5 qualities of a good trainer and how to cultivate them

Some of the qualities typically listed as essential for great trainers include the ability to listen and adapt to the audience, to use learning materials creatively, to capture attention, and design training sessions in ways consistent with the science of adult learning (aka andragogy).

Trainers must be content matter experts, knowing their material inside out, but also have some of the skills of good facilitators, accompanying the group in a learning journey.

Good trainers aren’t necessarily charismatic extroverts, but they all have their own, signature ways of holding attention and communicating effectively with learners. 

Think back to a memorable training experience. Maybe it was a teacher from your school years: what made them stand out?

My thoughts go to a substitute teacher in high school who gave us a creative writing workshop using games and colors. Thinking of professional training, I have great memories of a session where trainers taught us using online games, creativity and breakout rooms. In both cases, creativity and playfulness made learning stick.

In this article, we’ll explore what makes a great trainer, from mindset to key skills like curiosity and creativity, plus tips on how to develop them.

This is what we will cover:

5 qualities of a good trainer

Whatever your life experiences, you probably have something in your background that can help you become an effective trainer. Whether it’s coaching sports or being a parent, everyone has had some form of experience with how rewarding—and how hard—it is to share knowledge and skills with others.

So before we look into five of the qualities of a good trainer, take a moment to think about your life and what you already know. This could become the core of your unique training style!

We each carry a unique backpack of experiences that shape how we connect with and guide others.

Jenny Theolin – Head of Learning at Abracademy

Participants in my own training courses have often told me that what they most enjoy in my style is a friendly, informal approach that makes them feel welcome. I think I can trace that back to my dad’s side of the family: restaurant owners who are experts in creating spaces where everyone feels at ease. On the other side of the family, my mom’s is a clan of polyglots and diplomats, which is probably where I picked up a penchant for mediation and active listening!

How about you? What early experiences or later jobs have shaped your training style and signature? How could you leverage them to make your courses unique, and what other aspects may you be missing?

Let’s go through five of the most commonly mentioned qualities and skills that make great trainers. Which do you see yourself in? Which could you cultivate some more?

1. A good trainer is always curious

Working in the field of learning and being a lifelong learner go hand in hand. Personally, some of my favorite moments from training sessions are when participants surprise me with a piece of knowledge or an unexpected connection I could never have come up with myself!

Some of the ways curiosity can help improve a training experience include:

• Curiosity makes it easier to put oneself into a beginner’s shoes, delivering information with clarity so that each new piece of learning builds upon the rest.
• A curious trainer is first and foremost curious about their participants. What brings them here? How can I best help them? This mindset, combined with active listening, counteracts the risk of rote, repetitive, or stale delivery.
  
  In many ways, this kind of curious engagement is what separates active learning from more passive forms of training. A successful trainer will often deploy training games that encourage curiosity from everyone in the room in order to help training stick,
• Whatever you are training about, curiosity will help you stay abreast of changes in the field, keeping you open to new things to learn and teach, and new ways to train.

2. Creativity is essential to great training

Innovation and surprise are key to keeping training sessions engaging and memorable. A great trainer finds ways to present their material in unexpected, interactive ways that make learning stick.

Some ways creativity enhances training:

• It helps break up long or complex topics into digestible, engaging formats.
• It encourages participants to actively engage through storytelling, exercises, and real-world examples. A sense of humor definitely helps!
• It allows trainers to adapt on the fly when something isn’t working—switching up activities, adjusting approaches, or responding to group energy.

You can start surprising and involving participants long before the training starts, for example by sending videos, welcome kits or giving thought and care as to how to make those pre-course questionnaires interesting to fill.

How you arrange the room and the objects inside it is a key element of creativity and surprise. What can you do to make the training environment more welcoming and congruent to your training objectives?

One of my favorite memories of working as a trainer is when I was invited to host a session to discuss post-earthquake community support, for first response trainees. When the trainees arrived in the room for the first time, I had re-arranged it to look like, well, perfect caos. Everything was jumbled around, tables were overturned, all my supplies were on the floor. Participants’ immediate responses (some were completely confused, some looked at me, the authority in charge, for solutions, others just gamely started to pick up and reorganize everything) gave us plenty of material to start the session with!

Are you interested in shaking your next training up with an unusual room setup? If so, you might want to take a look at our in-depth guide about how different seating arrangements influence engagement.

