1. Blend Hard and Soft Skills
In most organizations hard (technical) skills and soft (people) skills are taught separately. This is because the experts in area aren’t the same. That’s why engineers get a bad rap about their people skills. However on the job, employees need to be able to use all these skills at the same time. Teaching them separately doesn’t mean students will ever be able to use them together. A better and faster approach is to teach them together in the way they are used on the job.
2. Skip Knowledge Tests
In the workplace you often see a difference between test scores and performance on the job. Many people think this is due to test anxiety or poor study habits. However, that doesn’t explain why people who do well on tests often don’t do well on the job. That’s because the job isn’t to recall knowledge. Even in a job like an answer line, the job is more complex and involves doing several things at the same time. For the answer line, besides knowing the answer, the employee also needs to ask good questions, interact positively with the customer, use the computer and the phone system. Therefore, you can cut classroom time by eliminating knowledge tests and get a better idea of what someone has learned through direct observation and feedback.
3. No More Sink or Swim
Throwing students into the deep end works well for the swimmers. However, it’s really hard on the sinkers. In fact, there are usually a lot more sinkers than swimmers. This is a very popular method for a lot of sales forces. The training consists of here’s your desk, here’s your phone, go to it. When you think about the cost of hiring people, this is a very expensive way of doing things.
4. Add More Reality
The great philosopher Mike Tyson once said, “Everybody’s got a plan until they get hit.” All the role plays, simulations and practice can go out the window when an employee faces the reality of the job. Take a customer service rep who learns how to deal with problems in the classroom and then faces a real angry customer. To speed up learning, it’s critical to build in these real situations.
copyright LPI 2008
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