2551076 Train the Trainer From Training Journal

F or the time being, let’s adoptthe notion that effectivetraining is the development

and transfer of knowledge, skillsand attitudes that people willacquire and use once they are backat work. This may be a narrowdefinition, and we will challenge itlater in future issues, but the keylies in defining effective training interms of what trainees do; notwhat trainers do. This means thattrainers must begin with a veryclear picture of how the traineewill use the new learning after thetraining event. If you are someonewho likes to attach ideas to aknown theory, then you could callthis a behaviourist approach tolearning. In subsequent issues wewill review some of the trends andtheories that have led us to thisdistinction. We will also give you aprocess and tell you of sometheories that will help you to do aproper job of building that clearpicture of your customer, thelearner.

Often in industry, trainers havebeen recruited because they weregood at the job they were doing,and not because they showedaptitude for the quite different jobof helping others to learn.Knowing no better, once they set

foot in a classroom theyimmediately regressed to their ownearly experiences of pupil andteacher. The problem was that thiswas a model from childhoodlearning (and not a particularlysuccessful one at that). Adultlearning (sometimes labelledandragogy) is quite different fromchildhood learning in a host ofways. We’ll examine this ideaalong with the thinkers andresearch that bear out the theoryin a later article. In essence it isvital to know:

� who the learner is � how adults learn � how to increase learning using a

mixture of strategies � how to shape the design,

method and medium forlearning

� how to create commitment,enthusiasm and motivationwithin learning activities and

� how to measure the success ofthe learning.

Once, at a managementconference, an over-exciteddelegate glared at me andbellowed: ‘Get out of your box!’He had wanted to challenge whathe saw as my more conservative

A Training Journal pull-out supplement

Issue 1: January 2000www.trainingjournal.co.uk

Phil Green is the first guest editor of ‘Train the Trainer’, a new and regular section that will contribute to trainers’ personaldevelopment. Over time, we will cover and re-cover the entire cycle of training – from needs analysis to evaluation – andwill offer something for every trainer, whatever their level of experience.

Phil Green’s company is Optimum Learning, a consultancy that has helped some of the UK’s best known organisationsto achieve business improvement and has trained hundreds of trainers in the skills and techniques of analysis, designand delivery. He is a member of the Forum for Technology in Training (www.forumtt.org.uk), a committee member ofTACT (The Association for Computer-based Training – www.tact.org.uk), an active training consultant, and a formerteacher and shoe salesman.

In this introductory article, Phil Green lays the groundwork forcoming issues of ‘Train the Trainer’ as he asks what we mean byeffective training. He also shares some personal thoughts on thechanging nature of work, and discusses the critical roles ofinstructional strategy and instructional design.

Editorial

T he pace of change in thesecond half of the 20thcentury has had an

enormous effect on the world ofwork and how we approacheducation and training.Throughout my tenure as guesteditor of ‘Train the Trainer’, I will chart some of the moresignificant changes and helptrainers to make sense of theiremerging roles for the 21stcentury. For training managersand more established trainers wewill create as we go along abibliography, links and cross-references so they, too, may findsomething tempting orchallenging to augment theirknowledge.

Any document that sets out toguide a widely mixed populationof trainers towards greatereffectiveness is something of aTrojan Horse. Therefore, within itsboundaries you should expect tofind a mix of approaches – telling,suggesting, questioning, allowingfor activity, investigation andreflection and so on.

I consider it an honour to be thefirst guest editor of ‘Train theTrainer’. I look forward to thechallenge and hope you willconsider my effort has beenworthwhile.

Phil GreenOptimum Learning LtdTel: 0114 281 6727Email: [email protected]

What is effective training?

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iTrain the Trainer

view and had recalled the hoaryold exercise on divergent thinkingwhere you join nine dots withthree connected lines only. (Emailme if you want the details.)

‘A little learning is a dangerousthing’, warned the poet AlexanderPope. It is sad to witness theconsequence of trainers who latchon to a fashionable theory ormodel, half understand it and takeit to be all you need to know tomeet learners’ needs. Primeexamples are the excellent works of:

� Honey and Mumford – on thedistinctive approaches differentlearners prefer to take to thesame content

� Kirkpatrick – on evaluation � Bloom – on building up and

classifying types of performanceaccording to how hard youhave to think in order tocomplete them.

You may bluff your way throughlearning styles, evaluation stagesand cognitive taxonomies, butthese cannot be worn as a talismanto ward off failure.

Trainers: how’s business?

For management theorist PeterDrucker, there are only twoquestions that you need to

answer in order to build asuccessful business. The first is‘What business are you in?’ andthe second is ‘How’s business?’

Ask a group of trainers whatbusiness are you in, and theanswers can be quite revealing.Knowing what business you arein ensures you direct your energytowards the things that willmake a difference. Start at theend. So says Dr Stephen Covey.Trainers should not lose sight ofthe reality that their tenure isonly as secure as the end resultof the last job. Measuring andmonitoring the true value of allyour activities within thebusiness is the only way fortraining to answer that secondDrucker question (How’sbusiness?). Ultimately it is theonly way to secure your long-term survival.

The changingnature of work

We have seen a greatchange in the way inwhich work is organised

over the last quarter of this century.We have been living through atechnological revolution that hasspawned the birth of the mostsignificant utility of our generation– more powerful than gas orelectricity, more thirst-quenchingthan water, more chattering thanthe telephone … I refer to theutility called information.

Very practical thinkers such asRobert Mager, Tom Gilbert, GaryRummler and Joe Harless werechallenging training to come downto the foothills and focus on thequestion: ‘What will the trainee beable to do as a result of training?’Programmed learning emergedand later re-emerged under newtitles such as self-directed learning,job aids and human performancetechnology.

At a time of world war, there wasa very obvious imperative todeliver not learning, but measuredcompetent performance with asefficient a resource as possible.There was no time for over-indulgence or fancy nice-to-knowevents. This gave rise to theinstructional systems development(ISD) model, while the emergenceof computers led to the inventionof development processes usedwidely in commerce and industry.

In a succession of books from the1960s to the present day, PeterDrucker impressed on us that,whereas in the past the workforcewas dominated by those whoworked with the strength of theirbodies, the future belonged tothose who worked with thestrength of their minds.

By the end of the 70s, the notionof knowledge capital was well-established. This completely alteredthe concept of ‘the trainer’.Whereas instructors stood overtheir workers and drilled until theyhad mastered a physical task,inductors provided theencouragement and resources forworkers to develop thoughts, ideasand skills for themselves. Onceagain, if you want a name for thetheory you might try cognitivism

or constructivism, about which wewill say more later.

Two other new terms slipped intothe language, ‘organisationdevelopment’ and ‘human resourcemanagement’. In a later issue, we’llreview the importance of the workof people like Douglas McGregor (xand y manager), Abraham Maslow(needs and motivation) and, in theearly part of the century, EltonMayo (‘Hawthorne effect’). Theseand other innovative thinkerscreated the demand for a greatvolume of management trainingand development events on bothsides of the Atlantic.

The term ‘human resources’ wasinvented in the USA as analternative to ‘personnel’. It has notcrossed the cultural gap to the UKvery easily. The British do not takewell to being counted among themachinery, buildings, stock andother balance sheet assets of an organisation.

The march of themachines

Since the moon landingprojects of the 1960s,technology has been on a

rapid advance. This has caused arich debate about the usefulness oftechnology as a medium forlearning. Educators becamesceptical and nervous; after all,teaching is a Secret Art into whichonly the chosen can be initiated.

For teachers who typicallystruggled with the technology ofthe OHP, the threat of beingreplaced by a machine was anaffront to dignity and personalesteem. For trainers, the bridgebetween machines for business andmachines for learning was an easierone to cross.

iiTrain the Trainer

Instructionalstrategies

‘S tand at the front’, ‘usevisual aids’ and ‘don’tmumble’ may have been

the only advice a school teacherneeded. But for business there hasbeen a fast-growing recognitionthat more is involved in instructionthan a learner, a trainer and acurriculum. There had to be a plan of action where theinterdependencies were weighedtogether, such as that indicated bythe questions below.

� What was the nature of thesubject?

� How did its elements fittogether?

� What was the desired outcome,the business goal?

� How much money could bespent on the training?

� Where would learning takeplace and then be applied?

� What were the technicalconsiderations?

� What was the most suitableteaching strategy? Classroom?Coaching? Guided study? Onthe job?

� What were the learningstrategies to consider? Self-directed study? Individual or shared learning?

And because trainers now had tobalance this number of differentoptions, their role expanded. Theywere required to develop not onlythe skills of presentation, but alsoof instructional design andorganisational consultancy. Theywere required to distinguish, aspsychologists might, betweenobjectives as mental, physical orattitudinal.

No longer someone who trottedout the prepared script, thetrainer took responsibility forpreparing activities to presentinformation, model skills, engagelearners in activity and so on, thenassess the transfer to the learneragainst the backdrop of definedlearning objectives. Success waslinked with the ability to plan theintroduction of progressivelycomplex skills and knowledge at apace and using a method to suitgroups of learners often of widely

mixed abilities and preferences.Under the old regime, if the

learning did not stick, then it wasthe learner who failed the course.Under the new regime, if thelearning did not stick it was thetrainer who failed the course.

Modes of teaching

T here are several theoriesthat seek to describe howlearners respond to various

types of stimulus. Most importantto consider is what comes to thesense through the ear, through theeye and through touch.

We will say something moreabout instructional strategies andlearner preferences later. For nowlet’s keep in mind that for learners,as with fingerprints, no two areexactly the same. Recently I saw a‘snake oil’ demonstration of a hightechnology learning program thatclaims to adapt to the preferredlearning style of users. I remainunconvinced. Do we really carrythe same learning style throughlife for all situations andcircumstances?

The complexity of matchinglearning style to different

situations, at different times andwith progressively challengingcontent, seems like the Holy Grailto me. Certainly there is a lot moreto be said regarding this, andregarding how to make sensibleuse of the wisdom about learningstyles and preferences.

The work undertaken on how toselect a strategy and media forlearning is complex and veryclever but none the less useful.We’ll look at some of this work inour later articles which tackledesigning and developingsolutions for learners. In essence,they share the followingcharacteristics.

� They use a systematic process.� They identify the goals of the

sponsor – that is, the companythat foots the bill.

� They consider the needs andpreferences of the learners.

� They look for media that bestcorrespond to the taskrequirements.

� They combine the best possibleproperties of the media.

� They take account of the workrequired from you, as designer.

� They take account of thematerial constraints andlimitations of all users (trainers,learners, instructors, groups, line managers).

Media has an important part toplay in instruction. There are fourbroad groups to match differentmodes of perception.

1. Printed material, which goes farbeyond workbooks, worksheetsand textbooks.

2. Audio, which includes radio,audio-cassette, telephone andthe new technology of audio-conferencing.

3. Audio-visual – that is, massmedia, videocassette,videoconferencing or interactivetelevision.

4. Computer, which coverscomputers, interactivemultimedia, hypermedia,electronic mail and computer-mediated teleconferencing.

How to match mode to medium isthe subject of our later articles onanalysis and design.

iiiTrain the Trainer

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The trainer asinstructionaldesignerWearing an instructional designerhat, the trainer must begin withrecognition of the learners’ priorknowledge. Too much training isevery bit as costly as too little. Thetrue art is not so much what youcan put in to training but whatyou can (and should) safely leaveout.

It’s very easy to blame learnerswhen the message just doesn’tseem to want to stick. But you canonly build understanding if youlink new ideas to what you alreadyknow. This is sometimes referredto as going from the known to theunknown. Try to visualise it as aset of footsteps in the sand. Tofollow in those footsteps youmight take one print at a time orperhaps make a giant leap if youcan cope with bigger gaps. Youare not likely to straddle an entirebeach in one great stride.

In the same way, if learning has alogical and gradual sequence thatincreases in complexity, the trainermust verify prior knowledge andskills in order to set learningobjectives that will extend thelearners’ comprehension. Teachingat the middle is not good enough,and the test of what has beenlearnt has to be individualised –you cannot teach a group!However, you can combineinstructional approaches to createwhat is often called a module oflearning. We shall deal with thisconcept and the idea of ‘criterion-referenced instruction’ in anotherarticle later in this series.

To pass back once more intohistory, the 60s saw the beginningof a struggle between two

opposing ideas about learning.The first of these was centred onthe content and subject matter.Learners were compared to acontainer into which the instructorpours knowledge. What happensin reality is that the instructor usestheir personal experience of thesubject to impress and entertaintheir audience. Learners are seenas inferior. Success is attained atthe expense of others andcompetition among learners isencouraged. There is no allowancefor individual differences.

The second idea was built upona different philosophy(humanism), where a person’spowers and abilities wererecognised to be highly individual.Instead of telling, instructorsprovide activities and ask questions

to guide and encourage learnersto discover new ideas forthemselves and thus grow inintellectual strength. The powerrests with the learners. They are incontrol of their own futures, andthey apply their knowledge to theenvironment in which they liveand work. It is acceptable to reacha wrong answer – the process ofsolving problems and makingdecisions is just as valuable asarriving at the best outcome.

This is a far better approach toadult learners. However, it oftencauses nervousness in companieswho fear that if they equip theirworkforce with easily transferableskills they will take them into themarketplace and some otherorganisation will benefit from their investment.

ivTrain the Trainer

ACTIVITYTake a quiet moment to reflect on these questions. You may wish to note youranswers on paper.

� Speaking for the present time, how do (or will) you know you are doing agood job as a trainer?

� Will your success be measured for building:– volumes of knowledge? – the ability to think for oneself? – measurable performance by individuals? – more success for your organisation?

� What are the main activities in your role?� How would your line manager, your chief executive or a learner in your care

answer the same questions?� What personal skills do you already possess that enable you to design,

manage or deliver a learning programme?

It is not true to say the role of the trainer is changing; it has changedirretrievably and for ever! The old boundaries have fallen. It is no longeracceptable for trainers to assume that pay and rations, motivation, workplaceenvironment, documentation and so on are someone else’s business. All whosurvive are in the business of making a difference to the accomplishments oftheir organisations. Whether that is measured in terms of contribution toPeople Satisfaction, Impact on Society or Business Results depends on themodel you adopt. Trainers please treat this as nothing less than a call to arms –what business are you in and, Oh … How’s business?

In next month’s ‘Train the Trainer’ …Next month we pick up the trail towards making a difference as trainers. Wewill examine the process of analysis from a ‘performance engineering’point of view. How do you make the link between what goes on in aclassroom or learning package, and what goes on at work? How do youavoid the excesses of the past and make training an event that enhancesreal work rather than something that takes you away from it? Throughout weshall consider the issue of evaluation. How do you make a difference? Isevaluation something you can leave to the end?

‘Train the Trainer’ is a supplement to Training Journal, a Fenman publication. Clive House, The Business park, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 4EH.

Publisher Martin Delahoussaye (tel) 01353 665533.

It has been suggested that thefirst step towards rescuing astruggling training department

is to rename it the ‘HumanPerformance Department’. I havesome sympathy with this idea.Training is a process, whereasperformance is an outcome. Someargue that we should think oftraining as the last chance saloon,to be used only when there are nofaster or cheaper ways of arrivingat the desired outcomes. In thecorporate world, training is whattrainers do and performance iswhat workers do. If, as trainers, weare to add value we must be awareof what workers do now and whatthey must do in the future to meetthe objectives of the organisation.This implies analysis.

The fable of theperformance tunerIn another place and at anothertime Another Senior Manager(ASM) stood and observed alarge crowd that had gatheredoutside his competitor’sworkplace. ‘I wish I coulddiscover the secret of theirsuccess,’ he mused aloud. A smallman in a big suit overheard and

announced: ‘Your wish is granted. Ijust happen to be a wizard. Withmagic (I might even throw in somesmoke and mirrors), I’ll surely tellyou the answer you want to hear.’

With that, he presented hisbusiness card, silver foiled andembossed. There was no mentionof a fee, but ASM knew the rules ofengagement … and wizards don’tcome cheap. Four months andseveral invoices later, the wizardunpacked his magic mirror andprojected his findings to a stunnedboard of directors. Thepresentation lasted for three coffeesand a platter of sandwiches(mixed). Then the wizardreached his summary.‘What you need,’ hesaid, ‘is a piano.’

