This article, formed the basis of one published by the Innes Labour Brief, Vol 8 No, September 1996. It was entitledRetooling the Training Department – New Approaches to Developing Workplace Skills. Despite the passing time the points raised are still very relevant.
Introduction
Phases and stages in the learning process
Creating learning materials
Coaching: mediating and facilitating learning
Bibliography
Abstract
Introducing a new system of training people requires a rigorous review of current practice. The implications of a learning-focused approach to developing workplace skills require that one not only considers the content of the course offerings but also the structure of how the material is offered. As a learner develops skills his learning needs change. This will affect the kind of materials needed for this type of training as well as the support structure.
Implementing a learning system
Introduction
One of the problems experienced in the traditional teaching/training approach is that of “transfer”. What is learned in the classroom, is seldom used or applied in the workplace or in “real” life. The classroom becomes a specific reality: what one learns has currency only there, the learning is geared towards passing tests or exams and is then “forgotten”. This even happens internally from one classroom to the next. The students can’t remember what they learned in the maths class in order to apply it to the physics syllabus. Teachers complain that students can’t seem to remember what they learned last week, last month, last year. In the world of work the student or trainee does not connect or apply what he or she learned in the classroom to the activities of the workplace.
The focus of the traditional system is on the process of transmission — the interface between teacher/trainer and learner and assessing performance is testing how well the learner has learned what the teacher/trainer has taught or demonstrated.
Many managers, in an attempt to exert control, also try to enforce conformity. They strive to have workers and subordinates who are functional, but not necessarily effective. When they then exhort their work force to become productive, to focus on productivity and effectiveness, they are met with puzzlement.
As part of the process of implementing the strategy described in a previous article A quiet revolution Integrating education and training in the plastics industry the Plastics Industry Training Board had to devise ways of improving transfer, of making training and education more effective and of making the whole process more participative.
Phases and stages in the learning process
If we analyse how we react when we are confronted with something new we will see that we follow a certain procedure:
Handshaking phase
Identify, recognise,
relate to |
· ·orientate ourselves - where is the front, where is the back, the start, the end
· recognise the major markers or features
· compile the big picture - the overall flow of the process or activity
· place all we see (or sense) in context of this machine and this operation
· build a preliminary model of the process and our role
· place all into the context of what we have already experienced.
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Identify :
If you have never driven a car you have to learn to identify the switches and what function they have - but only when you are ready for that action and not before. It doesn't make sense to learn where the indicators are before you have mastered starting the engine and letting out the clutch.
Recognise:
If you get into a strange car, you first have to look around to establish where the light switch, indicator and ignition switches are. But you know they are there.
During the first forays into learning, models are very useful. It is easier to copy something you have seen happen, than to work it out from a description in a book. |
Immersion phase |
· During this phase we bob around in an ocean of new information. Much of it doesn’t make sense.
· Slowly over time the brain starts to develop connections and concepts
· As we work through this phase we sense we have a bit more control |
The senses and, monitoring the senses is the primary activity during this phase.
When we read without full comprehension. We will stumble over strange words and concepts. We find it difficult to recognise the logic. We find it difficult to make connections between apparently loose bits of information
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Engagement phase |
· we must identify the purpose of the operation in general and our function within that context
· watch more closely, identifying and relating newer, ever smaller components and assemblies, nuances
· start to judge what is OK and what is not OK
Watch, monitor and learn to see (hear, feel, smell) what there is |
We learn to identify cues that indicate good or bad performance. Unless we learn to "see", we never fully understand the process. Unless a driver learns to identify the handling characteristics typical of an under-inflated tyre they will not recognise the symptom and will drive soft tyres to destruction. We learn to see and recognise all the external components and characteristics of the machine and process.
At this stage we learn primarily to connect things.
So we learn to:
“see”, to recognise parts, components, systems, functional groups
understand, "see", the functions and purpose of individual parts, systems, or subsystems
recognise what “looks” right: the correct movement, operation, sight, sound
recognise incipient or actual malfunction, going off spec, beginning to wobble
read and relate the readings of instruments and other signs related to the process, operation until we can monitor the activity, operation, function on a continuous basis |
Intervention phase |
· We react to events by making once-off changes.
· We start to develop a sense of what the implications and consequences of specific events and interventions are
· We start to look at the results of specific changes |
We try starting or stopping the equipment, trying out small adjustments and seeing the effects, gradually losing our fear of the process as our familiarity and understanding increases. As we develop in this stage we learn more about the internal, invisible or partly visible functioning. We are capable of visualising in a general way what happens behind the scenes. A personal computer user at this stage knows roughly how data is stored and retrieved from storage media, even if he or she does not know how read/write heads function, how tracks, sectors and clusters are used to store the information. At this stage we learn primarily by doing, trying things out, trying different ways of doing things, experimenting. |
Interaction phase |
· From once-off interventions we monitor the effect of changes and adjust in smaller increments.
