How to Build a Training Cadre: A Step-by-Step Process

At a glance

  • Meeting your organization’s many goals can be challenging for one person or a few people to accomplish, given other responsibilities.
  • Building a core training team, or cadre, is key to professional development (PD).
  • This content explains the need for a training cadre to sustain an organization’s PD goals and provides many helpful resources.

The four phases to building a training cadre

Building a training cadre involves four phases:

  1. Assessment
  2. Recruitment
  3. Action
  4. Evaluation

ca·dre‎

Noun. A diverse group of professionals, with a common vision and mission, that supports the sustainability of professional development infrastructure within organizations.

For more definitions, review the Glossary of Terms for Training Cadres.

How to build a strong training cadre

Building a training cadre is an important way to sustain a professional development infrastructure and will help to:

  • Build an organization's capacity to deliver knowledge and skills to staff.
  • Leverage the organization's resources.
  • Sustain your work by informing and training others on specific content.

Your initial tasks in building your cadre are to develop a structured process to:

  • Establish a purpose that will unify your team.
  • Ensure each team member understands their role and the overarching purpose of the team.

A structured process is critical to establish criteria for cadre membership.

Identify Barriers and Solutions
Consider asking yourself and colleagues the following:

  • What are barriers to establishing a training cadre in your area?
  • What can be done to overcome these barriers?

A strong training cadre consists of:

  • An effective leader.
  • A diverse, well-rounded group of individuals.
  • Demographics that represent your geographic region.
  • The right mix of job functions to address your organization's needs.

Tasks for the cadre leader are outlined in Training Cadre Leader Responsibilities.


Examples of Cadre Members
  • Administrators
  • Organizational staff
  • Partner representatives

Resources

CDC's Division of Population Health, School Health Branch, acknowledges the following people for their expertise and assistance in developing the Training Cadre Resource toolkit:

  • Stephane McKissick, CDC
  • Holly Alperin, University of New Hampshire
  • Kate Holmes, Louisiana Department of Health, Office of Public Health
  • Lisa Rakoz, Washington State Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction
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Content Source:
Division of Adolescent and School Health; National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (NCCDPHP)