Now thisdid


Issue 2: February 2000www.trainingjournal.co.uk

Phil Green’s company is Optimum Learning, a consultancy that has helpedsome of the UK’s best known organisations to achieve businessimprovement, and has trained hundreds of trainers in the skills andtechniques of analysis, design and delivery. He is a member of the Forumfor Technology in Training (www.forumtt.org.uk), a committeemember of TACT (The Association for Computer-based Training –www.tact.org.uk), an active training consultant, and a formerteacher and shoe salesman.

In this issue Phil Green sets us the task of how to approacheffective analysis. There’s a self-assessment for you to try, plus alook at two principle types of analysis.

If I had a hammer …

Suppose your car becamedifficult to handle becausethe tyres were worn and

inflated to the wrong pressure.One solution would be to take anadvanced training course andlearn how to handle the car indifficult circumstances. Or (and amore obvious solution) you couldsimply replace the defective tyres.In this example, training is clearlynot the solution to the underlyingperformance problem even thoughit may help you to become a moreaccomplished driver.

We are often guilty of throwingtraining at a problem before weunderstand what the problem is.Sometimes we even anticipateproblems and their solutions bycreating a directory of courses forworkers to run through like sheepdip. But there is little point indeveloping a training solutionwithout first asking probably themost important and tellingquestion of all: ‘Is training thesolution?’ Only when you haveanswered this question can youbegin to consider how training canhelp and how it fits in with thebusiness, its culture and style, itsmix of people, mission, workingpractices and so on.

As trainers, we are not just inthe business of training; we needto view things through a differentlens, one that offers a widerperspective to the problems oforganisational performance. AsAbraham Maslow said: ‘If the only tool you have is a hammer,you tend to see every problem as a nail.’


How do you approachanalysis?

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make some sense, because ASMwas urged to recollect the strains ofRachmaninov’s Third on the citystreets. His competitor had, indeed,bought a Bechstein and employeda concert pianist. That surely wasthe reason for the large crowdgathered at their premises. ASMdid some hasty calculations. Heestimated 250 new customers anhour at his competitor’s. That mustbe worth a quarter of a millionpounds, taking the lifetime value ofa customer into account. With hiscorporate buying power, he couldpurchase a Bechstein for £25,000,the latest model, better than hiscompetitor’s. And he had no needto employ a concert pianist either.Betty in Accounts played the organat church, so surely she could ticklethe ivories for a mention in the staffmagazine.

But no new customers came. Infact, old customers deserted in

droves. ASM called the wizard backto account. ‘Well it’s obvious,’ saidthe wizard, ‘that you need to getBetty trained properly. Your crowdwould probably like Beethovenmore than Rachmaninov. And youmight as well get the piano tuned,too. I’ll put you in contact with ourTuning Division.’

But in the shadows, someonewas listening. He had been a loyalemployee grade 3 (LE-G3) forgenerations, and he was not aboutto stand by until the last customerleft the firm and the lights wentout. Stepping forward, heannounced: ‘Mr ASM, Sir, I’m atuner. Let me help.’ ASM lookedup in surprise. ‘Wilkins, I didn’tknow you had this talent,’ hereplied. ‘When did you learn totune pianos?’ The wizard broke inwith a sour smile: ‘I think this is ajob for a specialist, don’t you?’ ButWilkins went on: ‘Many here have

talents you wouldn’t dream of.’Always cost conscious, ASMslapped his loyal employee (grade3) on the shoulder, smiling: ‘Goon then Wilkins; get on with it!’

ASM moved towards the pianoand the wizard followed. ButWilkins turned in the direction ofASM’s office. Before anyone couldobject, he explained: ‘I’m not apiano tuner, I’m a performancetuner. And before we get startedon anything, there are one or twoquestions I’d like to ask.’

After three hours andinnumerable plastic cups of tea,ASM and Wilkins stood before awhiteboard that resembled a mapof the metro. But the mood waslight, the two were on Ted andGerry terms, and the Wizard hadstudied his timesheet and left.Transferred to ASM’s blotter was adiagram and various doodledquestions, some with answers.

iiTrain the Trainer

EpilogueYou can’t always see what you’re closest to. At the end of the month, Ted and Gerry visited their competitor’sstore. The crowd was no longer there, so the signs on the windows and doors were now clearly visible. Theyread: ‘Bankruptcy sale – no reasonable offer refused.’ The piano had been sold to the liquidator. The concertpianist’s last invoice lay with the unopened mail on the mat.

The Performance Tuner’s model

Antidote tosolutioneeringFor sure the wizard had fallen in tothe trap of solutioneering. Let’s doa little self-assessment exercise. Usethe table on page iv to indicateeach type of activity you have runor resourced in the past 12 months.(Newcomers to training shouldmark those they think they mightrun in the next 12 months.) Try toshow what proportion of your timeyou have spent or will spend. Put apercentage in each box (the wholeshould total 100 per cent). We’lllook at each of these activities inturn over the next two ‘Train theTrainer’ supplements. (Incidentally, I wonder how much time youdevote to the final three activities in the list.)

Observing,thinking andplanningWe are often too busy to stop, lookand listen. Sad, isn’t it? The mostinfluential and charismaticmanagers are those who are saidto walk the talk. They know what is

going on, not because they haveread it in a textbook, but becausethey have stood shoulder toshoulder with workers and seen itfirst hand. They have also trulyunderstood the obstacles thatmight be getting in the way of the goal.

I believe you will notice the samebehaviour – stop, look, listen, think– in the most successful of trainersand training managers. Of course,the product of a trainingdepartment is seen to be training:how much you do, how much itcosts, how much new knowledgewe can measure. And if that isyour reality, then you clearly haveto do much internal selling andinfluencing upwards before youcan wield the power to make a difference.

Two principle typesof analysisThe trainer’s business often startswhen someone says: ‘What weneed is a course or workshop on …’ Through analysis we answer questions such as the ones that follow.

� Will training solve this problem?� What are the goals of training?� What are the attributes of the

learner?� What organisational issues have

prompted this request?� What are the learner’s needs?

We hear trainers refer to TNA(Training Needs Analysis). But iftraining is to be effective, used whenappropriate and successfully rolledout, there is another form of analysisto undertake first that sets trainingon one side as just one possiblesolution to consider among others.

PerformanceanalysisPerformance analysis looks at thewhole system first, then selects arange of solutions to optimiseperformance. I am not arguingagainst training, but don’t fall intothe trap of assuming that trainingis the only solution for anorganisation’s problems. If trainingis a magic bullet and the magicbullet doesn’t work, then it’sobvious who must accept the blame!


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Theoptimum

The actual

� Gap� Causes� Goals� Opportunities

Step 1: Analysis}

Step 2: Selection

Gap

EPSS Documentation Motivation

Training Career development

IncentivesEducation Job design

Team building

Organisational transformation

Culture change Job/person

Leadership Job aids

Supervision Selection

The Performance Engineering model

Step 3: A cocktail of solutions

Performance analysis tells uswhen and how to use training andinformation resources. It happenswhen we get together with clientsto identify and respond toopportunities and problems. Itinvolves taking a close-upsnapshot of individuals and theorganisation, to tease outappropriate cross-functionalmethods of raising andmaintaining performance. It’s notonly trainers and HR people whodo it; in the best of organisations,it is a tool at everyone’s disposal.

In the past, we have built fencesto keep operational training,management development, HRmanagement, performancemanagement and so on apart.These are unhelpful boundariesthat exist primarily in the mind.

There are a number of enthusiasticrole models for whom performanceengineering is a way of life. Theyregularly scan the business to checkhow things are (now) and probeinto how they ought to be (in thefuture). This is front-end analysis andexpresses clearly the gap betweenthe two. They have good openchannels of communication withstrategic and operational managers,and all jobholders.

The temptation in business is formanagers to look for a place toshift the blame, if things are not asthey ought to be. Unless youprotect yourself, training takes theblame. ‘Your course was a failure;they are still making the samemistakes as before.’

You will recognise in theperformance tuner’s approach thesame process that Mager and Pipe(see ‘Recommended reading’) havechampioned for generations. If youwant to develop and run courses,then so be it. But if you want tomake a difference to the businessyou’re in, then I recommend youstart here.

ivTrain the Trainer

In next month’s ‘Train the Trainer’ …In the March issue we will examine Training Needs Analysis, which will set youon the road towards the design, development and delivery of successfultraining activities.

‘Train the Trainer’ is a supplement to Training Journal, a Fenman publication.Clive House, The Business Park, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 4EH.

Publisher and managing editor Martin Delahoussaye (tel) 01353 665533

RECOMMENDED READING� Fournies, FF, Why employees don’t do what they’re supposed to do …

and what to do about it, McGraw Hill, 1988. (Sixteen common

reasons why people don’t, can’t or won’t perform. This is an easy-

to-read, one-sitting book with many practical suggestions.)

� Gilbert, T, Human competence: Engineering worthy performance,

McGraw Hill, 1978. (Gilbert is the founding father of the concept

of performance engineering.)

� Mager, R and Pipe, P, Analyzing performance problems, Lake

Publishing Company, 1984 (ISBN 1-879618-17-6). (An

outstandingly useful and easy-to-read book, flow diagram and

worksheet to hand-hold you through the process. The book also

has lots of examples to illustrate the process at work. If you have

only one book on your training bookshelf, let it be this one.)

� Stolovich and EJ Keeps (eds), Handbook of human performance

technology, Jossey-Bass, 1992. (A comprehensive guide to who’s

who and what’s what in the field of performance technology.)

WEBLINKS� For further information on front-

end analysis and performanceengineering, you might like tovisit the following two websites.www.bso.com/ispiwww.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/sat2.html

SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE: Activities run or resourced in the past 12 months

Activity

Proportion of time spent

on activity (%)

Product knowledge training

Developing job aids

Training in operational practices and procedures

Training to do with ethics, compliance and legislation

Training ‘soft skills’

Team building

Outdoor bound

Training in core skills such as language and numeracy

Overcoming resistance to change in attitudes towards training

Walking about and observing the business

‘Blue sky’ thinking and planning

Other

In last month’s ‘Train theTrainer’, we looked at howperformance analysis sets

training on one side as just onepossible solution to consideramong others. The processinvolves looking at the way thingsare (now) and the way they oughtto be (in the future), and expressesclearly the gap between the two.Once you’ve determinedthat training is the solution,Training Needs Analysis(TNA) will be your nextstep.

TNA leads you to theoverall goals of training. Itis at this point that theoutcomes of learning areset out in the form oflearning objectives. It isoften an artificialdistinction to draw a linebetween analysis and design (seeTable 1 on page iii). Designincludes the following.

� Task analysis: the skills andknowledge learners will acquirethrough this instruction.

� Subject matter or contentanalysis: what content shouldbe included and in what orderit should be taught.

� Instructional strategies: thebest way to learn theparticular content.

The output is an outline designspecification of what will betaught, and how.

The five WsIf you are not offended by‘dumbing down’, you areconsidering five basic elements

when you analyse trainingneeds: who, what,

why,when andwhere.You couldalso add asixth –which – toremind youof the needto matchmedia(whichone …) to

situation, type ofcontent andpreferences oflearners. We can

now introduceanother term –

instructionalstrategy – to describe

the plannedconsideration of all

these elements (see laterin this supplement for afurther explanation).


Issue 3 March 2000www.trainingjournal.co.uk

Phil Green’s company is Optimum Learning, a consultancy that has helpedsome of the UK’s best known organisations to achieve businessimprovement, and has trained hundreds of trainers in the skills andtechniques of analysis, design and delivery. He is a member of the Forumfor Technology in Training (www.forumtt.org.uk), a committeemember of TACT (The Association for Computer-based Training –www.tact.org.uk), an active training consultant, and a formerteacher and shoe salesman.

This month, Phil Green helps you to score the winning goal oftraining, through TNA.

How to analysetraining requirements

A ‘course’ does not comefrom thin air. Theapparent need for training

may emerge in one of two ways:either you uncover a need or othersuncover a need. I like to thinkthere are three main reasons whyorganisations train people: to growthe business or change its directionin some way; to fix some kind ofproblem; or to protect it fromsome dire consequence orsanction.

However, it is what you do withan apparent training need that setsthe successful trainer apart fromthe rest. If you listen hard, takenotes, then go right off to design acourse, I’m afraid you makeyourself and your organisationvery vulnerable. Learning is not aone-size-fits-all product. You needa process by which to establish thefit. Whether or not you regardyourself as a designer of training,it is an instructional design modelthat will meet your need.

There is a wonderful tale at thefront of Robert F Mager’s bookMeasuring Instructional Results (see‘Recommended reading’ fordetails). In the story, the RoyalBarber is appointed because hecan relate the history of barbering,describe its importance andidentify the instruments that areused for cutting hair. However, heloses his head for taking a slicefrom the king’s ear. A salutarylesson for us all!


Training Needs Analysis

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Instructional design We have been careful to think interms of a performance gap ratherthan a knowledge or skills gap up tonow. There is a set of tools thatleads you to a range of solutionsonce you have found aperformance gap. This set of tools isgenerally known as an instructionaldesign system. There are many

different models of instructionaldesign (see panel below). Usuallythey are shown as a set of steps thatincludes analysis, design,development and evaluation. Somemodels tweak the terminology sothat convenient mnemonics emerge– for example, the four Ds modelrefers to analysis as ‘Definition’,followed by ‘Design’,‘Development’ and ‘Delivery’.

Because I am thoroughly sick ofTLAs (three-letter acronyms), I’llgive you an SLA (six-letteracronym). Please do not thinkthat I am urging you to adopt myown preferred model. Use whatworks for you. Whatever model

you adopt (or develop!), thebinding characteristic is that the first stage is some form ofanalysis, research or enquiry.Subsequent stages, whatever you choose to call them, willalways include the processes of design, development, testing,implementation and evaluation(hence my acronym, ADD TIE). Let’s now break this down further.

Analysis� Identify the problem and who is

involved (see panel above).� Clarify the learning goals and

learner needs.� Identify necessary skills and

knowledge.

Design� Draw a specification for

the learning.� Apply principles of learning and

instruction to assist learners tolearn the content.

Development� Create the models, tutorials,

activities and assessments thatmatch the specification.

Test and improve� Test and validate the

courseware/learning materials.

Implement� Launch the materials, deliver the

events, brief the delegates andtheir managers, and so on.

Evaluate� Evaluate the outcomes.

As we have seen, analysis isinvariably the first step in a processknown as instructional systemsdesign. In general, the goal is tofind out more about the context inwhich a training need arises. Table 1contains questions that cover mostof the areas you will need toconsider. Use it to rehearse some analysis.

iiTrain the Trainer

ANALYSING TARGET GROUPSWhat do you need to think about when you analyse a target group? How do youidentify individual characteristics, prior knowledge and specific needs? Severalauthorities have suggested factors that affect how a person learns and retainsinformation. We might call these target group characteristics and they include:

� intellectual ability and cognitive style� prior knowledge and experiences� affective characteristics and personality� personal characteristics such as sex, age and state of health.

You might add to the list:

� language level� prior knowledge of related subjects� motivation to study the topics to be learned� familiarity with the mode of teaching.

MODELS FOR INSTRUCTIONAL SYSTEMS DESIGNDick and CareyOne of the most known of ID models is the Dick and CareyDesign Model. Using a systems approach to designinginstruction (similar to the way software is engineered), themodel describes an iterative process that begins with analysisand the identification of instructional goals, and ends withsummative evaluation.

Jerrold KempThe Jerrold Kemp Design Model is complex and far-reaching. Ittakes a holistic approach to ISD and leaves virtually nothingout. The model focuses on the ‘learning environment’ takinginto account content analysis, learner profiles andcharacteristics, learning objectives, teaching methods, activities,resources and evaluation. Where most models operate in linearmode, the Jerrold Kemp Design Model is a truly iterativeprocess where each element within the process, and not justthe process itself, is subject to constant revision.

Hannafin and PeckAlthough simpler than Dick and Carey and the Jerrold Kempmodels, the Hannafin and Peck Design Model is no lesseffective. Its strength is in acknowledging and making specificreference to evaluation and revision at each of the three designstages: needs assessment, lesson design, and development and implementation.

