Category: Training & Development

Mentoring programs seem to be coming of age in the corporate world and other places such as public and private school systems. Who do these programs benefit? While I was a grad student one of my group projects was to find a way to capture tacit knowledge and find an organization who is doing this. We found through research that mentoring was a perfect way to capture such knowledge. We also found a Middle school who was in the 2nd year of their mentoring program and that it was not working out the way they wanted. So we took them on.

We found that if the teachers had more time together the program would work much better. So we solved that problem by suggesting that all mentors and mentees set aside one hour a week to meet in person at a coffee shop or some other location for coffee and to discuss problems and solutions, and then we also set up a system where the mentees were able to email their mentors with problems or questions they might have. Then they saved all the correspondents between parties and compiled a notebook which was past onto the next set of mentors and mentees.

This mentor program along with others I have researched benefits all parties involved, the reason being that everyone brings some type of knowledge to the table which is then shared. We found a big challenge for the mentors in this school was the technology component. The younger teachers assisted by teaching their mentors computer programs and other ways to make the technology work for them. The mentees were having problems such as unruly students or having problems getting parents involved, the mentors helped in those areas, this program ended up benefiting even the school itself by building better teachers all around. I believe this is true for the corporate environment too. Sharing tacit knowledge especially helps lower costs of training newbees. What a case in support of KM!

As always Happy Training and comments questions concerns and guests are always welcome!

Leigh

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

– Looking for an expert in training and development or human performance technology?
– Contact me: Leigh Dudley – Linkedin – 248-349-2881 or 248-277-2966
– Read my blog: Training and Development

If I asked you who is responsible for training the employees in your organization, I would expect your response to include the training or the human resource department in one form or another. If I continued to question you on how that training is conducted, I would expect to hear the names of different classes or training modules and a description of delivery methods that would include classroom training, web-based training, seminars, webinars, or perhaps even on-the job training. You may even include required skills, experience or certifications that persons responsible for training must possess such as knowledge of adult learning theory, facilitation skills, and knowledge of instructional design.

I would of course, expect your answer to include the formal learning systems used within your organization. However, if you are failing to recognize the informal learning structures as powerful teachers in your organization, you are making a mistake.

Consider this scenario. Suzie is a new employee and has just completed the new employee training program. She has moved from her desk in the training area to her permanent cubicle located next to the cubicle of Bob, a tenured employee. Suzie feels confident that she can handle her new role and eagerly gets started. Within the first day on the job, she discovers that she still needs clarification on a few things. Does she call the training manager? Does she consider calling her supervisor? Or is it just easier to ask Bob. He is right there and he has been with the company for a while. Suzie decides to ask Bob. Bob responds with something like this, “Well, we’re supposed to do it like this, but…”

In the above scenario, Suzie would have no reason at this point in her tenure to assume a tenured employee would provide her with anything but an acceptable answer to her questions. She could reasonably assume that If he wasn’t doing his job correctly, he wouldn’t still be working there.

Can’t she?

What do you think? Your comments are always encouraged.

Look for more on informal structures of learning in organizations in my next post.

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For more resources, See the Human Resources library.

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Sheri Mazurek is a training and human resource professional with over 16 years of management experience, and is skilled in all areas of employee management and human resource functions, with a specialty in learning and development. She is currently employed as the Human Resource Manager at EmployeeScreenIQ, a global leader in pre-employment background screening.

Evaluation is not just for the trainers and learning professionals, it’s for the adult learner, the middle managers and everyone involved in the process of training and development – Even more important, in today’s recession, training is unfortunately one of the first areas in a business to be trimmed or cut. So we have to have an effective instrument to evaluate post training, showing the people who “hold the purse strings” the value training and development plays in organizations.

Instruments include feedback, Donald Kirkpatrick’s training evaluation model, and Bloom’s taxonomy of learning domains are invaluable in post training evaluation. Here is a that you may want to look at to explore more evaluation tools http://www.businessballs.com/trainingprogramevaluation.htm#workplace_training_evaluation – there are free instruments you can look at too.

Learners and trainers alike benefit from evaluation at the end of training, it is a reinforcement for both parties. As we end the training remember to try and be positive and give constructive criticism try and show the positive outcomes and if there are negative outcomes discuss these in a positive manner.

There are several ways to evaluate training from surveys, interviews, performance reviews etc. One important thing to keep in mind is follow-up, make sure each training is followed up at intervals of 3, 6 12 months and depending on the extent of the training you might want to follow up at 24 months. (This could be useful when doing an ROI).

There are many websites that can help provide templates and such for evaluation just google instruments used in training evaluation and there you go!

Happy training and comments, concerns and guest writers are always welcome.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

– Looking for an expert in training and development or human performance technology?
– Contact me: Leigh Dudley – Linkedin – 248-349-2881
– Read my blog: Training and Development

Imagine that you have just returned from attending a concert or play. When asked if your enjoyed the event, you reply “It was good.” What do you really mean by this statement? Do you want it understood that the musicians, actors, and support staff were talented or that the basic sheet music or script was entertaining? Or is it that the musicians or actors worked together with the proper leadership from the conductor or the director to produce something that you thought was valuable (and that is why you were willing to spend your hard-earned money on expensive tickets)?

