user training, please help 3

[mikeleahy]

hi
i am a systems admin in a company with 150 users. i am only here 2 months. they have asked me to deliver training in word ,excel and powerpoint to business users in a hotel in 6 weeks time. i am an mcsa,mcse and ccna but i dont know the first thing about these apps. i use them on a very very basic level. the job spec didnt mention user training on these kind of apps. what i would be showing them, they know already. am i right in saying that this is the job of a trainer and i can say no to this. i mean i presume they want the users to be more professional in their work and only a pro trainer can do this?? very worried

 

[mikeleahy]

what do you mean by that

 

[GlennUK]

Hi mikeleahy,

"to hang the bell on the cat" is not one I've heard before, but a quick search found this:

bell the cat, who will
Who has enough courage to do a dangerous job? For example, Someone has to tell the teacher that her own son started the fire, but who will bell the cat? This expression originated in one of Aesop's fables as retold by William Langland in Piers Ploughman (c. 1377), in which the mice decide to put a bell around the cat's neck as a warning device but then can find none among them who will actually do it.
from :

http://www.answers.com/topic/who-will-bell-the-cat

I thought I knew all my Aesop's fables, but I was wrong.

Cheers, Glenn.

Did you hear about the literalist show-jumper? He broke his nose jumping against the clock.

 

[samiam07]

fumei
Well said. All of it great advice.

 

[GlennUK]

I must also say to Gerry ( fumei ), great advice. Some very useful points that I may have to use in the future, so have a star ===> *

Cheers, Glenn.

Did you hear about the literalist show-jumper? He broke his nose jumping against the clock.

 

[fumei]

Well I am just covered in blushes.

mikeleahy, coaching staff on subjects you know something about is one thing; training them on something you are not (honestly) competent at is quite another.

A good professional trainer can train people on almost anything IF, and only if, they have good material to use. Heavy duty technical questions (if the subject is out of their field) can always be passed to technical experts. The key though is having good material.

Mind you, for Office apps, there is lots and lots of material around. Some better than others, but quantity is not a problem. Ah...copyright may be...but I will leave THAT to another time. I could tell stories...

The first step, for you, is get a formal (in writing) request/statement of what it is they are asking of you. I sincerely wish you luck with this. Management is notorious for belief in the Osmosis School of Learning.

That is, leave it to the end, and staff will absorb it naturally, with no effort or cost on our part.

faq219-2884

Gerry
My paintings and sculpture

 

[SkipVought]

"...leave it to the end, and staff will absorb it naturally, with no effort or cost on our part..."

...and management wonders why things get FUBAR.

Skip,
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[fumei]

I have actually heard a systems manager say:

"We can't afford any training. Give them some time, I'm sure they will figure it out."

This was when we first starting using TCP/IP......

faq219-2884

Gerry
My paintings and sculpture