Rapid PrototypingTripp and Bichelmeyer’s Rapid Prototyping Design Model isperhaps the one best suited to computer or web-basedlearning. Rather than designing an entire curriculum, the modelfocuses on a single model (the prototype) which contains allthe functionality of the complete programme. The prototype isused to evaluate and test screen design, navigation, branchingand test items, and to resolve installation problems prior to thecomplete system being installed. The term ‘rapid’ should notbe mistaken for quick or easy. The method calls for an intuitiveapproach and experience of instructional design principles.

Task analysis

Once you have isolated a particularjob skill that needs to be built, youhave to find a way to organise thetraining in a logical sequence. Ifyou (or any materials youdesign) are to be credibleas a knowledge expert,you must becomefamiliar with thetask. There arevarious ways ofdoing this, as thelist below shows.

� Observe the taskbeing performed.

� Interview workers.� Interview supervisors.� Perform the task yourself.� Focus groups.� Surveys, checklists,

questionnaires.

Behavioural changesIf improving performance is aboutchanging the way somebodybehaves, then we need toarticulate what that change (theoutcome or product of ourtraining) will be. In 1956, a groupof education psychologists headed by Benjamin Bloom set outto develop a classification ofbehaviour important in learning.The classification – Taxonomy ofEducational Objectives: theclassification of educational goals togive it its full title, or Bloom’sTaxonomy, as it is more commonlyknown (see ‘Recommendedreading’) gave us a way of thinkingabout a range of simple to more complex types of human behaviour.

� Knowledge level: identify, name,list, repeat, recognise, state,match and define.

� Comprehension level: explain,discuss, interpret, classify,categorise, cite evidence for, compare, contrast, illustrate,give examples of, differentiateand distinguish between.

� Application level: demonstrate,calculate, do, operate,implement, compute, construct,measure, prepare and produce.

� Problem-solving level:troubleshoot, analyse, create,develop, devise, evaluate,

formulate, generalise, infer,integrate, invent, plan, predict,reorganise, solve and synthesise.

The verbs within each category oflearning (and they by no means

represent all the possibilities)can help to define what it

is the learner will beable to do or isexpected to do as aresult of training.

Think againabout the courseyou will run. What

level of changedoes it need to bring

about? Make a shortnote of the need using

one or several ‘levels’ ofchange. You will find someexamples by looking at thewebsites listed (see ‘Weblinks’,page iv).

Subject matter orcontent analysisIn the first article of this series(Training Journal, January 2000) Isuggested that, in a specification

for learning, what to leave out isoften more important than what toleave in. As Oscar Wilde onceobserved: ‘I’m sorry I sent you along letter; I didn’t have time towrite a short one.’ So it is withlesson design.

The amateur sits at a desk andwrites, and writes and writes …The learner is bombarded withinformation that bears norelevance to his or her needs andinterests. The content grows intoan over-indulgence of things thetraining designers thought theymight like you to know. Theassessments are riddled with tripsand tricks and traps to show nothow much you have learnt buthow little you know.

How to constrain the content isactually very simple: stick to theobjectives. The main output ofanalysis is a statement of theaccomplishment that is requiredof each key group involved insome kind of change orimprovement within a business.The learning objective defines the performance of a particulartarget group.


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TABLE 1: ANALYSIS AND DESIGNCHECKLIST

The training need� Who wants it?� Why do they want it?� Is there a lack of skills and/or

knowledge?

The audience� Who is the audience?� What is their knowledge of

the topic?� How do they react to the topic?� What are their job duties?� What are they probably

expecting?� What is their previous experience

of training?� Are there any motivational

problems?� What is normal behaviour for this

target group?

Content� Regulations.� Possible resources.� Procedures.� Policies.� Case studies and examples.

Timing issues� Starting dates.� Length.� Frequency.� Location of training: where;

number of learners; space required.

The company� The business the organisation

is in.� Attitude to training� The current strategic mission.� Future plans.� Quality standards affecting

the organisation.

Regulatory trends� Anticipated regulatory trends.� Sanctions or fines received.� Possible barriers to

the training.

Anticipated difficulties� Budget constraints.� Availability of learners.� Resource issues.

InstructionalstrategyInstructional strategy is shaped bythe quality of learning objectives. Itis a framework that encourages youto think about the types of skill andknowledge to be learnt with themethods of teaching based on whatis known about how people learn.For instance, we learn facts by rote,procedures through demonstrationand hands-on experience. We’llexamine the development, testing,implementation and evaluationstages in more detail in a later issue.But for now it is crucial to keep inmind that evaluation cannot beundertaken apart from analysis; theyare essentially the same processes.

It is during analysis that you setup and agree the criteria againstwhich a programme of learningcan be said to succeed or fail, andthese criteria then become thefocal point for your evaluation.

What to train people to do, andhow to train them to do it are twosides of the same instructionalstrategy coin. They are served by

the same rigour: set clear objectives.Trainers and managers all over theUK pay homage to a method ofwriting objectives recognised by theacronym SMART (Specific,Measurable, Achievable, Relevantand Time-bound). SMART is fine,but by far the best and simplestrubric for writing learning objectives– Condition, Performance,Standard, Assessment – is to befound (once again) in the work ofRobert F Mager.

Writing objectives has a numberof pitfalls, but it is the skill that,more than any other, determineshow far your training will besuccessful. It is also the discipline,which will remove the pain and

confusion from the process ofdesigning learning material. Writea clear set of objectives and 80 percent of the design process is done.The performance should be onesingle verb (I refer you again tothe work of Benjamin Bloom). The

tests that are often used are‘Watch me’ or ‘Show me, dad’.Many learning objectives containwords such as ‘understand’ and‘know’. These fail the ‘Watch me’or ‘Show me, dad’ tests becauseyou cannot observe somebodyknowing or understanding.

How to write effective objectivesis such an important skill that weplan to devote an entire article to itlater in the ‘Train the Trainer’supplement. For now it isimportant to recognise that if itdoes not include all four partsCondition (given this), Performance(do this), Standard (to this degreeor in this time) and Assessment (asmeasured by this judgement orcriterion), it cannot work as aninstructional objective. What ismore, each part of the objectivetells you something special aboutthe method, medium and level ofthe learning. ‘Condition’ tells youwhat equipment or resources tosupply; ‘Standard’ tells you howmany attempts and at what level ofdifficulty; ‘Performance’ tells youexactly what you will see someonedo or hear them say; ‘Assessment’tells you the medium (on paper,with a coach, on screen). And asfor what to leave out – well, that is simple too. If it is not in the objectives, it is not in the learning.

ivTrain the Trainer

In next month’s ‘Train the Trainer’ …In the April issue, we will continue the trail through instructional systemsdesign, looking at some typical examples of training activity and meeting thatmost efficient of performance improvers, the job aid.

‘Train the Trainer’ is a supplement to Training Journal, a Fenman Publication.Address: Clive House, The Business Park, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 4EH

Publisher and managing editor: Martin Delahoussaye (tel) 01353 665533

RECOMMENDED READING� Benjamin S Bloom and David R Krathwohl, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives;

Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, January1984 (ISBN 0582280109).

� Benjamin S Bloom and David R Krathwohl, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives;Handbook 2: Affective Domain, Addison-Wesley, January 1984 (ISBN 058228239X).

� Robert M Gagne, The Conditions of Learning Training Applications, Harcourt TradePublishers December, 1995 (ISBN 0155021060).

� Robert F Mager, Measuring Instructional Results: The Robert Mager Six Pack, AtlanticBooks (ISBN 187961801X).

WEBLINKS� For further information on analysis, visit

www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/sat2.htmlwww.teachnet.com/lesson.htmlwww.kn.pacbell.com/wired/bluewebn/www.education.indiana.edu/cas/ttforum/lesson.htmlwww.yahoo.com/Education/Instructional–Technology/

� For a detailed description of Bloom’s Taxonomy, visitwww.valdosta.peachnet.edu/~whuitt/psy702/cogsys/bloom.html


Issue 4 April 2000www.trainingjournal.co.uk

Phil Green’s company is Optimum Learning, a consultancy that has helpedsome of the UK’s best known organisations to achieve business improvement,and has trained hundreds of trainers in the skills and techniques of analysis,design and delivery. He is a member of the Forum for Technology inTraining (www.forumtt.org.uk), an active training consultant, and aformer teacher and shoe salesman.

This month, Phil Green continues on the trail through instructionalsystems design, looking at some typical examples of training activity.

In praise ofmotherhood (... and apple pie?)

C onsider my cat. Among hermany skills she is highlycompetent at hunting,

personal hygiene and advancednegotiation (if you’ve lived with acat, you’ll know what I mean). Shehas never been to school, hasattended no courses and has nooperating procedures. Howamazing; so tiny andunprepossessing, and yet so highlyfunctional. She knows how tothrive in her world.

How she developed hercompetencies is a moot point. Somewould argue that her instincts werelaid down as part of her geneticsoup. Others would point to theactivities of her mother, coachingand coaxing during kittenhood. Butpeople are not cats and so we havekindergarten, school, universityand training departments.

The training department is oftena kind of corporate mother. ButMother is seldom confused abouther role – whereas Training oftenbehaves more like school.Sometimes training even calls itself‘university’ – the HamburgerUniversity, The University ofBanking, and now in Britain wehave The University for Industry.In the April 1992 issue of Training,David Cram said the first thing hewould do to rescue a strugglingtraining department would be torename it the human performancedepartment. I have some sympathywith this idea. Training is a process,whereas performance is anoutcome. Remember to think‘analysis’.


Design, developmentand method

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Last month, I discussed the roleand importance of trainingneeds analysis. The next stage

in the instructional process, oncethe learning need has beenestablished, is design. In thiscontext, design is the process yougo through to determine themethod by which the subjectmatter will be communicated – inother words, what people will learnand how they will learn it. At onetime, this usually meant takingpeople off the job and ‘training’them in a classroom. But while weare seeing a decline in the use ofthe classroom it is still the methodof choice for a great many trainersand a great many companies. Inthe February issue of ‘Train theTrainer’ I asked you to consider howyou allocate your time as a traineragainst the following activities.

� Product knowledge training.� Developing job aids.� Training in operational practices

and procedures.� Training to do with ethics,

compliance and legislation.� Training ‘soft skills’.� Team building.� Outdoor bound.� Training in core skills such as

language and numeracy.� Overcoming resistance to change

in attitudes towards training.� Other.

These subjects are ones that oftenhave the classroom treatmentapplied to them (with theexception of outdoor bound). Let’slook the different activities in turn.

Product knowledgeand a word aboutjob aidsWithout product knowledge youcannot operate, sell or support thecompany’s products. Let’s acceptthat the modern trainingdepartment analyses precisely whatpeople need to be able to do. Butwhat next? Design a course?Develop learning materials? Let’sapply a three-step process.

1. Develop job aids where possible.2. Offer training only where

necessary.3. Create opportunities for

practice.

Job aids are so important that we’lldevote a whole feature to them ina future edition of ‘Train theTrainer’.

When a major retailer establisheda new call centre, a smart andfriendly trainer delivered shortoverviews. That was how theirpeople preferred to be inductedinto the product. There followedlots of scenarios in which they got afeel for the physical attributes of the

products and practised handlingcalls. New starters had to find theirway around the product cataloguenot only to answer questions, butalso to look up information andthen act on it in as appropriate.Sales advisers had to describefeatures and benefits, overcomeobjections, identify opportunities tosell up and sell on, and so on. Theirconfidence grew through applyingsolutions for various kinds ofcustomer needs. They also used ahost of resources (phone, Internet,catalogues, store visits) to learn bydiscovery what the competition waslike. For the support and supervisoryteam the emphasis was ontroubleshooting and resolvingproblems and complaints. Let’scontrast this with some producttraining we’ve known.

� A day or two in a classroom.� Delegates take copious notes as

each feature is presented.� A test at the end to check recall

of the specifications of theproduct.

� Those who appear to bedestined to fail are ‘helped tomeet the standard’. This may beequally true of core knowledgefor compliance with a regulatoror to show due diligence.

If this sounds uncomfortablyfamiliar, then read on!

Operationalpractices andproceduresEvery organisation has its own waysof doing things. Some run courses– for example, how to do a stock-check. The outcome of getting itwrong once in a while is notparticularly dire in the case of mostcompany procedures. No wondermanagers baulk at the cost oftaking workers off the job torehearse activities that could easilybe provided in a proceduresmanual, and referred to only as andwhen required. Why not let thetraining department capture skillsand processes, and design the bestway of communicating them in theform of job aids? It will add greatvalue to the business and save youtime in the longer term. Modernorganisations sometimes dignify

this process by giving it a fancyname such as knowledge capital.

Maybe you cannot see yourselfdoing this. You know you will meetwith resistance from managerswhose expectation of trainers isthat they will run courses. If so,then you have an education job todo and had best not delay. It istime to widen managementthinking about the kinds of thing atraining department can do.

In efficient organisations, allroutine procedures (how to processan invoice, how to reset acommunications link and so on) aredocumented in the form of job aids.This makes them easily portablefrom one site to another. In somecases, the business has not thoughtthrough the standard for certainoperations. This leaves trainingexposed. It is not your role to definethe standard; your job is to

communicate it! Too many trainershave been placed in the position ofcompensating for the fact thatsome manager somewhere is simplynot managing.

By thinking job aids, anorganisation is compelled toproduce uniform operations. Youdo not have to do this yourself – itis the role of strategic managers todefine strategy, of operationsmanagers to define operations andso on. However, if you help withanalysis and then with language,layout and format, you are addingquality and consistency for workers.

Old-fashioned trainingdepartments believe in teachingpeople to undertaking procedures;modern training departmentsbelieve in enabling people toundertaking procedures.

Imagine how it will feel whenmanagers stop asking you for

training, and come to you insteadfor guidance on how to get peopleto perform more effectively. Theywill have recognised that poorperformance is not always due tosomeone not knowing how to dothe job. Line managers willroutinely look for factors that get inthe way of proper performance orreward the performance that wedon’t desire. Let’s think about thatlast point again. Do organisationsreally reward people for doingthings wrong? As an example,pickers in a distribution centre aretrained to handle packages andavoid breakage, but they arepunished for care because theirbonus is linked to how fast theycan pick a batch and get on to thenext load.

Ethics, complianceand legislationSome things need specialemphasis. Employees often findthemselves placed in situationswhere they might innocently breakthe law. Directors riskimprisonment for being carelesswith privileged information.Managers risk tribunals if they askthe wrong questions during aninterview. It’s important to makethem aware of the issues and letthem practise how to avoid legalminefields.

We talk much about beliefs andvalues. Organisations have rulesthat guide choices and behaviour.The rules may or may not bewritten but they certainly exist. Therules for one organisation, industrysector or country may be verydifferent from another. Standardpolicy in one place may begrounds for dismissal in another.Workers need to know what’sexpected. Many organisationsinclude legal and ethical training intheir induction programme fornew starters. Because someonepasses a test of understandingwhen he/she first joins thecompany, that does not ensure theperson is permanently inoculatedagainst risk. People forget, orlegislation moves on or new ethicalchoices emerge. Again, wouldn’t apolicy document or ethics manual,perhaps linked to an annual MOT,be a more effective approach?

iiTrain the Trainer

Soft skillsThere is a plethora of courses oninterpersonal skills, negotiation,influencing and presentation.These may be inbred talents orskills underpinned by principlesand techniques that managers andsupervisors can learn and practise.I’m not going to argue againsttraining in these topics, but I doquestion the expectations of whatcan be achieved.

Learn to speak Spanish in tendays or your money back! Is thatthe same as learn to pass as anative in Barcelona? It takes morethan a few days to learn a complexskill. You need regular practice overa long term, and someone to tellyou how well you’re doing andhow to eliminate your mistakes.

No one seriously expects to learnthe cello or to swim for England orto fly a plane in a few days.Imagine you have never been inthe water, and you enrol for thecourse on swimming. The trainertells you how to breathe, and howto distinguish between images offront crawl and breaststroke. Youspend time rehearsing a stroke. Bythe end of day one you might evenbe able to put a toe or your headin the water, float or leave the sideof the pool. So you have a newskill. But are you ready to apply itat the level of high performance? Idoubt it! You draw up a regime ofcoaching and practice that takesmonths and maybe years.

