THE ROLE OF VOICE AS TRAINER


One thing that all trainer should have is a nice and loud voice. I define a loud voice as a voice which is thick as enough power to be heard across the room. I define a thick voice as a voice that charactarize with a good resonace which you can hear when you’re humming. A thick voice will also support the good articulation of each word that comes out of our mouth. According to Dictionary.com, articulation means the formation of clear and distinct sound in speech. So, a good articulation means that we pronounce the syllable of each word clearly and distinctly from one another.

If a trainer has a thin kind of voice then it is a good idea to do some exercise to make the voice is thicker which is having enough power to be heard. There are several exercie that we can do to make our voice. We can use some techniques which are usually being used by an artist or singer.

Here are some exercise that you can do :

1. Open your mouth wide then make a sound slide from your highest pitch to your lower pitch on the vowel O or A. Ensure that your tounge remains still and repeat it several times.

2. Opern your mouth and make a sound slide from your lowest pitch to higest pitch and then do it back down and repeat it several times.

3. To make a clear articulations try to sing a song with vowels such as aa ii uu oo ee with the same pitch. Do this with low jaw and high palate and the vowel should seem to melt into one anohter.

4. Try make your voice more powerful try to breath with your diaphragm then your neck. Start the exercise by take a deep breath and make your stomach flares like a balloon .


It may takes time for you to do these exercises before you can feel the different. But as you this exercise you should remember not to force your voice especially when you do high pitch.

But sometimes having a powerful voice is not enough as trainer. Voice is also influenced by the reflection or echo. To create an echo then there are several condition of the training room should be noted such as :

1. Training room should have walls in each side so the sound will be able to reflect and create a good echo. There are some training room has big open window in one side which will prevent the voice from reflecting.
2. The training room should not to wide. A wider room needs more time for a voice wave to reflect back to the trainer. If this happen then it is a good idea to use a mic and sound system.


These what I do to make my voice more powerful. But using a mic is till the best way for me to as long as the training is still conducting in open place. One thing you should remember that having a powerful voice is important for a trainer but it is not everything. There are many other aspects should be develop to become a good trainer. So, don’t give up when your voice is not supporting you as a trainer. Do the voice exercise and in the mean time you can use the mic. Nobody is perfect, right ?

I’ve been giving an inhouse training for a private company for almost a year. I set up a training program based on my research about their Training Need Analysis (TNA) which I have done last year. There are around 100 employees who are being the subject of my training. I conduct the training at least twice a month.

And by the end of this month, I realized that I almost conduct all my training program. All of sudden I feel so tired and kind of reluctant to continue the rest of the program. I am feel so tired of seeing doubtful faces, underestimate faces or mocking faces of the participants. As I get used to stand in front of the participants and conducting the training, I also get used to those ‘special’ faces. I can almost explain what is happening in their mind while I deliver my training.

So, I talk to my sister who is lecturer. She has been a lecturer longer than I have been a trainer. And my question to her is “Don’t you get tired of giving lecture ?” At that point I was so tired of giving training like starting with icebreaker, delivering the subject, answering questions, making role play and exercise and also conducting pre and post test.

And my sister said, “Nope, I always enjoy it and never get tired”
ENJOY is the word that kind of surprising me. I enjoy of being a trainer but why I feel this tiredness. So, I start to make a comparison between lecturer and trainer.

But before I make the comparison, I also define the same characteristic of both of the profession :

1. Both of them are transferring knowledge
2. Lead and manage a group of participants
3. Using test and other method to measure the learning output

And the difference is first, the knowledge being transferred is rather different. As lecturer, the knowledge being transferred is a know-how knowledge or conceptual knowledge. As trainer the knowledge is know-why or tacit knowledge which is usually connected with skill in performing job. That’s quite big difference but still it doesn’t explain yet why I feel so tired of giving training although I have passion in training.

Finally, I found the second difference which explain my tiredness. My sister said that the most enjoying part of being a lecture is seeing a different face at every semester. THAT’S IT ! That’s the difference. A lecturer is giving same topic over and over again every semester to new students, while a trainer is in opposite way. A trainer is giving various topic to the same employee for a whole year. That’s why I feel so tired of seeing those ‘special’ faces while conducting training. A lecturer may see the same faces but only for a semester because for the next semester they will meet new student with different ‘special’ faces.

