Training Doesn't Work
I know a trainer named Bob. Bob isn't just a trainer, he's a GREAT trainer. Bob is the Chuck Norris of training. If Bob were a test pilot he would be Chuck Yeager.
Bob reported to me a couple of years ago. As his supervisor, sitting in on one of his classes was a joy. I always learned a training trick or two watching him train.
One day while he was on break he came into my office looking puzzled. He told me that his current class wasn't responding to his training. He wanted to know if I would be willing to come in and tell him what he was doing wrong. "Sure," I said. Later I audited his class and watched him train. Bob he was brilliant. He slashed away at misunderstandings, stabbed at the main points of the module. He was doing everything right but the class was unmoved. It was then that I noticed the glassy eyed stare of the audience and I realized that they were zombies.
As trainers we've all been warned against trying to train the dead. It's the first rule they teach you in "trainer school." Bob was attempting the impossible. I took him aside during a break, as the class shambled out to the cafeteria. "Bob" I said, “you can't train these people...it's unnatural, they're dead."
Bob stood there and tried to figure out what he had done wrong. He realized that he had forgotten one of the basic rules of training. The class needs to know why they are in the training class and how they will be measured. He was so caught up in the advanced training techniques that he had gotten away from the basics.
Once Bob reopened the class he told them how the training would make their job easier. He amazed them with a syllabus and job aid of useful terms. The class came alive, they began to ask questions and take notes. Before I knew it, Bob was leading a discussion. The trainees were ecstatic, they were going to carry him out on their shoulders, but I told him it was an HR issue. It looked unsafe and they really should put him down.
Children learn because they're programmed to, they want to understand the world. Adults want to know what's in for them. If you can’t provide that information quickly, then you might as well be trying to train the dead. No matter how good a trainer you are, you can’t forget the basics.
Thursday, March 8, 2012
Lost Training
Lost Training
A friend of mine use to work at a very famous restraunt that sat on top of the hills over Hollywood. The restaurant had been there since the early 40's and was modeled after a Japanese castle complete with Koi ponds and gardens.
My friend worked security and had plenty of time to poke around. From talking to some of the staff he found out about "lost" rooms at the restaurant. It seems that when the restraunt was built several basement rooms were constructed and hidden. The rooms were hidden behind sliding walls and were really hard to find. At the time when the building was opened, that wasn't a problem since everyone knew where they were. However the old staff began to retire, fewer and fewer knew about the locations of the rooms. Finally the last person retired and didn't think (or forgot) to tell anyone where the rooms were. The current management couldn't find the rooms then. The company ended up paying thousands of dollars to "rediscover" rooms that it already owned.
This is a pretty good description of what happens to many companies and training departments. They feel that they don't need a training department since they only hire once or twice a year and a training department is a "luxury" they can't afford. What many companies don't realize is that a training department is a corporate memory bank. It not only instructs but it remembers how things are done. However, when a company is looking to cut costs one of the first things they do is axe the training department. This is akin to smacking yourself in the head with an ice pick and wondering why you’re getting stupider as your brain leaks out of the holes. It comes down to, if a company is
unwilling to pay to keep corporate memory alive, then they will pay to rediscover the information at a later time. And remember prices always go up....
David
A friend of mine use to work at a very famous restraunt that sat on top of the hills over Hollywood. The restaurant had been there since the early 40's and was modeled after a Japanese castle complete with Koi ponds and gardens.
My friend worked security and had plenty of time to poke around. From talking to some of the staff he found out about "lost" rooms at the restaurant. It seems that when the restraunt was built several basement rooms were constructed and hidden. The rooms were hidden behind sliding walls and were really hard to find. At the time when the building was opened, that wasn't a problem since everyone knew where they were. However the old staff began to retire, fewer and fewer knew about the locations of the rooms. Finally the last person retired and didn't think (or forgot) to tell anyone where the rooms were. The current management couldn't find the rooms then. The company ended up paying thousands of dollars to "rediscover" rooms that it already owned.
This is a pretty good description of what happens to many companies and training departments. They feel that they don't need a training department since they only hire once or twice a year and a training department is a "luxury" they can't afford. What many companies don't realize is that a training department is a corporate memory bank. It not only instructs but it remembers how things are done. However, when a company is looking to cut costs one of the first things they do is axe the training department. This is akin to smacking yourself in the head with an ice pick and wondering why you’re getting stupider as your brain leaks out of the holes. It comes down to, if a company is
unwilling to pay to keep corporate memory alive, then they will pay to rediscover the information at a later time. And remember prices always go up....
David
Training as a Battlefield
Training as a Battlefield
We've talked about the strategic side of training. Let's go to the more tactical side: have you ever sat in your own class? I mean before you run the class, go in and have a seat where your learners are going to be?