But now think about a typicalorganisation. In the coursedirectory you find ‘Masteringpersonal presentation’. You wait fora place, and eventually spend twodays learning concepts andpractising techniques. You try tosuspend the habits of a lifetimeand become a confident, coherentpresenter overnight. You return towork with renewed enthusiasm,determined to apply these newprinciples, but not convinced youcan succeed. Your manageracknowledges that you have beenon a course, but only to grumblethat the work has begun to pile upwhile you have been away. In time,with no feedback and noconsequences for using or notusing the new skills, they areshelved and forgotten. And so your

manager’s view becomes reality –you just spent two days off the jobwith nothing to show for it.

Surely we begin to develop our‘people skills’ in infancy. By thetime we reach adulthood thepattern is fairly well fixed. Is thereany point at all in these courses?I’d like to hear your view. It is truethat how we interact with otherscan stifle the encouragement ofgood ideas. It must be worth theeffort to build these skills, but theissue is should we attempt to teachthem intensively in classrooms astraditionally we have done?

There doesn’t seem to be muchpoint in training those who alreadypossess the skills and attitudes werequire. Where we can make adifference is with those who arehaving difficulties now or who aresoon to meet situations for whichthey feel unprepared. Myprescription would be for trainingand coaching over an extendedperiod, not just a few days.

A leading retail bank hasnominated a pool of coaches andanyone may enrol for a series ofsessions. They take part in a 45-minute lesson twice a week for amonth. Practice is set in the realworld, and feedback is by highperformers who do a similar jobunder similar conditions.

Coaching is geared towards thespecific skills that are absent.Participants take activities andexercises home to practise, withanalysis and feedback from a peeror family member, or self-assessment of performancecaptured on video or audio. In thissense it is the trainer’s role todesign the goals and a structure ortemplate for the activities, to setexpectations, recruit and briefcoaches and monitor, evaluate andquality control the project.

Team buildingIt has become a lucrative enterpriseto supply daring, physicalchallenges to work groups. Thegoal is to open communicationand develop trust. It is notimmediately clear how climbing,abseiling, orienteering or whitewater rafting can engender skillsthat transfer to a business setting.If you know you can ‘break

through you own glass ceiling’,does that help you to work moresuccessfully with a manager whohas the style of Attila the Hun?Maybe time could be spent moreproductively in confronting andresolving together the issues thatactually hinder job performance?

A modern lean and meantraining machine looks hard at anyevent that doesn’t link back to anidentified need, that doesn’t allowfor practice and cannot easily relateto a measurable bottom-lineimprovement.

Core skills inlanguage andnumeracyIf someone cannot write a letter,perform simple calculations, orexpress him or herself clearlythrough speech, what should theorganisation do? Remember, aswith the cello, it takes instructionand practice over a long time tobuild complex skills. A two-daycourse in report writing is unlikelyto correct significant long-termdeficit in a person’s language skills.You might remedy one or two

habitual errors, but that’s as far asit goes. Do you have the means tosupply a series of lessons, lots ofpractice and feedback to break badhabits acquired since childhood?

Should an organisation even beoffering core skills training? Manyorganisations in the UK haveattained the standard of Investorsin People. As part of the processthey have had to define theirpolicy in this matter or sponsorshipfor the development of transferablelife skills. Commonly, anorganisation will offer incentives toemployees and pay the fees for


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going to night school. Upgradingbasic skills (reading, writing,arithmetic) is usually done in anemployee’s own time.

If you encounter a secretary whocan’t write a letter or a productionworker who can’t process a batch,you might ask with justificationabout the criterion for selection.

Training andrecruitmentThese two need to be comfortablebedfellows. When managers recruitpeople on the basis ofqualifications and experience, itcomes as a shock to find that theydon’t possess the basics. The samecriteria can apply for training as forrecruitment. If you need particularskills to do a job, then it is vital totest for them. Everybody whoapplies for the job (internal orexternal applicants) must take thesame test under the sameconditions (as close to reality aspossible). Typically a test ofknowledge is drawn from a muchlarger pool of knowledge. If youcan answer 20 questions out of 25,it is assumed you could answer800 out of 1,000. You never let theapplicant know the questions inadvance of the test. In the case ofskills testing, you can make publicwhat you will ask people to provethey can do. Those who fall shortof the standard will know whatthey must be able to do to qualify.

Testing has two benefits. On theone hand it ensures that we getthe skills we need. On the other itforces those on the inside to becrystal clear about what skills areneeded for each position. A jobspecification ought to list the skillsnecessary for beginningperformance. All applicants shouldbe tested to see if they have thoseskills.

Don’t worry; we can freeresources to do the development,coaching and maintenance if we:

� test applicants to screen out theunqualified

� eliminate hours wasted ontraining that has little chance ofsuccess

� train only when we can’t find abetter way

� train only those who actuallydon’t know how to perform.

Resistance to changeIt is no mean feat to changeattitudes towards training. We arefamiliar with the model whereteacher is the jug and fills thelearner with the delicious nutrientof knowledge. Stand anyonebefore a group to explain ordemonstrate something, call ittraining, and it’s training. Nomatter that the message wasconfused. No matter that no onelearned a thing.

In classrooms we keep peoplebusy and create the illusion oflearning, but usually we demandno proof that the learner hasacquired usable skills and adetermination to apply them. We

appraise trainers and trainingdepartments on the number ofpeople trained. You can see how itis easier to count bums on seatsthan the accomplishments ofcompetent performance.

Suppose we made a virtue ofreducing the number of delegatestaught and increasing the ratio ofinstructors to students. What if wepraised a training department forspending more time diagnosingproblems and refusing to apply asolution until we had a sharedunderstanding of the nature of the problem. It might take longerto ‘get started’, but theorganisation will get real, lastingperformance improvement insteadof simply courses.

ivTrain the Trainer

In next month’s ‘Train the Trainer’ …In the May issue we will look at motivation to learn, developing the idea thatlearners’ behaviour and accomplishments are of more significance thantrainers’. We will take a look at what drives people to behave as they do andwhat can influence them towards greater achievement or hold them back. Theimplications for trainers and how they conduct themselves in classrooms oreven in print are wide-ranging.

‘Train the Trainer’ is a supplement to Training Journal, a Fenman Publication. Address: Clive House, The Business Park, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 4EH


Action plan for greater effectiveness � Teach people to operate, sell and service products.� Create job aids for company procedures.� Provide coaches who will enable managers and supervisors to improve

their people skills.� Forgo courses that have no immediately apparent effect on the goals of

the corporation.� Test to ensure that those selected for jobs have the fundamental skills

required to do them.� Provide moral support and money – but no company time – for those who

lack basic skills and want to improve themselves.� Help managers describe the skills their employees need.� Seek out or develop tests for those skills.� Maintain and update materials that were produced in the past.

Recommended reading� Bloom, B S, Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Cognitive and Affective

Domains, Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, 1969.� Mager, R F, Developing Attitudes Towards Learning, Kogan Page, 1968.� Mager, R F, Goal Analysis: how to clarify your goals so you can actually achieve

them, Center for Effective Performance, 1991.� Gilbert, Human Competence: Engineering Worthy Performance, Intl Society for

Performance Improvement, 1996.� Romiszowski, A J, Producing Instructional Systems, Nichols Publishing

Company, 1984.

In earlier editions of ‘Train theTrainer’ we looked at thebehaviour of learners, their

accomplishments and how atrainer, as consultant, can developstrategies to increase thecontribution of those learners to abusiness objective. We said theperformance of trainers does notmatter; it is the performance oflearners that counts. And you wroteto me to ask: ‘Are you certain?’

It is obvious that the measure ofthe success of a course is theamount and quality of learning,not of training that took place.However, it is also quite clear thatthe trainer holds the power tohelp or hinder that learning, andthat help or hindrance does notalways come as a result ofdeliberate and planned behaviour.If you have known what it is likewhen a teacher says ‘Don’t sing soloud, Barry; you’re drowning outthe choir’, then you will knowexactly what I mean.

The spotlight today is on theattitudes, demeanour andbehaviour of trainers andteachers. We consider how subtleactions can have dramatic impacton the self-esteem and eventualsuccess of learners. We look at

how to programme learners tosucceed, and how to avoiddamaging self-limiting and self-fulfilling prophecies.

The greatest of inspirations is thebrilliant conductor and teacherBen Zander. On the first day of anew class, he announces:‘Everybody gets an A.’ There’s onecondition; students must submit aletter, written that day but datedthe end of term. And it mustbegin: ‘Dear Mr Zander, I got myA because …’

We award ‘grades’ almost everytime we interact with people. Ithappens through the amount ofrespect we pay, how actively welisten, how we deliver feedbackand how much attention we payto what that person brings to theencounter. As Ben Zander1

reminds us, in a concert, theconductor makes no sound, butdepends on the ability to makeother people powerful.

Learning can feel like ahazardous pursuit, especially tothe newcomer or to theparticipant who has previouslymet only failure and feelings of inadequacy.

Says Ben Zander: ‘In anyperformance, there are always two


Issue 5 May 2000www.trainingjournal.co.uk

This month, Phil Green discusses motivation to learn, pointingout some examples of easy mistakes that can get in the way oflearning. He’ll also suggest a blueprint for building positiverather than negative feelings within learners’ minds.

Selling shoes: a pathto enlightenment

W hen asked to provide aresume, I generally referto three career paths that

have intertwined down the years:the teacher, the trainer and the shoe salesman.

Admittedly the involvement withretail sales was a brief flirtation,during those early economicstruggles of a student trying to makeends meet. All the same, I havefound the experience to be as usefula preparation for my current work asany other role I have fulfilled.

There are two main reasons why Imake this claim. First, for people toadmit learning as a habit into theirworking or personal lives, they must‘buy in’ to the idea. That is wherepure selling comes in. Second, theprocess of effective selling involvestarget group analysis, needsidentification, matching solution toneed, closing and order fulfilment.Coincidentally, the process ofeffective training involves targetgroup analysis, needs identification,matching solution to need, closingand order fulfilment.

But what rings loudest in my earis the echo of the sales manager’svoice reminding me that peopledon’t buy products, they buy‘people’. The trainer or teacherrepresents a model of behaviour thathas enormous capacity to helppeople to learn, or otherwise tohinder their development. You cansee overt behaviour in action, butwhat you cannot see are theunderlying beliefs and values andthe tiny, subtle nudges, prods andblocks that teachers and trainers areconstantly issuing. More than theovert behaviours, it is thesesubtleties that have the greatestinfluence over a person’s sense ofpersonal intelligence and worth.

To motivate someone first to learn,next to value the learning and finallyto apply it in a meaningful way isthe task in hand; the trainer is thedelivery mechanism.


Motivating thelearner to learn

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people on stage: the one trying toplay, and another one whowhispers, “Do you know how manypeople play this piece better thanyou do? Here comes that difficultpassage that you missed last time,and you’re going to miss it againthis time!” Sometimes that othervoice is so loud that it drowns outthe music. I’m always looking forways to silence that voice.’

The same voice whispers tolearners whenever they attempt anew skill.

Self-talkPerhaps Ben Zander is mindful ofthe ‘famous walk’ of FrancisGalton2 (the founder of the scienceof heredity and he who discoveredfingerprints). Through a kind ofself-hypnosis, Galton imaginedhimself to be the most hated of allmen. Then he set off on hisroutine daily walk. Londonershurled abuse at him or turnedaway in disgust. A dock workerwrestled him to the ground. Andwhen a horse kicked him, a crowdgathered around and jeered indefence of the horse! Galton onlyjust made it back home. The pointis that a person’s inner attitudeaffects not only him or herself butothers, too. Research has shownthat body language sometimesexpresses the exact opposite ofwhat a person is saying!Unconsciously, we all analyse otherpeople’s body language and theirtones of voice, and this way weoften ‘know’ their true feelings.The study and analysis of bodylanguage is therefore of great useto trainers.

Pygmalion Effectand the self-fulfillingprophecyIn Greek mythology, Pygmalionsculpts his ideal woman in marble,then falls in love with her.Aphrodite takes pity and bringsthe statue to life. The Pygmalionstory is often related to teachers(and I include trainers) who moulda student according to their idealof who they are and what they are capable of achieving.

In classrooms, in management andin coaching situations, the powerof our expectations is so huge thatit can determine whether or not aperson is successful. This is what isknown as a self-fulfilling prophecy.

As trainers we reveal our expect-ations to learners in three ways.

1. Through body language.2. Through tone of voice.3. Through our methods

of teaching.

Robert Rosenthal is probably thebest-regarded authority on the self-fulfilling prophecy. His experimentsend with remarkable results thatare deeply significant for anyonewho adopts the role of trainer,teacher or coach. Rosenthalorganised IQ testing for someinner-city primary school children.He then secretly disregarded theresults of the tests and selectedone in five names at random.Giving the teachers these names,he told them that, on the basis ofthe tests, they should expectsubstantial progress from thesepupils in the course of the comingyear. In actual fact, the onlydifference between the test groupand the control group existed inthe minds of the teachers. Towardsthe end of the school year thechildren were given the same test.On average, those said to be morepromising had increased their IQbeyond the pupils in the controlgroup. It made no difference ifthey were in a class designatedabove or below average.

In a similar experiment,instructors at summer camp weretold that their group was made upof potentially good swimmers. Atthe end of the lessons, thoseidentified could certainly swimbetter than the others.

Rats!The Pygmalion Effect is such apowerful phenomenon. Rosenthal(again) told a group of studentsthat it was possible to breedintelligent animals. He gave eachstudent five rats. The object was totrain the rats to run in a particularroute through a labyrinth. Sixstudents were told their rats werespecially bred for intelligent

labyrinth activity. The other sixwere told they had normal,unintelligent rats. By now you candoubtless guess the outcome. Ratsthought to be more intelligentimproved daily. They ran fasterand more confidently through thelabyrinth. By contrast the ‘dumb’animals achieved much poorerresults. Almost one in three evenrefused to move to the start of thelabyrinth. Students touched the‘dumb’ rats infrequently butabused them verbally wheneverthey failed to do what theyrequired. They spoke to the‘intelligent’ rats less, but touchedthem more often. One conclusionwas that students showed morecare, optimism and confidence inhandling their ‘intelligent rats’.You may have your own theory asto why this happened.

The four-pointtheoryTrainers with positive expectationsof trainees:� create a warm, emotional

climate for those individuals� give feedback to that group on

their performance� give more input (information),

set higher expectations anddemand more of them

� give more opportunity foroutput (question and answer).

Equal opportunityfor allTrainers who think they are workingwith well-motivated subjects displaymore positive body language. Theysmile more often, nod agreement,bend forward to their favouredtrainees and sustain eye contact forlonger. They give more feedbackwhether the preferred trainee givesa right or wrong answer. The‘haloed’ trainees receive morepraise and less criticism. Trainersencourage them to answer morequestions and solve more difficultproblems. They receive more timeto answer, and more help.

There is also one outcome ofRosenthal’s experiments that bearscareful thought: when pupils whoare dubbed untalented performabove expectations, teachers oftenpunish them with sarcasm.

iiTrain the Trainer

We have to deal with all mannerof people in our daily lives inclassrooms. Some we warm torapidly and others we positivelydislike. As trainers we must beaware of the ‘halo and horns’effect, and make consciousadjustments to offer the sameopportunity to all.

Basic needsWe have been considering theresponses people make inclassrooms because they orsomeone else are driven by ascript that is guiding theirbehaviour and shaping theiraccomplishments. For trainers,another essential piece of learningis the notion that basic humanneeds should be divided intorough categories.

1. Physical needs that keep usalive and well.

2. Social needs that enable us tolive in a group with our fellowmen and women.

3. Self-fulfilment needs thatfeed our self-esteem.

Abraham Maslow showed these asa pyramid (see Figure 1). Survivalcomes before everything: we musteat, drink, sleep and reproduce.Only then do we attempt to secureour existence. Where our ancestorsmade homes in caves and tree-tops, we now seek refuge inmoney, taking out a mortgage,saving for a rainy day, buying life

assurance, pensions andinvestments.

