Posts from September 2014

TRAINING’S SOUNDEST INVESTMENT

September 29, 2014 How important is training investment to your business or industry? An international study conducted by Bo Hansson of Sweden’s Malardalen University, after surveying companies in twenty-six countries, suggests that, “the single most important factor associated with profitability is how much is invested in training . . .” Moreover, a U.S. Department of Education study found that by increasing an individual’s training by 10%, productivity is increased by 10%. Compare...

“COMMENTS ON EDUCATION“ September 24, 2014 A couple of times each year, I use this blog to share some especially interesting articles on education. Today, you’ll find two that were published late this summer. I certainly recommend these articles to you and not just the selections I have included. In a WASHINGTON POST article by Valerie Strauss, “What 4 Teachers Told Obama Over Lunch,” we find the positions they advocated: 1. “There’s...

“BETTER INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGNS“ September 22, 2014 I’ve been in the media courseware business for a long time. My career in visual-media training goes back a to the earliest days of videotape instruction (black and white, as color cameras were not an option). In addition, there was no profession called “Instructional Design.” Rather an SME prepared the content (all factual with only the uniqueness of the camera work and rudimentary hand-drawn graphics to...

TRAINING’S GREATER RETURN

September 17, 2014 Few organizations want to buy training!  Management usually only purchases training programs when they want to solve a particular problem.  Training becomes only a means to resolving issues that management wants to fix. Too often, these new training initiatives are merely reactive solutions to present problems.  For example:  “We’re producing too much scrap!”  “The same pumps need bearing replacement too often!”  “Too many on-the-job accidents are occurring!” While it...

“POST TEST ALTERNATIVES “ September 15, 2014 Most of us use some form of testing at the end of every training initiative we offer. That testing occurs, often in paper form, at the end of a traditional lecture/reading course. Or, it can occur electronically after a trainee completes assigned media courses. However, measuring such short term retention is relatively meaningless. Your goal is to increase longer term retention and better on-the-job performance....

YOUR TRAINING PLANS

September 9, 2014 Dupont’s “A Step-by-Step Approach to Implement Your Industrial Skills Training Program” is an excellent introductory prescription for today’s post. We’ll reference only their first three steps: Step 1 – Conduct a Needs Assessment to Identify Industrial Maintenance Training and Technical Skills Training Requirements • Define training objectives, audience and metrics used to measure success • Review operational needs • Analyze job descriptions • Conduct interviews and surveys • Create...

QUESTION YOUR TECHNOLOGY FOCUS

September 3, 2014 In so many ways, technology has made significant contributions. But, too often, those innovations can detour from their original purpose and become institutionalized. And, there’s the rub. Often, the users of technology can become very excited about the things technology can do — and so they start misapplying the technology to enhance their own satisfaction. Consequently, they can end up complicating the lives of the people who have to...