What could your boss learn from going undercover?

I recently finished watching a great UK reality series called “Undercover Boss”. Following the GFC, 6 CEOs of large organisations in the UK went undercover in their own company doing entry level jobs. The aim was to find out what was really going on at the business end of things, where they could cut costs, where they needed to increase spending, what their employees were thinking and how they could ultimately change the business around to become more profitable and blow the competition out of the water.

There were lots of interesting lessons learned by the Undercover Bosses on their little adventures, but what was most interesting to me was that the majority of those lessons were learning related. And as that’s what we do here, I decided to share my thoughts...

Lesson #1: Stay in touch with reality.
There is often a disconnect between what is learned in training and what happens in the real world. Do your training programs really reflect what happens on the ground or are they written by people with their head in the clouds of theory and ideology? Are you using real-life case studies and scenarios that people can relate to or are you using Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse to help tell your story?

Lesson #2: Never assume common sense.
Everyone has been brought up differently with different experiences all through their life, so never assume anything as far as training is concerned. What’s “just common sense” to you, might not be to someone else and this can lead to dangerous situations like accidents in the workplace.

Lesson #3: Never assume prior knowledge.
Unless you have proof that someone knows something, assume they don’t. It’s better to tell them twice than to make an assumption and end up not telling them at all

Lesson #4: Don’t underestimate the power of peer pressure.
In more than one example, I saw that employees who did things “the right way” after training were sometimes teased and ridiculed by their workmates for being “goody two shoes” (yes, really), or told “that’s the long way round, here’s a shortcut”. Peer pressure in a work environment can be a huge factor in how someone carries out their job, particularly in the case of new starters who are looking to fit in with a team.

Lesson #5: Learning doesn’t just happen in the training room.
Following up learning and development programs accounts for 50 percent of behavioural change. The actual delivery of a training program accounts for 40 percent of behavioural change with the remaining 10 percent resting with pre-course work*. There needs to be tools, resources and support back in the workplace to ensure transfer of knowledge, but also regular knowledge checks to make sure that what was learned in the classroom or online is still top of mind with people and if not, then refreshers can be provided. *Source: American Society of Training & Development

Lesson #6: Always tell people why.
This is something which often gets left out of training programs and it can make a world of difference to a learner. If they know why something is supposed to be done that way rather than just what is supposed to be done, they have a better understanding of the task, the implications of it not being done or not being done properly and the responsibility that goes along with it. In a lot of cases answering the “Why?” will also eliminate dodgy workarounds and contribute to better process health.

Lesson #7: Make information available to employees when and where they need it.
It’s great having resources available on an intranet and in training manuals, but what if Joe from the warehouse is about to bump a trolley of boxes down a flight of stairs (yes, on the program that actually happened!), where is the reminder to him that he should be loading boxes onto pallets and using the lift instead?

Lesson #8: Don’t dismiss problems as “training issues”.
This is a huge mistake made by many organisations. The solution is not always in “training people” but it is in finding out why something happens in the first place, then correcting the problem, THEN training people in the right way to do it. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting something different to happen. If employees have taken part in a learning exercise and something is not working, delve deeper to find out why that is before training them again.

Lesson #9: Identify the stars of the future.
Who in the organisation is doing something really well or differently to the rest? Where are the successes in the business and what are they being attributed to? Are there systems, processes and training aids being created by individuals or teams in the organisation that can be applied elsewhere to get similar results?

Lesson #10: Nothing stands still.
Things are always changing in life and in business, so stay on top of what’s going on. Create focus groups spear-headed by your stars of the future that continually review processes and training to see where improvements can be made in line with business objectives.

I found this series intriguing and applaud all the bosses who had the courage to take on the challenge. For most it meant a week of hard labour in the wonderful British weather when they are used to plush offices with kitchens, toilets and heating! I think it has changed their organisations for the better and was a valuable learning experience for them all on a personal level. I think it’s something every company should consider and if your boss isn’t willing to go undercover, maybe someone from your L&D team could. You might be surprised what you learn…

Are you applying the basic principles of Instructional Design?

Whether you design face-to-face or online learning, Instructional Design is critical to creating interactions which will help your target audience learn something new. While we have some amazing tools and methodologies at our disposal to help design engaging and effective learning, we seem to be over-run with so-called learning solutions which are nothing more than user guides or operating procedures that have been converted into busy, wordy PowerPoint slides or boring page-turning elearning. This short video featuring Dr David M Merrill highlights 3 basic principles of Instructional Design which, if applied, can turn any knowledge dump into a learning event.

