine for being late or not completing a task. Often during such trainings quite complex tasks are given. For example, sell a pen to a passerby or ask for a loan in a nearby office.

It is generally accepted that such trainings can give more results, but I do not recommend people with a more subtle psyche to take part in such events. Here are the niches in which this type of training is used: pickup (meeting people on the street), most business trainings on sales and negotiations.

Hardcore

If you need to get a very quick and tangible result, then I advise you to go to such trainings. Since in this case the level of stress when completing tasks will be at its maximum, remember that this option is not for everyone. Such intensive courses are conducted in a “bootcamp” format. This is when people are isolated from their familiar external environment for several days, or even weeks, and the necessary skills are trained almost around the clock.

In addition to the fact that these trainings are quite expensive, those who do not complete the task on time may incur additional costs in the form of money transfers to charity. All men's training to increase motivation works this way. Recently, some programs on business topics have been conducted in hardcore mode.

If we talk about the types of trainings even more simply, they can be divided depending on the tasks assigned. It may well turn out that you chose training, but it turned out to be very far from your goals.

Trainings to improve skills

Recently, this type of training has become more popular. Its main task is not just new information, but training of specific actions. Knowledge without practice is of no value.

For example, at my 3D visualization school there was just skills training: in order to do something, you don’t need all the knowledge on this topic. Only the amount of information that is needed to complete a specific narrow task is given.

Very often such trainings are held in workshop mode (workshop in English - workshop). This is when a trainer demonstrates a skill and the participants repeat it. Usually after such a workshop a person has a specific measurable result.

Here are examples of workshops that I conducted: “Creating a YouTube channel from scratch”, “Launching the first e-mail newsletter”.

Transformational trainings

This type of training is designed to change a person’s thought processes. The main task of such events is not knowledge or skills, but internal transformation. Sometimes this training is called “personal development training.”

Each person has their own behavior, which depends on a set of core beliefs and thought patterns. This is a kind of software within which a person exists. The results in life depend on how a person thinks.

And if a training participant is not satisfied with the way he lives now, then transformational training is a good tool for significant changes.

Naturally, such training has many varieties, but this is a topic for a separate article.

What types of trainings are there?

There are four of them.

Skillful

The purpose of such training is to develop your skill. A skill is the ability to perform a certain job, which has been brought to automaticity.

For example, swimming training is skill training. Its goal is to develop your “swimming” skill. That is, to teach you to move your arms and legs in the water so that you do it automatically, without thinking.

Using formulas in Excel is skill training. Recruiting distributors in a “cold” market is also skills training.

Psychotherapeutic

This type of training is conducted in order to change something in a person’s mind. They should not be confused with psychological trainings.

For example, a group of people who are afraid of spiders gathers. And the psychotherapist begins to “train” them in a special way so that they stop being afraid of spiders.

Psychological and socio-psychological

People who want to change something in their psychology sign up for these trainings.

For example, people with low self-esteem who want to increase it. Or reserved people who want to learn how to communicate with others. Or those who are afraid of speaking in public and want to overcome their fear.

Very often in psychological trainings work is done both on changes in consciousness and on the formation of certain skills. For example, in order to learn to communicate with others and “live” in society, a person will first need to change his self-esteem (work with consciousness), and then develop certain skills - learn to maintain a conversation, correctly respond to insults addressed to him, etc.

For business

This is a separate category of training. It can include many different elements.

Most often, business training develops skills in two categories:

1. Soft Skills – skills such as communicating with others, resolving conflict situations, determination, etc.
2. Hard Skills – professional skills. For a copywriter, this means literacy and the ability to “feel” the text; for an analyst, this means skills in working with analytical tools, summarizing results, etc.

Business trainings are probably the most common; they exist in any business. Companies intentionally send their employees to training to continuously improve their workforce and achieve competitive advantage through internal development.

Here are a few subtypes of business training you may encounter. I consider it necessary to briefly comment on each of them.

Time management

The literal translation is “time management.” How to make the most of your working time to solve many problems and constantly move up the career ladder.

