There is a wonderful example given by Edgar Tham, our Coaching guru during his class on Certificate in Coaching where he got his coachee (yuks!) to do research on what is the normal time length between someone taking up a certain sport competitively and when they become championship material.

The common answer is 8 to 12 years and this very fact got his coachee to be more resilient and more motivated. Well I like to relate that to training and ask; “How long does it really take for us to become “Championship-class” Trainers?

Won’t be very different; I guess.

And then two days later I got this story on the internet that is equally inspiring;

The Bamboo and the Fern

One day I decided to quit … I quit my job, my relationship, my spirituality.
I wanted to quit my life. I went to the woods to have one last talk with God.
“God”, I said. “Can you give me one good reason not to quit?”
His answer surprised me. “Look around,” he said. “Do you see the fern and the bamboo?”
“Yes”, I replied.

“When I planted the fern and the bamboo seeds, I took very good care of them.
I gave them light. I gave them water. The fern quickly grew from the earth.
Its brilliant green covered the floor. Yet nothing came from the bamboo seed.
But I did not quit on the bamboo.

In the second year the Fern grew more vibrant and plentiful.
And again, nothing came from the bamboo seed. But I did not quit on the bamboo.
In the third year, there was still nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit.
In the fourth year, again, there was nothing from the bamboo seed. But I would not quit.

Then in the fifth year a tiny sprout emerged from the earth.
Compared to the fern it was seemingly small and insignificant.

But just 6 months later the bamboo rose to over 100 feet tall. It had spent the five years growing roots.
Those roots made it strong and gave it what it needed to survive.”

He then said to me, “Did you know, my child, that all this time you have been struggling, you have actually been growing roots.
I would not quit on the bamboo. I will never quit on you. Don’t compare yourself to others.

The bamboo had a different purpose than the fern, yet, they both make the forest beautiful.
Your time will come and you will rise high!”

Good days give you happiness.
Bad days give you experiences.
Both are essential to life, so keep going.

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So what is a professional trainer? I guess any one who call himself a professional trainer implies two things.

One is that he has achieved certain standards. These standards could either be set by industry groups as in professional bodies or by legislation if any. There is no one organisation in the world that sets such standards. In the case of Certified Professional Trainers program offered by the Quest Group; the standards are set by the IPMA (International Professional Managers Association), U.K. There are other organisations and therefore the value of the certification would depends on the reputation and the coverage of the awarding body.

The second implication when you call yourself a professional trainer; it means that you can and will be earning a fee in that profession as oppose to earning a salary. You will be available to be engaged as a trainer by potential clients. If you are earning a salary as a internal trainer in an organisation; you will probably be referred to as an in house trainer rather than a professional trainer.

Why am I talking about this? Well, there are organisations offering programs to train people to be “professional” trainers but are run by trainers who are employed and has questionable success as professional trainers. So what do you think?

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I met Jean in Shanghai. He is a French guy attending my Stand up and Speak program, done in house for a large multinational in China. Great responsive participant (although I don’t always understand what he is saying); the type that all trainers look for. He came to me at the end of the seminar to say thank you and told me that he has learnt a lot. Then he went on to say that he is very tired and that is good. I must have looked puzzled because he went on to explain that this is how he knows whether he learnt some thing. He knows it when he feels tired. That is perhaps one of the most interesting way of determining your ROI in training that I ever come across.

How do I know I learnt something? I know it when I could not wait to get back to the real world and put something into action. We all learnt differently and respond in so many different ways. But you really learnt nothing unless something changed. How do you know you learnt something?

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