London (UK), July 2014 - neuTrain, the not-for-profit platform, which was built in order to share content and prevent much of the wheel reinvention that is the plague of the training industry, was recently recognised at the prestigious Association for Business Psychology (ABP) annual awards.
Out of 100 category entries, neuTrain’s success in supporting training professionals and psychologists resulted in one of four nominations for "Excellence in Training".
Lucy Standing, neuTrain founder, comments, "neuTrain is still in its early stages of development, and we are proud and delighted to be recognised for our achievements so far. We recognised the need for a platform where training professionals and psychologists could share their training materials on line in a bid to remove the financial barrier that exists for many small business and charities. Investing in training and developing staff is a very positive thing. It’s hard to measure precisely, but it has been linked with increased levels of employee engagement, well being, and organisational performance."
The site shares the actual materials that companies, trainers, and psychologists have developed when delivering training courses. You can view all the slides, but more importantly, the trainers’ notes, which are needed in order to make sense of the course. The aim is that charities and small businesses no longer need to pay hefty fees to buy materials they can't see or pay consultancies to have them designed; neuTrain shares everything.
The idea is the site is used for research, but actually many of the materials can already be downloaded and edited for free. We are working on making all materials completely free to download.
When asked why this is being done, Lucy commented, "In a world where information already exists for those motivated to search, it's strange and slightly irritating that people are not always happy to share what they have already produced. I want to challenge the concept of intellectual property: Have you ever been on an interview course that says not to ask open questions, not to take notes, not to build rapport?"
"Most of the time, this is all accepted practise. What we are really saving people is time; the knowledge is less valuable. The skill of the trainer to engage people is where the value lies, and sharing content doesn't undermine this value. I'd argue it’s the opposite: Sharing what you do and what you know helps to build your profile. Whoever heard of an author who became famous for ideas she didn't publish!"
To further add to the idea of sharing best practise, neuTrain has a facility where people can comment and make reviews of the materials. The idea is that neuTrain can't quality control the materials: what works for one organisation may not work for another. However, if a course receives several poor reviews, the likelihood is the author will either remove it, or those looking at it can read the reviews and judge for themselves whether the content is for them.
The following is an example review from the site: Stephen Brothwell, Pinnacle People, commented, "I highly recommend this course. The result of talking openly about stress and stress management is a much happier, more focussed team". (Feedback on a Stress Management Course by Victoria Wilken, Business Psychologist, Workology).
Lucy concluded, "I’m proud to be involved in facilitating access to content that would ordinarily cost a significant amount. My thanks to everyone who is making this possible."