Team leadership

Derived from the words “Team” (team) and “Lead” (lead). Team leadership is the ability to create teams of specialists from scratch and effectively manage them. It is especially necessary for managers and company leaders.

The goal of this type of training is to teach each participant to create a “dream team” - a dream team. That is, a team in which everyone will communicate well with each other, everyone will be motivated, and interested in the prosperity of the company.

Corporate culture training

They are often held for “newcomers” to the company. These trainings help people become part of the company and understand how to behave in it, how to dress, how to talk to customers, respond to complaints, etc.

For example, every time I come to Magnit Cosmetic, the salespeople say to me: “Hello.” This is not the case in Pyaterochka or the regular Magnit. When I come to the checkout at Karavan, the cashier says: “Hello, package?”

Why do they say that? Because they were taught this during corporate culture training, they were “instilled” with this culture, these rules of communication with consumers.

Profiling

Such trainings are not available everywhere. Profiling is the ability to analyze people's facial expressions and gestures. In some companies and organizations, certain specialists are required to take profiling courses and only engage in “reading” the faces and gestures of clients.

For example, at airports there are profiling specialists among the crowd of people. They look at the crowd and try to notice unusual gestures, nervousness, etc. If the specialist notices something strange, he quickly reports it to the airport security and the security does a check.

Why are trainings needed?

Having examined the types of trainings, we briefly touched on why they are needed in general. But in this section we will try to analyze the additional values ​​that such a training format can provide.

Environment

The success of every person really depends on his environment. Now there is even such a science as networking. She teaches you how to make useful connections. Training is an excellent platform for such acquaintances, because such events are often attended by wealthy people with a high level of income and development.

From my experience, I can say that I met most of my business partners through such training. Firstly, the training participants are a team that thinks the same way as you. Secondly, during training, people become closer to each other faster, which helps strengthen relationships.

Skills

Trainings provide an opportunity to gain skills that cannot be obtained alone by simply watching videos at home. But there are tasks that cannot be done alone.

To practice certain abilities, there are exercises in which at least 3 people must take part. You can, of course, try to do this with friends at home, but it’s far from a fact that your loved ones share your aspirations for self-development.

Moreover, the training creates such an atmosphere that several approaches are enough to hone a skill. In “greenhouse” home conditions you will have to train much longer. Gaining a skill through training is a valuable experience.

Feedback

In ordinary life, any value judgment from the outside carries either criticism or praise. The funny thing is that both do not bring any benefit to a person who strives for change.

When receiving praise, you may not notice areas that need to be worked on. With unconstructive criticism, you may receive a portion of such negativity that will completely destroy all aspirations for self-development.

Feedback during trainings is given by an independent observer according to a certain structure. After receiving such an assessment, the participant knows what to work on, what to pay attention to and knows exactly his growth zones.

Solution

I have witnessed more than once how people made fateful decisions during trainings. In such training, as a rule, insights come. Seemingly unsolvable problems in life suddenly become simple and solvable.

Sometimes the mind opens so widely that a person hears solutions to his problems in the form of a whisper of an inner voice. Participants begin to listen to their intuition and emotions, and not to imposed opinions from the outside.

Trainings differ from other types of training in their intensity. In a short period of time, you can pack a huge amount of knowledge and a set of skills, which makes the participant of such training essentially a new person.

Training methods

Let's look at the main methods of “interaction” that are used in trainings.

Debate

Debate is an argument. Within the framework of a dispute, each side expresses its arguments and reacts to the arguments of the other side.

In life, debates are usually held to determine what is right or wrong. Or to “reveal” the people who are participating in the debate. For example, at our university there was a debate about whether it was worth merging two universities into one. And in the United States at that time there was a debate between Trump and Clinton.

In training, debates are usually conducted for a different purpose. They are needed to teach people to defend their point of view and quickly select arguments.

For example, I participated in a Popperian debate on the topic “The Pros and Cons of Tutoring.” Before the start of the debate, two teams drew lots - some would defend tutoring, and others would criticize it. And I had to find strong arguments regardless of my personal position.