· We start to develop a feel for the process. We also start to feel more confident. At this stage it is easy to get overconfident and make start to make large mistakes.
· We start to take an interest in what is under the surface.
· We start developing or applying theories, principles, and rules.
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At this stage we are confident of handling most things that happen. The unexpected or rare malfunction catches us by surprise. We thought we knew it all. We are not sure what we should do next.
Our learning process has slowed down and our attention is often not on what we are doing. We can afford to "coast" a little. But what we do is undergoing refinements. Our actions and thought processes become smoother, flow into one another, are less hurried and we start to coalesce sequences into integrated movements. We develop short cuts.
During this phase we start to look more deeply at what we are doing, we become aware of ourselves again, as a participant rather than as a passenger or victim. |
Control phase |
· We have learned to make a range of settings and adjustments and feel we have control
· We learn to anticipate things, to find earlier and earlier cues to changes.
· We start to test the limits of the process, how far it can take us.
· We still come across odd situations which surprise and baffle us |
We no longer reflect on how to achieve the results, but rather on the outcome of the process — what are we going to achieve with the results.
We can do 90% of what we need to without even thinking about it. We start to hone our performance to increase speed and efficiency.
At this stage we know most of what can happen. Often we can sense something is going wrong before we consciously become aware of the fact. We are also capable of describing and explaining to others what is happening or what needs to be done. Our focus develops a wider angle. Beyond the process that we are involved in our attention is broadened to take in what happens before our process and what happens to our products after we have processed them. Our learning at this level is characterised by looking over other people's shoulders to broaden our view. We start to appreciate how, for instance, sales and planning staff can affect our activities. We also push things to extremes to learn the limitations of the equipment or process. We spend our time looking for the equivalent of a free lunch. We look beyond the process itself, to upstream and down stream activities. We even start taking an interest in the history and variants of the process. |
Mastery phase |
· We are able to control all aspects of the process, refine and make adjustments to the design, shape and outcome of the process
· We start to focus on other aspects of our performance
· We feel the need to help others, to put something back into the game. |
We adjust, almost unthinkingly, to change. If we think about the process or asked a question we may need to reconstruct the process in our minds because we take it so much for granted.
Now we are sure of ourselves and we are confident of dealing with most mishaps and occurrences. We can see the much large context or system within which we are working. We can have insight into the merits or demerits of the design, the build quality or the effective functioning of the machine. We keep a watch outside of the operational area for new wrinkles, advances in technology, indications that a competitor has managed to get more out of the process that you have. If something new comes along, we can integrate it into what we already know and do, perhaps even modifying what we are doing to match or accommodate it. Our learning activities are focused around other people and their impact on our activities, and bigger broader picture, where technical interests may defer to business interests. |
These phases, while one can recognise them, do not necessarily follow in an exact sequence. The human mind seems to be capable of switching from one mode to another with respect to different aspects of the process about which we are learning. Learning appears to be a very complex form of human activity.
For learners themselves and for anyone involved in assisting or facilitating learning it becomes important to reflect on where one is on this learning progression. Learning activities should match the phase of learning.
Perhaps the most important implication of these phases is that training material aimed at introducing a novice to a process should not look at each component in all its detail.
Creating learning materials
Recognising the different learning phases has considerable implications for developing learning materials.
But when the Plastics Industry Training Board started developing training materials we had not yet developed this insight. The PITB had commissioned as number of people to write modules which learner’s could use to develop their skills while on-the-job. They were to be in the form of distance, self-paced and self-directed resources. We were disappointed with the first results. The focus was too narrow and too complex. The writers often wrote at the level at which they thought rather than at that of the learner. The writing was mostly very prescriptive and boring and took no account of which phase of learning was appropriate.
The writers we employed mostly had a training background and found it difficult to leave behind a style which had become entrenched by repetition over the last 5 to 25 years.
Through workshops we attempted to change the writers approach. The following is an example of an exercise from one workshop. In a module aimed at workers in the laminating of fibreglass and resin, we found the following statement.
Ensure that the mould surface is clean.
This is a typical “text book” type of statement. It is typical of what Langer (see above) called unconditional learning. There is no context, no mediation, no “how to.” It is left to the learner to translate now, somehow, that statement into an action. What does he/she do to “ensure”? What are the criteria for “clean”? The workshop participants recast the statement. They were told to try to answer the question:
What must I know and do to ensure that the mould is clean?