Do we assume too much?

I first got involved with training when the company I was working for introduced PCs with Windows 3.1 into the organisation for every employee. As the majority of people had no experience of using a PC before (let alone one with something as fancy as Windows!) we undertook a huge training initiative which included the following for every single member of staff:
- Know your PC: which included stuff like what is RAM, how do networks work, troubleshoting print problems, etc.
- Windows basics: how to navigate and use File Manager (now called My Computer), when to single click, double click & right click, keyboard shortcuts, working with multiple windows, etc.
- MS Word, MS Excel & MS Powerpoint Intro, Intermediate and Advanced workshops
- MS Mail (later called MS Exchange and now MS Outlook) workshops: basics on how to use email and how to write an effective and concise email message.

I watch many different people from all generations using technology and I think there is a place for this very basic upskilling in every organisation. Just because we all use technology in our day to day jobs and personal lives, doesn't necessarily mean that we are using the tools correctly or efficiently. At what point did we decide that all the above was no longer required - and who made that decision? Understanding how to format tables, access shortcut menus and animate a presentation can have a dramatic effect on how long it takes someone to perform a task. And would it reduce the workload on IT support teams if end users knew which cables did what and how to find out why their print didn't come out or why they can't connect to the network. Is the money saved by organisations through the use of technology offset by the amount of time wasted by the end users because no-one has ever shown them how to use it properly? What do you think?

What supermarkets need to understand about learning

For reasons which will be explained later, my weekly grocery shopping now involves going to two different supermarkets. Last week I had bad experiences in both which I put down to a lack of understanding about how people learn. Here’s what happened.

Supermarket One

My local supermarket recently installed self –service checkouts which I had eyed-up a couple of times, but never used. On this particular day, the queues for all the checkouts were snaking down the aisles and I was a bit pressed for time so I thought I’d take my half-full trolley over and give it go. After all, how hard could it be? As I wheeled up to the empty checkout bay, the nice looking lady shop assistant gave me a big smile and made me feel immediately comfortable with my choice to self-serve. So I started swiping my items through the bar code reader and putting them into my recycled shopping bag, which is when my problems started. It would appear that the checkout system expects you to put the items into your bag on the pressure plate so it knows you’ve bagged them before it will allow you to swipe the next item. A big error message appeared on screen and I had to wait for the assistant to come over and enter her PIN code for the message to disappear so I could continue. A little embarrassing, but it was my first time after all. So I continued. As my bag got a little fuller, I needed to move a few things around to accommodate the next item, which seemed to confuse the system again and up flashed another error message. I looked around for the nice assistant who was helping another customer so I waited a few minutes and then managed to attract her attention. We both exchanged smiles and rolled our eyes, tutting about the technology while she fixed up the error so I could get on with serving myself. And so it went on for the next twenty minutes. It appears that self-serve checkouts prefer you to use their shopping bags, swipe slowly, put items straight into the bag one at a time and leave the bag on the plate until both bags are full then you can take them off and start a new bag. Sounds simple, right? I challenge you to try self-serving 30 items without getting one error message! Anyway, by the time I managed to swipe my credit card through and stumble out with my bags, I was 35 minutes down the track (much longer than it would have taken me to stay in the queue and wait for a qualified checkout person!), frustrated, hot, embarrassed and probably not the most favourite customer of the nice shop assistant lady whose fingerprints had been worn off from the number of times she had to enter her PIN code into my checkout screen. The whole experience was awful and I’ve been an IT training & elearning professional for the last 20 years, so I consider myself fairly savvy when it comes to technology!

