Among all the other scandals of recent weeks came the revelation that Lloyds PPI complaints handlers were being trained to purposely reject valid claims.

An audio recording of an in-company trainer was seized upon by The Times as evidence that the banking group had been engaging in less than ethical practices.

The trainer told trainees to flat out deny or refuse claims, as most customers would give up trying to claim after an initial rejection.

The Trainer's Responsibility

Much of the responsibility for quality training falls at the feet of the trainer; after all they're the ones delivering the training! Not only do they need to fully understand the needs of the client, they must find a way to communicate their message in an engaging and memorable way.

They also have a duty to not misinform. In the Lloyds case, it would appear that the trainer either gave false information to delegates or at the very least recommended methods that were in no way best practice.

Keeping up to date with the latest methods and trends is also essential and will avoid any confusion over the adoption of previous policies. Take a look at these other qualities good trainers possess.

Trainers should ultimately make their clients' professional lives better and easier; something that the trainer for Lloyds was not doing.

The Training Company's Responsibility

The entire Lloyds PPI reclaim program was run by Deloitte who outsourced the hiring and training of staff to recruiters Momenta.

As such, both firms had a responsibility to a greater and lesser extent in ensuring that the trainers were of a decent enough calibre to provide the training required.

Ultimately, Deloitte didn't do their job of facilitating a quality program, because the training provider that they chose and then the trainer that the provider chose, weren't competent. They've now lost a major client due to that failure; something you'd be able to avoid after coming on our Key Account Management Training.

Perhaps there wasn't enough of a back and forth between each party involved.

At Silicon Beach, we pride ourselves on the high quality of trainers that we have work for us and will always make sure they completely understand the needs of the client, through ongoing conversations, meetings and consultations.

We re-evaluate all of our courses on a frequent basis to keep up with industry trends and current best practice - we don't want our clients to receive out-dated training or bad advice. This, we believe, is the only way for training to truly be beneficial to the client.

The Business' Responsibility

The business or client receiving the training also has some responsibility though when it comes to ensuring the delivery is exactly what's required. Vague or generic training goals don't help the trainer provide decent training.

That wasn't so much the issue in the Lloyds case though; the issue was a clear lack of scope and limit on what should and shouldn't be taught to new recruits, as well as a lack of understanding of the company's ethos and morals.

It is however the responsibility of both the business and the trainer (and training company) to really 'get' each other i.e. understand what each considers best practice, and explain how the business works: for example, what regulations they must abide by or their attitude towards less ethical procedures etc.

So long as each party understands its roles and responsibilities, you should be able to avoid any training calamities.

Have you had any bad experiences where bad training has led to problems? Let us know in the comments below, or get in contact to hear how we can help.