Train the Trainer

Trainers of Ridge programs do more than just lead the workshop. Every moment they're teaching, they're simultaneously modeling the skills they're teaching. Whether they're making a presentation, responding to questions, giving feedback during a practice, handling resistance, or even talking on breaks, trainers of Ridge programs use all the skills they teach. That's because it's important for participants to see how the skills they're learning apply to a wide variety of emergent, real-life interactions and how they can be incorporated genuinely and naturally into a person's own style. For that reason Ridge training is highly trainer-dependent. We don't use video presentations or case study discussions that allow trainers to take an in-class break. Our trainers are always on.

Because our training is so trainer-dependent, and each trainer brings different skills and strengths to the training, we've created a personalized four-stage process for certification that creates consistently outstanding results:

  • Participant Stage In this stage trainers attend, as full participants, the course that they will be training. This allows them to learn the skills of the course that they are expected to model while leading it. They experience the workshop from a participant's frame of reference, a critical awareness for leading the workshop.
  • Briefing Day Immediately following the participant experience, a Ridge master trainer reviews the overall flow of the course, each piece of the course, and the layout of the trainer materials. The Ridge trainer checks for questions and concerns about moving forward with the certification and assigns pieces to prepare for the Coaching Days to come.
  • Coaching Days During these "stand and deliver" days, trainers further develop and integrate the workshop skills they will be teaching; they learn how to demonstrate the skills and to coach others on them; and they learn facilitation skills to ensure that they're "walking the walk and talking the talk" with participants. In this Coaching Stage each trainer presents at least half of the pieces he or she is expected to lead in the first workshop. The Ridge trainer coaches each trainer on his or her presentations.
  • Coleadership The real test of acquired knowledge and skill is in the actual training room. The final stage for certification is having one or two of your trainers colead a workshop with a Ridge trainer. This partnering allows your trainers to receive ongoing coaching and support during their first workshop delivery; and it allows Ridge to ensure the performance quality of the trainers prior to certification. At the end of the Coleadership phase, the Ridge trainer confirms that a trainer has met our delivery standards for the course and that certification is complete.

Here's what graduates of our certification process have said about it:

  • "Ridge's certification is a huge missing link because it's not just about delivering content; it's about transferring learning. Anyone can deliver content."
  • "Coleadership not only gave me an opportunity to get feedback on what I did well and need to on, I got to observe and learn from a master at work."
  • "The preparation process is very demanding; it's much more rigorous than any program I've ever seen, but the results — for me and for learners — have been amazing."
  • "Ridge's focus on trainer excellence, beyond just the content we're learning to deliver, is a training-within-a-training experience I will never forget."
  • "If you truly want to invest in your employees, invest in Ridge's certification process. It's the foundation of a great learning culture."