BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
The 3 Ts Terrific
In the second of two articles on the training we give (and get) at work - Trainer and Motivational Speaker Frank Newberry looks at some of the pre-requisites to making the training we give (and get) more meaningful.
In Part 1, we looked at how we can do a better job of recalling essential facts for vocational tests and examinations. I know that even those of us who believe we have poor memories will taste success if we make the effort to commit things to memory. Our memories are perfect – it is our recall systems that are imperfect. The five recall reminders from Part 1 were:
1 No note taking, no reliable recall 2 No reviewing of notes taken, no reliable recall
3 No tidy organisation of notes and study materials, no reliable recall
4 No context or understanding of how the learning is applied, no reliable recall
5 No effort and no energy, no reliable recall.
Training in Teams
Remembering facts can be important but most vocational or ‘on-the-job’ training is about learning how to do something safely. After the learner has done it safely once we need the person to do the newly learned task over and over again until we can eventually look and see that the person is skilled at performing that task.
In Part 2 of this article (The 3 T’s) I want to review the three levels of learning and consider how all three need to be engaged if any investment in training is to be worthwhile and meaningful.
‘KNOWLEDGE AND AWARENESS’ LEVEL The lowest learning level is the ‘Knowledge and Awareness’ level. To teach someone to be able to recognise the most suitable tool for a particular task can take just seconds or maybe a minute or two. Just about any experienced member of the work team can train people at this level of learning. Junior members of the team might find it meaningful if supervisors were to delegate training at this level to them.
‘SKILLS AND ABILITY’ LEVEL The second highest learning level is the ‘Skills and Ability’ level. To teach someone to be able to identify correctly a tricky health and safety situation (and recommend a remedy) or operate a particular machine can take longer than a few minutes. It might take an hour, a day or even longer depending on the level of skill we want the learner to achieve.
If training is to be seen as relevant and meaningful to the learner it is vital, at the start of any training activity, that the learner is absolutely clear what his or her learning objectives are. Is the objective to just raise awareness (level one) or is it to see the learner skilfully operate a complex and valuable machine (level two)?
‘DISPOSITION AND ATTITUDE’ LEVEL The highest level of learning is the ‘Disposition and Attitude’ level. Whilst we might really like to get certain people to completely change their attitude on something or maybe convert a pessimist to being an optimist – it could take us a whole lifetime!
It is, however, both meaningful and reasonable to ask people to ‘adopt’ a particular attitude in the workplace. I recommend that if a particular attitude is a requirement then we should write it into a person’s job description. For example we might state that a ‘positive attitude to health and safety’ is essential in the job. We might also require people to have a ‘friendly disposition’ towards other people including colleagues, customers and officials.
SUPERVISORS AND TRAINERS DO NOT HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT CHANGING ATTITUDES
With this requirement pre-requisite in place – supervisors and trainers do not have to worry about changing attitudes; we can confine ourselves to the relevant actions and observable behaviour that constitute friendliness towards others. For example – being polite, offering help, encouraging people and so on.
This is so important because whenever I ask employers which level of learning is the most important to them after an employee has been working for six months – the response is always the same. It is level three - disposition and attitude.
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