Brainstorm

All participants select solutions for some problem. The task is to offer as many solutions as possible, even if they are completely unrealistic. Then all these solutions are analyzed and the most effective ones are selected.

Games

For example, during pedagogical trainings, teachers play “teacher and students.” Some of the teachers remain a teacher and explain the material to other teachers, who turn into “students” and look at the explanation “from the outside.”

Games are very exciting and help to develop soft skills well - they make game participants more open, sociable, teach them to defend their point of view, etc.

Lecture

Lectures may be present at trainings, but they should occupy no more than 20% of the total training time. Because within a lecture it is much more difficult to achieve “interactivity”, that is, interaction between the teacher and students.

How do most lectures happen? The teacher speaks, the students write. That's all. No training.

Seminar

This is a more active form of working with information. Questions are distributed among the training participants, they prepare material on these issues, and present them. The rest of the participants listen and ask questions. Seminars may include discussions - active discussion of any problems.

How are the trainings conducted?

Having attended various events, I came to the conclusion that quality training is only possible with a limited number of participants. Therefore, it is difficult to meet me at large-scale entrepreneurial summits or speeches by world “success” gurus for 5,000 people.

High-quality training is a group of participants of 30-50 people. In rare cases, the number of trainees can reach up to 200, but then the group is divided into small groups for better skill development.

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Even with such a small number of participants, the coach cannot do without assistants. Usually 2-3 people help him. The more attention there is for each student, the better.

The structure of the event is slightly different for each trainer, but in general three components can be distinguished:

1. Theory. Participants are introduced to new information.
2. Demonstration. The trainer shows in practice what was stated in the theoretical block
3. Practice. Participants are divided into subgroups and repeat all actions after the trainer.
4. Discussion. After the exercise, participants ask additional questions and also share their impressions: what was easy, what was difficult.

Sometimes small groups compete with each other to see who can complete this or that task better. This further engages participants in the learning process. The main thing in the training process is complete immersion in the process. Without this, the result will not be the best.

Separately, it is worth mentioning the development of relationships within the participants. It would seem that all people are different and each new team of like-minded people is formed according to a different scenario. But in general, group work goes through several steps along the path of its development.

Acquaintance

At this stage, the team is just being formed and the activity of the participants may be low. People begin to get to know each other and take their places. It is possible that a leader will emerge within the group, to whom the rest of the participants will listen.

This person can set the general tone of communication at this stage. If the leader is open and does not hide his feelings and shortcomings, then the group will willingly join him and begin to move forward. It is worth noting that this stage is not very long.

Storm

Once the community has settled in, the next stage begins. During this period, each team member tries to establish himself in the eyes of others. In business trainings, this stage is usually called “defining roles and functions.” In simple terms, this can be called a tug of war.

This is the most valuable stage for a leader, as his position is at risk. A good leader convinces each participant to take responsibility, accepts the right of each team member to assert themselves, and allows for any objections from outside.

In any training, the main leader is the one who conducts the training. In multi-day trainings, the storm stage occurs on the second day. Professional trainers jokingly call this stage the day of killing the trainer.

But a good specialist “resurrects” already on the third day. It is important to remember that in both large and small work groups this is an inevitable and necessary stage for which you need to be prepared.

In the real world, most teams in business and sports rarely go through this stage, but if the leader knows how group dynamics work, then making such a transition is not difficult

Calm

The development of relationships in the group moves into the stage of cohesion. There are almost no objections, all group members agree with everything, offer their own options, and any disagreements are quickly overcome. Each participant tries to help those lagging behind. But there is one danger.

At this stage, there is a possibility of overestimating the group's capabilities. It is possible that the quiet progress stage has secondary benefits for each of the participants. For example, complete the exercise faster and go home.

The duty of a good leader is to artificially maintain a certain psychological tension within the team. If everything is too good, then it’s not really good). An experienced coach can use tools such as frustration and trolling to increase work dynamics).