Performance is about factors such as culture, mission, work-flow, goals, environment, knowledge, and skills all working together to produce something that is valuable to the consumer. So performance, regardless of the organization that produces the performance (be it a baseball team, software company, girl scout troop, or law firm), is about outputs or results. There are 3 levels of performance

1. Organization

2. Process

3. Individual

When the sheet music or the script has potential, but the musicians or actors just are not talented, the performance fails. Perhaps the musicians or actors are talented individuals, but they just are not working well together. The performance just was not “good.” Performance, therefore, needs to occur on many levels. Performance needs to occur on three levels:

1. The performer
2. The process
3. The organization

Optimal performance is obtained when all three levels work in harmony. The three levels of performance above presents a visual rendition of this process. A breakdown at any one of the levels will prevent optimal performance, thereby requiring some type of planned action to improve performance.

The organizational level establishes the necessary circumstances for the other levels of performance. When performance is not optimal, examine first the organization’s culture, policies, mission, goals, and operating strategies. These factors delineate the boundaries by which we define processes and jobs.

The process level is where the actual work gets accomplished. When performance is not optimal, examine factors such as workflow, job design, required inputs and outputs, and the performance management procedures to see if these processes actually work and support the organizational goals.

The individual performers within the organization affect the processes. When performance is not optimal, determine if the individual performance goals, knowledge and skill, work environment, availability or support tools, coaching, and feedback support the processes.

Seldom is it true that only one set of factors (organization, process, or performance) are adversely affecting performance. When trying to identify why the performance problem exists, it is critical, therefore, to examine factors at all three levels of performance.

As always happy training and comments, concerns and guests are always welcome.

Leigh

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

– Looking for an expert in training and development or human performance technology?
– Contact me: Leigh Dudley – Linkedin – 248-349-2881
– Read my blog: Training and Development

Everyone has or should have a general idea of how much time it takes to develop a new training program. In the research I’ve done times are all over the place 10:1 all the way up to 40:1 the later being very generous. I think if you had a 40:1 ratio you’d never find a position or that you are really re-inventing the wheel.

As a grad student I designed (with the awesome help of my mentor) a program that covered the entire HPT process. I think since I was starting from scratch and including everything from how to do a needs assessment, task analysis, how to conduct interviews and design them and design and process surveys and evaluation including ROI I probably spent the 40:1 ratio. But I had to research every aspect of the processes. I even included the brain teasers I used. The manual ended up being 208 pages!

Folks this is or was – the exception to the rule. I believe a comprehensive training program could be done at a 20:1 ratio. This of course depends on how fast research can be done and how focused you can be. Using DACUM studies, books that you have on hand and looking at what is already available and in place helps. (This is why having a well organized library is very important)….

It is however very important to try and estimate the time and perhaps give a higher estimate maybe by 5 so you can always meet your deadline. As a “new-bee” in the field I’d probably estimate at 30:1 and try and come in at 20:1 but I’d give myself the 10 just in case I’d underestimated something. I think it’s very important to come in on deadline and under if possible.

As always happy training and comments, concerns are always welcome!

Leigh

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

– Looking for an expert in training and development or human performance technology?
– Contact me: Leigh Dudley – Linkedin – 248-349-2881
– Read my blog: Training and Development

Sorry this is a day late, life happens – Well I promised to give some useful tools to put in your training toolbox – I had a comment on a past post and the writer suggested that “companies are choosing to use additional methods such as corporate videos for training and development opportunities (benefits enrollments in particular)”. The gentleman sent a link to his site and I thought it might be a good tool so the link is:

http://www.icorporatevideo.com – you might want to check it out. – other tools are:

Books – I recommend the following:

Brain teasers, There are a myriad of these out there amazon.com is a good place to look – Brain teasers are a great place to start a training session gets em up and thinking!

Any book by Robert Mager

Donald Kirkpatrick’s 4 levels of evaluation

Make Training Work – Phillips

e-Learning – Rosen

Training aint telling (ASTD publication)

Running Training Like a Business – David Van Adelsberg, Edward A Trolley

And my personal favorite “Who Moved the Cheese”

I also have laminated Harless’ 13 questions for HPT here’s a link for that

http://boisemicrocinema.com/virmedian/hpttoolkit/chapter2.html

I also can’t say enough about ASTD’s info lines they have been invaluable to me when I was a grad student and I am sure I will use them when I eventually find a job.

One thing I also recommend is a membership to ASTD they are a wealth of information and the site is really user friendly.

I also recommend looking at www.langevin.com they are a train the trainer site and also have great classes and certifications too.

