Lessons from Games we can use in Training
Fascinating article in T+D (ASTD's journal) from May 2011 regarding three important lessons to be learned from games / game designers / gamers - and how they can be applied to training.
1 - Define a starting point and objective, but not the path to be taken
The author (Ben Betts) correctly points out that in a video game there are many ways to "get to the next level." Some will get you there faster than others. Some will be better than others. But each path the gamer takes is a lesson learned. So repeated exposure to the environment, while they are trying to figure out how to get to the 'answer,' is a great way to developing reasoning, problem solving and decision making - things that we are sorely lacking in most employees, you'll no doubt agree.
2 - Measure the experience, not the journey
Too often we are are consumed with how long the training has taken to accomplish. As trainers we say "this should take 30 minutes to learn;" as learners we say "only 20 more slides until I am finished!" These "goals" aren't learning goals at all. Instead, by tracking progress against accomplishing objectives or against peers, we can keep the focus on the journey and the experience. Games often award "experience points" - you actually earn more points by taking longer to play the game, because you encounter and experience more things in the environment. Using this methodology helps to prevent people from finding the shortest route to "the end."
3 - The learning process is you "against" a peer - not you "against" the computer
The learning process needs to have a social element. Once you beat the computer you can say you have won. But when you are competing against another person, or multiple persons, there will be an element of the unknown. Different players bring different strategies one has to adapt to. The process you used yesterday may not be the process that works in your favor today.
It all makes sense and is very exciting... now, how to put it in to practice?
You Talk Too Much!
In our observations over the years we have found that online facilitators often commit 2 common errors:
1 - They talk too much.
It seems they do not think through, in advance, the instructions they want to give or how they want to transmit information to their learners, so they say the same thing, but in a variety of ways, as if they are trying to find the "best way" to express themselves at that moment. Here is a case in point from a session we recently observed:
Facilitator:
I'd like you to find 2 blank piece of pieces of paper. They can be blank pieces of paper from the printer. Or, it can be the back of your intersession assignment - if you printed it out. It can be the blank back-sides of the pages from your workbook and if you only have one piece of paper, you can turn it over for the second activity - so therefore, you have two pieces of paper.
Really? You have to supply that many suggestions to find a blank piece of paper?! When teaching online, it is imperative to be very specific in your language and only give your participants exactly the information they need to be successful in the class or at the task you are preparing them for. Learning by listening is the hardest way to learn - do not overwhelm your learners with a bunch of extraneous information that they have to "weed through" to get to the important message. "Please, take out a blank piece of paper and indicate when you are ready" is sufficient.
2 - They are afraid of silence.
This is not a phone conversation when dead-air indicates someone is no longer engaged in the conversation. When we are learning online - - we need to expect that people are thinking and processing - - and they do that quietly. When you ask, "Think of a situation that exemplifies X and write it in chat" don't panic when nothing shows up in chat for 90 seconds or more. People are fulfilling the task you just assigned them. If you begin to talk again, you simply stop their processing and then you truly get nothing in response. Ask a question and be quiet, please.
More on Informal Learning
Interestingly, right after our post below on Informal Learning at Work, we came up on the September T+D (by ASTD) profile of Jay Cross - one of the most vocal champions of informal learning at work. He discusses how he first became aware of the power of Informal Learning and offers some great ideas for CLOs to harness the power of informal learning rather than "leaving money on the table."
You can read his profile here: http://post.ly/34sFe
Informal learning at work - at work
"Social learning" and "informal learning" are among the training industry's hottest phrases these days, according to Jane Bozarth, Ph.D. And we saw informal learning at work, working, just this week.
A client of ours has approximately 80 work at home CSRs. Their managers and support people are in the "corporate" office. The work at home CSRs work part-time schedules - 3 - 4 hours a day - so not everyone is at work at the same time and, of course, there is no central gathering place for them, except... there is!
The workers, and their managers, keep an open "chat" dialogue box on their screen throughout their work day. When they have a question such as "Are we allowed to tell the customer X" they can quickly get an answer - from a co-worker or a manager - while still on the phone with the customer. When a policy or procedure is newly updated or issued, they can get the information as quickly as the CSRs who are working in the brick-and-mortar office building. And best of all, for those who are not online at the exact time that any of these learning opportunities occur, the chat keeps a history - so they can review what happened while they were away.
What a useful addition to their work lives!
FR~EE on-demand webcasts
ASTD is offering a free (if you are a national member) webcast, on-demand webcastfrom Dr. Nanette Miner - managing consultant of The Training Doctor, LLC.
Topic: https://www.td.org/membership/profdevwebcast
Enjoy!
