A local company has devised an innovative program that will revolutionize workplace training and, in so doing, save corporations heaps of time and money.

LittleBrownMouse's Master Trainer Program, launching May 1, will empower Alberta companies by training their internal experts on how to train other personnel.

It's a fairly simple concept, but one that no firm has been able to implement in a formal, well-designed process ... until now.

"The necessary expertise lies within virtually all medium-sized to large enterprises, and what we do is simply train these internal experts to become very effective trainers," explains LittleBrownMouse president Kathy Legg, whose 25 years in the training world have seen her work with in impressive range of industries: oil and gas, banking, manufacturing, post-secondary institutions, military, police and day cares, to name just a few.

Kathy Legg and Tony Gammon of LittleBrownMouse.

"I have been on the other side, where I was brought in to train a group of people, and I knew that as soon as I walked out the door, so, too, did the expertise those employees would want to draw upon the very next day."

Illustrating this point, when Legg worked with the Calgary Police Service, she conducted extensive research and even wrote a provincial law book.

"I certainly know how to write a traffic ticket and can tell anyone how to do it, but there's no way I can train police recruits to do that as well as experienced officers who have been on the street for years," she says. "These senior officers can relate from their own experience the challenges you can encounter and the solutions they have come up with. They simply need to be trained on how to train."

Legg and her partner, VP Operations Tony Gammon, will ensure that any training they do for your organization does not simply walk out the door.

"The key is the retention of the training skills and critical information," says Gammon. "Our program will provide your business experts with the skills and knowledge they need in order to present effective and enjoyable training within their organization for years to come.

"In providing the Master Trainer Program to our clients, we help them bring more of their training 'in-house' rather than paying for expensive outsourced training companies."

Some of the tangible benefits of LittleBrownMouse's "in-house" training:

* Reduction of an organization's training budget;

* Training on the organization's schedule, not at the training company's convenience;

* By using their own business experts, organizations have credible and authoritative trainers to deliver their programs;

* Organizations are able to design and develop customized training more quickly;

* The "Trainer" title can be used as an incentive for employees to excel; and

* There's no need to have the business expert in the classroom answering questions that the training company's "trainer" can't answer!

LittleBrownMouse offers seminars for both public enrollment and private or corporate programs. And they conduct these seminars with levels of professionalism and practicality that set them above other training organizations.

"What makes us very different from our competition is that we specialize in training experts to be trainers," says Legg. "The competition all offer a large range of different courses and offer T3 training as an afterthought.

"Because we specialize, we have a much clearer understanding of what our clients need and can concentrate on providing exactly what our clients need. We aren't distracted by trying to offer too many types of programs to varied audiences."

LittleBrownMouse, which has always been active in the community and is a supporter of the Calgary Interfaith and Mountain View Food Banks, also prides itself on its ability to stay the course.

"We cut to the point in our training," says Legg.

Indeed, Legg and Gammon don't go into all of the academic theory, jargon and research analysis that other training companies do.

"Our clients aren't interested in it, and don't have time or money for it," adds Legg. "We don't clog the class time with discussions about pedagogy, andragogy, or Kolb's Inventory of Learning Styles. We leave that to the PhDs.

"What we clearly and effectively provide are the nuts and bolts, need-to-know, concise points about how the business expert can best share his or her years of knowledge with others. We go beyond the basic 'how-to-use-a-lesson-plan' lecture and discuss topics not traditionally associated with training skills, but those that will have a dramatic impact on the success of our client's program."

These non-traditional topics include coaching skills, delegation skills, developing OJT programs, writing key questions, and change, project and time-management skills.

LittleBrownMouse's program is delivered in a series of four sessions that can be presented on the client's own schedule.

You don't have to wait until next semester or the next workshop date, and you can put up to 12 business experts in a meeting room and have them ready to present effective training in as little as four days.

If you are looking for the most efficient way to develop practical, sustainable training practices, your train has come in. Contact LittleBrownMouse now to set up a free consultation: 866.229.4621, 403.613.4621, info@LittleBrownMouse.ca or visit the website at www.LittleBrownMouse.ca.