This example has subsequently been pushed further to illustrate the difference between a textbook and learning materials
Establishing if the mould is clean
Dust settles on the mould during storage or between mouldings. To see if there is dust on the surface of the mould
· Wipe your finger across the surface of the mould
· Do you see dust on your fingertip?
· If yes, use a damp cloth to wipe the surface. If the cloth is dry or if you press hard, the dust will cause minute scratches to the surface.
The mould could still have wax and resin/glass residues* from the previous moulding. To see if there are still residues on the mould:
*residue = something that has been left behind from a previous process
· Bend down and bring your eyes as close to the mould as possible
· Look across the mould surface against the light
· Remnants of the trimming process, or resin adhesions from the previous mouldings will cast shadows, making them easier to see
· Larger, jagged shadows show you where there are remaining clumps of release agents
· Use a cloth and…
In this approach one can also introduce English lessons, mathematical principles or scientific concepts to assist the person to augment his or her more general education.
Materials that encourage learning assist the learner to connect to the material via the senses. They would suggest procedures for the learner to try out, while extending the concept outside of the narrow context of the task. Looking against the light is a simple technique, which can be applied to a range of other activities. But unless it is explicitly incorporated in the learning materials the learner may not acquire the technique. Equally, by highlighting the problem of residues the learner can discover the influence of the prior operations of applying release agents and demoulding. He can then learn to minimise such residues to make it easier for him later on.
The bald statement, ensure the mould is clean, provides no such richness of connection and potential to learn. The learner in this example learns to perceive, to connect to integrate the task into his or her activity as whole.
Despite exercises of this nature we discovered that most of the people we had engaged to write for us found it very difficult to learn the new approach to writing such materials. When they wrote, they wrote unconditionally, without reference to the learner. They were recreating textbooks within another format. Rather than go to the workplace, and watch a competent worker and establish what made him or her competent, they would seek reference works that described the process and equipment. They would rewrite this material and then struggle to find questions and assignments, which would act as a connection between learner and material. They ended up replicating other textbooks.
The result was that the language register they used created a distance between themselves and the learner. The following usages create “distance “ and should be avoided:
· The sentences they used were often in the passive voice
· The work place should be kept clean and tidy.
· A mould is fastened to the platens with clamps and bolts.
· The writers overused the word “should”. The consequence is that the material preaches, which irritates learners and eventually causes them to switch off.
· Training modules makes use of a standard set of headings and style for each module. The use of a word processor makes it easy to create boilerplate text, replicas of particular instructions or information and to insert these under each heading. The result is that the first few pages of each set of 20 to 30 modules are identical. Learners soon learn to avoid this part of the module, where in fact the point of this text is to inform and assist.
To generate successful modules the following techniques are useful ways to develop an approach, which allows learners to lock in:
· Use the first person in the analysis phase - not what the job or machine requires
· What do I see? What do I do next?
· How can I test that the slings around the mould are tight and won’t slip off? This prevents statements like: "The slings should be tight."
· What tells me that the haul-off is correctly set? I watch the film running of the roller and see if the gap between the edge of the film and the edge of the roller changes
· Use questions to develop the learning material
· What do I see, hear, feel?
· What would I do or look at next?
· Is this important for my task or learning?
· Why does the material act in this way?
· Focus on what the senses will tell the learner
· When giving an instruction watch the person’s eyes…
· At this point you will hear the relay click.
· When PVC starts degrading you will smell...
· As the drill tip breaks through you will feel the machine start to twist in your hand
Another implication, one with which we’re only just coming to grips, is that written materials such as we were preparing are too complex for people with low levels of education or if they no used to reading. Especially, where people come from a background which is strongly oral, such texts can have a distinctly negative effect. We have considered the idea of video material or inactive computer programmes. Neither is totally effective. Videos dealing with concepts are difficult to present without spending a great deal of money on effects and animation. Videos are best used when one is learning hand skills. Interactive computer programmes assume a familiarity with the computer keyboard, which is often not present at people in the lower levels of the organisation.
An alternative we will be testing is to produce large posters, which will combine text with illustration and cartoon strips. They could be used by a group of people and would be replaced after two to three weeks. When the learners become more confident and proficient they can then move to written modules of which the first few would seek to bridge the gap by including lots of illustrations.
We’re not doing this just because of low levels of literacy in the work place. If one looks at developments in literature for children one sees a similar, more picture-centred approach. Mass media are dominated by pictures today. Large chunks of text do help learners.