Let me tell you why you should. I was reading a book about the Civil War the other day. In it they described how, if there was time, a commander would go out into the area ahead of his defenses. He would look back at them from the point of view of the enemy. That way he could see where the weak points of his line were from the enemy’s perspective. Now our learners are hardly the enemy but I believe that there is something to be learned from this practice.
Before your next class try this: go out into the seats and have a sit down. Look at where the board is hard to see. Is the A/C really noisy at this seat? Will the learner have a problem hearing you? Is there a blind spot where the participant won't be able to see things written on the board? You may know where the best place to stand is based on being in front of the class, but how that place looks from the various seats will surprise you. Remember, when you're sitting down you're about half regular height. You'll need to adjust for that when you're presenting by putting things up higher on the board, and such.
It's interesting how, by just sitting down, you can learn so much.
We've talked about the strategic side of training. Let's go to the more tactical side: have you ever sat in your own class? I mean before you run the class, go in and have a seat where your learners are going to be?
Let me tell you why you should. I was reading a book about the Civil War the other day. In it they described how, if there was time, a commander would go out into the area ahead of his defenses. He would look back at them from the point of view of the enemy. That way he could see where the weak points of his line were from the enemy’s perspective. Now our learners are hardly the enemy but I believe that there is something to be learned from this practice.
Before your next class try this: go out into the seats and have a sit down. Look at where the board is hard to see. Is the A/C really noisy at this seat? Will the learner have a problem hearing you? Is there a blind spot where the participant won't be able to see things written on the board? You may know where the best place to stand is based on being in front of the class, but how that place looks from the various seats will surprise you. Remember, when you're sitting down you're about half regular height. You'll need to adjust for that when you're presenting by putting things up higher on the board, and such.
It's interesting how, by just sitting down, you can learn so much.
Training Dream/Nightmare #1
Training Dream/Nightmare #1
So a manager comes up to me one day and says, "We need training."
I smile and tell him, "That’s fine since I'm the training guy." I point to the special "Training Guy" hat I'm wearing and matching yellow wing tips.
"Yes! All of my people need training and lots of it!!"
Pulling out my especially large hypodermic full of "Training" I give everyone 100cc's of Great Training (TM) and some tablets they should take for a day or so to make sure the training sticks. I tell them if they come down with any advanced learning symptoms like a second language or a PhD, they should stop taking the medicine and see their local trainer.
I head back to my office feeling good knowing that everything is fine in the training world. Maybe I'll take a long lunch. Then I woke up......actually I tuned back in to what the manager was telling me.
"So you’re telling me that the agents are throwing stuff on the ground?"
"Yes" said the manager.
"And you want a training on not to throw stuff on the ground?"
"Yes."
"And this is a training issue ...because...?"
"Because they keep doing it."
"And you told them to stop it...right?"
"No...we're not trainers."
"So you want me to build an "advanced Not Throwing Stuff On The Ground class?"
"Yes," said the manager, smiling.
"So we'll have some lecture, maybe a game or two and for the final we'll do a role-play where we all walk around the classroom not throwing stuff on the floor." I said jokingly.
"Can we start classes on Tuesday?" he asked in a dead serious tone.
Part of our job as trainers is to educate our customers on what training isn't. That can be very hard. It's hard because our internal customers might not know where the line is between supervision and training. But education is our job and we need to be patient and help them understand.
In most cases training serves to introduce new facts and concepts to a learner, whereas curbing incorrect use of tools or procedures is supervision. The line is very hazy and, when in doubt, I've always defaulted to "train it."
This stream of thought is additionally muddied by lack of training resources or low call volume, as in a call center. You may want to train a subject brought to your attention, but be unable to due to resource restrictions. On the other hand you might train something you normally wouldn't if your internal customer is experiencing poor efficiencies in the center.
It's a balancing act.
And, if you're interested in seeing the notes on "Advanced Not Throwing Stuff On The Ground Class," I still have them, in case you're interested.
So a manager comes up to me one day and says, "We need training."
I smile and tell him, "That’s fine since I'm the training guy." I point to the special "Training Guy" hat I'm wearing and matching yellow wing tips.
"Yes! All of my people need training and lots of it!!"
Pulling out my especially large hypodermic full of "Training" I give everyone 100cc's of Great Training (TM) and some tablets they should take for a day or so to make sure the training sticks. I tell them if they come down with any advanced learning symptoms like a second language or a PhD, they should stop taking the medicine and see their local trainer.
I head back to my office feeling good knowing that everything is fine in the training world. Maybe I'll take a long lunch. Then I woke up......actually I tuned back in to what the manager was telling me.
"So you’re telling me that the agents are throwing stuff on the ground?"
"Yes" said the manager.
"And you want a training on not to throw stuff on the ground?"
"Yes."
"And this is a training issue ...because...?"