I am sure your toolbox is pretty complete, but I thought I’d add my two-cents too and once again happy training and suggestions comments and concerns are welcome as well as guest writers.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

– Looking for an expert in training and development or human performance technology?
– Contact me: Leigh Dudley – Linkedin – 248-349-2881
– Read my blog: Training and Development

I was reading a post on linked-in on the problems with determining how to deal with problems such as leadership, miss-management and so on. This lead to me thinking that leadership and miss-management and things such as environment or ergonomics are not training problems at all they are in effect Human performance problems. Training is only a problem in about 20% of the cases, the other 80% of the time it’s a problem with management or something else.

Needs assessments are normally the first stop to determining what an organizations problem is or what they need. Trainers have to be prepared to do interviews and surveys that are effective yet brief enough for CEO’s middle managers and employees to fill out and get back to the trainer(s) in a timely fashion, I would also give the option of emailing these tools back because snail mail may be too inconvenient for all involved. Then once the interviews and surveys are in we have to do some type of analysis to determine if the majority are in agreement as to the problem and where it lays. We can then move on to check other problems and find solutions. Interview skills as well as the skill of developing surveys are essential to effective training. The next step is looking and using models to determine gaps ADDIE is one of the most frequent ISD models but what about HPT (HPI) models they are also useful.

Robert Mager has a fabulous method for determining gap analysis as well as Gilbert (The Gilbert model). These HPT models make semi-quick work of determining if the problem(s) lie with poor training, or something else, and these models are so easy to understand and follow. I am sure that Amazon or some other online bookstore has Magers books at fairly reasonable prices. As a grad student working on projects his books were invaluable tools.

I think everyone of us in this industry need a good tool box for references Friday I will have a list of items each of us might want in our tool box as TD and HPT professionals, any suggestions would be welcome.

As always happy training and comments, concerns and guests are always welcome 🙂

Leigh

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

– Looking for an expert in training and development or human performance technology?
– Contact me: Leigh Dudley – Linkedin – 248-349-2881
– Read my blog: Training and Development

Is the learning process is valued in our organization? What constitutes a learning environment?

How do we know whether or not our efforts to learn are valued in our company? Some corporations such as Steel Case in Grand Rapids, Michigan make the value on learning obvious, they have a large learning department at their headquarters in GR and training is ongoing. Others might want people cross trained, they do this so that knowledge is spread throughout the organization (sometimes without even realizing it), other organizations just expect their workers to obtain knowledge on their own. Sometimes as in Nursing or teaching, you are expected to take continuing education coursework throughout your career. With these tactics we realize that learning for all is a continuous process and that we are valued as adult learners. If you continue your education and learning you might be able to move up in the organization, secure a better position or even move onto bigger and better career experiences.

Learning environments are found in every corner of the globe and can be found in classroom settings, workplaces, or even on corporate retreats, anyplace that an employee finds comfortable and can take in knowledge constitutes a learning environment. We as trainers are able to make learning either a great experience or a not so great experience. We take into consideration a number of environmental factors, lighting, noise levels, seating arrangements, whiteboard capabilities, podiums, audio-visual availability and so on. Even if we are training on a factory floor we take into consideration the learning environment, and the people surrounding us in the process. CEO’s may want to pay attention to this also and look at how the adult learner can learn the best and in what is not a good environment. (Noisy, poorly lit, poorly ventilated buildings etc).

With the proper learning environment and organizational value on education employees are motivated to learn and stretch out of their comfort zone, they might be motivated to continue learning and go to college, or explore new situations in an organization. Learning ought to be valued and if it is valued we will always be a step ahead or at least in the right direction. Learning only has advantages.

As always happy training and comments, guest writers etc are welcome.

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

– Looking for an expert in training and development or human performance technology?
– Contact me: Leigh Dudley – Linkedin – 248-349-2881
– Read my blog: Training and Development

When evaluation occurs during training a few have the right idea but evaluation is such a critical area, we have to be sure what we are training is sinking in.

When starting a training program make sure that there are plenty of pop quizzes to accompany the training program. These can be brief quizzes relevant to the training sections being taught. I would try and give the quiz collect them and then a break (10 minutes), during this time scan the answers and then if something is glaringly off address this at the top of the ending of the break. Also try and do a nice question to the students every now and then. Leave plenty of time at the end of each session for a discussion period and a more in depth question and answer period.

Generally putting people to work also helps retention rates of training, get students involved give a few case studies and have them try and figure the problem and the solution, then have a leader give their groups synopsis. Make sure that anything you are giving is as always relevant to the organization and relevant to adult learners. At the end of the training program give a comprehensive type of “Smile” sheet, it should be able to cover each section in the program as well as how the instruction was and make sure there is a suggestion section at the end of each smile sheet.

I am sure there are a ton more evaluation tools out there and I would love your suggestions. I will make sure they are taken into consideration.

Remember keep training fun relevant and running like a smoothly oiled machine and a business! Happy Training!

Leigh

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For more resources about training, see the Training library.

– Looking for an expert in training and development or human performance technology?
– Contact me: Leigh Dudley – Linkedin – 248-349-2881
– Read my blog: Training and Development

(This post has been moved to https://staging.management.org/trng_dev/evaluate/evaluate.htm#roi.)