Tag Archives: employee training

Are You Preparing Your New Hires to Succeed or Fail?

July 27, 2016Blogadult learning, behavior change, blended elearning, blended learning, business value, content development, custom content development, custom e-Learning, custom elearning company, employee training, instructional design, new hire, new hire training, performance improvement, success, training, training and development, workplace learningClaudia

Does the training for new hires match the job?

– “No.”
– “Yes.”
– “Maybe.”
– “We are not sure.”

These are some of the answers we constantly hear. When these answers are provided, then common follow-up questions sound like this:

– “What is the training for?”
– “Isn’t it to improve performance on the job?”
– “Yes, but it is about developing the individual.”
– “But isn’t the purpose of developing the individual so that s/he can improve his/her results and hence the results of the organization?”
– “Yes and yes. OK great so does the training for new hires match the job so they know what to do when they start?”

Sadly, the answer at the end of the day is “No” in many organizations.

It is important to instill a sense of excitement to welcome new hires and provide them with the tools to be successful. Background knowledge of the company and how it started is always good but it won’t improve their abilities to succeed. Many of the content topics covered in new hire training are not centered around the question of what will help the new hires succeed. Research has pointed to the fact that nothing will improve their ability to succeed more than they themselves believing they can succeed. If this is the case, then building the confidence of new hires should be goal number one.

What is the best way to achieve this? By modeling the new hire training around the actual job they will do. This will not only provide context and meaning to the instruction but it will build the confidence of the new hire by showing them that they can do the job.

A way to start is to break down the job into its most important tasks and then work your way back from there by making those steps the topic outline of your new hire training. If you provide all the background knowledge within the context of how it impacts and fits within their job, then you will succeed in eliminating unknowns and boosting your new hires confidence to succeed. Ultimately, this is the best guarantee for a successful new hire training initiative.

Are you Encouraging or Discouraging Your Learners?

June 29, 2016Blogadult learning, content development, custom, custom content development, custom developers, custom e-Learning, custom elearning, custom elearning company, employee training, instructional design, training, training and development, training programs, workplace learningClaudia

I may learn something new but it doesn’t necessarily mean that I am ready to apply it. Many times I learned great concepts that made sense and was eager to use or implement. However, when I tried using them for the first time, reality hit. I was bombarded with all the variables that reality brings and it was not easy to actually apply what I had just learned.

When this happens, research tells us that this discourages individuals from attempting to apply what they learned again. As adult learners we are sensitive about making a fool out of ourselves and especially in front of others. The result is that the concept I was thrilled to implement goes to waste.

What do we do as instructional designers if we don’t have the budgets or the time to build full-fledged simulations that try to recreate reality?

I want to suggest that the key is to consider the following question:

How will the learners use the knowledge when they are back on the job?

Given the answer, you can then devise strategies for providing scaffolds that support the acquisition of competence in the application of the new knowledge. Think of training wheels for a bicycle so that the learner can feel confident they won’t fall or make a fool of themselves in attempting to apply the new knowledge. This way, you can prevent your learners from becoming discouraged to apply what they’ve learned.

Can a Question Demonstrate the Value of Learning?

May 31, 2016Blogaccountability, adult learning, assessments, custom, custom content development, custom developers, custom e-Learning, custom elearning, custom elearning company, custom elearning solutions, custome elearning development, customized elearning, employee training, evaluation, instructional design, learning evaluation, measurement, surveys, training, training and development, training programs, workplace learningClaudia

If we start from the premise that any training or learning and development investment is an investment in the individuals that participate in that training event, then it follows that those individuals are the ones who are best suited to determine the worth and merit of that training event. Isn’t this obvious and don’t most organizations allow for that? The answer is sadly no.

Surveying the participants is definitely the right move but not before, during or immediately after the training event. It is about allowing a span of time to pass so integration or learning transfer occurs. It is only when the participants are back on their jobs facing the realities of unexpected challenges and ever-changing conditions that they can determine how the training investment better equipped them to succeed. This determination may change with time and this is why it makes sense to measure it more than once at different intervals.

Therefore, what is the question we need to ask at different intervals after the training event? The answers to this two-part question, when documented and systematically organized, can demonstrate the link between learning investments and positive business results. We’d like to suggest it is: Since you participated in XYZ training event, how have you improved yourself and what results have you achieved due to those improvements?

It really can be that simple.

To learn more about this approach, take a look at our new article in CLO Magazine on the value of documentation: http://bit.ly/1OtIqRd

What Could Be the #1 Enemy of Good Instructional Design?