3. A good trainer is respectful and responsible

A great trainer recognizes that learning happens best in an environment where participants feel valued and respected. Being responsible means being mindful of different learning needs, managing time effectively, and ensuring that training remains a supportive space.

What does this look like in practice?

• Respecting different learning styles, backgrounds, and perspectives in the room.
• Being responsible with time: balancing structure with flexibility while ensuring that key learning goals are met.
• Handling challenges gracefully, whether it’s a difficult participant, a tough question, or an unexpected technical issue.

Another way of embodying the important qualities of respect and responsibility has to do with respecting the value of the content itself. This includes ensuring that information is accurate, properly attributed, and presented with integrity.

A responsible trainer credits sources, acknowledges the work of others, knows how to answer questions both confidently and honestly, and models good practice in knowledge sharing.

A trainer is a subject matter expert in the topic they are sharing.
They are humble with the group in that they don’t put themselves in the spotlight, they have the light on the learners. They encourage the learners who are adults to own the learning for themselves, they encourage the learners to do their own learning and they do not disable the adults in the room by minimising their responses, removing space for thought and reflection.

Kirsty Lewis – Founder of the School of Facilitation

4. Good trainers come well prepared

Great training doesn’t happen by accident. The best trainers take the time to design thoughtful sessions, anticipate challenges, and have a plan.

You’ve certainly heard it said that great facilitators and trainers adapt on the fly, and that is true: but you need to have a course set before you can course-correct!

Preparation involves:

• Having a clear structure and flow for the session.
• Designing engaging activities and making sure materials are ready.
• Building in flexibility, making it easier to self correct based on participant needs (and sometimes, on organizational needs, such as changes in the timing of lunch breaks!)

When I am working on a new training, I generally start by setting out a general outline of time, including breaks. Then I set aside a nice big block of time for opening activities, such as introductions and icebreakers. Next, I add a section at the very end for closing and feedback. From here, I go into picking some main, core activities or lectures that will form the main body of the workshop. In most cases, I’ll use a pre-existing model or flow (such as these examples of instructional learning models) to scaffold my thinking.

Planning workshops and sessions is really one of my favorite subjects. You can read more ideas on what makes a great training plan in this article, full of practical tips and how-tos for beginner and expert trainers alike.

SessionLab’s planner was designed for facilitation and instructor-led training: it can help you speed up the design process and keep track of everything you need. You can add a tab for lists of resources, or draw in your colleagues to collaborate on the plan. It also keeps all your previous sessions in memory, helping streamline work by allowing you to easily reuse session plans, start from ready-made templates, and iterate on what works best.

A good trainer is coherent, empathetic and flexible. Coherence is curating their body of topic understanding into the most informative sequence of ideas that teach the material the most effective way.

To that end a good trainer is less concerned with whether their learners will like the training, and more concerned with unearthing the most reputable path to competence. Then acknowledge in advance the unpleasant aspects of that path and invite the learner to choose.

Trainers need to not only know their topic, but also know adult learning, and know the skill acquisition literature to do this consistently well.

Empathy is the capacity to put themselves in the seat of the learner to acquaint themselves with the frustrations of the experience of learning. Be alert to confusion, boredom, disagreement, frustration, disinterest and recognise them as valid and familiar emotional experiences for learners.

Finally, flexibility is the capacity to have more than one way to teach the material. If the globe breaks in the projector can you revert to a whiteboard and get the learning done?

Marcus Crow – Co-founder at 10.000 hours

5. A good trainer knows how to hold attention

A great trainer understands that attention isn’t something you demand: it’s something you earn. This doesn’t mean you need to be a charismatic extrovert or the loudest voice in the room. Quiet confidence, presence, and a deep connection with your material can be just as powerful as a high-energy delivery style.

Some ways trainers hold attention:

• Varied delivery: a mix of storytelling, interactive discussions, and structured moments of reflection.
• Reading the room: picking up on energy levels and adjusting the pace or approach accordingly.
• Engagement over performance: it’s not about being the star of the show, but about keeping participants actively involved.

I’d also add relatability. Some of the best trainers I’ve learned with are ones who show me that they relate to what I’m going through as a learner— this can be through stories focused on empathy and similar experiences, or examples of how content is applied to my context/work.