History of the training

The term “training” itself came to us from the English-speaking world. One of its influential supporters and disseminators as a teaching method was Dale Carnegie, who at the beginning of the 20th century created a training center named after himself, where he more than successfully taught public speaking and other socially significant skills.

But training received its real birth in psychology thanks to the work of the well-known Kurt Lewin, who with his supporters created training groups for people complaining of low communication abilities in the 40s of the last century. The format of his classes showed such impressive results that soon an entire training academy was created in the USA. Since then, this method has been an integral part of both the educational process and personal development in various areas of life, for example, in family relationships and in business.

Coaching style training

I will highlight this type of training separately from the rest. This is a more progressive training model, as it gives the most tangible results due to the fact that before training, an in-depth analysis of the current situation is carried out.

In addition, the SMART model is actively used. This is one of the modern methods of goal setting. The goal must be specific, measurable, achievable, meaningful and time-bound.

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Let's look at the main stages of coaching training

Introductory session

At the initial stage, the coach helps to identify the strengths and weaknesses of all group members. Participants establish common learning priorities. For example, if you conduct sales coaching-style training, the group itself identifies the most necessary skills for itself and works to improve them.

At this stage, work is being done to study the current situation. Participants in the training must answer the question: what is happening now? In addition, motives and the need for training are identified. If the group does not have true motivation for learning, then the results of the training will not be high.

Training session

At this stage, training takes place according to the classic formula, which we discussed just above: theory - demonstration - practice - discussion. The trainer selects exercises and games to achieve the needs identified at the first stage.

Depending on how the overall dynamics of the group develop, adjustments may be made to the training plan. For example, if the group is not very active, then exercises are added to increase the intensity of the learning process.

Final session

The third stage is reserved for analyzing the results obtained. Simply put, have the goals been achieved? This session also identifies obstacles and possible problems that interfere with learning.

A separate block examines the transfer of acquired skills into the work environment. It’s no secret that in the same sales trainings, participants receive new skills, but do not use them in practice.

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In addition, a list is compiled of what can be done as an additional upgrade of skills and what will be mandatory. This stage helps to tap into the participant's inner potential through the creation of new vision and opportunities.

When is coaching effective?

1. If you need to quickly change the current situation
2. When a break from the usual rhythm of life and work is unacceptable
3. If you need a coordinated solution to the task assigned to the team.
4. In situations where it is necessary to increase the personal interest of each training participant
5. Reduce the level of resistance on the part of employees to new changes

The most important thing: coaching training does not allow the coach to work “for show” according to prepared templates. After all, you cannot know in advance what goals the training group will set for itself. This means that the coach must be truly highly qualified.

And if you ask my opinion, then coaching training is the best option for upgrading your abilities. But how to choose training is discussed in the next section.

Features of the training

What is training and how does it differ from other training methods? First, you need to understand that training is not just a drill or a lecture, it is something more. But at the same time it includes their elements. The training program is such that it includes both theoretical material and a practical part, designed to instill and develop certain skills and abilities in a person. Moreover, the latter is given the main attention. The training is always practical, its tasks are vital, intended to be implemented in everyday reality. This differs from a lecture, which only tells “how it should be done.” In the training, a situation is simulated, which is immediately played out by the participants, and then discussed. Thanks to this, theoretical information is processed in real time, and as a result, the participant, in addition to knowledge, gains real experience.

An important feature of the training is that it is always conducted in a group. Such categoricalness in the obligatory interaction of people has its basis in a number of psychological laws. A group is not just a few people, it is a single organism with its own collective memory. Therefore, thanks to the methods that training involves, personal development and growth proceeds faster. This is explained by the law of synergy, which makes training many times more effective than individual training.

How to choose training to suit your goals?

I would immediately rephrase this question and ask: how to choose training so that it really brings results? To begin with, you must have clearly defined goals. If they are not there, then going to any training is pointless!

It doesn’t matter what your goal is, the main thing is that you have it. This could be: learn copywriting, improve your negotiation skills, or learn how to do personal selling. This is a prerequisite for obtaining results.

