• What I hear I forget, what I see I remember, what I do, I understand
• Training should not be ‘Death by PowerPoint’
• If you think training is expensive, try ignorance
• There are two ways to undergo a training project at work: with management support, or unsuccessfully
• In training, Content is King

That last one is quite catchy. In fact, I’ve heard it so often it’s approaching cliché status in my book. But here’s my real issue with it: It leaves a lot of room for various interpretations that don’t always serve trainers’ interests.

Let’s explore a couple of those interpretations to see when content is king and when it is not.

Choosing an Instructional Strategy

Let’s say you need to train 120 people on a new software system. Should you run some classroom sessions? Should it be done on-the-job just as the software launch occurs? Perhaps some virtual classroom sessions would do the trick? Or maybe you should create some online tutorials employees can access on their own?

If we apply our royal catchphrase, the content would be the biggest factor to consider in choosing the right training strategy. You’re helping people use a piece of software, so why not teach them on a computer? This would seem to indicate virtual classroom or online tutorials would be best.But if they’re all in the same building and you have only one week to design the course, an e-learning approach wouldn’t be optimal.

So content isn’t king when it comes to choosing a training strategy. Other factors can overrule it. Some of these factors are: target audience size, location, prior experience, computer-literacy, and training team’s design experience.

Choosing Instructional Methods and Media

Okay, so you’ve opted for classroom instruction. Now, which presentation and application methods will you choose within that course? Seems obvious: Present with demonstrations, projected for all to see. Get learners to practice using computers in the room with the new software installed.

Content is king here. The skill being learned is the most important factor in choosing among the myriad of presentation and application methods available. Other factors play a role, but they will rarely, if ever, overrule content. Some of those factors are: group size, prior experience, location, equipment available, and training team’s design experience.

The True Meaning

Here’s how I believe this catchphrase can serve us best: Content, if properly analyzed and structured, can produce dramatic improvements in employee performance. You have two options when it comes to structuring your training’s content. It can be based on topics (knowledge) or job tasks (skills). One type of content is bound to be a pauper, scraping by, doomed to serfdom. One type is destined for glory, ruling all other issues in training. That’s right: Performance-based content is king. If your training actually gives people the skills to do something, all other issues will bow in deference to your eventual success. But if your content is limited to facts, principles, ideas and such, you will be overthrown by other issues. Those issues become problems because the content doesn’t deliver true value.

So here’s ultimately how content is king: If it’s valuable, task-based, how-to content, it will rule other issues and prevent them from being problems in the first place. If your content is purely topic-based, you are bound to be mired in seemingly unending issues that just won’t go away.

Alan

Why

Why are we doing this program? To address this critical question we must conduct a Training Needs Analysis to determine it training is really needed. If the answer is yes, we must then ask if training will produce the necessary change in the learners’ behavior or skill? If the learners leave the session without achieving the benefit of the training we have wasted their time and ours, no matter how great or dynamic the training program.

What

What decisions have been made? When training is requested the requestor often has “ideas” about how long the training should be, the method to be used for delivery, the budget, etc. Our task is to determine whether the “ideas” make sense and can we create effective training given these restraints. Based on the constraints we must then determine how we can use the principles of ISD to create effective training.

Who

Who are the participants? Identifying the characteristics of our audience will significantly impact our design. We need to look at generation, education, previous training, job experience, etc. and then determine whether our learners will be prisoners, vacationers, or explorers. Once we know these details, we can create a training program that contains examples and features that will help to connect with our audience. Connecting with our audience greatly increases the chances of transferring the learning back to the job.

What

What do our learners need to learn so that they will be successful back on the job after the training? This is critical to make the course content relevant to the learners and to the company. By determining the answer to this question, we can define the expected outcome of the training.

How

How are the learners’ tasks done? Once we know what tasks the participants need to learn, we need to know the level of detail to include in the step-by-step process we will be teaching. Other how questions to ask are:

• How will the training be delivered (instructor-lead, job aids, e-learning)?
• How will the activities (tests and practices) reinforce the learning?
• How will success be measured (reaction, learning, performance, or results)?

