What Are The Roles And Responsibilities Of A Training Manager?

Companies hire training managers to assess their training and development needs, and improve employee performance. Training managers make key training-related decisions, develop in-person professional learning sessions and create targeted development plans for individual employees. If you have an interest in becoming a training manager, discovering what the job entails helps you decide whether it is the right career choice for you. In this article, we define 'What a training manager is?', answer the question 'What are the roles and responsibilities of a training manager?', outline their key skills, and explain 'How to become one?'.

Please note that none of the companies, institutions or organisations mentioned in this article are associated with Indeed.

What Is A Training Manager?

A training manager is a specialist who creates training and development programmes for employees. They identify the organisation's training requirements and design, plan and implement training programmes, policies and procedures. These managers have experience with team coaching, instructional methods and skills development. Your role as a training manager is to facilitate a wide variety of training programmes, enhancing the workforce's effectiveness. You can find work in various industries, including education, government, hospitality, finance, retail and technology.

Related: Training Manager Job Description (With Duties And Example)

What Are The Roles And Responsibilities Of A Training Manager?

Answering the question "What are the roles and responsibilities of a training manager?" helps you decide whether to pursue this career. Some responsibilities of a training manager are:

Identifying training needs

One of your primary duties as a training manager is to create training plans for employees. To fulfil this duty, understanding the company's goals and missions is key. This helps you assess employee performance in relation to those goals. You also evaluate customer feedback and employee performance to identify potential skills gaps, and develop assessments to identify areas of improvement.

Related: Types Of Workplace Training: Definitions And Examples

Designing and implementing training programmes

Part of your job involves designing and implementing internal, and external training programmes to improve employee's skill sets. After identifying the training needs, you design a curriculum using different delivery methods, such as classroom training techniques, e-learning platforms and on-the-job learning. Your responsibility is to create and implement training courses to help employees excel.

Related: What Is Training And Development? (With Benefits And Steps)

Helping employees in career development

Training managers help employees advance their careers. After understanding the employee's requirements, you request senior managers to provide job-specific mentoring and coaching. This typically involves matching employees with suitable mentors who have the skills and education to help them excel, and achieve their career goals.

Performing orientation sessions

Employers often expect training managers to perform orientation sessions for new hires. These sessions aim to improve their job-specific skills and prepare them for more advanced roles. Depending upon the project's requirement, you might develop individualised training plans to strengthen an employee's abilities.

Creating leadership development programmes

Leadership programmes are a great way to improve employee's skill sets. In many companies, your role as a training manager is to set up leadership development programmes for entry-level employees. You might also design training programmes for employees who want to advance to management roles.

Related: Types Of Technology-Based Training (With Benefits And FAQs)

Tracking training and development progress

After implementing a training and development programme, training managers ensure employees complete all the assigned activities. With the help of e-learning platforms, you track the real-time progress of employees and the participation levels of each training session to determine the training's effectiveness. You may occasionally take disciplinary actions against employees who do not comply or complete their training on time.

Related: Training And Development Process: Definition And Steps

Managing training budget

Training managers conduct training within the allotted budget. Your role involves negotiating with vendors, external trainers and suppliers to lower costs, and offer discounts. You also track the training expenses, including equipment, travel and trainer's fees.

Building and maintaining relationships

Training managers connect frequently with employees and managers to understand the effectiveness of the training programmes. This enables you to gather feedback on what training programmes work and understand whether the training fills the knowledge gap. You also maintain strong workplace relationships with external vendors and trainers to negotiate the best price, and often use virtual communication to strengthen these associations.

Organising learning and development events

Besides designing training courses, training managers plan and organise development programmes, such as seminars, conferences, and workshops. This includes booking event locations, creating seminar topics and finding relevant speakers. Companies may expect you to propose alternatives when events are expensive.

How To Become A Training Manager?

To learn how to become a training manager, follow these steps:

1. Complete a Bachelor's degree

Completing a bachelor's degree is typically the minimum qualification to pursue a career as a training manager. Consider enrolling in a Bachelor of Business Administration in Management, Human Resources or a related field or a Bachelor of Arts in Human Resource Management. These courses provide relevant knowledge to candidates aspiring to become training managers. Most bachelor's degree courses take three years to complete.

2. Earn a Master's degree

Companies often prefer training managers who complete post-graduation degrees in relevant fields. Many training managers have a Master of Business Administration in Management or Human Resources. Pursuing a Master of Arts in Human Resources Management can help you advance your skills and perform your duties as a training manager, and may accelerate your career growth.

3. Gain relevant experience

While most companies hire candidates with the desired skills and educational requirements, having the necessary hands-on experience helps you excel in your job duties. You may start your career as an entry-level training specialist and advance to a training manager role after gaining relevant experience. Working as a training specialist allows you to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to become a manager. If you are a student, consider pursuing internships in relevant fields, as they can help you gain entry-level jobs.

Related: What Is Relevant Experience? (With Examples And Tips)

4. Complete relevant certifications

Earning a relevant certification makes you a more competitive candidate. These certifications show your competency level and help hiring managers understand your capabilities. Options to consider include:

• Certified Professional in Training and Development provided by the Association for Talent Development

• HR Certification Institute's Professional in Human Resources

• Certified Learning and Development Manager offered by Middle Earth

• Certified Professional in Training Management through Training Courses

These programmes typically take two to six months to complete. Depending upon your skills, you may choose to pursue more than one certification.

5. Prepare your resume and apply for relevant jobs

After gaining experience and educational qualifications, prepare your resume. Make sure you include relevant skills to impress the interviewer. Research companies you are applying to and customise your resume to meet their specific demands, and characteristics. List any degree, certification or work experience that distinguishes you from other candidates with similar experience. After preparing your resume, apply for relevant jobs that appear on company websites or job boards.

Related: How To Apply For A Job In 6 Steps (With Tips)

Skills Of A Training Manager

Key skills of a training manager include:

Communication

The ability to articulate and explain the requirement of training, and development is essential to engage employees in their learning process. Being an effective communicator helps you convey complex ideas and critical information in a way employees can easily comprehend. This skill set enables you to interact effectively with trainers, trainees and managers. You also use written communication skills to create training material and courses.

Project management

Project management involves managing the work of external contractors and suppliers. Training managers oversee various training programmes and excellent project management skills are fundamental. Employers prefer candidates with this skill because it helps you prioritise tasks, remain within the project's budget and manage the available resources.

Related: 19 Essential Project Management Skills To Master

Organisation

Executing employee training requires the ability to organise dates, people, physical spaces and materials. Excellent organisation skills help optimise learning and engagement. Organisational skills help you break your work into manageable tasks and prioritise responsibilities to ensure timely completion.

Planning

Successful training managers require short and long-term planning. Long-term planning skills focus on creating instructional design and developing training courses, while short-term planning skills focus on the logistical task of executing training. The ability to organise training plans is desirable for this role.

Leadership

Leadership skills help training managers motivate and inspire trainers, and trainees. Employers expect leaders to show empathy, patience, reliability and dependability. This skill helps you provide feedback to employees during training sessions.

Related: Top 6 Leadership Skills: Definitions and Examples

Work Environment Of Training Managers

Training managers may work in small and large organisations across private, and public institutions. When working in an office environment, you spend most of your day interacting with employees, overseeing the training programme and meeting with employees, and organisation leaders. Most training managers work from 9.00 a.m. to 6.00 p.m., Monday to Friday. Your role might require you to work overtime during the hiring season.