Quotable: Bob Pike
When performance is the question, training is the sixth answer.
When we have deep conversations with managers about performance and help them focus on all the possible barriers to performance first - systems, policies and procedures, recruitment, placement, and coaching - but using some or all of these still does not provide the performance and results we want, then it is time to look at training.
Bob Pike is founder of The Bob Pike Group
How does one "prepare" to work in training?
What makes a "training professional?" Interestingly, the May/June edition of Training Magazine has a feature article, "2015 Emerging Training Leaders" and the formal degrees of the 25 individuals featured include: journalism, psychology, social work, biology (2), mechanical engineering, education (whew! we were getting worried), entrepreneurial studies, English lit, ecommerce, communications (warmer), genetics and French.
Things that make you go "hmmm." (Thanks Arsenio Hall)
Ensure Training Validity with an Advisory Committee
Establish an Advisory Committee
An advisory committee should be created in order to help you determine what training needs to be developed for your organization, and what is a priority. An advisory committee should be made up of front line workers from across the organization and from all levels, from hourly workers to supervisors. For example, if you want store managers to conduct new hire training, it's a good idea to have input from store management, supervisors, front-line workers, and back office workers. They will provide their thoughts on how the training should be delivered and what should be accomplished by the conclusion of it.
An advisory committee should have no more than 13 members, and the membership seats should be rotated regularly. Larger groups can be harder to facilitate, and you want to be sure everyone has an equal chance to participate in the discussion. You'll find that you don't have to do as much marketing of the training function when you have 13 ambassadors who return to their work areas every month understanding that they are responsible in part for the success of the organization.
The 4 Learning Outcomes all Training is Trying to Achieve
The Four Levels of Learning
While this month's topic is not directly related to adult learning theory, it is important to understand in terms of designing learning for adults.
Learning progresses "up a ladder" of difficulty from knowledge -which is the easiest way to design and transmit learning - to changed behavior on the job, which is the hardest to achieve through a learning process.
Knowledge is firmly rooted in education. It involves reading, lectures, and rote memorization. It is helpful for providing baseline information, such as facts and rules, and is easy to design because it is simply a collection of information. A learner often can partake of knowledge without any professional intervention.
Psychomotor skills are a bit more complex because they involve teaching someone to physically manipulate something such as a cash register or a fork lift. This type of instruction requires hands-on practice and a skilled instructor to demonstrate or coach appropriate behavior. This type of training takes longer to design because it includes both information and skill, and it takes longer to teach because an instructor is often required, and practice time should be included.
Proceeding up the ladder of difficulty, critical thinking skills are significantly harder to teach because they require teaching someone to think in a different way. For instance, teaching a loan officer how to determine if someone is eligible for a loan, includes both facts and rules (knowledge) - and applying those to some type of standard -in order to make a decision. Often, when teaching critical thinking, numerous scenarios must being practiced in order to have confidence that the learner will make the right decision no matter the variable stimuli.
Teaching critical thinking - within itself, can have many degrees of difficulty; from "easy" decision making - such as whether or not to grant a loan, to life or death decision making such as performing surgery. This type of learning process requires multiple exposures to information and situations (in other words, it takes longer to teach thinking skills) and is difficult to design in order to ensure that the trainee changes their thinking process permanently.
Finally, ultimately, the goal of training in the workplace is to get people to change their behavior on the job. This requires actually leaving the training and helping people to transition their new knowledge and skills to their on-the-job responsibilities. That can take a few days to a few months - especially if you're organization intends to do a level three evaluation in order to determine if changed behavior actually has occurred.
Before designing any training program, assess what your desired outcome is (from the four categories above) and invest the appropriate amount of time necessary for both the design and the successful completion of the training.
Quotable: Tom Gimbel
Our Training leaders don't provide the answers... they help people get to the answers themselves by posing thoughtful questions. They listen, observe, and think before reacting or responding.