Now that it is clear that without a goal, any training is a waste of time, we will give basic recommendations for choosing training.

1. Subject of the training. Make sure it is fit for purpose

1. Personality of the trainer. It has been proven that the audience at such events mainly comes to the trainer’s name. If a really cool specialist is training nearby, then don’t waste time thinking: you have to go!

1. Price. If you don’t have your own money for training, then put off upgrading your skills for later. Even if you take out a loan for this business, there will be little benefit. You can't fully commit to studying with debt behind you. I advise you to choose a training that is slightly higher in price than you would like to pay. The higher the price, the better. This way you will get a better environment and opportunities for new useful connections.

1. Recommendations. If your friends attended the training and recommend it, then you can trust their choice. But keep in mind that their experience may not match yours. No two events are the same, even if conducted by the same trainer. Every experience is unique.

Another tip: modern marketing is cruel and merciless. To attract clients, most trainings have a so-called test drive. One or several first free days are given. The participant then decides to participate fully. It would be a sin not to take advantage of such an opportunity.

And now a little subjective opinion).

Classification of trainings

In modern science there is no unified training classification system. Here we will follow the most common concepts and divide the training system into three groups according to the types of their focus. In addition, trainings can be divided according to the goals they set for their participants.

So, the trainings are of the following types:

— Business trainings.

— Psychological trainings.

— Personal trainings.

As for goals, according to this criterion, only two categories can be distinguished:

— Instrumental trainings.

— Fundamental trainings.

Another type of psychological training is personal growth training.

Personal growth

The main goal of this type of training is to enable each participant to become aware of their negative attitudes and internal beliefs that interfere with their development, achievement of life goals, and create difficulties in communicating with others. Personal growth training allows you to look at your problem from a different perspective. Main goals:

1. Awareness and change of negative attitudes.
2. Working with your own fears and anxiety.
3. Determining your own path to harmonizing life.
4. Correction of life goals and values.

The key rule of personal growth training is the rule of “confidentiality”. Everything that happens in the group should stay in the group. The introduction of such a rule allows participants to trust each other and be frank. This is very important for a deeper understanding of the underlying causes of your life problems and changing attitudes.

What is important when organizing a training

Trainings are conducted at the company's office or in a rented classroom. The second option is more successful, since employees will thus be able to fully switch to training, distracted from work.

It should be a bright and spacious room, comfortable, functional and conducive to learning new things.

For proper organization of trainings and seminars, it is important to use a projector, screen, whiteboard or flipchart - tools for visualization.

If the training lasts 5-6 hours, it is important to consider the opportunity to have a snack, drink tea or coffee.

The most important thing is the choice of a trainer or company to organize the training. She will be the one who will collect the requirements and be able to select the topic, format, program and duration of training for maximum benefit.

Training is the most common form of corporate training, which in no case can be classified as a fashionable and fleeting phenomenon. The variety of methods used within the trainings and the skills of business trainers make it possible to obtain a quick and sustainable effect of corporate training, therefore trainings are the best investment in the future of your business.

Benefits of the training

What is useful training, why do people even attend such an event and what do they expect from it?

In well-organized classes taught by professionals, you can learn many things:

1. receive useful information and use it;
2. acquire the necessary behavioral and communication skills;
3. solve assigned problems;
4. analyze mistakes and learn from them;
5. learn about yourself through feedback in the group;
6. choose an acceptable behavior model;
7. get rid of habits that interfere with your life;
8. share your fears, experiences, problems;
9. spend time interesting and useful.

Adjust your training program

When you complete all the blocks, you will face many restrictions. For example, even in a rented cafe, you may be prohibited from demonstrating self-defense techniques, or you may not be able to find well-trained people who can provide quality training and attack training participants without harm to health. In this case, the program will have to be rewritten and adapted to the resources that are available. It is important to use creative thinking here so as not to turn an interesting idea into a bland lesson.