That’s the main different of a lecturer and a trainer. A trainer could be a lecturer but a lecturer may need some time to become a trainer. What do you think ?

Training has been part of Human Resource’s function for a long time. Some people even believe that the word ‘development’ means training. This is not necesary wrong but the word ‘development’ refers to more than just training. But this believe reflects on how people put a special attention on training role.
In many organization, training is given to the employee mostly on how the employee should do their duties. But then another question raise, what kind of training should be given to the employee since an employee has many duties. The best answer for this question is doing a Training Needs Analysis. A training needs analysis is a process to identified the training needs in the organization which will improving the employee performance.
In hotel industry, a training needs analysis becomes important since hotel industry has a unique form. A hotel has a production form as well as service forms. Unlike other service industry, a hotel is able to produce a tangible product such as food and beverage. This unique forms make a training program become much more difficult
There are several methods of doing TNA research but the most suitable for hotel industry is the one which based on task analysis. This methods is suitable for jobs which emphasize on physical ability rather than conceptual ability. Most jobs in hotel industry are based on physical ability such as Room Attendant whose job is mainly cleaning the hotel room. Generaly, task analysis is a process to analyze a tasks and brake it down into a number of basic acvitvities. Then these basic activities are being clasified into Knowledge, Skill or Attitude (KSA). The target of observation is finding its critical behavior. Below are the steps of doing TNA research based on task analysis :
1. Identified jobs to be analyze.
2. Observe each job in order to find its basic activities.
3. Classified each activities into Knowledge, Skill or Attitude (KSA).
4. Find the critical behavior for each job.
5. Define the right training for each job based on the critical behavior

The first step of Training Needs Analysis which is using task analysis approach is identifying jobs to be analyzed. The organization structure in hotel industry usually is using function departmentalization. The hotel structure may vary from one hotel to another but usually the HRD, Finance and Sales function exist. Other functions may vary such as Room Division and Food and Beverage. Usually the Room Division is divided into Front Office, Housekeeping and Engineering. These 3 sub departments are the unique departments which are not exist in other type of industries. These 3 departments may exist in other hospitality industry such as restaurant and sometimes hospital although perhaps they use other names.

The identification of existing departments is important before we can identify the job titles to be observed. In some small hotels, the Room Division does not exist and its 3 sub departments (Front Office, Engineering and Housekeeping) may stand as a department. Although those sub departments stand as a department but sometimes structurally the head is not a manager but chief.

Identifying job titles to be observed is important since we use task analysis approach. The task analysis approach is an analysis which is begun by observes the job title. The purpose of Training Needs Analysis research with task analysis approach is to inventory the training needs from the whole organization or from all departments. That’s why the first step is identifying the job titles. When we identifying the job titles then we should take note of:

1. The number of job titles in each departments.
By knowing the number of job titles then we should be able to predict how much time we should spend in observing each job titles.
2. The relationship between job titles (especially when relationship between some job titles from different departments is crucial).
By knowing the relationship then we should not be confused when we start the observation step.
3. The job description of each job title
By knowing the job description then we should be ready to take note when we start the observation step.

You can read more complete about this step in my e-book Training Need Analysis in Hotel Industry: TNA Research With Task Analysis Approach at www.ebooks-corner.com