March 2, 2016Blogadult learning, behavior change, content development, custom, custom content development, employee training, instructional design, learning, training, training and developmentClaudia

All of us have heard the statistics about the amount of actual knowledge that gets implemented back on the job from a training program. Most researchers have estimated that only ten percent or less actually transfers. So for every $100 we are investing in a training program we are only putting to work ten dollars- and according to other researchers it could be a dismal five dollars or less. When you factor in the fact that of those $100 invested a big portion may have been spent in travel and/or logistics, then this estimation of five dollars or less is actually quite generous.

Here is the tough part, that has cost me years to understand, the responsibility of transfer is, most often than not, seen as belonging to the instructional designer or training and development department. Many others within the organization wash their hands and expect the instructional designer to wave a magic wand delivering individuals who are ready to apply what they have learned. And here in lies the culprit, the number one enemy of the absolute best instructional design is lack of opportunity to apply what I have learned. It sounds deceptively simple but not letting me put into action what I have learned doesn’t allow me to truly transfer to the physical world what I have learned.

The simple application of knowledge to a novel task is called ‘reproductive transfer’ and when there is adaptation, mutation and enhancement it is referred to as ‘productive transfer’ (Robertson, 2001) which is what we want to happen. But again, I have to be given the opportunity to apply what I have just learned. If the organization does not take this into account, the best instructional design will fail. Keep it simple by all of us agreeing – operations, marketing, sales and training – how individuals will apply what they learn before we start designing.

Here’s to a healthy, successful and inspiring 2016

December 30, 2015Blog2016, adult learning, content development, custom, custom e-Learning, custom elearning solutions, customized elearning, employee training, training, training and development, training programsClaudia

As the year comes to an end, we are grateful for the projects we have been able to contribute to. Through these projects we know we are impacting the lives of many for the good. When our clients invest in developing their talent and partner with us to create success opportunities for their employees, they allow us to fulfill our mission to expand knowledge and bring about progress. With this in mind, we want to suggest the following questions that can help training and development departments fortify their position within organizations as value creators instead of cost centers:

– Can we implement strategies to further demonstrate the value we bring to the organization, through success stories and tangible business results that can linked back to the training investments?

– Can we demonstrate how the acquisition of experience is accelerated through the programs we create?

– Can we anticipate the training needs of our internal clients?

– Can we look into strategies to replicate our top performing employees and support them on the job?

– Can we inject fun, excitement and a little intrigue into our programs to enhance perceived value and generate more participation?

We are excited to explore these questions with you in 2016!

Wishing you and yours a healthy, happy, prosperous and inspiring new year.

“Another Brick in the Wall”: Adult Learning versus Pedagogy

October 30, 2015Blogadult learning, blended approach, blended elearning, business results, business value, custom content development, custom developers, custom elearning, custom elearning company, custom elearning solutions, e-learning, elearning, employee training, facilitator, instructional design, malcolm knowl, pink floydClaudia

Adult learners have suffered under the spell of pedagogy for many years. It is time for instructional designers to take an active role in making sure executives and those around them understand the fundamental differences between adult learning and pedagogy.

The word “pedagogy” is derived from the Greek words paid, meaning child (the same origin as the word “pediatrician”) and agogus, meaning “leader of”. In essence, pedagogy means the art and science of teaching children. This model of education has been around for a long time (started between the seventh and twelfth centuries evolving from the monastic and cathedral schools in Europe) and it has remained the dominant model of education since. Still today, there are millions of adults being taught like children.

What is the problem with teaching adults like children? There are quite a few, but I want to focus on the most fundamental one in my opinion. In the pedagogical model, the teacher is assigned the full responsibility for the what, the when and the how of the learning that is to take place. It is a teacher-directed education where the learner essentially takes a passive role. And this is where the problem begins. As an adult, we have the need to be self-directed, as Malcolm Knowles emphasized, because being an adult in the first place, according to its psychological definition, is to arrive at the self-concept that we are responsible for our own lives.

In other words, if we break this paradigm and make the clear distinction between adult learning and the pedagogical model, we would start by shifting the responsibility of the learning back to the learner or the adult. We have seen learning and development departments designing eLearning courses, instructor-led training, virtual classroom sessions, and blended learning programs where little to none of the responsibility has been given to the learner. Basic steps to provide the learner with a sense of self-directedness are missing.