Supermarket Two

After consuming a whole bag of jelly snakes to calm down after my self-serve experience at Supermarket One, I headed off for my first visit to Supermarket Two. This extra trip came about after a recommendation from a good friend of mine that the everyday items in this store like nappies (which are big on my list at the moment!) are much cheaper than the big chain supermarkets. All families need to save a few bucks where they can, right? So off I went. I grabbed my trolley and whizzed up and down the aisles, gleefully grabbing handfuls of items, excited about how much money I was going to save. Then I got to the checkout. Thankfully, there were just conveyor belts and operators, no scary self-serve machines. I loaded my purchases onto the belt and got to the cash register where I was greeted by a smiling lady. She started swiping my goods through the scanner and I started putting them in my recycled shopping bags. This lady was a champion bar code swiper and soon I had a pile of items on the edge of the checkout. She realised that I was packing groceries into bags and the smile disappeared from her face. “You haven’t been here before, have you?” she asked. “No” I replied. She then went on to inform me (in a much louder voice than was actually necessary) that in this supermarket you just put your items straight back in the trolley and then go to a counter at the back of the store to pack your bags. As I looked up, I noticed other shoppers eyeing me with disdain, murmuring to one another and looking at their watches. I quickly put all my items in the trolley, paid my money and did the walk of shame to the packing counter. How on earth did I get into a situation where, at thirty-ahem years old, I could be embarrassed in a supermarket not once, but twice in one day?! And more importantly, why should I as the customer feel that I am in the wrong because I don’t know how their systems work?

So here it comes, the stuff you’ve been waiting for - what supermarkets need to understand about learning:

1. Assess customer learning needs by asking questions like, "Have you used self-serve before?", "Would you like some help getting started?", "Is this your first time with us?"

2. Never assume prior knowledge. Both supermarkets assumed customers “just know” what to do

3. Learners don’t always want to ask questions. I’m an IT training professional. Do you think I want to ask for help with a self-serve checkout? What I wouldn’t have minded on the screen when I started my transaction was a note to inform me that I needed to swipe slowly and place items in a bag one at a time, or the option to take a first-time tutorial, maybe on a dedicated terminal

4. Provide learning tools and resources to communicate information and accommodate different learning styles. I just mentioned having access to a getting started tutorial, but it doesn’t have to be as complex as that. What about posters asking questions and giving tips around the self-serve checkout area? What about a so-big-you-can’t-miss-it poster on the front door showing how to check out at this supermarket?

5. For new systems, evaluate how customers are adjusting to the change. Have an employee posted at the exit to ask shoppers about their experience and find out what else could have been done to make their visit a pleasant and positive one

This had to be one of the most frustrating and embarrassing shopping trips of my life! Am I alone or do you have any supermarket learning stories to share?!

How to get professional development spending approved

Our October newsletter is out and this month we have two new articles including "How to get professional development spending approved" by Catherine Mitchell of One Voice Productions. We also have our regulars like Industry Events and Fave Find so check it out now!

Information overload :s

I loooove tools like Twitter because they put you in touch with other like-minded people all wanting to share information, which is a great thing on a number of levels. But I found myself this morning reading through recent Tweets from my connections and I realised that there is absolutely no way I will ever get to read all the information being shared. This made me a little sad because I love everything about learning, so I wonder what I'm missing out on. At the same time I could feel myself getting a little stressed about the pile of links I have started accumulating that I will have a look at "when I get time". Is there a tipping point where all this information is of absolutely no use to us at all because we'll never get the time to read it, absorb it and learn from it?

Get your learning/training/coaching articles published for free online!

Our learning resource portal http://www.getmelearningresources.com always needs more interesting, well-written articles on any aspect of learning, training or coaching. If you have an article you would like to submit, please review our submission guidelines and send it through. We look forward to hearing from you!

GAAHHHH I hate e-learning!!

I was looking for Twitter users to follow today and did a keyword search on elearning & e-learning. It was interesting to see some of the results that appeared with people's negative comments about elearning. Here's a few examples: "omggg e learning is soo stressful!", "e learning made easy. Lol.", "Omg *** i hate e learning", "GAAHHHH I hate e-learning!!". So I'm thinking, is this down to bad design? Is it the content? Is it the duration of lessons? Maybe we'll never know. This just goes to highlight the importance of doing a needs analysis prior to developing elearning. Find out what people's past experiences are and what their drivers are for learning and you stand a far better chance of engaging them, not driving them to Tweet!

The eLearning Brothers

Being a bit of a geek, I spend a lot of time on the internet and today I found The eLearning Brothers. This website sells elearning templates which are fully customisable. In a world where speed is of the essence, these kinds of tools can save heaps of design/development time so if you're creating elearning programs it's definitely worth checking out what they have on offer.

We've had a baby and a facelift!

2010 has been full of action and excitement for the Get Me business, and we're afraid to say that our newsletter became a casualty of those events. But we're pleased to announce that GMLR news is back and if you're not already one of our merry band of subscribers, you can view the latest edition online.