Then we fulfil our social needs,making friends, joining clubs orpolitical parties. We reaffirm ourbelonging to society and we formor join groups. Most people, whenthey reach this point on thepyramid, are content to earnenough to afford the standard ofliving they feel they deserve.

People who were deprived oflove as children may compensateby dwelling on step four, theneeds of the outer self. Perceivedstatus and recognition takes onhuge importance. Drive a flashycar, buy a bigger house, send yourchildren to private school, occupya large office with a personalsecretary. Very few of us rise to thehigher regions of Maslow’spyramid to reach self-actualisation,the fulfilment of our inner self.

It may appear hackneyed in themodern age, but Maslow’sconclusions are of particularimportance to trainers. If we arehungry, we may wander from thetext of the novel we are readingand first deal with what’s in thefridge! Of course we can read,eat and socialise all at once, butthe point is that a basic needcannot be denied, and willbecome more and more insistent until it blocks out allhigher considerations.

If we are declared bankrupt orimprisoned for theft, we fall back astep or two. We abandon self-fulfilment or even social need, and

we must ascend steps 1 and 2again before we can approach the‘higher’ needs.

There are exceptions, of course.The poet in a garret may gohungry and dirty as long as he hasthe strength to go on creating. Hedoes not care what people maysay, but resides exclusively onMaslow’s fifth level.

If you see your role as amotivator and you hope toinfluence others to change theircurrent behaviour, you cannotsucceed without some knowledgeof Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

Developing self-esteemWe cannot develop self-esteemwithout feedback from others. Ifwe lose self-esteem, we replace itwith feelings of inferiority. RobertMager tells us people learn toavoid the things that hit them.This is highly significant fortrainers, managers and educators.Consider these alternativeexamples of feedback.

� ‘Why are you so stupid,Donald?’

� ‘Why can’t you ever getanything right, Donald?’

It does not require a doctorate inpsychology to see that the firstmakes a critical statement aboutthe person, not the behaviour. The second example is not likely to inspire a greater effort. Both will reinforce feelings of failure and personal inadequacy. Nowconsider these.

� ‘I am impressed that you keepon trying Donald; let’s seewhere things went wrong thistime and work out how to fix them.’

� ‘You are the sort of person whoperseveres until you get thingsright, Donald. Let’s try it another way.’

I’ll leave you to make up your ownminds. And when you havedecided, let me suggest you revisitApril’s edition of Training Journalwhere Carol Laughlin’s excellentarticle on feedback offers thesoundest advice.


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{

Pursuedin anyorder

Figure 1: Maslow’s hierarchy of needs

{Must bemet first

8. Self-transendence

7. Self-actualisation

6. Aesthetic

5. Cognitive

4. Esteem

3. ‘Belongingness’

2. Safety

1. Physiological

ivTrain the Trainer

In next month’s ‘Train the Trainer’ …In the June issue we will look at the learning cycle, thelearning process and some factors that affect learning. Anactivity will help you to assess the way you learn.Additionally, there’s an examination of the effectivenessand application of different learning methods. A readinglist closes the loop of our own particular learning cycle.

‘Train the Trainer’ is a supplement to Training Journal, aFenman Publication. Address: Clive House, The Business Park,

Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 4EH. Publisher and managingeditor: Martin Delahoussaye (tel) 01353 665533

REFERENCES, RECOMMENDEDREADING AND WEB LINKS1. Ben Zander, Conductor, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra

http://www.fastcompany.com/online/20/zander.html

2. Sir Francis Galton, b.1822 Birmingham d.1911Haslemere, Surrey.

Dimitrius, J and Mazzarella, M, Reading People: How toUnderstand People and Predict Their Behavior, Anytime,Anyplace, Ballantine Books, June 1999.

Rosenthal, R and Jacobson, L, Pygmalion in the Classroom:Teacher Expectation and Pupils’ Intellectual Development,Irvington Publishing 1992.

http://psychology.about.com/education/psychology/msb_psychologists.htm

What are learning blocks? Most arise from early experiencewhen we adopt particular ways of looking at and thinkingabout things. For example, school might have left you withthe idea that laughter and ridicule are the appropriateresponses when someone makes a mistake. So people learnto fear making a mistake. A number of factors (singly or incombination) may block our capacity to learn.

� How we look at problems and situations.� What is generally accepted as good and bad, right

and wrong.� How we feel about things.� Our ability as thinkers and our specialist knowledge.� Our ability to express ourselves effectively.� The systems, procedures and attitudes at work.

The situation in which learning is taking place may causeother blocks. For example, a manager who is stronglycompetitive or fears failure (a consequence of his/hertraditional schooling) may have a ‘block’ aboutreorganising and giving credit to others for their ideas.

Before you can do anything to overcome learning blocksyou must recognise and identify what particular type isoccurring. You can then select the optimum method ofovercoming it (or them). Without that discrimination, youmay reinforce the block unintentionally.

� Perceptual blocks. These prevent the learner fromclearly perceiving the situation or problem, or theinformation needed to tackle it – for example, taking toonarrow a view of the situation, looking at it from only onepoint of view, not distinguishing between cause andeffect and seeing only what you expect (the obvious) orwant to see.

An example is where a trainer exerts pressure becausesomeone is obviously disinterested in a task, whereasthe real problem is that the trainee is fed up with beinggiven challenges that are too simple.

� Cultural blocks. We are conditioned to accept what isgood and bad, right and wrong, proper and not proper.This creates blocks such as reluctance to challengeaccepted methods, dislike of change, belief that reasonand logic are better than feelings and intuition (and viceversa) and over-emphasis on competition.

An example would be a trainee with an idea for a moreefficient method of completing an assignment but whodoesn’t suggest it, believing that the trainer wouldhave already thought of it, if it had any merit.

� Emotional blocks. Anything that seems to threatenour basic needs for security, self-esteem, success, order,control and so on. This can give rise to blocks such asfear of making mistakes or looking foolish, the need tosucceed quickly (leading to impatience), inability to copewith situations that are not clear-cut and avoidance ofsituations where we feel anxious.

An example is where people become frustrated withtasks because there are too many conflicting optionsand they can’t decide which to take.

� Intellectual blocks. Inadequate thinking skills for aparticular situation, or the inability to use themeffectively – for example, lack of knowledge aboutmethods being used or the ‘language’ (perhaps technicaljargon or maths), inability to think flexibly (perhapsswitching from analysis to idea-generation), andinadequate thinking strategies such as generalising,interpreting, defining and so on.

An example would be someone having to analyse theimplications of some data but not being able tounderstand the information clearly enough to completethe task.

� Expressive blocks. Inadequate ‘language’ skills tocommunicate or record ideas. This includes visual,mathematical and scientific ‘languages’. It is not justabout ‘vocabulary’; it may also include ‘unfamiliar with aparticular application of the language’ (such as trying todescribe a mathematical problem verbally) and ‘usingincomplete knowledge to try to describe something’.

An example is the trainee who could easily write a goodreport but cannot give a successful ‘live’ presentation.

� Environmental blocks. Includes social and physicalconditions – for example, distractions from the task,physical discomfort, the refusal or absence of help andthe organisation’s structure (perhaps a stiflingmanagement hierarchy).

An example would be people finding it difficult toconcentrate on their work, perhaps because they aresituated near a coffee machine, which makes it a noisythoroughfare.

Once you have recognised that a particular block exists youcan then plan to overcome it.

� I have written guidelines on overcoming these learningblocks. You’ll find them on the Training Journal website atwww.trainingjournal.com/philgreen.htm

LEARNING BLOCKS

American psychologist CarlRogers might be a goodfriend to ADDIE; he

recognised learning as a naturalhuman impulse, either meaninglessor significant. Cognitive learning(for example, memorising numbersor facts) was separated frommeaning – unlike experientiallearning, which is about applyingknowledge to satisfy real needs andwants. In Rogers’ view the teachercan make experiential learninghappen by the following means.

� Setting a positive climate for learning.

� Clarifying the purposes of the learner.

� Organising and making availablelearning resources.

� Balancing intellectual andemotional components of learning.

� Sharing feelings and thoughtswith learners but not dominating.

� Offering subject matter that is relevant to the student’s interests.

� Avoiding external threats wherelearning challenges existingattitudes or beliefs.

You cannot achieve these goalswithout analysis of purpose, peopleand place.

The learning cycleADDIE could surely find somesupport from David Kolb and hismates. A good trainer understandshow people learn and uses thatknowledge to help them develop.There are different ways oflearning. People tend to learnbetter from some experiences thanfrom others. The type of experiencevaries from person to person. If, asa trainer, you can recognise(through analysis) how eachindividual learns best and whattypes of difficulty each might havein learning from the assignmentsyou set, you are in a better positionto ensure they gain the full benefitfrom those experiences.

The learningprocessThink about how a young childlearns to respect heat.

1. The child touches the stove andfeels pain: an actualexperience.

2. The child associates this painwith the stove and thinks aboutthe connection: observationand reflection.

3. The child learns the general rulethat stoves burn if you touchthem: forming a rule.


Issue 6 June 2000www.trainingjournal.co.uk

This month, Phil Green gets right into the playground to seewho’s teamed up with whom. He invites you to knock on thedoor of some theories that have gained current popularity andplaces their merits before you – leaving you to make up yourown minds (as he has) about what works.

Friend of foe?

T he kids became veryrestless last week. I met anold friend, ADDIE (The

Instructional Systems Designmodel) in the corridor of anAmerican publication (Training,April 2000). He was looking lesssprightly than usual. Some otherkids had been tormenting him forweeks, calling him names andchanting ‘analysis paralysis’. As Igot closer I could see a smear ofblood on his lip and some lightbruising beneath his eye. ‘Whathappened to you?’ I asked.‘Nothing to worry about,’ hereplied. ‘Just some of the big boysthrowing their weight about.They say I’m old hat, and thatI’ve become too bureaucratic tobe of any use to people.’

I looked at the long line ofmedals on ADDIE’s chest and wechatted about the many successesassociated with him. ‘Funnything is,’ he went on, ‘those whoganged up on me today are thesame people who were my bestfriends yesterday.’

‘Don’t worry,’ I said. ‘You’ll getover it and so will they. By thistime next month, you’ll all bepals again.’ He smiled and wenton his way with a spring in hisstep, carrying too much as usual.

Processes, theories and modelsfor learning need not be mutuallyexclusive. I am suspicious thatthe apologists for the systemsapproach should be some of itsformer leading lights, who havenow joined a bigger, moreinfluential gang.


Experiential learning

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4. After a while the child maycautiously put a hand near thestove to check that rule:deliberate testing.

These four distinct stages form whatis known as the learning cycle –actual experience, observation andreflection, forming a rule anddeliberate testing. Learning isrepresented as a cycle because it is acontinuous process. With each newexperience we observe and reflecton how it relates to our previousexperiences, then modify ourexisting rules or create new ones asnecessary. For example, the childwith the rule about the hot stovemay then touch a radiator, feel theheat, reflect on the similarity withthe previous experience, thenmodify the rule about hot stoves toinclude radiators.

As we learn, we accumulate rulesthat relate to each new experience.We then adapt old rules ratherthan form new rules. This is knownas ‘going from the known to the unknown’.

Some factorsaffecting learningMany things can affect how peoplelearn. Last month we consideredlearning blocks (refer to www.trainingjournal.co.uk/philgreen/htmfor further information onovercoming these). We also lookedat feedback and its impact on self-esteem and motivation. Kolb1

suggested three factors that havespecial importance inunderstanding how learners learn:

� the influence of past experience� how completing the learning

cycle helps� individual learning styles (about

which we’ll say more later).

The influence ofour past experienceThrough life, we collectexperiences that shape ourunderstanding of the world. As weassimilate and adapt to theseexperiences, they influence ourideas and beliefs, and determinewhat we do and how we do it.

As a trainer, be aware that peoplewill not always want to learn

simply because they are told to orbecause there is an opportunity tolearn. Giving them a good reasonto learn and making it easier forthem to learn helps to make yourpart more effective.

Completing thelearning cycleThere are many different methodsof learning and some are moreeffective in certain situations thanothers. For example, memorisingmay be the best way to learn a listof definitions, while it would bemore effective to learn a manualskill through practise. You haveprobably been on the receivingend of many ways of being taughtaspects of your work, some moreeffective than others.

Suppose you were driving a carand a passenger was giving youdirections – ‘turn next right … goto the end of the street … take thethird exit at this roundabout’ andso on. They were simple directionsand soon took you to yourdestination. Then, on another day,you had to find the same addressby yourself and you got lost. If youhad gone through the difficultprocess of finding your own wayon the first occasion you wouldhave learnt the route moreeffectively and found it mucheasier to find your way back next time.

In the first situation you weretold the rule (directions) and thentested it (following the directions),but you didn’t have the experienceof discovering for yourself whichdirections to take or theopportunity to reflect on wherethey were leading – that is, you

didn’t complete the learning cycle.By finding your own way (that is,starting with the experience andreflecting on the result) you wouldhave arrived at your own rules(directions) and tested them –completing the learning cycle andlearning more effectively.

In classrooms we routinely fail tocomplete the learning cycle. Wetell learners the rule and maybegive them the opportunity to test itby doing an exercise. They maynot apply the learning to an actualexperience and reflect on it forsome time. An alternativeapproach is to start with the workexperience, then encourage thelearner to reflect on it to form ormodify rules and to check themout by further testing. Here, onceagain, I am taking tea with ADDIE,advocating ‘performance-basedinstruction’ rather than ‘training’. Itis a methodology that involves notonly trainers and trainees, but alsomanagers and colleagues.

ExperientiallearningThe effectiveness of differentlearning methods depends onwhat you need to learn. However,certain factors help or hinderlearning in most situations, asTable 1 shows.

The left-hand column ischaracteristic of experientiallearning. The right-hand columnportrays the ‘didactic’ classroommethod of learning. The principaldifference is the point at which youstart the learning cycle and thenumber of stages you complete.Classroom learning oftenemphasises the acquisition ofknowledge. There is very littleopportunity to test that knowledgewhile you are learning, to observeand reflect on its relevance, and tomodify your ideas and behaviouraccordingly. So problems can arisewhen, eventually, you come to puttheory into practice.

Learning is most effective whenyou present a relevant experienceand then, through observation andreflection, use it to broaden orrefine existing ideas, methods andbehaviour. By supporting traineesas they tackle new situations youprepare them to cope with change.

iiTrain the Trainer

AcceleratedLearningI’ll bet Big AL is behind thebullying of poor ADDIE. Big AL(Accelerated Learning) is full ofideas about learning styles, howyour brain works, and the natureand complexity of intelligence. AL’sgang say Accelerated Learning isthe antidote to generations of badpractice in classrooms. People gothrough life without using theirabilities to full potential. AL saystheir development was held back because:

� people were not taught in amanner to suit their personallearning styles, and

� they could not believe in theirown ability to succeed.

Research into the physiology of thebrain has provided evidence whichshows that people can learnconfidently and rapidly as long asthe subject is presented to them ina way that suits their style andpreferences. In our school systemteaching has been mainly by the‘shut up, sit down and listen’method. But there is no single‘best’ way to learn. Everyone hashis or her own preferred way oflearning. Some like to see or beshown (visual learners), others liketo hear or be told (auditorylearners) and yet others need toget hands on (kinaestheticlearners). Most of us use acombination of learning styles tolearn effectively. One thing wehave learned about the brain is

that information fed step by stepengages less of it than giving thewhole ‘big picture’ and inviting thelearner to make sense of it first.When the whole brain is active,learning is faster, easier and lastslonger.

How many nursery rhymes canyou recite? Can you recall the wayin which you were taught them?What about your favourite songs?Did you consciously memorisethem or were they internalisedbecause of associations with words,places, situations, feelings and soon? More parts of the brain areengaged when we listen to wordsand music together just as wordsmay be more memorable whencombined with pictures.Accelerated Learning deliberatelycombines modes of informationand ways of perceiving in order toengage the whole brain.

Another finding has been thatlong-term memory is closelyconnected with that part of thebrain which governs our feelings.