An effective instructional designer needs to start by thinking how the learners can take ownership for what is to be learned and how to facilitate* this process. Specific techniques, like allowing learners to pick and choose different delivery methods or engaging in different learning activities that are part of a bigger picture, make a difference and have an impact on the bottom line. Recently, we implemented a simple strategy in this direction at a global manufacturing company which resulted in increased productivity. We assigned ownership to the learners of creating their own support manual relevant to their own needs, thereby reducing their dependency on external support while improving their productivity.

To summarize and extrapolate from Pink Floyd’s Another Brick in the Wall, “Hey! Teachers! Leave them <adults> alone!” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YR5ApYxkU-U

*Facilitator – We can’t force an adult to learn anything but we can facilitate the access to knowledge for those who want it. This concept is behind our name Facilitador, which means facilitator in various languages.

Curriculum Design and the Blended Approach

September 30, 2015Blogadult learning, behavior change, blended approach, blended elearning, blended learning, content development, custom, custom content development, custom elearning, custom elearning company, custom elearning solutions, customized elearning, elearning, employee training, learning, training, training and development, training programs, workplace learningClaudia

The purpose of any learning or training program is to help the learner or trainee improve him or herself and the results they achieve for the organization. So if this is this case why not make the learning and training program subservient to how the individual will utilize the learning to improve herself and her organization? And keep in mind that acquisition of knowledge and skills to develop competence and ideally reach a level of mastery does not occur from one day to the next; it is a process that in some cases can take years.

We find that when it comes to deciding on a curriculum to prepare individuals for a job role and when leveraging instructional design to deliver this curriculum, most organizations forget the obvious points above.

The first problem is that many organizations try to fit a series of topics, or “things individuals must know” or are “supposed to know” to be successful in their job into an ever expanding curriculum. Chances are that they end up with a huge curriculum that can’t be covered in the amount of time allotted for the training and development program and as a result, critical topics can be left out. The second problem is that many organizations forget the fact that the road to mastery is a process and don’t leverage sound instructional design to support this process.

The first problem is tackled by taking holistic approach to the curriculum and this starts with asking what are successful behaviors of top performers in that role. From there we derive the competencies that need to be developed to execute those behaviors. Then, we ask what are the skills and knowledge that make up those competencies that over time will lead to mastery and lastly, given the aforementioned, how do we make the knowledge and support through this process as least disruptive as possible from the employee’s current work responsibility and environment. Here is where a blended approach is king since it is only through a blended approach that we can find ways for individuals to work and collaborate real time with others, access information when they want it from wherever they want, and access live support on their road to mastery.

Only by taking a holistic instructional approach and leveraging technology can we make the learning subservient to how the learners will utilize the learning to improve themselves and their organizations. We are excited to work with organizations that don’t forget the obvious.

The King of eLearning: Blended

August 31, 2015Blogbehavior change, blended approach, blended elearning, blended learning, content development, custom developers, custom e-Learning, custom elearning, custom elearning company, customized elearning, employee training, face-to-face instruction, live virtual classroom, training and developmentClaudia

Have you heard the talk when it comes to eLearning that says: “It rarely lives up to its expectations“?

In the mid-90’s and early 2000’s the talk was clear: eLearning would take over the world! Then came the fact that it was self-paced e-learning that was going to give corporations an effective, efficient and economical way of distributing knowledge across the corporation. Then reality struck. Completion rates of self-paced eLearning when not mandatory were below 5% in most organizations and people were complaining left and right when told to take any eLearning course.

It appears that most people forgot that not all eLearning is created equal. There were many electronic page turners (EPT) that were given the name of “eLearning” and since many corporate learning and development departments who purchase and develop eLearning don’t actually consume it (or take it), these EPTs would make it past them. (We jokingly call this “the dog food syndrome” because the owner of the dog – who buys the dog food – doesn’t actually consume it). These EPTs reinforced the perception that eLearning was just not living up to anybody’s expectations evidenced by dismal completion rates and low satisfaction scores.

The bright stars in all of this were the organizations that invested in the right instructional design resources and built real online self-paced interactive learning experiences. This weeded out the organizations that were serious about leveraging the eLearning medium from the ones that didn’t. However, there is a way to ensure that eLearning lives up to its expectations even if we dare call EPTs eLearning, and that is to make eLearning or EPTs part of a blended approach. Obviously, a well developed, instructionally sound course will be able to support a blended approach better than an EPT but both can be designed into a blended approach that doesn’t rely exclusively on the eLearning or the EPT to be effective but on a blended strategy that leverages other mediums like face-to-face instruction, live virtual classrooms, and experiential learning opportunities to achieve tangible results. The concept is that in order for simple eLearning to be king and live up to its expectations, it has to be part of a more robust blended approach.