Two training goals

What is training, not in terms of format, but in terms of purpose? It is a teaching method that helps a person solve a specific problem. And he does this in two ways. Firstly, by providing a person with tools that allow them to achieve the desired effect, overcoming all obstacles. In this case, the training will be called instrumental. Secondly, the training can be aimed at instilling the skills of a general vision of the problem and mastering the basic mechanisms of its occurrence and solution for independent adequate selection of specific tools. In other words, a person is not given one specific “pill” for a problem, but an understanding of the concept - knowledge of how, when and what kind of “pill” to make and take in each particular situation. This is what training is called fundamental.

Differences from other forms

The key difference between training and lectures and courses is the maximum involvement of each person taking part in the learning process through the use of special exercises, cases, and role-playing games. Automatically, a person becomes an indispensable element of the system. Each person involved in the training process faces the need to solve specific problems.

During the trainings, all conditions are created that can accumulate a person’s internal energy and awaken his hidden talents and capabilities. Lectures, courses and seminars are not without merit; they also provide new knowledge and are focused on continuous development. However, these forms of training do not imply the presence of feedback; accordingly, there is no guarantee that the information received during training will find a response in real life. During the training, each person feels important and needed, maximally involved in the learning and playing process.

A little about personal growth and mental health

One of the common myths is that sick people turn to psychologists, like doctors. And if at school a student goes for consultations with a psychologist, then very often children tease him as “psycho.” We inherited this stereotype from the “Soviet” culture, when psychology was considered a “handmaiden of the bourgeoisie.” This is equivalent to considering a person who does morning exercises, douses himself with cold water, and eats healthy food to be sick. Outwardly, the behavior of a person who simply leads a healthy lifestyle is really very similar, and a person after a serious illness who goes to a health group at the stadium and is on a diet. The difference is that one is engaged in prevention, and the second is in treatment.

Since the term “personality” itself, like the answer to the question “What is training?”, has more than 50 different scientific definitions, the concept of personal growth is very vague and is interpreted differently in different psychological schools. Which one is true, each person chooses for himself. However, the minimum, necessary condition for the possibility of personal growth is mental (mental) health. And the criteria for mental health, although blurred, have clearer boundaries.

At all times, among all peoples of the world, the officially recognized, enduring value of a person and society has been and is physical and mental health, at least this is officially stated out loud (mass advertising of tobacco and alcohol somehow does not fit well with the official recognition of human health as the highest value of the state and society). Even in ancient times, it was understood by doctors and philosophers as the main condition for the free activity of man, his perfection.

Considering a person as a bio-energy-information system, characterized by a pyramidal structure of subsystems, which include the body, psyche and spiritual element, the concept of health implies the harmony of this system. Violations at any level affect the stability of the entire system. Therefore, if a person is harmonious and fits harmoniously into society, then he is healthy.

It is known that the level of human health depends on many factors: hereditary, socio-economic, environmental, as well as the activities of the health care system. But according to the World Health Organization, it is only 10–15% associated with the latter factor, 15–20% is due to genetic factors, 25% is determined by environmental conditions, and 50–55% is determined by human conditions and lifestyle. Thus, it is obvious that the primary role in the preservation and formation of health still belongs to the person himself, his lifestyle, his values, attitudes, the degree of harmonization of his inner world and relationships with the environment.

All of the above are beautiful theories, but when it comes to practical activities, a huge number of questions arise. For example, regarding the physical health of young men, the criteria for suitability for combat military service in peacetime that exist today are very different from those that existed in the 60s. What do you think, dear readers, which of the criteria is more true? And the concept of mental health is an even more difficult thing to define in practice, which has two extremes. One is everyday intuitive understanding and sensations in general, and the other is in the form of an official medical report on a person’s mental state - whether he is sick or healthy, which is given by psychiatrists working in the relevant psychiatric institutions. And when the concept of “healthy” or “sick” acquires fundamental legal significance, the final word remains with the forensic medical examination, which is the legal truth. Paradoxical but true.

