When was the last time you trained someone to do a job? Did you find this person slow, fast, or moderately inept? When you trained the next person did you compare them to the last?
Think of this another way.
When was the last time you were trained by someone? Were you a fast learner or a slow learner? Were others trained with you? Did you feel as if you were slower than the rest?
I have been a learning coach for a company and I know what it is like to train individuals. I have heard other learning coaches complain about the ineptness of trainees; complaints based on comparison with little thought about the individual’s learning speed or the coach’s training techniques.
It seems important to remember that everyone learns at different speeds and in different ways.
Coach #1: Nothing gets done when she is here.
Coach #2: Have you spent more time with her on the machine?
Coach #1: She doesn’t know anything. She’s had just as much time as him and she’s still slow.
Coach #2: Have you explained it to her?
Coach #1: She should know this by now.
Coach #2: She’s only been here two weeks and all of her training has been reading books. Have you spent time with her on the machine?
Coach #1: She’s too slow. She’s not like her counterpart. He knows it already.
This conversation with a learning coach exemplifies a leader with no realization of how individuals learn. The type of learner, coupled with the time to learn, is crucial in the readiness of an employee. Unfortunately, some coaches hold to the false expectation that all employees are the same and that one technique fits everyone.
It is unfair to compare one employee’s learning ability to that of another, but it happens. It is part of the work environment and something that will probably never go away. It is important, however, to remember that there is a learning curve and to know that all employees are not the same.
We should give the learning curve its range and encourage the employee to meet it by giving him the individualized training to do so. We should not lead ourselves into subjective expectation or false comparisons about him. We should also keep in mind that there was a day when we were trainees once too.
Copyright © Tyler Gant 2010 for Just Moving Along .com
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