Sometimes It Seems Like We Never Learn

This semester I am teaching a course in Needs Assessment and today I listened to students present the results of their field projects.  I want to share the results of one of them with you.

Here's the situation: Company X installs new computer software which affects a lot of employees.  A training course is designed and all employees attend the same course given well in advance of the new software becoming live.  Unfortunately, the employees aren't using the software like they should. So my students go off to find out why and propose solutions.

The findings:

• Because the training was given well in advance of them having to use the software, they didn't have the opportunity to practice it so they forgot a lot of the training
• Each employee only uses a specific part of the system but had to sit through training on everything....so they were overwhelmed.
• No post-training job aids were provided to help employees use the system

Our prescriptions for training future new employees:

• Break the training into short modules 
• Determine which modules are needed for each job
• Only train employees in what they need (at first)
• Provide an opportunity to use the system immediately after training
• Provide quick reference job aids to help employees learn faster

Sounds pretty simple right?  But how many times have you seen this initial approach repeated. I know I have seen it MANY times.  The reality is the initial approach was more for the convenience of the trainers than the employees!

So why do we keep making the same mistakes over and over?  Sure its a little extra work but in this instance the software was essential to the company's business....so isn't it worth a little extra effort?

We should know better.  No best practice or expert would advocate a "one size fits all training without immediate practice" but it is done every day in the real world.  I say its time that we stop this silliness and get serious about creating training that really works--for the employees and the organization!