FR~EE Synchronous Delivery Platform
We recently came upon AnyMeeting which seems to include all the features you may want in a synchronous platform, without all the money! We have not checked it out yet. If you do, please post a comment. They say they offer:
Meeting size of up to 200 ppl
Email invites and registration
Screen sharing, polling, chat and Q+A
Web cam broadcasting
Their integrated con call # (probably a charge, but we don't know) or VoIP
Recording and hosting of the recordings
Ability to export attendance and survey results
And all of this is free; the site is supported by advertising revenue
GREAT Phrase for us Trainers to keep in mind
Not sure if he orginated this phrase, but we saw a recent article of Bob Pike's in which he states...As a trainer, if you haven't caught it - I haven't taught it.
The Importance of Using Questions in Training
There are two types of questions we can use in training: Those that make people repeat back what we just taught them and those that make people think. If you really want to get people to the point where they have learned, and not just memorized, you need to incorporate the latter type of question in to your training tool kit.
Example: Memorize: When do we file the G39 reports? Learn: Why is it important that we file the G39 reports?
Questions that help people to learn are always open ended questions: What if? When will? How is? Why would? These types of questions require learners to explain their thinking, their opinion and their perspective on a topic. They allow you, the trainer, to better understand if the person "got it" and to correct or provide additional information if necessary.
So the next time you allow for Q+A in your training, be sure to create questions that require the learner to do more than regurgitate what it is you just told them.
You Are What You Say
On December 16th, 2010, a team spanning the Cultural Observatory, Harvard, Encyclopedia Britannica, the American Heritage Dictionary, and Google published a paper describing the Culturomics approach online in the journal Science, and at the same time launched the world's first real-time culturomic browser on Google Labs.www.culturomics.org
= = = =
What’s fascinating about this field of study is that through data crunching, we can identify how society and human behavior is changing over the years. For instance, in the last 20 years in pop music, more artists are referring to themselves (me, my, I) than they have in the past.
The ongoing study referred to in the above website has also determined that the English language is 70% larger than it was just 50 years ago! Over 8,000 words were added in the year 2000 alone. Why does that concern us trainers? It’s just one more example of how what people “know to be true” is in constant flux and changing rapidly. It should make you stop, at least for a moment, to ponder if “creating training” is really a smart move.
Perhaps it’s smarter to harness the informal ways that training occurs in the workplace. Perhaps it’s smart to teach people to fish than to provide them with the fish. In other words, perhaps it’s time we concentrate on creating training processes and less on creating training content.
The Benefits of Training Virtually
We created this for a client as sort of a "thought piece" - and we thought you'd like to see it too...
Too many organizations look at offering virtual learning simply from a cost-savings perspective. And while virtual learning can save both time and money – the most important reason for incorporating it in to your learning delivery methodologies is because it has significantly better learning outcomes for the learner.
Adult learning principles, tell us, among other things, that adults prefer to learn collaboratively, prefer to learn things with immediate applicability to the work that they do, prefer their learning delivered in chunks, and learn best through application and reflection. Each of these outcomes are achieved via virtual training because participants can join a group of learners, even if they are the only person at their location who needs a particular training topic (collaboration), and, since the training is offered in smaller chunks than a classroom based course would be, participants have the ability to immediately apply their new knowledge or skills and bring back their experiences to the next session with a better understanding of the topic due to having the time to apply and reflect between virtual sessions.
Classroom Asynchronous Synchronous
Small group work often wastes time due to physically needing to move people together; if all small groups are in the same room, the volume can be overbearing; the facilitator can move to only one group at a time to monitor or assist. No collaboration.
Small group work occurs seamlessly by moving participants to ‘breakout rooms’ with their own audio lines; the facilitator and producer can easily move between rooms to assist instructionally or technically, as needed; all groups can be monitored simultaneously from the host/presenter view
Typically 4 or 8 hours, one class session.
Often what is taught at the beginning of the session is “lost” by the end Smaller (20 – 30 minute) chunks for better retention and the ability to review Typically 1 – 2 hour chunks which allows for between-session application and better retention Can teach knowledge and skills Typically only teaches knowledge Can teach knowledge and skills BUT knowledge is typically relegated to offline work so that the online time is focused solely on application and collaboration among the learners in attendance Limited time for reflection and analysis Allows for reflection and analysis but one is limited to what one knows – no ability to test one’s ideas against others Reflection and analysis occurs defacto due to multiple sessions.
Participants are able to come back (in the next session) to the facilitator and their peers with experience and questions Most group activities occur serially. For example, when participants introduce themselves only one person can speak at a time and the activity can take 40 minutes or more. Those who speak first become disinterested and impatient
No group activities
Group activities can occur concurrently which speeds up the amount of time needed to conduct the activity and ensures participation and collaboration from all. For example, during introductions participants can be asked to share their years on the job or their experience with the topic by answering a poll, responding in chat, or writing on the whiteboard –all of which can be done concurrently, and the responses can be reviewed in three minutes or less Often attendance is limited to who is ‘on site’ – participants often work with peers they already know No collaboration with others Participants can come from any area of the globe which broadens learner’s insight and perspective in to the company as well as creating broader networks of peers / colleagues
Free and Low Cost Training Resources, cont.
