Are You an Engaging IT Instructor?

By now you probably already know our very popular HDI trainer, Simone Jo Moore. In her earlier blog post, she gave us some tips on how to get the most out of training abroad.

Naturally social (you can check out her twitter activity), she is passionate about training and actively engages with the international ITSM community to keep up with trends. Simone has been an IT instructor for the HDI portfolio including Knowledge Centred Support (KCS) for nine years and I had the chance to ask her some questions about how one can be the best trainer they can be.

Aurélie Dousset: Can you tell us about how you got where you are today?

Simone Jo Moore: I’ve always believed good workforce planning and training is absolutely necessary to the health of an organization’s capability. It’s disappointing that the practice of cutting heads and training during a budget crisis still occurs as that’s when I find organizations need the capability most.

I was a member of HDAA when I first discovered the HDI Certification Portfolio and incorporated the courses into the organization’s overall training and development program with positive results. It was the first time any of the team had received formal certified training that wasn’t a Microsoft or other type of technical course but fully focused on their role as a profession.

A while later and after a few ‘murders and acquisitions’ and knowing a great deal of strain service and support professionals can suffer, I decided to combine my holistic and corporate qualifications to help design, develop and transform Support. At this point, I joined the HDAA team as an HDI Certified Instructor and Service Management Consultant. Having seen the results of HDI Certifications previously, I was very happy to be imparting the content and volunteer in the ICSC evolving the standards on a wider scale. The more courses I instructed, the more consulting projects I completed, the more my belief in role focused capability training was solidified.

The results, feedback and ongoing engagement with the students proved its worth. I’ve watched a number of my students advance their careers through the certifications and am always happy to see them return for the next level of training. As an IT instructor, it’s very satisfying to see them develop from HDI-SCA through to HDI-SCM knowing that you played a small part in making it happen.

Aurélie Dousset: In your role as a trainer, you also need to be somewhat commercial in order to convey the benefits to the learners. If a training organization were to adopt the HDI portfolio, how should they best communicate the benefits of training?

Simone Jo Moore:

1. Robust – It has been a long, hard road changing within the industry from being a Help Desk to a Support Centre.
2. Recognized – It’s no longer a view of being a ‘log and flog’ function but recognized as a fully-fledged strategic asset of the organization.
3. High Business Value – No matter the size or type of support required, the key is the dynamic interaction and impact the service and support team has on the business it supports and how positively it contributes to successful business outcomes.
4. Role-Based – The roles and activities designed in the HDI Certification Portfolio from being a Support Centre Analyst through to Director level, reflect the specific competencies and standards of capability required.
5. Strong – The HDI Certification portfolio began in 2000 and trains over 10,000 students a year covering both certification and professional development courses.
6. Global – The portfolio is pegged to the evolution of support roles and moves with the global best practices of the current time.
7. Vendor Neutral – HDI is vendor-neutral in its efforts to facilitate open, independent networking and information sharing within the association’s global network and impact on the Portfolio Standards.

Aurélie Dousset: If someone walked up to you asking for advice on delivering an HDI training and you only had a few minutes to give them your best tip, what would it be?

Simone Jo Moore:

1. People matter – what they do and how they do it usually reflects how much they value themselves, the organization and customers therein. With each certification requiring to be passed at no less than 80%, students are focused on gaining the knowledge and it is clear they receive the most benefit from an IT instructor with real-world experience who is able to connect the theory with the learners’ environment.
2. Enthusiasm – It is important to deliver the content with enthusiasm and passion for the topic creating a more enjoyable, memorable and entertaining student experience. Storytelling definitely has a positive impact on a student’s ability to apply the knowledge back in their environment which in turn creates a positive ROI for the organization in the value of the Certification.
3. ‘Light-bulb’ moments – My favorite times during the courses are the ‘light-bulb’ moments students experience when they see the connectedness of how much their role truly makes a difference and it has value. The most gratifying experience is having seen some of the HDAA members become HDI Team Certified and win awards at ITSM conferences.
4. Improve – A most important aspect of garnering feedback is being able to improve the Certifications as needed. All course evaluations are recorded and analyzed to ensure that the standards of the content and instructors are maintained at the highest possible level.

I hope as a trainer or training organization, you can appreciate Simone’s story. You can read more of her stories on her blog and you can contact her on LinkedIn or follow her on @simonejomoore.

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