Developing the Internal Trainer Institute: How to Develop and Retain Great Specialists in Safety Culture Development

Internal Trainer Institute: From Routine to Development

Developing a safety culture is impossible without people who work daily with employees' beliefs. Internal trainers are the core of change, specialists whose task is to create an environment where safe habits are formed. Mikhail Zhiganov, Head of the Safety Culture Development Department at Nornickel, analyzes a key problem: how to maintain the motivation and engagement of trainers when their work turns into an assembly line.

Training 50,000 – 60,000 people a year requires colossal effort. Delivering the same training sessions five days a week inevitably leads to burnout. Using his company as an example, the speaker shows how to turn routine work into a developmental environment where trainers want to grow and develop.

How to Develop the Training Staff

For millennials and zoomers, it is critically important to feel forward momentum. A survey showed that trainers lack certain competencies. The solution was not formal online training, but high-quality face-to-face intensive courses with invited experts.

• Soft skills training: Trainers are taught to give feedback, build partnerships, avoid conflicts, and cope with burnout.
• Practical application: Knowledge is reinforced in practice so that trainers can immediately apply it in their work.

The IKEA Effect: Participation in Program Creation

Top-down programs quickly bore both trainers and trainees. The presentation details the transition to the joint development of training materials. Since 2023, trainers have acted as methodologists, participating in updating programs (for example, the transformation of DRP into "Three Steps of Safety").

• Creator engagement: Trainers are much more enthusiastic about delivering programs they helped develop.
• Audience interest: Annual content updates (changing examples, videos, algorithms) keep trainees from getting bored during repeat training sessions.

Motivation and Retention: Career Tracks and New Challenges

To retain valuable specialists, it is necessary to show them growth prospects. The speaker provides examples of when the best trainers became managers and project leaders through open competitions and defending their own initiatives.

• Career growth: Understanding that the position of a trainer is not a ceiling, but a stepping stone in a career, powerfully motivates employees.
• Variety of tasks: Involving trainers in internships for line managers to teach soft skills reduces routine.
• Professional communities: Off-site conferences and professional skills competitions create a competitive effect and allow for the exchange of experience.

What you will learn from this webinar:

• How to prevent burnout of internal trainers with high training intensity?
• Why is it important to involve trainers in the development of training programs?
• What training formats are most effective for developing the trainers themselves?
• How to build a transparent career track to retain the best specialists?
• How to diversify trainers' activities to maintain their engagement?