We can usually recall moments ofstrong emotional significance –romance or bereavement forexample. Music seems to have aspecial capacity to arousememories of particular occasions.And so the theory goes that if weteach in a way that stimulatespowerful emotions, then thememory will retain moreinformation more deeply.Accelerated Learning embedsinformation in the long-termmemory by bringing music andgames into learning.

In April’s ‘Train the Trainer’, wediscussed how feelings of previousfailure, pressure or stress inhibitlearning. The supporters ofAccelerated Learning reason thatprimitive survival instincts put thebrain into a kind of neutral gear.The higher thinking regions slowdown. The mind may gocompletely blank. AcceleratedLearning uses relaxation techniquesto create comfortable conditionsfor learning.

MultipleintelligencesHoward Gardner is AL’s best friend.He has written about eightdistinctive intelligences. Recentdiscussions in the Sundaysupplements have raised thequestion of whether these areintelligence or talents. I see nopoint in arguing semantics. Let’scall them attributes. We all haveeach of them to a greater or lesserdegree. We can apply theseattributes to learning and so getcloser to our full potential.

Gardner reckons traditionalteaching suits those who get highmarks in language, logic andmaths. Students are asked to learnstepwise from lectures andtextbooks, but some kids learnbetter through vision and pictures.Accelerated Learning takes accountof this and makes use of strongvisual imagery.

Shared learning is an issue, too.In school you were sanctioned forcopying, yet many people learnbest not on their own, but with apartner or in a small group. Inschool you were made to sit still,whereas physical presence isimportant to many learners.


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Table 1Factors that help Factors that leave you to learn your learning incompleteBeing given the opportunity toexperience something new (forexample, an assignment thatstretches you in some way)

Being encouraged to complete thelearning cycle – observing andreflecting on the experience, lookingfor similarities with previousexperiences, then testing if the samerules apply

Being encouraged to modify yourexisting rules as a result of what youdiscover through new experiences

Having the opportunity quickly to putyour learning into practice

Being given a general rule and havingto learn a list of situations to which itapplies (relying on being told andthen forgetting)

Not having the opportunity to seehow the rule works in practice, bytesting it in a real situation, andobserving and reflecting on theexperience

Not being encouraged to compare anew experience with what you haveexperienced in the past to establishthe similarities and differences

They absorb and retain more whenthey can manipulate or role playtheir learning. Accelerated Learningis characteristically hectic,emotional whole-brain learning. Ituses sound, pictures, games,movement, relaxation andimagery, and a high level ofinteraction.

Whenever AL’s gang gettogether, they do a tribal warchant that goes like this:

20 per cent of what we read, we recall30 per cent of what we hear, we recall40 per cent of what we see, we recall50 per cent of what we say, we recall90 per cent of what we see, hear, say

and do, we recall …AMEN!

That is why the link is so strongbetween Accelerated Learning and NLP (NeuroLinguisticProgramming), which we’ll meetlater in the ‘Train the Trainer’series. Often, Accelerated Learnerswill vocalise their learning throughsong or chant, or will act it outthrough play. It may sound a littlefanciful for adults, but all theevidence suggests that it works.

ObservationalLearningI saw Bandura in the cloakroom.He was still holding up the prize hewon at Speech Day for hisObservational Learning ideas.

Learners may copy thebehaviour of a model whodisplays characteristics that theyfind attractive or desirable. Whenthe model’s is rewarded, theobserver is more likely toreproduce the behaviour thatearned the reward. When themodel is punished, the observer isless likely to imitate.

Bandura has drawn an importantdistinction for ADDIE’s opponents –that one can acquire behaviourwithout performing it. Theobserver may be ‘programmed’ ina certain way but not display thebehaviour until some time wherethere is a reason to do so.

Learning by observation involvesfour separate processes.

1. Attention: observers cannotlearn unless they pay attention.

2. Retention: observers must notonly recognise the observedbehaviour but also remember it.

3. Production: observers must bephysically and intellectuallycapable of producing the act.

4. Motivation: in general, observerswill perform the act only if theyhave some motivation or reasonto do so. Positive or negativeconsequences for the model orthe learner are essential.

It is attention and retention thataccount for the learning(acquisition) of a model’sbehaviour. Production andmotivation shape the performance.Our mental and physicalcharacteristics, our personality,beliefs, values and so on shape ourbehaviour and environment. Howwe behave can affect our attitudes,beliefs and feelings about ourselvesand others. We gather a view ofthe world from media, parents andbooks. Our environment affects our

behaviour; what we observe canpowerfully influence what we do.But our behaviour also contributesto our environment.

In the classroom or seminar,learners need the opportunity toobserve and model the behaviourthat leads to a positive outcome. Itis because learning happens withinimportant social andenvironmental contexts thattrainers should encourage peopleto work together.

Finally, assessment must beundertaken in a suitable setting.You should not expect learnedbehaviour to be performed out ofcontext. A trainer should providethe incentive, resources andsupportive environment for thebehaviour to happen. Otherwise,assessment may not be valid.

Well, the whistle has gone andthe kids are all settled down again– each getting on with his or her work. And I’m off for a cup

of tea!

ivTrain the Trainer

In next month’s ‘Train the Trainer’ …In the July issue we’ll turn the spotlight on how to deal with people in groups.Later, we’ll return to the poor battered Systems Approach to InstructionalDesign and look at some highly innovative alternatives to training. To set youon the trail, here’s a challenge to your creativity.

Problem: in a city hospital, people were sent for X-rays to investigate possiblefractures. The radiographer often passed the films to junior doctors whosometimes missed vital indicators and sent home people with potentiallydebilitating fractures. The result was an unacceptable number of cases oflitigation when patients were first sent home, then later recalled for essentialtreatment.

Your challenge: suggest a solution that corrects the performance problem.Here’s a clue; no training is involved. Good luck. If you wish, you can email mewith your solution. I’ll print the best ones in next month’s issue.

‘Train the Trainer’ is a supplement to Training Journal, a Fenman publication.Address: Clive House, The Business Park, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 4EH.


References1. Kolb, D. Experiential learning: experience as the source of learning and

development, Prentice Hall, 1983.

Recommended reading Bandura, A. Social foundations of thought and action: a social cognitive theory,Englewood Cliffs, NJ, Prentice Hall, 1986.

Gardner, H. Frames of mind: the theory of multiple intelligences, Basic Books,1993.

Lawrence, G. People types and tiger stripes: a practical guide to learning styles,Center for Applications of Psychological Type, 1993.

McCarthy, B. The 4-MAT system: teaching to learning styles with right/left modetechniques, Excel Inc, 1987.

Trainers and managers talk alot about so-called groupdynamics. It is one thing to

deal with situations you meet intextbooks or ‘laboratories’ (inwhich I include role-plays). It is aquite different matter to managehard-bitten business people inseminar groups. There are sometypes of problem that can only befully understood by directexperience.

As trainers we must draw on ourpersonal experience of how peoplebehave when they gather togetherwithin a setting similar to that inwhich we operate as trainers.

One problem with groupdynamics is that it is difficult toreach agreement on what a groupis. Perhaps we don’t need atheoretical definition. What reallycounts is how you deal with onewhen you meet it. But let’s seewhat you think. Read the fourscenarios that follow. In each case,do they describe the conditionswhere a group has formed?

1. As strangers, you and I walktowards the railway station.

2. We meet again on the train andthe conductor collects ticketsfrom both of us.

3. We gather alongside some other managers who have notpreviously met in a classroomfor a briefing and we read the agenda.

4. We managers have beentogether for some time during which we have definedroles and developed and shared norms.

You may be surprised to learn thatby accepted (but different)definitions, each and any of thesefour conditions may describe agroup.

Olmsted says that individualswho are in contact with eachother, who react to one anotherand who have something essentialin common are a group. Lindgren’smuch looser definition suggests agroup has formed when there isany kind of relationship betweentwo or more individuals. McDavidand Harari suggest that far moreorganisation is necessary to form agroup. There must be defined rolerelationships and a focus oncommon functions. Members mustconform to norms that governtheir behaviour.

One way of drawing a line in thesand is to distinguish between


Issue 7 July 2000www.trainingjournal.co.uk

This month’s ‘Train the Trainer’ is about that unpredictable andyet predictable animal ‘the group’. Phil Green discusses how torecognise its vagaries and what you need to do in order to dealwith them.

Studying the students

It is a strange phenomenonthat otherwise reasonableindividuals can take on the

strangest of characteristics anddepart from their normalbehaviour when placed within agroup. It is often marvelled atthat arguably the greatestpolitical brains of the lastcentury should have beencapable of the Bay of Pigs fiasco.

Group behaviour is one of themost frequently raised problemareas among both teachers andtrainers. There is no patdefinition of what a group is, butit often comprises a blend ofindividuals whose collectivecharacter and mood can changefrom one moment to the next.

Group dynamics operate ontwo levels. On the surface youcan see rational behaviouramong members, or betweenmembers and the trainer. At adeeper level rests the fears andcheers of each individual. Youcan sense but not see conflictdeveloping as members testtheir relationships, defend theirinterests, and compete for status,prestige and recognition. Theindividual’s desire forindependence is at odds withthe feeling of dependence on thegroup.

Until the group has reached anacceptable level of integration,some group members will reactin stereotypical ways. Anexperienced trainer should beaware of these dynamics andknow how to deal with them.


Dealing withpeople in groups

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natural and ad hoc groups. (Ad hocis a Latin phrase that is often usedto stand for ‘occasional’ or‘impromptu’, but literally means‘for a specific and deliberatepurpose’.)

Natural groupsWe attach ourselves to naturalgroups in the interests of our mentaland physical health and safety. I refer to family, peer groups andwork groups. Broadly speaking, themost important group for humans isthe family. Because it is the first towhich we belong, it is known as a‘primary group’. The term ‘primarygroup’ is used to describe groups inwhich members make directpersonal contact. A primary groupoften belongs to a secondary group– for example, you may work in ateam (primary group) that belongsto an organisation (secondarygroup). Your child may attend aclass (primary group) within aschool (secondary group).

Under normal circumstances it isthe family that shapes our attitudefor life. It supplies a model of moraland ethical behaviour, and it givesus a sense of what is normal socialconduct. By the interaction offamily roles (parent, child, sibling,grandparent and so on) we firstexperience group dynamics aschildren. Whether the experience isharmonious or dissonantdetermines the behaviour of adeveloping individual in all othergroups later in life.

We identify the behaviourpatterns (norms) of a group andwillingly conform to them as longas there is a payoff. We desire‘strokes’ and recognition of ourachievements. We seek to avoidisolation; in fact, the need tobelong to the primary group isfundamental and the fear ofrejection is a primitive one.

Perhaps the most influential andnormative group to which webelong is the one we join in ourteens. As adolescents we distanceourselves from our parents. We feelmisunderstood and we no longerfit, so we flee the family nest andlook for comfort in a peer group.Daumling has detected somedistinctive features that appearonly in adolescent groups.

� The group determines its own needs.

� No one from outside can imposecommon tasks.

� A key objective is to find anidentity for members outsidetheir family.

� Sexual attraction is a keyelement in the form andstructure of the group.

� There is a definite purpose tobuild skill in dealing with adultsand with the opposite sex.

After family and adolescent groups,it is the work group that has thegreatest affect on its members. Our position within the workgroup determines our social status.

It is this group that we, as trainers,need to manage in our dailyroutines. The factors that shape our successful (or otherwise)integration within this group are as follows:

1. The style of the official leader.2. The influence of the unofficial

leader of the group.3. ‘Pecking order’.

Ad hoc groupsPeople frequently come togetherfor a specific objective and thenpart when they have achieved it.Committees, congregations, clubs,learning sets and seminar groupsfit into this category.

The seminar is an ad hoc groupin which we have a particularinterest, so are there any ‘rules’?Well, the short answer is ‘No’, butsuppose an inexperienced trainercame to you for advice on the

size and nature of seminargroups, how would you answer?Try the questions and answersthat follow.

� What is the main purpose ofseminar group?The main purpose is to changethe behaviour of delegates in aspecific way by communicatingto them information that theydo not currently have.

� How many people would youinclude in a single seminargroup?It is not a hard and fast rule,but a good number is betweeneight and 12 persons, andfrom a practical viewpoint 12is most easily divided into sub-groups of two, three, four orsix for collaborative activities.

� Is it wise to create groups inwhich members have the samerank or status?The most successful seminarscomprise members of equalstatus. A manageable seminargroup will be made up ofemployees of more or lessequal status from the samecompany who work in thesame area – for example, Salesor Admin.

An effective learning groupfunctions as a whole and workstogether. Do not admit onlookers.If line managers insist on takingpart, let them complete the sameactivities and assessments aseveryone else. Resist allowing linemanagers to join the group toobserve.

If a seminar holds peopletogether for more than a day ortwo, then participants start to forma natural group that is no longersimply ad hoc. You will see thesesymptoms:

� a struggle for unofficialleadership

� a fight for places in the pecking order

� the forming of a ‘group norm’� people forming pairs� the group assigning roles� the emergence of ‘Lord of

Misrule’ or the group’s ‘Village Idiot’.

Earlier, I suggested the optimum

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size to be between eight and 12members. Apart from themathematical convenience of thenumber 12, I would suggest youregard it as a top limit. (See Table 1.)

EstablishingauthorityWe have said the normal formingof a natural group involves apower struggle. You need to bewell-prepared and tough enoughto ensure the role of official groupleader is yours by right. But if yousurrender authority – and doexpect to be put to the test – youshould expect a rough ride. Aneffective classroom trainerestablishes and maintains personalcredibility because he or she:

� is prepared� obtains information about the

learners, their performance,styles and preferences in advance

� manages the learningenvironment sensibly

� displays effective communicationand presentation skills

� uses questioning skills andtechniques effectively

� responds properly to learners’needs for clarification or feedback

� provides positive reinforcementand motivational incentives

� evaluates learner performance� reports and acts upon evaluation

information.

You can often spot claims to groupleadership early in the game.Watch out for the Smart Alec whoturns up with a ‘look at me’attitude. Consider this example …

Before the end of the first sessiona delegate helpfully suggests youchange the size of the groups andperhaps take an early break. Whatis going on and how should yourespond?

This is a definite test of yourauthority. The challenger is puttingout feelers to see whether she orhe has any support from otherparticipants. You can usually detectan abundance of energy withinwhoever wins unofficial leadershipof the group and the trick is toharness that energy. It is a mistake

to try to manoeuvre that personinto a situation where he/she isexposed for his/her lack ofknowledge or skill. It is far better toestablish a good relationshipbecause, whether you like it or not,this person leads the opinion of thegroup.

If you are to be with a group formore than a couple of days, youshould pre-empt the powerstruggle by taking control of thegroup dynamic process. Facilitatethe election of a spokesman for thegroup right at the beginning of thecourse. The spokesman passes tothe trainer all group requests – forexample, changes in timetable orpace. This means you have onlyone negotiator in the group andyou can turn away anyone elsewho comes to you with a request.

You will recognise the term‘pecking order’. It happens, notonly with hens but also with otheranimals (including humans). A realor symbolic contest between twoopponents determines who isallowed to ‘peck’ with whom. Theend result is a hierarchy rangingfrom the strongest to the weakestanimal. This order exists as long asno new member joins the group. Ifthis should happen, there is unrestin the group until a new contest

determines what the newmember’s place is.

As long as the group is sortingout a leader and working outwho’s who, it gets in the way ofsettling down to work. Ifparticipants know nothing abouteach other, it is difficult for them toknow where they stand in relationto each other. That is why a trainerwill always try to manage theprocess and be done with it asrapidly as possible. An obviousopportunity is some kind of round-the-table introduction.

Something else for the trainer toconsider is the extent to whichgroups soon appear to feel andthink alike. ‘Behavioural norms’ aredeveloping, and although usuallyunspoken, they may go as far asdetermining how much work willbe done, when and by whom.

Groups with six to eightmembers divide spontaneouslyinto closely knit pairs orthreesomes. This may be forsecurity because they feel weak, or because they feel a strong empathy for their chosen partner(s).

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TABLE 1: THE MAGIC ‘12’� Groups of more than 12 people invariably split into subgroups, and that

means more than one unofficial leader emerges.� Sometimes you may need to capture performance on video – for example, in

role-plays or simulations.� Large groups give the opportunity for shrinking violets to appear to learn but

avoid showing through practise that they are ready to adjust their behaviour!� Learners need sufficient time to reflect and analyse their performance. The more

people in the group, the longer it takes to analyse behaviour and give feedback.

