When I was a little girl – almost too long ago to recall – I remember my teacher asking me what I wanted to be when I grew up. My reply without hesitation was, “Sunday school teacher.” She must have been a little too taken aback to reply as I can’t seem to recall what she had to say to that.

Don’t ask me why I said that, perhaps my naïve mind was thinking, “Cool, I only need to work on Sundays!” Anyway, I never became a Sunday school teacher or even teacher, but instead became an editor for a women’s magazine for nine years and today, I “teach” adults on a variety of topics from image and grooming to how one can design their life – my absolute passion.

I don’t know about you but I’ve never heard a child who’s asked what he or she would like to be when they grow up, answer “Trainer.” They may say: doctor, lawyer or even astronaut but “trainer”? No, never! One is then tempted to engage in a lengthy discussion if a “trainer” is indeed a professional, as well as what exactly qualifies one to be a trainer.

But we shall not go in that direction here. My objective in writing this article is to highlight that training can indeed be a fantastic career alternative that pays well, better than most other professions. In fact some of the more well-known world class speakers and trainers can be ranked in the same pay bracket as world class entertainers!

So what does it take to be a professional trainer? Experience, expertise and, in my opinion, a passion for sharing. You may be an engineer, a doctor, a corporate executive – doesn’t really matter. Question to ask is: Do you have valuable experience/expertise/ideas to share with others? If the answer is yes, then the next question to ask is: Will they benefit from your sharing/teaching?

That would be at the very basic level. What is then needed to elevate one to the next level of being a good teacher/trainer/instructor/coach/motivator Рand indeed a trainer is all of that and more Рis the ability to communicate and present. As well-known speaker and trainer KC See once said, “Brilliance, without the capability to communicate or present it, is worth little in an organization.”

1. Communication skills

This is not so much about how eloquently you speak but rather, how well people understand you and how effectively your message is put across. At the end of the training period, there has to be productive change in the participants otherwise, as far as I’m concerned, the training objectives have not been met.

The highest level of communication which I personally would strive for as a communicator is what is known as persuasive communication. This takes place when the person(s) we are communicating with, 1) understands what we want to say, 2) feels what we are feeling and is then 3) motivated to take action on what we have said.  Effective communication may stop short at (2); the listener may not necessarily want to do something about what he or she has just heard.

There is so much to learn about communication that it’s truly an art, and a most fascinating one as well. There are so many elements to persuasive communication – body language, the art of asking questions…. You can see racks of books on this subject in the library or bookstore! I will certainly not attempt to oversimplify it in this short article. Suffice it to say, if you dedicate yourself to learning how to master this art, you will indeed be able to achieve whatever you set out to do in life.

2. Presentation skills

I’ve known many good communicators who do well one-to-one or in small groups but get tongue-tied when presenting from a stage.  Hence, the term, stage-fright. I also know many who simply bloom when put on a stage. In fact, to some “born” performers, it seems like the world’s their stage and life is but a performance.

So how can one move from the first group to the latter? Is good public speaking really something that’s inborn or can it be developed? Of course the skills can be learned and developed! You can learn how to get the butterflies to fly in formation! You can learn how to captivate and engage your audience. Once you’ve mastered the skills, I promise you, you will enjoy it… tremendously! And along the way, pick up some great income as well.

Jessica See, a Certified Professional Trainer and Coach (IPMA UK), conducts programmes on ‘Training as a Profession’ in Singapore, Malaysia, Shanghai and Beijing. She can be contacted at  Jessica@qscasia.com

Rather, let’s look at why many people experience a challenge in communicating effectively from the verbal aspect:

1.    Self-consciousness

When I was a magazine editor, I was invited to many red-carpet events and cocktails where I had to rub shoulders with the rich and famous. Initially I dreaded those events, because I was not comfortable at making small talk with these people.

Then a great truth dawned on me – to be a good conversationalist, we simply had to be a great listener. We had to be genuinely interested in what the other person had to say, ask the right questions (because we genuinely wanted to know more) and presto, people will laud us as great communicators!

It’s often our own self-consciousness that makes us tongue-tied and awkward. We are so pre-occupied with what intelligent idea to share next, that we can barely concentrate on listening to and understanding the other party.

2.    Non-empathy

The other block to good communication is non-empathy. We are sometimes so intent on putting our ideas across that we forget to be sensitive or empathic to the other person. Is the person in a rush, or does he or she have other matters on his or her mind?

A good example is when we want to sell an idea to our boss: is he or she rushing for another meeting? Or perhaps he or she has just got some flak from his or her boss or a customer and is simply in a lousy mood.

My personality type tends towards being results-oriented, so this was an area that I was weak in. Now I’ve learnt to be more sensitive and to always ask: Is it a good time to talk? Or: Do you have half an hour to discuss… ?

3.    Lack of clarity

This comes from a lack of clarity in our thoughts as well as our verbal communication. It starts from our thoughts: are we quite clear in our minds what is the message we wish to convey? From there, we move on to effective choice of words. Some people may have a language problem: they may be thinking in their mother language, say Mandarin or Punjabi, and trying to express their ideas in a language they are not comfortable with, say English.

Learn to organize your thoughts. Before making an important presentation, list down the points you want to make in a logical sense. If language is a challenge, then I suggest you write your ideas down in proper sentences and ask a friend to go through for you. I’m not saying you should read from your paper or memorise the “speech” but just writing it down and reading it a few times will help you a great deal in putting your message across.

Many people think as long as they speak fluently, they are good communicators. Not so, as those of you who have had to listen to someone go on and on about themselves, will testify. They may be such eloquent speakers, and even entertaining at times, but there’s only so much we can take in a one-way communication. I’m sure some of you have been in a situation where you just wish you were somewhere else after 20 minutes!

The highest level of communication which I personally would strive for as a communicator is what is known as persuasive communication. This takes place when the person we are communicating with, 1) understands what we want to say, 2) feels what we are feeling and is then 3) motivated to take action on what we have said.  Effective communication may stop short at (2); the listener may not necessarily want to do something about what he or she has just heard.

One skill that can help you move from effective to persuasive communication is that of asking questions. This is a powerful skill that once you have mastered it, will indeed help you see immediate results in your daily communication – be it sales, presentation of ideas, talking to your friends or simply getting your child to do what you want! So the best thing you can do for yourself now is to pop into a bookstore and grab a book on this!

Jessica See, a Certified Professional Trainer and Coach (IPMA UK), conducts programmes on ‘Training as a Profession’ in Singapore, Malaysia, Shanghai and Beijing. She can be contacted at  Jessica@qscasia.com