Caitlin Smith – Director of Human Resources at L’Arche Greater Washington

At its core, an effective trainer doesn’t just talk, they create an environment where people want to listen, learn, and engage.

To make sure you hold participants’ attention, communication skills are essential. Even the most engaging exercises or discussions will fall flat if instructions are vague or confusing. A good trainer knows how to break down complex ideas, explain them in simple terms, and provide clear instructions that set participants up for success.

But what if you’re looking to improve your training delivery? The good news is that great trainers aren’t just born: they’re made. In the next section, we’ll explore practical ways to become a more effective trainer, no matter where you’re starting from.

If, for example, you find the public speaking aspect of being a professional trainer challenging, you might consider taking some public speaking courses, where you’ll learn more about pacing, timing and body language. In the section below we’ll look at some ways you might consider for your self improvement and professional development.

What makes a good training? 

How do we know if a training session or course has been truly successful? And what role do trainer skills and qualities play in making that happen?

An effective training session isn’t just about delivering content: it’s about making sure people walk away with knowledge, confidence, and the ability to apply what they’ve learned. I like to think of it in three key dimensions: the head, the heart, and the hands.

The head. Have participants learned something new? Can they confidently explain and articulate their new knowledge? Content delivery is often the primary focus of training, but it’s only part of the equation. As the trainer in the room, the expectation is that you know your content inside out and are an expert in the topic.

The heart. How do participants feel about the experience? Even if the training was challenging, do they leave feeling accomplished, engaged, and confident in their new skills? Do they walk away energized and inspired?

The hands. Have participants had a chance to put their new abilities into practice through discussions, case studies, or role plays? Are they ready to apply what they’ve learned, or is it still a blur of theory and concepts?

Great trainers design sessions that engage all three, because learning isn’t just about knowing, it’s about feeling and doing, too. Content matter expertise is fundamental, but it only really works when paired with interpersonal skills and a deep understanding of the learning process. When training meets the head, heart, and hands, it sticks.

How to improve your training skills

Great trainers they develop their skills over time through experience, reflection, and intentional learning. Whether you’re just starting out or looking to refine your approach, here are some key ways to grow as a trainer and improving your training skills.

Take part in other people’s training sessions

One of the best ways to improve as a trainer is to experience training from a participant’s perspective. Pay attention to what works, what keeps you engaged, and what makes learning stick. Are there techniques or activities that resonate with you? How does the trainer handle questions, energy levels, or engagement?

Taking part in a variety of training styles (workshops, online courses, or even informal learning sessions) can expose you to new approaches and help you refine your own. Training conferences and events are often organized in “unconference” or skill-sharing styles and can be great places to pick up new tools, techniques and inspiration. 

If you’re an experienced trainer, it’s important to constantly challenge yourself to try something new. Taking part in other people’s training can easily lead into experimenting with a fresh technique, or delivering a session in a different format next time.

For me, a great trainer is also aware of their own limitations so as to be capable to work with the collective wisdom in the room and address the power dynamic.

A trainer who is humble and self-aware knows the role of a trainer is transferable from moment to moment from person to person. The participants might be able to contribute something from a fresh or different perspective; by enabling this, the group may gain new insights on the topic, and the trainer also learns something new.

Sara Huang – Chief Architect of Engaging Conversations at Bureau Tw!st

Collect and integrate feedback

Feedback is essential for growth. No matter how rushed the end of a session might feel (and ideally, it shouldn’t be rushed!), always include a way to collect feedback from participants.

There are many ways you can collect feedback. I like to have a poster up at the exit of the training room with three spaces: what did you like best? What would you change? Any other ideas or messages for me? I invite people to take a few minutes at the end of the training to write their reflections on sticky notes or, if we are working virtually, I do the same thing in Mentimeter. 

In SessionLab’s library you can find dozens of methods for collecting feedback that real trainers actually use. One-breath feedback, for example, is a good way to make sure you get a sense of how the training went, even when you are short on time.

If you have a bit more time, you could also prepare a canvas like this one for the Starfish retrospective and collect information on specific aspects of your training work.

If possible, I recommend you combine live, in-the-moment feedback, with a more structured questionnaire offered some time after the event is over, to get a more balanced perspective.

It is also important to take time after each training to integrate that feedback and learn from it. Block some time in your diary to reflect and log ideas of what you might want to change next time. Not everything participants say will be constructive feedback, and some might only apply to the specific case, but you will probably notice some recurring themes coming up.

