Copyright © 1998, Nanette Miner
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Reprinted/excerpted with permission. The Training Doctor. Author: Nanette Miner. www.trainingdr.com

Job Aids Make 'Training' Simple

By Nanette Miner, EdD

What's the first thing that comes to mind when you hear "training?" If you're an employee, you might think, "Yes! Vacation! Eight hours away from my desk. And if I fall behind in my work, nobody can blame me." If you're an employer, you may be thinking, "Fifteen people away from their work for eight hours - that's a lot of money I'm spending and not getting any real work done. There's got to be a better way." Well, I'm happy to tell you, there is a better way. They better way is known as a Job Aid.

Job Aids are essentially cheat sheets. Remember the cheat sheets or crib notes you used in high school? I never would have passed chemistry if I hadn't had a cheat sheet of the periodic table (don't tell Mr. Stefano, please). Your high school cheat sheet didn't include the entire text of your book. It was most likely a list of bullet points or major ideas that helped you to recall the detailed information. In the work world, the Job Aid serves the same function. Job aids probably exist all around you and you haven't even noticed. Does the receptionist have a list of people's names and their telephone extensions? Is there a sheet of paper taped to a cabinet in the break room that explains the steps of making coffee? Is there a note next to the alarm system that tells you how to turn it off if it is accidentally activated? All valuable cheat sheets. All Job Aids.

When a process is known by only one person in your organization, or it is a process that is done infrequently (like the printing of W2's), Job Aids are the perfect solution to the problem of "how do you do this?" Job aids save the one person from being burdened ("Better call Steve at home, he's the only one that knows how to fix this.") and allow for seldom used processes to be done correctly.

A Job Aid can be as simply as a checklist:

• Press the power button
• Wait until green light is steady
• Type your password and press "enter"

or more sophisticated such as a step/action/result table:

Job aids are crucial training tools when individuals join your organization one at a time and it's impossible, or economically unfeasible, to conduct a training class or take an experienced person off the job to train the new person. With Job Aids, the new-hire can practically train themselves! Job aids are also handy reference tools, so when the new-hire gets overwhelmed, s/he has a resource for reference rather than having to go back to the 'trainer' for remedial assistance.

The benefit of a reference tool also comes into play when the "only" person who knows how to perform the function leaves your organization. I once had a job in which I was literally the only person who know how to do it. I was trained by the person who held the job before me. During my first summer on the job, I decided to document each activity that I did on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis - purely to keep myself occupied because it was a slow summer. This is when I first learned the value of Job Aids. When I left, I trained the next person, who left the job within six weeks. The person who THEN took the job had minimal training and no one to "go to." She constantly thanked me for the documentation whenever I ran into her. She said she used it on a regular basis and never got caught short because she knew what she had to do each day, each week, and each month.

The key to creating useful Job Aids is to be overly detailed in the description of the steps and results. For instance, in the step/action/result table illustrated above, what if "Access Authorized" had not appeared? The trainee would be stymied as to what to do next. Another crucial step is to have someone who doesn't know the job "test" the Job Aid for clarity and accuracy. Many times, when we are the expert at something, we skip over important steps because they seem inherent in the function. For instance, we may assume that someone would exit a program when they are finished using it, but if the Job Aid doesn't explicitly say to do that, the trainee won't be sure if it is a necessary step or not. Be sure to add all steps and contingencies so that the Job Aid can stand alone as a training aid and future reference tool. With the systematic assembly of Job Aids, your organization will be humming along consistently.