On Job Training Design: 7 Keys Leading To On Job Competence

Introduction

This article is about preparing on job workplace training: training leading to on job competence. It's not concerned with classrooms or presentation skills. You might be the best classroom presenter in the world. If your training design is inadequate, your training or instruction is unlikely to lead to on job competence.

1. Assume Your Trainee Is Ignorant And Unskilled

Don't fret. I'm referring to trainees who don't know and can't do what your instruction's about. If you don't adopt this approach, your planning will be unbalanced. Some trainees will miss things they don't know and can't do while others will be bored by instruction in knowledge and skills they already have. Assuming ignorance and lack of skill enables you to test trainees so that they only receive the instruction they need.

2. Instruction Cannot Survive Poor Or Inadequate Preparation

The best presenter will fail if his or her preparation is poor. Presentation skills may get you by in the classroom but not in the workplace. Trainee competence is what's demanded at work. If trainees can't display competence, all the presentation tricks and sleight of hand won't help.

3. Always Design Instruction "In Reverse"

When designing instruction never, ever "start at the beginning and end at the finish". Start with measurable competencies to be displayed at the end of the instruction: the "learning outcomes" if you like. Work back to the start. Design on job instruction in the reverse order to which you'll present it.

4. Instructors Must Commit To Trainee On Job Competence

Instructors and on job trainers must put their "money where their mouth is". That means they must state clearly, before instruction commences

• What trainees will be able to do at the end of the training

• What trainees will know at the end of the training. And those outcomes should be stated in clearly measurable terms.

5. Trainees Deserve To Have A Map

Before instruction commences, supply a map to trainees. Trainees need to know everything about the training they're about to do including the overall plan and its parts. They're also entitled to know when and how their progress and overall competence will be measured. And they should be told of the rewards of showing competence.

6. Reward Knowledge And Competence

Trainees should be able to move through the program at their own pace provided they demonstrate predetermined knowledge and competence. The sooner trainees are operating successfully on the job, the better.Those opportunities and benchmarks should be included in the design before the training commences.

7. The Success of Instruction Can Be Measured In Only One Way

Demonstrable, continuous on job competence is the only effective measure of the success of on job training. And those measures must be determined before the instruction commences. The instructor's opinion doesn't really matter. Nor does demonstrated competence in the classroom. If the trainee cannot demonstrate the skills and knowledge on the job, the training is inadequate. The trainee hasn't failed. The instruction has. And there's a good case to be made for saying the instructor has failed.

Conclusion

Careful planning is the key to successful on job instruction and training. And the depth of planning will determine the quality of presentation. We are over concerned with presentation. It's important. But what happens before the training or instruction commences is what matters most.