In my case, for example “Too much content, too little time” kept coming up over and over until I made it a practice to limit myself and stop cramming too many activities and topics in the same session. I now write my learning objectives at the very top of each agenda page and make sure all the practical exercises I include remain focused on the actual training needs. Training is a life of continuous learning! Keep a training journal to log your progress, track recurring themes, and note what you want to adjust next time.

Since I am often asked to repeat the same training program year after year, I’ve been making it a practice to add a note to my agenda in SessionLab after the training is over with ideas on what I might want to change next year. That way, when months later I duplicate or re-open the session, I have my notes handy.

Attend a Train-the-Trainer program

Even if you have years of experience, there’s always something to gain from structured learning. Train-the-Trainer programs provide insights into adult learning principles, facilitation techniques, and the psychology of engagement. They also allow you to practice in a supportive environment and get feedback from fellow trainers.

Training programs are also a great place to really delve into the nerdy details of training. They are spaces to discuss the ins and outs of time management, or do some collaborative problem-solving about what has been working less well in your training delivery.

Just the other day, in one such training, I got into an intricate conversation with participants about the best ways to divide people into smaller groups. When is it better to let people self-select their teammates for an exercise? When is it best for the trainer to do so? When should we assign people to small groups in advance, based on participant lists, and when is it best to do it on the spot?

This kind of in-depth discussion over the fine details can really improve your training game and I cannot think of a better place to do it that Train-the-Trainer program (other than, perhaps, Reddit). 

Work with another trainer

If you have the opportunity to co-train, take it! Partnering with another trainer allows you to:

• Complement each other’s core qualities and weaknesses.
• Observe and learn from someone else’s approach in real time.
• Share responsibilities and manage group dynamics more effectively.

Having another trainer in the room can also help keep sessions dynamic, allowing you to switch roles, provide different perspectives, and adapt on the fly. It’s a luxury, but if you can make it happen, it’s one of the best ways to grow.

Practice, practice, practice

Like any skill, training improves with practice. Practice is extremely important! The more you test and refine your delivery, the more comfortable and effective you’ll become.

• Record yourself trying out material. Not just during a live session, but even when practicing alone. Run through explanations, introductions, or activity instructions as if you were delivering them to a group. Listening back can reveal unclear phrasing, filler words, or sections that need better pacing.
• Try using AI-powered tools to analyze the tone, clarity, and structure of your presentations: this might help you identify blind spots in your delivery.
• Practice in front of a colleague or friend to get real-time feedback before delivering to a full group.

Even a few short practice runs can make a big difference in how smoothly your training flows when it counts.

If you’re a beginner, lean on pre-existing structures and templates to guide you. In SessionLab’s template collection, you’ll find plenty of ready-made training sessions you can adapt to your own needs.

How SessionLab’s resources can help you design effective training experiences

Here at SessionLab we are passionate about improving learning and training design. In our blog, library and newsletter you’ll find plenty of support to improve your training game. As a trainer, you are probably extremely knowledgeable about the content, but might need some new ideas and inspiration when it comes to how to deliver it. Does that sound like you?

Here are three places you can go next to find more support in designing and delivering excellent learning experiences.

1. Download our Training Design Handbook. You’ll find a proven process and practical tips from learning design all the way to collecting feedback.
2. Find the perfect template to base your next session upon. In our template collection you will find ready-made guidance to, among others, a basic training session modeled around Kolb’s experiential learning cycle and a template for an online learning experience designed by experiential learning expert Romy Alexandra.
3. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive tips and ideas for learning activities, carefully selected among the thousands of training methods in SessionLab’s library.

Ultimately, becoming a great trainer is about staying curious, experimenting with new approaches, and always keeping the learner’s experience at the heart of what you do.

Whether you’re just starting out or refining your craft, the best trainers are those who embrace lifelong learning themselves. So, what’s one small change you’ll make in your next training session? Join our friendly Community to keep the conversation going!

Deborah Rim Moiso Facilitation Content Writer

Deborah Rim Moiso is an Endorsed Facilitator with the IAF – International Association of Facilitators and former co-chair of the Italian IAF Chapter.

She is the author of a manual and deck of cards on facilitation available in Italian (Facilitiamoci!). Deborah has been working with groups since 2009 in the fields of innovation in education, citizen participation, and environmental conflicts.