Tom Gimbel, founder and CEO of LaSalle Network
CLO's Reasons for Outsourcing Training
Outsourcing some of your training functions such as instructional design (ahem) and delivery can help reduce the stress of creating and delivering content in an ever-changing environment. But don't take our word for it, here are some comments from CLO's Business Intelligence Board members, when surveyed about why they outsource:
Headcount reductions force us to seek outside assistance
There is no time for resources internally to develop training (this is the #1 reasons we hear, at The Training Doctor as well )
Outsourcing is more cost effective and flexible than hiring
In-house expertise becomes static and confined to specific areas
Subject matter expertise that the vendor brings
The vendor's ability to act as a partner
Why we can't effectively measure training outcomes (say the CLOs)
CLOs (Chief Learning Officers) believe their ability to deploy an effective [training] measurement process is limited by: Lack of resources, lack of management support, and an inability to bring data together from different functions. When the measurement programs are weak, most CLOs report their influence and role in helping achieve organizational priorities is also weak.
Source: Stagnant Outlook for Learning Measurement published in CLO Magazine, May 2015
Quotable: Michael Lee Stallard
Managers organize, leaders engage. People follow managers because these individuals have the authority to hire, fire, and promote them. People follow leaders because they are inspired to.
Quoted in Connect to Engage, published in TD, April 2015
Higher Ed Students are Used to Online Learning
About one-eighth of students enrolled in higher education institutions take all their coursework at a distance (online or through video, satellite or correspondence work), while another one-eighth take at least some classes at a distance according to the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education which focuses on best practices and technology for distance learning.
Free Podcasts Related to Workforce Development!
Looking to expand your horizons and gain some knowledge in the management arena? The AMA (American Marketing Association) is a great resource for free podcasts. You can find short audios from industry leaders such as Dan Pink, Marcus Buckingham, and Alexandra Levit on such topics as Collaborative Methods for Moving Forward, Why Technology is Doing More Harm Than Good, and Harnessing the Next Generation Workforce.
Learn more here!
Training Tailored to Millennials? Really?
Here is an excerpt from a recent TrainingIndustry.com blog article which suggests ways to “empower Millennials to succeed” in the workplace.
Our question: How is this specific to Millennials? This is simply a list of best-practices for quality training….The millennial generation is focused on people and professional development. They want to learn and feel empowered to lead and help others.
Kyle Borchardt of Virtuali and PJ Neal of Harvard Business Publishing offer the following suggestions on how organizations can empower millennials to succeed:
Instill leadership capabilities and a leadership mindset in millennials early in their careers, so they are ready to transition into more senior roles sooner.
Deliver small, continuous learning experiences over a longer timespan to ensure the learning sticks.
Have employees practice new skills on the job in combination with formal training programs.
Encourage employees to reflect on learning experiences to increase knowledge retention and improve behavior change.
Provide career coaching and mentorship opportunities customized to individuals.
Quotable: Leah Matthews
Distance education is bringing about a new revolution where students are putting together their own playlist of curriculum.
Leah Matthews, head of the Distance Education Accrediting Commission
WebEx Tip
In a recent poll of Training Doctor newsletter subscribers, the majority estimated that they only used 20 - 50% of their synchronous platform capabilities. So each month we will offer you a tip or "trick" - alternating between WebEx and Adobe Connect, the two most popular platforms.
WebEx Tip: Do you find that text "falls out" of your tables or you have weird line breaks on your slides once loaded to WebEx? Stick to Helvetica or Ariel for your slide font. WebEx gets persnickety otherwise - especially if your organization has its own custom font because it simply doesn't know how to translate it.
How is training predominately delivered?
training hours via method
Results of an eLearning! Magazine Group survey conducted Jan – April 2014 of 408 individuals in corporate, government, and educational institutions. Most respondents were non-managerial, trainer / teachers.
Online Collaboration MUST be Designed
All virtual classroom platforms pledge that their product enables your organization and your learners to work collaboratively. And it is true. All virtual classroom platforms allow for learners to interact verbally, via chat or instant messenger, through the use of feedback symbols or emoticons, and often through breakout rooms which enable smaller discussions and group activities to occur.
This doesn't just happen spontaneously, however. It is imperative that the training be designed to be collaborative.