Coaching: Mediating & facilitating Learning
At a recent workshop I suggested that the “sit-by-Nelly” technique of training was poised for a comeback. One of the techniques I often use to challenge people is a provocative statement like this. I am used to the unsettled reaction to such statements. But I was very surprised by the hostile reaction this statement provoked. The “sit-by-Nelly” option is despised by training people. It involves taking a new worker and sitting him or her next to Nelly to observe her and so pick up the rudiments of the job. After a day or a week the new worker does it on his or her own and is considered trained.
Despite its bad press it is still a common method of training people even today. On its own of course it has significant drawbacks. The new worker may pick up Nelly’s bad habits, and, heaven forbid, Nelly’s bad attitude too. Watching Nelly for a few days does not prepare you for the full scope and eventualities of the job. Nor does it give you the theory, rules and procedures.
The various training-needs analysis techniques also frown on Nelly, because she doesn’t conform to basic instructional and evaluation techniques — anything you can’t measure, so they say, doesn’t exist.
What does the new employee learn while “sitting by Nelly”? Clearly the new employee will model his or her own performance on Nelly’s. Nelly also provides a direct contact with the workplace, an introduction to the new situation. The chances are reasonable that Nelly will also dispense some hints, tips and advice. The relationship could span a number of weeks beyond the period of sitting. Nelly could be approached if difficulties arise at a later stage. The same scenario is true during the first months of an old style apprenticeship when the apprentice would walk with and watch the artisan. He wasn’t wasting his time; he was storing up a range of attitudes, and experiences he could use as models later and relationships. In our instruction-dominated training system we have forgotten that it is not only words that we must learn but also how to apply the learning materials in everyday actions and activities.
If we were to replace Nelly with a coach or a range of coaches, the benefits would be that one could reduce formal learning time, make learning a more integrative process and make eventual assessment of learners much easier. In companies, which are moving to a team-based-production system, team members are natural candidates as coaches, since here the team either works or fails by its collective effort, rather than the performances of individuals.
The role of the coach is essentially to help during the learning process. Many people shy away from instruction or teaching, feeling themselves unduly exposed. But they are entirely comfortable with the role of coach. In fact, once the role is explained, they respond, “Oh, that’s easy I do that all the time.” What remains to be done, then, is to improve their coaching skills.
During a series of workshops aimed at developing coaching skills, we tried the following exercise:
The box in the lounge
It’s Saturday morning. You’ve just returned from the shops with a new programmable device or appliance, such as a video recorder, automatic washing machine, computer, cell phone etc. Describe what you would do to get the thing in the box to work. List the processes you would go through to get there. Between five and ten steps should suffice. One of the steps should describe what you should do if you experience a problem. Another step should describe how you would go about getting the most out of the device.
Over a series of workshops, two approaches became evident:
The method-driven approach |
The quick-and-dirty approach |
1. Check the packaging and contents for damage
2. Check that the contents correspond with the packing list
3. Identify, work through and ensure understanding of the contents of the manual
4. Assemble the components according to instructions
5. Check that everything has been assembled correctly
6. Ensure that the voltage selector has been set to the appropriate voltage
7. Switch on and set according to the procedure in the instruction manual
8. If I have a problem, check the error messages and looks up the appropriate error message in the diagnostic section of the manual.
9. Check each programme or sequence in turn to establish that the machine is functioning correctly
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1. Rip open the box
2. Put the object on the table
3. Find the plug and plug it in
4. Find the power switch and switch on
5. Fetch a beer from the fridge
6. Sit down and try it out
7. If I have a problem, phone the salesman or a friend who knows
8. Only as a last resort look at the manual. I’ll learn the more complex and sophisticated things as I go along |
The groups which produced a method-driven approach would sheepishly admit that that their approach was what they thought they ought to do. During the exercise we also noted that the processes engaged in by the groups differed as well.
Method-driven groups |
Quick-and-dirty groups |
· worked quietly and were very serious about the exercise
· were dominated by an individual, either a trainer or manager [1]
· wanted more details — exactly what machine it was; were they allowed to assume …
· took more than the allotted 10 minutes
· used very formal, almost stilted, language (Conduct system checks)
· were focused on getting the process right (the steps in the correct order)
· emphasised what should be done
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· laughed during the exercise
· worked as a group
· adopted a challenging attitude to the facilitator (take it or leave it, but this is the way they would do it. The beer comment typifies their approach.)
· finished within seven minutes
· phrased their steps in very simple terms
· were focused on the result (ie enjoying the benefits of the device)
· emphasised what would be done
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Only one out of ten people attending the workshops indicated that they enjoyed reading the manuals. Others indicated that if they were forced to consult the manual, they would look only for pictures or diagrams. Some indicated that the manual would only make sense once they understood the device better. The obvious conclusion is that much of the effort, which is put into training manuals, is wasted.
