Masonry Magazine June 2000 Page. 34
Aiming Your Sights on the Target
One key element of any effective development process is creating training content that hits the bulls eye. It requires making a couple key assumptions. First, people are only willing and able to embrace a finite number of changes in a limited period of time. Some people by their sheer nature are willing to embrace more change, others will only embrace a few changes. Whatever the magic number, it is a small quantity. The average person will not be effective at implementing a multitude of substantive changes in a short period of time.
Creating high-impact training content requires focusing on those key skills that will result in the greatest improvement. It means concentrating the training on the 20 percent of skills that when implemented will consistently return 80 percent of the total benefit.
Adult learning is a fast growing field of study. Today there is a plethora of resources that provide high quality training designed around the needs of your people at different stages of their careers. Building content around learning styles, corporate cultures, and target outcome outcomes all speed the transfer of learning (also known as the learning transference coefficient) from the classroom straight into day-to-day use.
Most contractors find that acquiring an existing program or hiring an instructor designed to create content for your individual situation, is preferred over assigning the task to an internal staffer. Creating a one-day training program from scratch typically requires 25 to 60 days or more. Meaning that for every one day of classroom training, the course developer will invest between 25 and 60 additional days of time to create a training package. The content, training-the-trainer sessions, designing reinforcement strategies, and a feedback loop all require a substantial amount of time to develop.
The common means of developing focused, topical training sessions is to build on an existing body of knowledge and customizing the elements to your specific situation.
Technical and specialized training is increasingly being written from scratch for contractors of all sizes. Because the time commitment needed to develop technical training exceeds that of management skills training, incorporating the skills of an instructional designer is a positive use of corporate resources.
Whether creating content from scratch with an instructional designer or customizing existing content that meets your training skills requirements, a task force of your people need to be actively involved in the process. They will serve as subject matter experts in ensuring relevant real life examples and interactive sessions are developed. They will oversee accuracy of technical content and converge the philosophic basis of management skills to your corporate goals and objectives. Their involvement cements buy in and positions the training with the target audience.
The composition of the task force changes based on training content. At a minimum, it should include a sampling of the target audience, one or two immediate supervisors, senior management, and potential internal trainers.
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Expanding Learning Out of the Classroom
Training is designed to create new standards of performance. It is designed to provide the information, structure, and practice needed to put skills into place. But, a critical element that has been historically missing from the process is management and peer reinforcement. Learning new skills is only half the battle. Each manager of the target audience needs to be active in the reinforcement process. Managing the process of behavioral change, periodically reviewing progress, and setting new target goals are necessary to provide the feedback and guidance needed to ensure success.
Consistent ongoing reinforcement is a vital element of the learning process. The embryonic stages of reinforcement begins in the learning environment. The majority occurs on the job. Ideally the reinforcement will occur at regular intervals, each of a limited duration.
The reinforcement process needs to actively involve the immediate supervisors of the audience. Managers will need coaching on the structure of reinforcement and strategies to maximize effectiveness. Reinforcement modules, based on the key competency areas of the training, are typically de-
34 MASONRY-MAY/JUNE, 2000