Circuit Rider Training: Jon Stahl

If you're part of a small organization that has extensive technology training needs, but not enough money to hire a full-time trainer or an expensive freelance training consultant, then you might benefit from pooling your resources with similar organizations to hire a circuit rider.

Circuit riders, named for the clerics who traveled from church to church in the American frontier, are technology consultants who work with a community of nonprofits. A circuit rider is a computer expert, trainer, management consultant, and communications strategist all rolled into one.

Circuit riders provide a range of technology assistance services that may include technology planning, project implementation, training, and support. They serve communities as small as a handful of groups in a single city to ones as large as a national network of organizations working on a single issue like welfare reform.

Foundations often fund circuit rider projects in order to improve the technological know-how of their grantees. In other cases, a community of nonprofits comes together to develop a circuit rider project to address their similar training needs.

Circuit rider training typically emphasizes the "shoulder-to-shoulder" approach -- see "Shoulder-to-Shoulder Training: Andrew Gianni", another TechSoup article in this series-- in which trainers work on-site with students allowing them hands-on experience. Usually, this training occurs one-on-one or in small groups, rather than in a classroom setting. Training is adapted to the trainee's real-world tasks. Often, circuit riders will conduct pre-training surveys to gauge what skills students already have, and where they need the most help.

Often, training is just part of a larger suite of technology planning, implementation, and support services that the circuit rider provides. The relationship between circuit rider and client is usually ongoing, adding to its appeal; the circuit rider is available for follow-up support and consultation -- either hands-on or via the phone, e-mail, or the Web.

Strengths of a Circuit Rider Training Approach

The circuit rider training model has several strengths that make it an extremely effective way to build up the technology resources of a relatively small network of organizations.

The primary strength of the circuit rider model is that it allows nonprofits to obtain high-quality technology assistance from people who understand nonprofit culture. They understand, for example, that nonprofits often use older technology, and use it in different ways than for-profit organizations. They are able to teach older software programs on older systems, and set up databases appropriate for nonprofit use, as opposed to product-centered uses. They also are familiar with working with volunteers, and understand that nonprofits are often understaffed and not driven by profit. And in many cases, they are willing to offer smaller contracts.

Trainers who understand how nonprofits work are hard to come by, and few small-to-midsize groups can afford to hire them full-time. The circuit rider model allows a number of groups to share a single talented trainer.

Circuit riders are able to develop an understanding of the shared needs of a community of related organizations. This allows them to develop training materials that are useful to the entire network of organizations. A circuit rider may even "cross-pollinate" the organizations they service by transmitting insights, tools, and tips as they travel from client to client.

The circuit rider model emphasizes building strong relationships between trainers and their clients. The helps circuit riders personalize the training to make it more useful. The tremendous trust that a good circuit rider relationship engenders can help even the least tech-savvy people feel comfortable.

Since circuit riders will return to their clients, there's less pressure to jam-pack training sessions. This is particularly true for circuit riders who serve a small group of organization in a single geographical area.

This type of training is efficient for clients. Because training is individualized, instructors don't waste time covering things the clients already know, leaving more time to concentrate on relevant information.

Finally, this model can be inexpensive. Most groups don’t need and can’t afford a full-time trainer, but also can’t afford to pay a freelance trainer by the hour. The circuit rider model allows groups to pool their resources and share a full-time trainer.

Weaknesses of a Circuit Rider Training Model

Perhaps the biggest weakness of circuit rider training is its relatively high demands on the trainer. Individualized circuit rider training takes more time than classroom sessions, although it often requires less preparation time, because lessons don't have to be as polished.

Circuit riders have to be outstanding technology generalists, able to handle a wide range of needs. Not only do they need to be experts in all manner of technology subjects, but they also need excellent teaching and interpersonal skills. It can be much harder to find skilled circuit riders than to find instructors to teach technology classes or perform basic network installations. However, this may not be as true if your circuit rider project is limited to training.

Most effective circuit rider programs are long-term engagements. Organizations need ongoing technology support, and not just "drive-by consulting." Short-term programs too often leave organizations without a technology program they can sustain.

Conclusion

The circuit rider model is an extremely powerful way to bring technology training to a network of related organizations. This type of training emphasizes how technology benefits an organization’s mission, and it attempts to build the technology systems of the entire organization rather than simply improving individuals’ skills. Circuit riding works best when within a tight-knit network of organizations with a shared commitment to transforming the way they use technology, strong support from funders, and a focus on building technology support resources.

If your community does not yet have access to a nonprofit technology circuit rider, here’s how you can get started:

• Take an inventory of your organization’s technology training needs. Identify your highest priorities.
• Get together informally with peer organizations with which you already have a good working relationship. Find out if they have similar needs and might be interested in developing a circuit rider program.
• Talk with funders that support your mission and have an interest in making your organization more technologically efficient.
• Consider hiring a consultant to help you pull together a plan for a circuit rider program.