By following Langevin’s Instructional Design Cycle you will learn how to ask all of these questions, plus many more, so you can create training that will be effective and fun, and your learners will learn how to do their jobs better. What more can you ask than that?

Martha

Tip # 1

Allow learners to test out of the course if they already know the content or the skill. If we can develop a meaningful test that reflects the learners’ knowledge or skill, could the passing of this test satisfy the training requirement? I do want to stress that sometimes this is impossible. However, if we can arrange an acceptable testing option, we may be able to reduce the attendance of those who already have the required skill level. As I listen to clients talking about their tightening training budgets and looking to be as efficient as possible, this option is becoming more and more attractive.

Tip # 2

Reduce the course content to the absolute minimum. Get rid of the “nice to know” and cover the highest priority information only, making the course as short as possible. These learners don’t want to be in training, so the more efficient the class is, the quicker they can get back to the job. However, by shortening the session, be careful that we keep application exercises. Without meaningful practice of the skills taught, we cannot measure the learners’ skill improvement. Also, without application exercises, transferring skills back to the job can be minimized.

Tip # 3

Deal with the resistance at the beginning of the session. I have found that if I don’t discuss this resistance, it seems to remain an undercurrent that surfaces frequently during the session. By facilitating these concerns, learners are able to move beyond them and are open to learn. What I have found helpful is an exercise I call the “Elephant in the Room.” I request that each group discuss the Concerns and the Benefits of the course. During that 7 to 8 minute discussion, I ask them to record their thoughts on a flipchart. I find that this time is well spent as it allows the learners to voice their concerns in a systematic process. At the end of this time, we take an additional 5 minutes to debrief the activity. At the end of this activity, I inform them that we will come back and review this information at the end of the session. I post these flipcharts in the back of the classroom for the rest of the session. At the end of the session, I go back to these flipcharts and identify any remaining issues not resolved and ask the group for ideas how to work with them as they return to the jobs. We then close the session.

Mandatory training is a part of our training world. It can be difficult, because learners lose their right to make their own choices about training. It is up to us to do whatever we can to help them successfully navigate these required training courses so they can concentrate on learning.

Langevin Team

My light bulb moment came when my now 20-year old son made one of his rare comments to me.  He works part time in a restaurant as a busboy and a server.  He had worked in the restaurant for about six months when he said, “Dad, I found out something really neat.”  I asked him to tell me more. He said that “if I smile at the customers when I speak to them, my tips are bigger.”  Now that may not sound like headline news to you, but to somebody just clearing his teenage years, it was a big discovery. Here’s a news flash,  some young people, feeling a lot more at home with video games and television, don’t necessarily have the same interpersonal skill set as a more seasoned adult.

It’s a strong example of the value of “soft skills” training. Had the relatively small restaurant had a more formal training program — it was all on-the-job training — someone would probably have documented how the best performers related to customers. The process of identifying the organization’s agreed upon “best path” is called a task analysis. One thing the best performers surely did was smile at the customers as they greeted them. A simple behavior? Sure. But one that makes the customer seem more welcome — and valued.  The net result for the employee? Bigger tips. But, for the restaurant, more customers satisfied with their experience and more return business. How valuable is that in today’s economy?

In large fast-food chains the greeting process has been analyzed. One workshop participant who trains fast-food employees said that their task analysis of the greeting was posted on the inside of the counter where the clients can’t see it, but the servers do.  They were expected to greet the customers using the steps on the job aid which, in fact, became the organizational standard. The organization recognized the benefit of this organizational standard for repeat business, customer satisfaction, and improved employee performance.

Among the things a task analysis can be used for are:  initial training, job aids, coaching tools, and performance standards. With a technical skill, the outputs often are the indicators of performance. With a “soft skill,” the outputs can be harder to measure objectively.  Sometimes, the best standard of performance is to “do it the way we told you to.”

Bottom line, the result of a thoroughly analyzed “soft skill” is better performance.

Paul