THE ABILENE PARADOXIn the Abilene Paradox, Jerry Harvey describes his family’s misguided excursionto Abilene: ‘Four reasonably sensible people who – of our own volition – hadjust taken a 106-mile trip across a godforsaken desert in furnace-like heat and adust storm to eat unpalatable food at a hole-in-the-wall cafeteria in Abilene,when none of us had wanted to go. To be concise, we’d done just the oppositeof what we wanted to do.’

A fear of being separated from the group and other irrational thoughts candrive reasonable, intelligent people to do just about anything – except whatthey all privately agree they should do. Harvey’s theme is that for individuals ina variety of contexts, how to reach agreement is more of a challenge than howto manage conflict. In the classroom, the first agreement to be reached is thewilling submission of the group to the agenda of the curriculum and theorganisation of the tutor. Take care because unless you have done some carefulmatching of content to needs and preferences, and unless you have judged themood and motives of your audience, you may meet ‘furnace – like heat and adust storm’.

ivTrain the Trainer

In next month’s ‘Train the Trainer’…Last month, I set the poser of the city hospital and invited readers to suggest non-trainingsolutions. The simplest solution was from Mike Sleight who would have self-adhesive bluespots on the outside of the envelopes. This allows people to pass on their experience. Theseeing eye of the people doing the processing would be able to inform the lessexperienced – alerting, say, a casualty doctor to take greater care with particular cases, orrefer to a more experienced colleague.

In next month’s ‘Train the Trainer’ we’ll return to the theme of design for learning. We’lllook at how to set about planning the detail of a course, and how to keep the contentclosely aligned with performance. We’ll also look at some more examples of performanceengineering solutions like the one just described.

‘Train the Trainer’ is a supplement to Training Journal, a Fenman Publication.Address: Clive House, The Business Park, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 4EH


REFERENCESIn issue 5 of ‘Train the Trainer’ (May 2000), I drew heavily upon the work of James Adams for the content of the Learning blocks panel. I neglected to give the credit for this work to its author whom I accredit here: Adams, J.L., Conceptual Blockbusting: A Guide to Better Ideas, Third Edition Addison-Wesley, 1990.In this month’s article, I refer to Daumling, Olmsted and Lindgren. These references come from notes at a lecture in education atManchester University in 1977. I know of no other reference, and searches for their published works have so far proven unproductive. I warmly thank all those academics and practitioners who have shaped and influenced my attitudes and provided me with the tools andtechniques I use in my professional life. If in the course of this series I have omitted to give anyone the credit they are due for their work I apologise, and hope they will contact me so I can correct the omission. It happens in a lifetime of meeting useful concepts and ideas thatsometimes the source is forgotten.

READING LISTMcDavid J., Harari H. Psychology andSocial Behavior: A Textbook in SocialPsychology, HarperCollins Publishers,1974.Harvey, J.B. The Abilene Paradox andOther Meditations on Management,Jossey-Bass, 1996.(An excellent summary of research intothe links between teacher expectationsand learners’ pupil progress compiledby Sharon Vana 1988.)www.csulb.edu/~acolburn/rss_expect.htmwww.cybernation.com/victory/quotations/authors/quotes_schopenhauer_arthur.html

Roles within groupsIt is fascinating to observe a group, givensufficient time, assigning the samefamiliar and recognisable roles to itsmembers. The roles may be activelychosen or passively thrust upon one whoaccepts it under pressure or because noone else will. Besides the leader, there aretwo other active roles we regularly see atplay within groups.

� Worker.� Fighter.

Passive roles include the following:

� Favourite.� Idiot.� Conformist.� Outsider.� Scapegoat.

WorkersOne person may assume more thanone role. Workers are unlikely to befavourites because they are anuncomfortable reminder of what allthe other members of the group oughtto achieve if only they appliedthemselves, too.

‘Worker’ is usually an active role. It istaken on by one who is moreintelligent or a higher performer thanthe others and not prepared to go atthe pace of the slowest. Some in therole of worker are driven by anobsession to be best at everything (seelast month’s ‘Train the Trainer’ onmotivation and self-esteem).

FightersAt the start, highly respected by thegroup for speaking their minds, fightersdecide the seminar is not for them andtake every chance to challenge or

antagonise the trainer. If the trainerestablishes credibility and authoritywith the rest of the group, fightersmust either submit or accept the roleof outsider.

FavouritesFavourites are usually those whocommunicate best. They have thegreatest empathy and understanding ofthe group. Others confide in thefavourite, who soon seems to knoweverything about the group. Thefavourite seldom takes on the role ofleader, and is more likely to be seenguiding and counselling thandominating.

IdiotsIdiots may be those who struggle tomake great effort but accomplish little.Their defence mechanism is to play upto the group. Idiots may loudly entertainor volunteer to do helpful little jobs inorder to be seen as ‘the nice guys’.

ConformistsConformists keep their heads belowthe parapet and find it hard to defenda point of view. These people usuallywait in the wings as the struggle forleadership resolves, then join theunofficial leader. Conformists avoidconfrontation with the trainer or othergroup members.

OutsidersThere are three types: the ‘InnocentAbroad’, ‘Mr Nasty’ and ‘Mr Superior’.

‘Innocents Abroad’ are those who maybe manoeuvred into the position ofoutsider against their will. Theseoutsiders may be introvert, may join thegroup later than the others and crossboundaries they did not even knowexisted. A sensitive trainer should

recognise the pain of these outsiders andtactfully help them to become acceptedback into the group. Some people –such as ‘Mr Nasty’ types – becomeoutsiders simply because they areodious characters who create unrestwithin the group. Once exposed theyare ostracised (usually for the durationof the course), and you are unlikely tosucceed in bringing these outsidersback into the group.

‘Mr Superior’ types are high onintelligence but low on social andemotional skills. You may have met thetrainee who is always one step aheadand extremely arrogant. This personhas no desire to form part of the group.The ‘Mr Superior’ type of outsider cancreate great tension, interfere withmotivation and learning, and spoil theatmosphere in a group. It is often bestto take them to one side and confrontthe negative behaviour.

ScapegoatsWhere the group feels unstimulated orelse overpowered by the trainer, it maypunish the weakest member. No onedeserves to be a scapegoat. Groupmembers try to identify with oneanother, and suppress negative impulseslike envy and rivalry. But when theygenerate surplus energy or need to letoff steam, they may channel theirenergies into aggression. The spirit andstructure of the group comes underthreat. The weakest member of thegroup becomes an outlet for aggression.Sometimes the pressure is heavy andsustained. This can happen in twoextremes – when the group isinsufficiently challenged or when thetrainer adopts a style that is tooauthoritarian.

A s we have seen in earlier‘Train the Trainer’ items onanalysis, the choice of

which elements to include andhow to use them is shaped bycareful analysis of needs, ofenvironment and of the attributesof the target group. The purposeof this article is to explore how tobegin designing learning material.At the end of the series you willhave a useful set of guidelines thatdraw on the best practice we havemet in the world of professionaltraining.

Preparing theoutline designHow do you take the vital stepbetween analysis and design?Analysis gives you a picture ofwhat needs to be fixed. But howdo you then proceed from the goalthat is in your head to a propersolution? How do you presentlearners with a range of activitiesthat provide them with theknowledge and skills they lack?How do you design assessmentsthat allow learners to measure their learning?

Objectives are the key. It is theframing of objectives that makesthe difference between effective

and ineffective training. Even someexperienced trainers are confusedabout the purpose and positioningof objectives. They have had themessage drummed into their headswhenever they have read about orattended a course on training.There is a sense of guilt aboutobjectives; if your line manager isto sign off your course notes orlesson plans, you must makecertain you remember to put someobjectives in there somewhere!And then there is the question‘How will my manager judge thatthey are good objectives whens/he sees them?’ Best make themSMART (Specific, Measurable,Achievable, Relevant or Realisticand Timed) objectives.

Here, we’ll endeavour to give youthe answer to the question ‘Wheredo objectives come from, and howdo you really know a good onewhen you see it?’

Setting the endobjectiveThe first step in design is toestablish the end objective. Don’ttry to start with a trainingobjective. The proper place tobegin is by referring to the analysisundertaken at the start. We have


Issue 8 August 2000www.trainingjournal.co.uk

This month, Phil Green deals with design for learning in somedetail. The process involves a number of inter-dependentactivities, all of which are covered below.

Howzat?

From the start of this series wehave argued in favour of amethod of instruction that can

be measured by an outcome. Thatoutcome may be measured in termsof accuracy, a task performed in aspecific time or a particular numberof correct responses. Each learningobjective has its own separatecriterion for success. For example,the criterion for the objective ofbowling for a cricket team might be:‘Under match conditions, the bowlerwill capture wickets at the rate ofone per 30 balls and at the cost of nomore than 20 runs per wicket.’

Of course, this is close tointernational test match standards,and my mind wandered in thisdirection during an interval for badlight at Lords cricket groundrecently. (Untypically, the Englishteam beat the West Indies.) Think fora moment about the process oflearning to play a sport. There areclearly some things that you canlearn in a classroom – field placings,rules of the game, the science ofpreparing a wicket, models andcharacteristics that distinguish – say,pace bowling from spin. However,there are also psychological barriers(‘We always lose to them’) and, ofcourse, ultimately a learner makesthe grade by spending lots of time inthe field with ball in hand. Thedesign for learning must include arange of different forms of supportincluding tutoring, research,coaching and practice.


Design for learning

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Phil Green’s company is Optimum Learning, a consultancy that hashelped some of the UK’s best known organisations to achieve businessimprovement, and has trained hundreds of trainers in the skills andtechniques of analysis, design and delivery. He is a member of theForum for Technology in Training (www.forumtt.org.uk), an activetraining consultant, and a former teacher and shoe salesman.

TraintheTrainer

spoken often during this ‘Train theTrainer’ series about taking aperformance-based approach toinstruction. Let’s think about thatfor a moment. Remember that in aproper analysis, we will have raisedquestions like ‘What seems to bethe problem?’ ‘Who’s involved?’,‘What is the current performance?’and ‘What is the requiredperformance?’ We referred to thediscrepancy between the currentand the required performance as‘The performance gap’. It is bymaking a clear statement of whatthe subjects are required to do thatwe arrive at the ultimate outcomeof any training (and of the wholecocktail of solutions that we mightrecommend to bring the businessto that desired outcome).

Once you have that clear endobjective, you can start to reduce itto the sub-tasks that the user mustperform. You can do this usingoutcome analysis, beginning at thehighest level of the performanceobjective and then moving steadilydownwards, examining theperformance in finer and finer detail.

Why is outcomeanalysisimportant?

Outcome analysis is essentialbecause it helps you to do twothings.

1. At a higher level it breaks downthe performance into a number ofmore easily digestible chunks.These chunks become sessions,modules or units.2. At a lower level it identifies eachseparate component of knowledgeor single performance. It is mucheasier to design training activitiescentred on small components.

This process also helps you to planand cost the development of atraining programme. Nowremember that the performance-based instruction philosophyrequires you to have taken a verywide view already in analysing theoutcomes, the people who areinvolved and the whole host ofenvironmental factors that mightget in the way of their

achievement. (We have previouslylooked at rewards, incentives, toolsand equipment for example.) Thecurrency of the trainer isknowledge, skills and attitudes, soI’d like to introduce you to PyramidAnalysis, which is extremely usefuland rather like chess – that is, it’squite easy to learn the moves but ittakes a good deal of practice andexperience to play to win.

You’ll need a roll of brown paper(or a couple of pages from flipchart pads joined landscape), avariety of Post-it® Notes and agood-sized wall (see Figure 1).Write the end objective on a largePost-it® and place it in the centreof the brown paper at the top.Typically this top Post-it® mightread ‘Sell more stakeholderpensions’ or ‘Reduce staff turnoverfrom 25 per cent to 20 per cent bythe end of 2001’. Generally, thisshould be done collaboratively withsomeone who is alreadyperforming as closely as possible tothe standard required of others inthe future. Do not try to continueunless you are both quite happythat the top Post-it® broadlydescribes the required outcome.

The analyst/designer then asks asimple question: ‘What does thisperson need to do in order tomeet these targets?’ Yourepeatedly ask the same question:‘What else?’, ‘What else?’ and‘What else?’ It’s a very simpletechnique but it has a verysophisticated outcome. Thecontent of an entire course can bemapped in this way on a singlesheet of paper. At the end it will

resemble a hierarchy of tasks thatmay look like a pyramid. At the topare the high-level objectives, andbeneath each of these is a series ofother objectives that you mustachieve if you are to reach theoutcomes higher up the pyramid.There are some guidelines tofollow when you do this type ofpyramid analysis.

� Continue the analysis until youget to an appropriate level. Theperformance and the existingabilities of the target group willdetermine this. Limit the analysis totasks that are going to be new tothe target group.

� Be flexible in developing theanalysis. Experts will rarely give youa breakdown of the tasks in exactlythe right order. And often this willnot describe the task in ameasurable form, so you will haveto help them.

� It will be extremely difficult foryou to write objectives later if youneglect to attach a verb to eachtask on the pyramid analysis.

� Test your analysis with otherpeople. The results of analysis needto be tested with as many peopleas possible, to make sure that theyagree with what you have found.

Working out themodular structureThe first thing you can do withyour pyramid is to use it to workout what modules will be in your course.

� What type of learning is in themodule? It is useful at this stage toconsider what type of learningeach chunk involves – in otherwords, is the chunk knowledge-based or skills-based? Thesesuggest quite different types oflearning activity and of assessment.Knowledge-based modules areprobably better covered by atutorial approach, whereas skills-based modules may be bettersuited to a role play, workplaceproject or simulation. If a moduleseems to contain both types youshould consider whether to split itup into separate modules.

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Figure 1

� How many modules? Aim tohave no more than nine. Researchshows (Miller, 1956) that when weare presented with information ourbrains place it first into so-calledshort-term memory. There may bespace for between seven plus orminus two items. We process thisinformation and decide whether toignore it or move it into long-termmemory. If we are presented withmore than nine items our brainsrace around moving things in andout of short-term memory, whichmakes decision-making verydifficult.

� How long should modules be?Learners can usually onlyconcentrate fully on a piece oflearning for about 15 minutes at atime. After that their concentrationwanders and the effectiveness ofthe learning falls rapidly. It is alsorecognised that people learn mosteffectively at the beginning andend of a study period. Having alarger number of small studyperiods is therefore more effectivethan a small number of longerperiods. This also raises motivation,as it gives the learner a sense ofmaking rapid progress.

Preparing anoutline designspecification

The outline design specification is adetailed document that containsthe basic requirements for allaspects of a training programme,no matter what the method ofdelivery. It will typically cover theaspects below.

The overall trainingobjectiveThis must be clearly written inbehavioural terms, stating the:

� conditions given for thetraining, such as the use ofworkbooks or other referencematerial (perhaps even the use of aprepared wicket and a bucket ofcricket balls!), where theprogramme will be used and so on(this information will help you toplan and design appropriatelearning activities)

� performance, as an observableaction

� measures of success, the type ofassessment that will be made, suchas a multiple-choice test of 20questions, a workplace assessmentand so on.

Course map

A course map is a useful graphicalrepresentation of a course (seeFigure 2 for an example).

Module objectives

The overall objective should bebroken down into its enablingobjectives, which will become theobjectives for each module. Theyshould be stated in the same wayas for the end objective.

Module content

This should summarise the resultsof the pyramid analysis for themodule, stating every aspect ofperformance and measure ofsuccess for each enabling task.

Proposed treatment foreach moduleThis should state how the modulewill be presented – that is, as atutorial or role-play, the use ofquizzes or tests, workplaceassignments and so on.

Types of assessment to be usedWhen staff return from courses, itis not always obvious whether theylearned what they were meant tolearn. How can you be sure theyare capable of performing the tasksassigned to them? How do youdocument it? If you base

assessments on real jobrequirements, you can safely judgethe readiness of an employee toperform to standard. Assessmentsshould measure whether someonehas the specific skills andunderstanding they need totransfer to a particular task. How would you feel about theflying skills of a pilot who hadattained a pass mark of 85 percent? I imagine your attentionmight drift to the 15 per cent in which s/he had failed to makethe grade.