For lecturer, doing a research and writes it into a book or a journal is MUST. The more you publish your manuscript then the higher your credibility too. Of course, it is not easy to publish your book through a publishing company. The difficulties come when the commercial side is being talked about. Whether your book has enough potency to be a best seller or not, whether it has enough reader who will buy the book and many other thing. While the process in publishing book is dificult , the benefit is not too many. The writer will only get few percent of value from each book that is sold. Maybe 2% and no more than 10%. This sounds unfair. The writer has worked hard and get little payment.
That’s why writing an ebook becomes popular now. By writing an ebook, you can publish your book yourself or even resell it without worry about royatlty value. Since you publish your book yourself then the royalty will go back to you again ! You have nothing to lose !
Then what should we do when we’re about to publish our own book.
First of all, of course your MANUSCRIPT. Just write anything that you like such as a ture story, a documentary, an experience, a research outcome and many more. Just write it as you teach your studen at class. Use the word “I” as your language is fine too. E book is not an official book with a stiff rules.
Second, get an ebook cover design. There are many sites offering ebook cover design. All you have to do is browsing the right site to get the right design. Usually these sites will send the ebook cover design by email as soon as you pay it, or they will customiize it for you first before sending the design by email. Customize it means put your book title, the author name and tagline. Or even better, you can get a free ebook cover design ! Just keep those fingers browsing.
Third, don’t forget to make your ebook looks better by using a header or footer at each page. Don’t worry, there are also many websites that sell ebook page template. You can also get a free ebook page template.
Fourth, create a blog or website to sell your ebook. Or if this is difficult then just find an online ebooks store which will sell your book for only few percent commision.
So, don’t give up…publish your book now!

By. Arie Ferrinawati K

Today, I held an interview session which I was appointed to be the person in charge for the whole recruitment process. I have been handling this kind of duty for many times, so I thought it would be easy but quite dull.

As the standard operation procedure, the candidate must be interviewed by HRD Manager (which represented by me) and the designated department manager. I had the first session. As, I thought before, it was easy. All I had to do is did the background check by reading their curriculum vitae. By doing the background check, I already had the main description of the candidate.

I finnshed my part. After that, I escort the candidates to the operational department manager one by one to be interviewed. I sat next to one of the manager as he started to interview the candidate. I didn’t ask any question, I just heard them this time. As the manager interviewed the candidate, I noticed some unsual attitude of the candidate which was a female candidate. The way she sat, look, move her hair and other her body language seemed different. It seemed that she tried to send some kind of signal to the manager. First, I thought she was nervous. Later on , I knew that she wasn’t nervous, She was flirting the manager ! And suprisingly, the manager responsed it well. He started to flirt her too ! He started to ask question which was in my opinion was not relevant. The manager seemed very much interested to hire her. He promised that he would guide her and train her in every step of the way. Hearing this, deep down in my heart I was laughing. I know, what kind of manager he was. He wasn’t that nice, trust me in this one.

I tried to hide my smile looking at these 2 persons action in front of my eyes. Both ridicilous and inapproriate. Luckily, in the final decision was in the hands of 3 persons : HRD manager, Director and designated department mananger. This kind of process is to avoid things like above influencing the recruitment system. This will avoid the process based on like or dislike. This will guarante that the process will be based only on performance matter. This will also avoid the nepotism practice which is still frequently happens in the nowadays society.

Long time ago, a friend of me ask me,

“Are you working as Human Resource ?”

“Have you realized that Human Resource has more enemy rather than friend ?”

I was a freshgraduate who was working in a big national company. Honestly, I wasn’t realized about the fact that my friend was talking about. All I know as a freshgraduate was Human Resource is just another department like Marketing or Finance. That’s all I know…

As time goes by, I start to realize that what my friend was talking about is true. I have more enemies rather than friend. For other I was nothing but the company’s spy who will give them many disadvantages. But the fact that no one wanted to be my friend sincerely, didn’t stop me from doing my best for my job. I kept on doing my job with a new prespective. My new prespective was a belief that by doing my job then it means I would give the employee some benefits. I always try to be honest and as sincere as I possibly can to the employee. Sometimes I treat them more like friends rather than a co-worker. I listened to them and help them the best I could.

Unfortunately this new prespective is also has some minor effect. I started to face dilematic situation. I started to be in difficult position between enforcing the house rule and keeping the friendship among the co-worker frequently . Situation like downsizing or terminated work contract have influenced my feelings. My conscious and my heart strated to influenced my decision making ability. Sometimes I bend the rule in the name of humanity. That isn’t right but what can you do more when your heart pounding asking for something to be done. Your heart will never say no ! But this difficulty is also the unique side of being Human Resource. These dificulties has become a daily insipiring story about me that will make me more human than before.

I have written about all my experience as human resource in my book HUMAN RESOURCE OFFICER’S STORY. This book is published by www.ebooks-corner.com . I hope my experience will be used for other.