Day 4
Finally, the use of coaches in the workplace is a well-used training strategy. A coach is typically a more senior person who is paired with one or more junior people and who is responsible for championing that person’s professional development. For instance, a partner in a law firm would take “responsibility” for an associate’s professional development within the firm. One organization uses coaches as a way to monitor employee development by requiring the coach to sign off on any professional development requests of their coachee. In this way the coach serves as a guidance counselor or sorts, for the purposeful development of their charge.
One of the easiest ways to increase the quality of training in your organization is simply to formalize the informal training that’s already occurring on a daily basis. By implementing just two or three of the suggestions in this series, you can increase the quality of your training offerings without incurring any cost whatsoever.
Free and Low Cost Training Resources, cont.
Day 3
If you work in an industry that has a number of specialized and unique facets, consider appointing specialists so that not everyone in the organization needs to know everything about the unique process. Instead, every time a question or concern comes up from a customer or vendor, it would be handled by the specialist. For example, a risk insurer offered seldom-purchased coverage for yachts, private jets, and truck fleets. Each line of coverage had one individual who understood its intricacies and knew how to write a policy. If a “regular” salesperson encountered a client who needed coverage in one of the areas, they simply called “the specialist.”
Free and Low Cost Training Resources, cont.
Day 2
Other ways to formalize informal training are to recruit individuals to act as coaches or mentors within their work groups. These individual would have a sideline responsibility of being the go-to person for training needs in that department. They would also be charged with seeking out new knowledge or skills and imparting those to their fellow workers.
So often, on-the-job training is a version of “follow Joe around;” this means a new-hire is paired with a more senior person in the workplace who is tasked with showing them the ropes. Numerous negative ramifications can result from this approach. Skilled workers tend to forget the basics and often will concentrate on the how-to at the expense of the “here’s why.”
This results in a new-hire who does not have the ability to identify or react to anomalies because they only know how things should work. Additionally, if each new-hire is paired with a different “trainer,” each trainee will have a different learning experience, and learning outcome, simply because the trainer is left to his or her own devices to create the training content, process, and delivery.
One way to make this process more efficient is to create checklists so that you can be somewhat assured that each trainer is covering all the same information and in the same order. For instance, the retail industry has a high-level of turnover as well as the propensity to hire clerks on an individual basis. A new-hire checklist would, at a minimum, ensure that new hires are trained methodically; first in floor layout and merchandise selection, then in cash-register operation and customer interface, and finally backroom operations and stock.
Free and Low Cost Training Resources
After reading the blog article (below) regarding how volunteerism can help your organization to provide training, we got to thinking of other ways to provide free or low cost training as well. Here is a short series of ideas, to be published for the next few days...
Day 1
Did you know that 80% of training that occurs in the workplace does not occur in a formal training program? Eighty-percent of workplace training is informal training. It is someone popping their head over their cubicle and asking their office mate, “Do you know how to convert text in a table to paragraph form?” It is the supervisor taking the machinist aside and showing him a way to check the calibration on his machine without stopping production. It is the sales manager taking his fresh-out-of-college administrative assistant on a sales call so she can meet a real customer of the organization.
One of the easiest and fastest ways to provide free and low-cost training is to formalize the informal training that is already occurring in your workplace on a daily basis. Here’s a stellar example: A 700-person software company requires the sharing of knowledge and training fellow workers as part of the job description of every employee. On a yearly basis, each employee is tasked with learning something that increases their skill on the job and making a presentation to their workgroup or writing a summary of that new knowledge or technique for the company newsletter. In addition, each executive in the organization is required to teach at least four training courses, or two-hours, each year.
In addition to the formalized training curriculum such as providing constructive feedback, or negotiating a sale, the executive is able to impart his or her on-the-job experience and real-world knowledge on the topic, to the trainees.
How OTHER Organizations Can Provide Your Employee Training
Here's an excerpt from an interesting blog posting we came across recently from Realized Worth. You can read the whole article here.
Employee Volunteering programs offer companies a unique opportunity to act as good Corporate Citizens while enabling their workforce to acquire relevant work related skills. By creating opportunities for employees to volunteer in the community, companies are able to leverage one of their most valuable assets towards addressing social and environmental concerns. In the process, the employees gain experience and understandings that make them more effective in their roles with the company. Usually, employees acquire soft skills such as communication, management and leadership. Beyond individual skills, employees become better at working in teams. Barclay’s Bank discovered that of the employees who volunteered in the community, 61% increased their team-work skills. Probably more impressive, 58% of Barclay’s managers reported a visible improvement among their staff’s attitudes towards each other following a volunteer experience.