"Because they keep doing it."
"And you told them to stop it...right?"
"No...we're not trainers."
"So you want me to build an "advanced Not Throwing Stuff On The Ground class?"
"Yes," said the manager, smiling.
"So we'll have some lecture, maybe a game or two and for the final we'll do a role-play where we all walk around the classroom not throwing stuff on the floor." I said jokingly.
"Can we start classes on Tuesday?" he asked in a dead serious tone.
Part of our job as trainers is to educate our customers on what training isn't. That can be very hard. It's hard because our internal customers might not know where the line is between supervision and training. But education is our job and we need to be patient and help them understand.
In most cases training serves to introduce new facts and concepts to a learner, whereas curbing incorrect use of tools or procedures is supervision. The line is very hazy and, when in doubt, I've always defaulted to "train it."
This stream of thought is additionally muddied by lack of training resources or low call volume, as in a call center. You may want to train a subject brought to your attention, but be unable to due to resource restrictions. On the other hand you might train something you normally wouldn't if your internal customer is experiencing poor efficiencies in the center.
It's a balancing act.
And, if you're interested in seeing the notes on "Advanced Not Throwing Stuff On The Ground Class," I still have them, in case you're interested.
Tuesday, February 5, 2008
The Training Department #2 (All beans need to be counted)
I once knew a trainer who told me, "I always ignore the bean counters." He doesn't run a training department anymore...I think he sells shoes in Fresno.
The bean counters are your friend...say this seven time...I'll wait.
Years ago I worked for a company that had a repressive system that counted employees time. Every week my trainers had to electronically fill out this form telling the company what they had done for the past week.
The trainers hated the system. They would do ANYTHING to get out of this task. But I backed up the "bean counters" all of my trainers dutifully filled in their tasks for the week. Everyone took this as "trainer hell" and I was their jailor.
Until one day in a meeting a local VP decided that since trainers "didn't do anything" they could spend their time helping out the supervisors on the floor. My boss related this to me in a matter of fact way, when I was done screaming and I got my hair to lay back down I went to see the bean counters.
I asked for a report off of the time managment system. After 30 minutes with a highlighter I was able to show that most of the time the trainers were providing billable hours and at a rate HIGHER that that of supervisors, they were bringing in more money than a sup.
I revelently went to the VP (revently cause in the company VP's were gods on earth) and told him that I would be "more than happy" to put my trainers on the floor helping the supervisors...of course we would lose the billable hours they generated. The VP took the report and scanned the totals. I was told not to do it until he "got back" to me. It's been 9 years. I'm still waiting.
You can't ignore the bean counters. If you do your career won't be worth a hill of....
David
The bean counters are your friend...say this seven time...I'll wait.
Years ago I worked for a company that had a repressive system that counted employees time. Every week my trainers had to electronically fill out this form telling the company what they had done for the past week.
The trainers hated the system. They would do ANYTHING to get out of this task. But I backed up the "bean counters" all of my trainers dutifully filled in their tasks for the week. Everyone took this as "trainer hell" and I was their jailor.
Until one day in a meeting a local VP decided that since trainers "didn't do anything" they could spend their time helping out the supervisors on the floor. My boss related this to me in a matter of fact way, when I was done screaming and I got my hair to lay back down I went to see the bean counters.
I asked for a report off of the time managment system. After 30 minutes with a highlighter I was able to show that most of the time the trainers were providing billable hours and at a rate HIGHER that that of supervisors, they were bringing in more money than a sup.
I revelently went to the VP (revently cause in the company VP's were gods on earth) and told him that I would be "more than happy" to put my trainers on the floor helping the supervisors...of course we would lose the billable hours they generated. The VP took the report and scanned the totals. I was told not to do it until he "got back" to me. It's been 9 years. I'm still waiting.
You can't ignore the bean counters. If you do your career won't be worth a hill of....
David
The Training Department #1 (Why you need a Training Department)
Bad Training Practice #1
Most businesses use an add hoc training system, watch Bill or Mary do their job for a couple of hours then your on your own. This works for small businesses and companies that wish to enter bankruptcy sooner than later.
Why this is a bad deal
Bill and Mary are doing it wrong. They don't know they are doing it wrong, they just are. This is often called "floor lore." This means they learned it from somone who may have deviated from the real way things are done. Over time they way the job is done is nothing close to the way that the job should be done.
Most businesses use an add hoc training system, watch Bill or Mary do their job for a couple of hours then your on your own. This works for small businesses and companies that wish to enter bankruptcy sooner than later.
Why this is a bad deal
Bill and Mary are doing it wrong. They don't know they are doing it wrong, they just are. This is often called "floor lore." This means they learned it from somone who may have deviated from the real way things are done. Over time they way the job is done is nothing close to the way that the job should be done.
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