Write a training program

The program is all the material that you plan to use during the training. Here are some recommendations that will help with this:

• Forget about timing. Timing is the division of training by hours. For example, from 9 to 10 o’clock you get acquainted and decide all organizational issues, from 10 to 11 do the first exercise, then a 30-minute coffee break, and so on. Here, at any moment, everything can go wrong, and due to the disrupted chronology, classes will be boring and ineffective.
• Instead of timing, use semantic blocks. A semantic block is a fixed amount of material that can be easily integrated into lunch or coffee breaks. The semantic block is not time-bound, and any moment can be replaced by another. For example, you started doing an exercise that none of the participants are interested in. Since your material is cut into blocks, it's easy to remove this uninterestingness and offer something new. If there were clear timing, then everyone would suffer.
• Write down several alternative scenarios in case something goes wrong and the participants really don’t like the prepared material.
• Add several blocks to the “basement” - collect additional material that is not initially included in the training program. This material can be useful when working with an active and well-prepared audience that has easily mastered the proposed skills. In this case, you should not dwell on what you have passed, but switch to developing a new skill. All training time should be beneficial.

Let’s take our three-day self-defense training for office employees, use the recommendations listed above and create a sample program:

• 1 day. Meeting the trainer → organizational aspects → defining the purpose of the training → lesson plan → training rules → defense theory → lunch and several breaks → continuation of the theory → homework.
• Day 2. Meeting → checking homework → brief review of theory → break → practicing defensive skills while crossing the subway → summing up → new homework.
• Day 3. Meeting → checking homework, reviewing theory and learned skills → going to a cafe and taking a break → practicing a defensive skill when attacked in a cafe → going to a back alley and practicing a defensive skill when attacked by several opponents → summing up.

The more interactivity and non-standard situations you can offer, the higher the value of your program. It would be cool if a non-obvious variable was included in the interactive. For example, you will hire special people who, under the guise of gopniks, will try to attack several training participants. This will add stress and students will be able to remember all the theoretical concepts better.

Why is it needed?

Today you can find a lot of correspondence training online. That is, they do not require personal presence from the user, and accordingly, their effectiveness is reduced to nothing. If we talk about the importance of trainings, then it is worth analyzing exclusively real group meetings, in which the person of the coach plays an important role.

Let's consider the main advantages of this training format:

• each participant in the training process receives valuable skills and information, as well as practical experience, which students receive from experienced trainers;
• Thanks to modeling situations, students gain valuable skills that can later be useful in real life;
• horizons broaden significantly, new interests appear;
• new life guidelines and goals appear that are quite realistic to achieve;
• As part of the training, you can make valuable contacts, share your experience with others and gain new ideas, and be inspired by communicating with like-minded people;
• communication within the framework of the training allows you to acquire a completely new environment, and get rid of people who negatively affect personal development, “pulling you down”;
• a competent coach will help you understand all internal problems and work through them thoroughly;
• trainings help to escape from the drab everyday life and work routine;
• an outside perspective will help to effectively solve all accumulated problems;
• After completing most trainings, participants in the educational process receive a certificate that confirms the acquisition of additional skills and information, which can help in employment and self-realization.

The main advantage of the training is the ability to simulate various situations and learn not from your own, but from other people’s mistakes. A special set of exercises, combined with valuable information and competent setting of goals and objectives, helps a person get rid of many problems and easily overcome all life’s difficulties.

In addition, this form of training differs significantly from standard lectures. The difference is the presence of feedback. Communication in a group allows you to change collectively and get a reaction to changes in the eyes of your fellow trainees. Also, participants in the training process learn to voice all the emotions that a person feels here and now.

The effectiveness of training is influenced by the personality of the trainer. He is not just a central character, but also becomes the “lever” that motivates students and helps accumulate their energy and direct it in the right direction. A competent trainer is able to quickly identify when collective energy is declining and suggest exercises to raise “morale.”

Before signing up for training, you should understand that a group is a single living organism, each element of which affects the work of other elements. Despite collective goals and objectives, each student ultimately receives his own result. You should not think that only those people who suffer from a huge number of unresolved problems need training. Everyone, without exception, needs additional development, as it promotes career growth and gives a lot of positive impressions.