How Not To Train

1. How Not To Train Common Training Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

2. Potential Savings From Training • Fewer errors • Less equipment downtime • Faster equipment startup time • Reduced employee turnover • Proper implementation of new strategies • Higher workplace morale • Less time lost to grievance hearings and work stoppages • Reduced recruitment costs (because training can create more job-ready candidates for promotions) • Maximized productivity of new employees

3. What We’ll Cover • Adult learning styles • Common training mistakes • Consequences of poor training

4. Training Adults • What is different? • Expectations • Learning styles • Auditory • Visual • Tactile/Kinesthetic • Personal filters • Cultural • Language

5. Adult Learners • Are autonomous and self-directed • Have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and knowledge • Are goal-oriented • Are relevancy-oriented • Are practical, focusing on the aspects of a lesson most useful to them in their work

6. Motivation • Problem centered goals • Personal growth or gain • Stimulate curiosity • Demonstrate usefulness of learning

7. Barriers to Learning • Lack of time • Lack of money • Lack of confidence • Lack of knowledge about opportunities • Scheduling problems • Personal situations

8. Auditory Learners • Learn through listening • By tone of voice, pitch, speed and Verbal lectures, discussions, talking things through and listening to others • Interpret the underlying meanings of speech other nuances • Written information may have little meaning until it is heard

9. Visual Learners • Learn through seeing... • Need to see body language and facial expression to fully understand content • Prefer sitting at the front of the classroom to avoid visual obstructions (e.g. people's heads). • May think in pictures • Learn best from visual displays • Prefer to take detailed notes to absorb the information

10. Tactile/Kinesthetic Learners • Learn through moving, doing and touching... • Learn best through a hands-on approach • Find it hard to sit still for long periods of time • Become distracted by their need for activity and exploration

11. A Word of Caution • It is simplistic to say that someone is strictly one type or another

12. Personal Filters • Experiences • Personal beliefs • Emotion • Culture • Situational context

13. American Style Doing Egalitarian Monochronic Low context Other Cultures Being Hierarchical Polychronic High context Cultural Barriers

14. Language Barriers • “Decoding” needed • Some things “lost in translation” • Slang, idioms • American cultural references • Foreign language confusion • Vreemde taalverwarring • Confusione di lingua straniera

15. Why This Matters • Students learn more effectively when they already know something about a content area and when concepts in that area mean something to them and to their particular background or culture. When new information is linked to prior knowledge, they activate interest and curiosity, and infuse instruction with a sense of purpose.

16. What Not to Do

17. Use Training as a Quick Fix Training Crisis Use Training to Solve Every Problem

18. Set Up a Training Program Without an Understanding of the Goal

19. Don’t Tell Attendees Why They Are There

20. Teach Skills With No Direct Relationship to the Work • Specific training should only be given if the person is going to utilize the task they are being trained on soon.

21. Provide Irrelevant Information

22. Provide Learning in a Vacuum or Without Context • Don't ask for input from the people receiving or sponsoring the training

23. TMI-Information Overload

24. Provide Non-specific Information

25. Ignore Physical Limitations

26. Make Participants Feel Uncomfortable or Insulted

27. Drone On For Hours Without a Break

28. Provide an Uncomfortable Learning Environment

29. Learning Environment • Seats • Lighting • Work space • Temperature • Noise

30. Allow Interruptions and Distractions to Occur

31. Omit Follow-up and Documentation

32. Enhancing Learning • Put training in context • Do some homework and find out from your staff what they know and what they need to know to do their job well • Present the material in a way that will match the groups learning style(s) • Use visuals to overcome language or learning difficulties

33. Summary • Target training to a specific project, skill or facility need • Refer to known skills to link new knowledge • Be sure the knowledge will be applied quickly • Engage the attendees to discover or share parts of the information

34. Appropriate Training Methods for Mixed Audiences • Vary training to accommodate different learning types • Provide both hard facts and general concepts • Incorporate both visual and verbal cues • Allow both experiential learning and time for evaluation and analysis • Provide detail in a structured way, as well as the big picture

35. In Summary • Training is important • Training is required • Training is not a substitute or fix-all for poor programs and facilities or unhappy employees