Phoning a friend or the salesman connects up to the concept of having a coach. A coach provides a quick, easy answer to get you going again when you strike a problem. A coach does not teach, but provides hints or guidance. A coach is not expected to be an expert.
The consequence for our learning approach is that skills other than formal teaching are required to assist the learner. We now require people who have skills which facilitate learning (as opposed to lecturing) or who can mediate between the learner and the job.
One of our Board members complained at one stage that he had looked up teacher, instructor, coach and mentor in the dictionary to try and establish the differences. His conclusion was that they were all in essence the same thing.
The differences are more a question of technique, a role one takes on, such as mentoring, instructing or counselling. We differentiate the roles a person takes on. The role that is taken on would be determined by what is most appropriate for a learner at a particular moment.
Equally, to be able to coach doesn’t necessarily mean that the person is designated a coach, that he carries around a badge which says “Coach”[2]. We see coaching as an activity one learns as part of the overall process of gaining mastery. It is another way of organising one’s technical knowledge and another way of focusing on one’s skills. There is an old adage that if you really want to learn something, teach it to someone else.
We therefore categorised the activities in the following way:
Coaching |
Physically standing alongside the learner and guiding him/her through the first phases of an activity, answering questions, dealing with uncertainties. The second aspect would be responding to a learner’s questions on an ad hoc basis (Should I do it like this?). |
Training |
This term has come to be quite loosely used. It originally focused on the manual dexterity or psychomotor skills. Today it also refers to developing problem-solving, interpersonal, procedural and other more complex skills. It requires some instructional and presentation skills. It could also mean compiling materials into training or procedural manuals, administering the training system and consulting in terms of selecting and approving appropriate outside offerings or purchases. It tends to be a formal job rather than a role. If it is a role it is generally a subservient role and thus does not get full attention. |
Mentoring |
This would be more in the nature of guiding, counselling and advising in terms of broader issues such as setting learning objectives, deciding what is the most appropriate way to go, (on-the-job training, course), making decisions which will affect the direction of the person’s career. Mentoring requires a more reflective approach, considers the person more than the job. |
Instructing |
This is more formal than coaching, may well involve a small group of people and not just an individual learner. It may well take the form of lecturing or demonstrating. This is a role that many people hesitate to take on. They feel uncomfortable taking on the role of the expert or standing in front of a group of people. Instructing is a useful and appropriate role when dealing with a group of people, and involves the preparation of learners for a new activity and is used to transmit larger chunks of information or bigger sets of skills. |
Lecturing and teaching |
This is a more formalised version of instructing. It would extend over longer periods, involve larger groups and is more likely to happen away form the workplace. A lecture used to be understood as a formal presentation of material, without pausing for questions. Teaching would allow for questions as well as changing from presentation to other activities. Both are more specialised roles and most job practitioners would hesitate to engage in them. |
To differentiate between coaching and mentoring we used a sports analogy. The team coach would deal with players’ skills, team tactics and strategies, combining players to take advantage of their on-field strengths and weaknesses.
The team manager would have a more mentoring role, dealing the players’ off-the-field requirements, their personal problems and their broader needs.
It has been our experience that people nominated by their companies to be coaches often resisted the idea. Their expectation was that they would be required to stand in front of groups and lecture to them. They resisted this role, saying they could not be expected to have an answer for every question and feeling they would be exposed to the ridicule of others if they faltered or were uncertain. Once we used the sports analogy we found that many participants already had some experience of sports coaching. They consequently were happy to take on a coaching role. In fact, many of them then indicated that they had been performing this kind of activity in any case.
The difference now is that they become more conscious of the role, seek to improve their coaching skills, focus more on the difficulties and needs of the learner and are aware of the need to slip into other roles when necessary.[3]
Some of the objections that we meet are that potential coaches complain they have no time for coaching, that its not part of their job, that they should be paid more for doing it and why should they train someone who will take their job from them. A lot of these objections are the expression of uncertainty. Companies need to find ways of reassuring people. The plastics industry has built the concept of coaching others into its qualifications structure to make it an assessable component of a person’s package of skills.
Facilitating learning is a process of identifying and providing suitable resources, which will help the learning process. This could involve sending the learner to speak to or watch others or finding videos, films or texts which will assist the learner.
Mediating has a more strategic component. It will focus more on developing the learner’s cognitive tool box.
This part of our work is currently underway. What has become clear is that as automation and robots take over a greater part of what people used to do, and as control systems become more sophisticated, the cognitive level of employees must be developed so that the company can cope with the impact of these changes on its activities. |