What eLearning content provides the biggest bang for your buck?

June 30, 2015Blogbehavior change, content development, custom, custom content development, custom elearning, custom elearning company, custom elearning solutions, customized elearning, elearning, employee training, training, training programs, user generated content, video, video trainingClaudia

Recently, I overheard a conversation at a learning conference when I was waiting to enter a room I was scheduled to present at. The conversation between the two individuals went like this:

“What content provides the biggest bang for your buck? That is the question I have about this e-Learning project we are starting. It’s going to take a lot of effort so knowing what we include and don’t include will be key.”

“Yes we have to look for what’s really going to move the needle so we continue getting funding.”

“I was thinking that what we need to do is make sure we give the people out on the field what they need. They have to tell us what is going to make it or break it for them.”

The question of what is the content that will be most effective within an eLearning solution is very important. Equally or perhaps more importantly is how the knowledge is going to be delivered and how it will be accessed by the learner. Consider the following: in regular face-to-face communications we have three components. They are:

Our body language
How we say what we say (voice qualities/characteristics)
What we actually say or the words we chose

What we actually say represents only about 7% of the equation, with 38% going to how we say it and 55% going to the body language we use when we say it (Mehrabian and Ferris, 1967).

If we were to apply this formula when thinking of an eLearning solution, we would give more weight to how the knowledge will be accessed (55%) than to how the knowledge will be delivered (38%) or what the knowledge is that will be delivered (7%). I am not suggesting that one is more important than the other, but I am suggesting we start by thinking how the knowledge will be accessed by the learner at the point of need.

As adult learners we do not need to remember everything or memorize things, we need to be able to execute our jobs and access knowledge when we need it to support our successful execution of the task(s) at hand. Therefore, any eLearning solution that does not “follow” the learner back when they are on the job will miss the opportunity to provide the most value to that learner at the moment of need.

Now if we consider the content question again under this perspective, we could argue that the ideal content is that which will help our employees perform at their best when they are back on the job. And who knows this best? Our top performing employees. Therefore, the content can come from these employees. How? The best way I have found is through what we call “user-generated content” or self-shot short videos of these top employees sharing specific know-how and best practices to support the successful execution of a task or a step within their jobs. And how will these videos be delivered? It is up to the training department to curate, organize, tag, label, and rank the videos for easy on-the-job access. Creating employee-generated content is not hard if you create the right framework for the training department to be able to accomplish this.

Custom eLearning Wars: Will changing your attitude change your behavior or will changing your behavior change your attitude?

May 28, 2015Blogbehavior change, custom, custom content development, custom e-Learning, custom elearning, custom elearning company, custom elearning solutions, custome elearning development, e-learning, elearning, employee trainingClaudia

Could a generic or off-the-shelf eLearning course change your behavior? Most likely it can’t because it is generic and even though it might have some examples these might not apply to the specific situations your employees will face. Could a generic eLearning course change your attitude or how you think about something? Perhaps it can if the content is valid and the generic e-Learning course has been well designed. However, does changing your thinking about something guarantee that you will change your behavior? The answer quite simply is no, nothing can guarantee it (think about how many times you read a life changing health practice and then failed to apply it) but you can put the odds in your favor.

Now let’s consider the following: can changing behavior change the way we think about something? The answer is yes. Ultimately it is behavior that counts since it is what impacts the world around us. How can behavior change our thinking? Let’s consider some examples where this might seem obvious. The first is dressing differently (a behavior). When we are dressed in fancy, expensive clothes or in a uniform, we tend to change how we stand, how we talk, and how we perceive ourselves. Another example is when we force ourselves to smile (a behavior). In the beginning, it might feel awkward and fake, but as we maintain the smile we start feeling happy (thinking happy thoughts). If you are still not convinced, try the smile technique on your own (perhaps do so in private so people around you don’t think you are crazy!)

So how do you increase the odds of a behavior change occurring after an eLearning course? You not only provide relevant, valid and compelling content to impact how people think about an issue or as Peter Senge of Harvard would describe, change the mental models people hold to interpret what is around them, but you also provide examples that are specific to the challenges and situations your employees will face. Modeling the right behavior within the appropriate context can be achieved only through a custom eLearning course that has been designed based on your employees’ specific needs and challenges. When the behaviors are made explicit in this manner, the gap between knowing something and being able to execute on it, or what Jeffrey Pfeffer and Robert I. Sutton coined “The Knowing-Doing Gap,” is shortened. It is still not a guarantee people will change their behavior as this responsibility ultimate lies with the individual, but the odds will definitely be in your favor.