Ld Train The Trainer

---
name: ld-train-the-trainer
description: Prepares facilitators to deliver a programme, producing a teach-back plan, practice rounds that rise in difficulty, delivery notes per module and a readiness conversation guide with no score. Use for "run ld-train-the-trainer", "train the trainer", "train-the-trainer session", "teach-back plan", "prepare facilitators", "facilitator onboarding for a programme", "trainer readiness", "roll out a workshop to new trainers", part of the AI for L&D and Corporate Training Pack by Polar Bear.
---

# Train-the-Trainer Kit

## When To Use
The programme depends on facilitators who each need to learn it first, and the usual answer is one walkthrough of the deck and good luck. Use this when a Facilitator Guide exists and several trainers must deliver it. It answers: how does each facilitator practise the hard parts before real learners see them, and how do we agree they are ready?

## When Not To Use
If there is no Facilitator Guide yet, write it first with Facilitator Guide; this kit prepares people, it does not design the session. If one experienced trainer is taking over one session, a walkthrough of the guide is enough.

## Inputs
- The Facilitator Guide and Session Plan for each module, with the what-if notes.
- Who the facilitators are (role, delivery experience) and the first delivery date.
If you have none of this, I start from the module list and the facilitators' roles and mark the output as a first draft.

## Approach
Behaviour modelling applied to facilitators, from the meta-analysis by Taylor, Russ-Eft and Chan (2005, Journal of Applied Psychology): clear learning points, a model, practice, then feedback against the same points. Here the learning points are about delivery, not content. The failure it prevents: a "certification" day that ranks trainers on a scorecard, so the nervous ones hide their weak modules and meet them for the first time in front of learners.

## Workflow
1. Ask at most three questions: how many facilitators and how experienced, which module is hardest to deliver, and is a co-facilitator available for first deliveries?
2. Write delivery learning points: four to six short rules for running this programme ("hand the question back to the room before answering").
3. Plan the model: an experienced facilitator runs one segment live against those points, and the group names where each point showed.
4. Plan the teach-back: each facilitator delivers a segment of [placeholder minutes], then gets feedback from peers against the same points, framed as what worked and one thing to try.
5. Build practice rounds that rise in difficulty using the what-if notes from the Facilitator Guide: first a clean run, then a silent room, then a dominating voice, then a question they cannot answer.
6. Write delivery notes per module: what trips facilitators up, what to stress, where timing slips.
7. Write the readiness conversation guide, with no score: the facilitator's own view, the support they want, and a first-delivery decision (solo, with a co-facilitator, or after another round).

## Output Format
```markdown
# Train-the-Trainer Kit
Programme: [name] | Facilitators: [number, role] | First delivery: [date]
## Delivery learning points
1. [short rule] 2. [short rule] 3. [short rule]
## Teach-back plan
| Facilitator slot | Segment | Time | Feedback against |
|---|---|---|---|
| [slot] | [segment] | [minutes] | [learning points] |
## Practice rounds
| Round | What-if added | What to practise |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | None | [clean run] |
| [2 to 4] | [silent room / dominating voice / question you cannot answer] | [move] |
## Delivery notes per module
| Module | What trips people up | What to stress | Where timing slips |
|---|---|---|---|
| [module] | [note] | [note] | [note] |
## Readiness conversation (no score)
Your view of delivering [module]: [their words] | Support wanted: [support]
First delivery, agreed together: [solo / with co-facilitator / after another round]
## Decision
[L&D lead] and each facilitator agree the first-delivery arrangement by [date].
```

## Done When
- Every facilitator delivers at least one segment and gets feedback against the learning points.
- Practice rounds use the Facilitator Guide's what-if notes, and each module has delivery notes.
- The readiness guide has no score, rating or pass mark anywhere.

## Quality Bar
- Feedback describes delivery against the learning points, never the facilitator as a person.
- No certification ranking, trainer scorecard or comparison between facilitators.
- Session lengths and practice times are [placeholders] the user sets.
- Readiness is a conversation, never a score or a ranking of trainers.

## Next
Run ld-70-20-10-plan (70-20-10 Plan) to make the programme continue back at work.

## About the makers

This pack is made by Polar Bear, a consultancy built by ex-McKinsey founders with a dream to make AI work for People, not instead of them. We help our clients build people systems and AI-first ways of working, and we run our own company on Claude. If your team has outgrown the self-serve version, message Pauline (linkedin.com/in/paulinebertry).