Effective On-the-Job Training Strategies for Organizations

1. On The Job Training Presentation by Mark Hoxmeier

2. What will be covered • On-the-job-training defined • How on-the-job-training can be used in your organization • On-the-job-training explained • How it works • A real world example • An exercise • Summary

3. What is on-the-job-training? • On-the-job-training (OJT) is simply the training that an employee receives at work during the normal work day (Foster,p. 458)

4. How can OJT be used in your organization? • To teach a single skill or task • Multiple programs • Used to help teach tasks within a work process • Used in conjunction with other types of training procedures (Foster, p. 411)

5. On-the-job-training explained • OJT is very important to today’s businesses because of: • Greater emphasis on the value of formal education and training programs • Advanced learning must be grounded in real-world curricula • Investment in human capitol is perceived by many to add shareholder value (Vital Speeches of the Day, p.418)

6. OJT explained (cont.) • Information is not training • Employers must have insight as to how individuals learn • Employees learn through: • Practice • Feedback • Guidance (Franchising World, p. 25)

7. OJT explained (cont.) • Different kinds of instructional goals require different instructional strategies • The trainer needs to focus on output rather than the training program itself • Effective training design • Necessary knowledge and skills • Setting in which job is performed

8. OJT explained (cont.) • Training must be done in a manner to assure that the participant completes the training with: • A high sense of value for what they have learned • High competence in their ability to perform the task for which they were trained • High levels of confidence in their ability to perform the trained skill (Franchising World, p.26)

9. OJT and the Internet • Using the Internet as an OJT tool • Mobile • Helpful in time-pressed situations • Good for self-motivated employees • Eager to master skills on own-terms • Supplement for traditional instructor-led training (Upside, p.165)

10. How OJT works • Structured OJT • Prepare the trainee • Present the training • Require a response • Provide feedback • Evaluate performance (Quality, p.84)

11. Prepare the trainee • Explain the purpose • Determine prerequisites • In applicable cases, explain general safety and quality issues • Explain how training will be done • Try to set trainee at ease and solicit questions

12. Present the training • Position the trainee • Provide overview of process and steps involved • Include safety and quality issues again • Describe and demonstrate • Summarize

13. Require a response and provide feedback • Simultaneous actions in the structure of OJT • Establish a level of understanding with the trainee so you can get honest and open response

14. Evaluate performance • Value the trainees opinions • Quantifiable output “Structured OJT is one of the preventive expenses that will help reduce, if not eliminate, the cost of failure” (Quality, p.84)

15. A real world example in the aerospace industry (Training, p.76) • What was the issue? • What caused the problem? • How OJT helped the problem

16. What was the issue? • Certified aerospace inspectors continually failed to detect serious flaws in metal components

17. What caused the problem? • The inspectors were not properly operating the test equipment • The method for teaching the inspector was by watching another inspector who had more experience with the machine

18. How OJT helped • Developed simple procedures for the task • Identified and document best practices • Training professional used the documentation to train • Fostered an environment of communication and learning

19. A Simple Exercise • You will need two other individuals to help emphasize the importance of OJT • With the first individual, separately show him/her how to fold a particular style of paper airplane. SHOW ONLY.

20. Exercise (cont.) • With the second individual: • Show as well as allow individual to follow along w/ his/her own paper • Use a documented step by step procedure • Encourage questions and communication • Then let both try to reproduce • Unless, the first individual already knows that style of airplane he/she will probably have more difficulty reproducing it

21. Summary • OJT is important because it grounded in real-life practice • Employees learn through practice, feedback, and guidance • Structured OJT includes preparing the trainee, presenting the training, requiring a response, providing feedback, evaluating performance.

22. Bibliography Foster, S. Thomas. Managing Quality: An Integrative Approach. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 2001. Franklin, Harriet. “Five Steps to Effective Training.” Franchising World Sep./Oct. 1999: 24-26. Greenspan, Alan. “Investments in Human Capitol.” Vital Speeches of the Day 1 May 2000: 418-420. Suzik, Holly Ann. “On-The-Job Training: Do It Right!” Quality Nov. 1999: 84. Terry, Lisa. “On The Job Training.” Upside May 2000: 165-174. Walter, Diane. “A View From the Floor.” Training Jul. 2001: 76.