Good tests of performance willset up for employees the samestimulus and input of data they will meet in real life. They willrehearse dealing with the situationsand problems they face at work. As we design activities and skillchecks we keep in mind thequestion ‘What will this employeesee, hear, touch in the workingenvironment?’ We do not ask,‘What should you do if an alarmsounds?’ Instead, we set theenvironment and the context for dealing with an emergency,describe or simulate what thesystem prompts read, what the visual and audio clues are, and then ask ‘What do you do next?’.

Where you are engaged in systemstraining, work with IT colleagues tocreate support exercises on livesystems in training mode if thesecan be arranged without risk to thereal data. Look for opportunities toprovide structured and guidedpractice, with ‘Performance’ checks(not just knowledge checks) builtinto the training.

These will be covered in greaterdetail next month.

SummaryDesign is the second stage in athorough systematic approach totraining. As you move through theprocess, remember that the key tosuccess is proper analysis of the gapbetween the existing and desiredperformance. Keep an open mind.Do not consider the design, contentor method of any solution until youare confident it is the best. Workclosely with your customer tounderstand any analysis alreadyundertaken to obtain relevant


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Figure 2

information that may have beenmissed, until you are both quitesatisfied that the solution perfectlymatches the needs and preferencesof the target group.

Effective trainers think first aboutthe who, what, why, where andhow of learning, rather thanbecoming hung up on issues oflogistics or technology. Their focusis on what learners will do andhow to get them to do it.

The uniqueadvantages of PBIThe health of any businessdepends on the successfulperformance of people. Staff at alllevels need to be comfortable withsophisticated systems andprocesses such as how youcommunicate, how you deal withcolleagues, how you manageperformance, how you developnew business, satisfy customersand so on. Managers depend onyou to work with them to ensurestaff have the skills to use thesesystems and processes, developand apply controls, andunderstand how these all fit in totheir jobs. These factors are criticalto ensuring an organisation has theoperational skills to meet itscustomers’ needs and gainmaximum value from anyinvestment in people, processes,equipment or training.

We have promoted PBI as themeans by which you can developtraining for people at all levels who need to apply newknowledge, skills and modifiedattitudes in order to meet theirbusiness objectives. Given thescope to apply the approach, you can be bold enough to offeryour managers a guarantee thatemployees in your organisation will have the capacity to succeed.

The PBI approach works becausethe focus is on performance, notonly on training. It gives users theskills to do their jobs rather thanjust knowledge about processesand procedures. It is a way ofpreparing people to succeed attheir jobs. They use to their fullpotential the systems and resources that the businessprovides, and your organisationachieves its goals.

ivTrain the Trainer

In next month’s ‘Train the Trainer’ …Next month we’ll return to the subject of how to create tests and assessments,and look at how to write lesson plans with a proper sequence of learning atcourse, module and lesson level.



HOW IS PBI DIFFERENT?This table is adapted from the work of Robert Mager and highlights thefundamental differences between PBI and content-driven courses.

Performance-based instruction

� Objectives emerge from analysis ofreal-world needs and describeintended results.

� Content of the instruction isderived from the objectives to beaccomplished.

� Trainees study only that whichthey do not know.

� Each trainee is given anopportunity to practise eachobjective.

� Instruction includes only what isneeded to accomplish theobjectives.

� The primary instructor role is thatof coaching.

� Test (skill checks) are used fordiagnosing difficulties, confirmingmastery and as opportunities to lettrainees feel good about theirprogress.

� Trainees study and practise untilthey have reached mastery of theobjectives.

� On reaching mastery, traineesreceive a Certificate ofAchievement.

Content-driven course

� Objectives are typically absent orused to describe the content to becovered.

� Content of the instruction isusually determined by a subjectmatter expert.

� All trainees study the samecontent.

� Trainees are given fewopportunities to practise the entireobjective.

� Instruction may include all mannerof content that is irrelevant to theparticular learner’s needs.

� The primary instructor role is thatof presenting.

� When used at all, tests are a basisfor grading – that is, to rank eachstudent by comparison with theperformance of other coursedelegates.

� Trainees study until the fixedcourse time has ended.

� On course completion, traineesreceive a Certificate of Attendance.

REFERENCES1. Mager, Robert R F Goal analysis: How to clarify your goals so you can actuallyachieve them, Centre for Effective Performance 1991.2. Mager, Robert R and Pipe, P Analyzing performance problems, Lake PublishingCompany, 1984. (ISBN 1-879618-17-6)3. George A. Miller The magical number seven, plus or minus two: some limits on our capacity for processing information, The Psychological Review, 1956,vol.63, pp.81-97

A test result indicateswhether the learner hasacquired some knowledge

that contributes towards the endobjective. The result also measureswhat the trainer has achieved. Wehave placed much emphasis inpast ‘Train the Trainer’ articles onsetting operational learning tasks.This means answering thequestion: ‘What can someone doat the end of learning that s/hecouldn’t do at the start of theprocess?’ To measure this, we needto test.

The structure of tests In general an assessment or testitem gives you information, posesa question and requires an answer.

Take a look at Table 1, where theexample given is a closedproblem. The learner selects ananswer from a number of(multiple) choices. The answer istherefore given to both learnerand tester.

Omitting the answer gives you ahalf-open problem in which thetester has the solution, but thelearner does not. No list ofmultiple options is given. This typeof problem must be well designed.Slack wording may lead learners towrong answers, then frustratethem because they have beenmarked down.

If you remove the questionelement, what remains is an openproblem. Learners infer from the


Issue 9 September 2000www.trainingjournal.co.uk

Phil Green gives practical guidelines for structuring tests,including writing appropriate questions, then offers advicefor giving useful feedback.

Testing, testing!

How do you design a course andcreate a proper sequence oflearning at course, module and

lesson level? For newly appointedtrainers this can be something of amystery, although it’s not difficult. Startwith the objective, then design the testsand assessments that indicate howclose someone is to achieving it.

Testing and assessment form thefocus of this month’s supplement.With these in place, writing andstructuring the content then becomes arelatively simple task (and we’ll showyou some examples of how to do thatin October’s ‘Train the Trainer’).

In learning, the purpose of a test isto show what has been accomplished.It is impossible in a short article likethis to cover everything you mightneed to know about how to design atest, so the aim is to give you someguidelines for design and some criteriafor judging other people’s tests.

Tests never come from thin air! Theyare not the product of a creativeimagination inside the head of atraining designer. They are a rehearsalfor real life. If you have set objectives inwhich performance, condition, standardand assessment are all clear, then howand what you test will be apparent.

One of the difficulties in workingwith subject matter experts is theirtendency to sit in on a course or readdraft material and comment that thequestions are too easy! This is subjectivefeedback. The design or wording of atest alone cannot tell you how easy ordifficult it is. Give the same test tosolicitors, clerical workers and roadsweepers and you can expect differentviews on how difficult that test is.Ultimately, it is the learner who rules onwhether a test is reliable and effective.

For this issue, I’d like to acknowledgethe help of two very good friends whohave contributed their knowledge andexperience – Mike Sleight for his niceand simple template for settingobjectives and Bryan Hopkins for hiswonderfully clear guidance on bestpractice in question design.


Designing measurementand assessment tests

iTrain the Trainer

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Phil Green’s company is Optimum Learning, a consultancy that has helpedsome of the UK’s best known organisations to achieve business improvement,and has trained hundreds of trainers in the skills and techniques of analysis,design and delivery. He is a member of the Forum for Technology inTraining (www.forumtt.org.uk), an active training consultant, and a former teacher and shoe salesman.

TraintheTrainer

We have looked at several methodsof repaying a mortgage. You needto suggest the most suitable for Mr Green in the case study we have provided.

Which type of mortgage will yourecommend?

Endowment mortgage?

Pension mortgage?

Repayment mortgage?

Information element

Question element

Answer element

Table 1: Structure of tests – an example

information how to answer thequestion. You cannot be certainhow they will answer. Neither thelearner nor the tester has a givenanswer. Case studies fall into this category.

What makes a good test?The features and characteristics ofa good test are as follows:

� Questions are based onobjectives. When they are usedto test transfer of knowledgeand understanding, thequestions must relate to anidentified objective. Do notinclude questions just becausethey are good.

� The learner always receivessome feedback. You mustalways give learners feedback to their responses. If there areparticular reasons why theyshould not know whether their answers were right orwrong, give them a ‘thank you’ message.

� The learner is in control.Because tests are important tolearners, you must takewhatever steps are necessary toreduce learners’ anxieties. Onesource of anxiety is the level ofcontrol they have over thequestioning. You can overcomethis by giving learners thechance to change their answersand letting them reviewquestions they have selected.

� Tests should be unambiguous.Tests should make clear how the learner should tackle the problem and under what conditions.

� Tests should be valid. Testsshould be confined to thecontent within the lesson.

Types of test A trainer can look into the eyes ofa learner, see distress or confusionand adapt the questions so thatconfidence is restored. But thetrainer is not the only means bywhich a lesson or assessment canreceive mediation. In distancelearning, especially whencomputers are used, there are anumber of ways in which tests of knowledge can be presented to increaseeffectiveness.

Adaptive tests areprogrammed to present differentquestions to different learners.The simplest form of adaptive testis illustrated in Figure 1. If learnersanswer a question correctly theymove on to a question on thenext subject. If they answer aquestion incorrectly, they areasked a second question on thesame subject.

A more sophisticated form ofadaptive testing is based aroundan area of research known asLatent Trait Theory.1 Testsusing this method have questionsbanded by level of difficulty.Figure 2 shows the principle ofsuch a test. To start the test,learners are asked a question,which is drawn at random. If theyanswer it correctly they are askeda harder question. If they answerthis question correctly, they areasked an even harder questionand so on. If, however, they

answer the question incorrectlythey are asked an easier question.If they answer that correctly, theysubsequently receive a harder oneand so on.

Another type of testing isAdmissible ProbabilityMeasures Testing – a form ofmultiple-choice testing, but ineach question there are alwaysthree possible answers, A, B andC. Learners mark their responseon a template as shown in Figure3. In this template, ‘A’ representsthe correct answer. If learners areconfident that ‘A’ is correct, theymark the triangle at ‘A’. If they areconfident that ‘B’ is correct, theymark that part. However, if theyonly think that ‘A’ might becorrect, they can mark thetriangle at a point along the linefrom ‘A’ to ‘B’.

The system can therefore classifya learner as well informed, partiallyinformed or misinformed.

iiTrain the Trainer

Question

Another question

on the samesubject

Question on new subject

Incorrect

Correct

Figure 1: Adaptive testing

IncorrectCorrect

Figure 2: Latent trait adaptive testing

Start

Question

Easier question

Harderquestion

Incorrect

Incorrect

Correct

Correct

The purpose of questions

Questions present users with animmediate decision about aspecific problem. You can usequestions to:

� let learners check theirunderstanding of the presentation

� test that they do know thecontent, and direct themthrough other information as necessary

� stimulate them to think about asubject before exploring it inmore detail

� predict how someone willbehave in certain circumstances.

The features of a good questionWhatever types of question youuse, there are some generalguidelines to follow.

� Make it cover a real objective:a good question tests anobjective that has beenidentified. Do not includequestions because they are funto administer or easy to write.

� Check for comprehension, notrecall: avoid asking questionsthat merely repeat informationthe learner has just read.Paraphrase the informationpresented – making the learnerapply the information presentedto a new application, or makingthe learner apply theinformation presented to amore general or specificexample are three ways toavoid repetition.

� Get the reading level right: in written learning material orassessments, make sure thewording is appropriate to thereading level of the targetgroup. After all, questions areintended to test knowledge of the subject rather thanreading ability.

� Avoid negative words:questions that ask the learner to identify the incorrect answers are difficult tounderstand. They are like word puzzles or conundrums,testing the learner’scomprehension of English rather than of the subject.

� Avoid abbreviations: don’t use abbreviations inquestions (unless, of course, youare checking an understandingof an abbreviation).

� Keep questions all on onepage or screen: when you areusing a computer, slides or aworkbook, make sure thewording of questions and allfeedback can fit on to one pageor screen. If you need to allowscrolling of the screen or turningto a new page, you mustredesign the question.

Types of questionThe text that follows looks at someof the different types of question.

Multiple choice

A multiple-choice question is anyquestion that asks the learner toselect the correct answer(technically referred to as the key)from a list of possible answers. Thegreat majority of questions used indistance learning are multiplechoice. They are invariably foundin computer-based tests.

When designing multiple-choicequestions here are a few things tobear in mind:

Always number or letter the listLearners find it easier mentally tosort lists that have easy references,such as numbers (1, 2, 3 and soon) or letters (a, b, c and so on).

Relate the question to an objectiveAll questions should be related toan objective identified andpresented as part of the training.

Provide four or five possible answersA multiple-choice question canoffer, in theory, anything from twopossible answers upwards. Ofcourse, with only two answerslearners have a 50 per cent chanceof guessing the right one, while alarge number of answers makes itincreasingly impossible to guesscorrectly, but the questionbecomes unwieldy both to designand to read. The best compromiseis to offer no more than four orfive answers.

Make all the choices believableThe hardest part about writingmultiple-choice questions is thinking

of the wrong answers (usuallyknown as distracters). You shouldresist the temptation to include ajoke answer, which merely increasesthe user’s chance of guessing theright answer from those left.

Avoid using ‘none’ or ‘all’ as an optionTake a look at the followingquestion.

Which of the following do you paywhen buying a house?1. Estate agent’s fees.2. Capital Gains Tax.3. Search fees.4. All of these.

As soon as the learner realises you do not pay estate agent’s fees, the ‘all’ option is not apossible correct answer. The

question then becomes a simplealternative response type, with anincreased chance of guessing theright answer.

Similarly, avoid using the words‘never’ and ‘always’ in a question.Absolutes are very hard to find andlearners can think of exceptions,however obscure, why they havegood reason to reject the ‘never’and ‘always’ options.

Put answers in alphabetical ornumerical order (where appropriate)When answers are numbers or singlewords, it is good practice to putthem in numerical or alphabeticalorder. This helps you to achieveneutrality. Tests have shown that wecan easily submit to our owninternal rhythms so that a patternemerges and we automatically placethe correct answer in locations that


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Figure 3: AdmissibleProbability Measures

24

1919

99

-11-11

-76-76-76-76-76

A

CB

fit our pattern. For example, we putthe correct answer in position a, b,a, c, d, b, a, then subconsciouslyrepeat the pattern.

The same process works whenlearners subtly and subconsciouslydecode these patterns andsuccessfully predict the location ofthe next correct answer. Usingnumerical or alphabetical ordereliminates this risk.

Multiple correctIt is perfectly acceptable to givelearners questions where there aretwo or more correct answers in a list.This does, of course, mean acorrespondingly higher number ofdistracters. The main issue with usingquestions like these in a test relates toawarding scores. You need to decideon a scoring scheme that rewardspartially correct answers as well.

Additionally, you should becareful about including multiplecorrect questions within a series ofsingle correct questions. Learnersdo not always read the instructionsand may assume that only oneanswer is correct!

MatchingMatching questions are arefinement of multiple-choicequestions, effectively combining anumber of multiple-choicequestions together. Thesequestions generally comprise twolists, the first of which containswhat are known as the ‘premises’and the second, the ‘responses’. Aswith multiple choice questions, thelists can be made up of text,graphics or audio items. Take alook at the example below.

Who is paid what during a housebuying transaction? Match the finalpayee to the charge.

1. Land registry fee 2. Legal fee 3. Stamp duty 4. Mortgage indemnity guarantee

A. Estate agent B. Solicitor C. Building Society D. Bank E. Local authority F. The government

Matching questions can be reallyuseful, as they can test a lot ofunderstanding in a single question.However, they can be rathercomplex and need carefulexplanation to the learner. Many ofthe earlier guidelines for writinggood multiple-choice questionsapply to matching questions.

FeedbackI’ve left feedback to last because itis one of the most criticalcomponents of a test. Too often,the user is presented with ‘Correct’or ‘Incorrect’ as a response to theiranswers, which does very little tohelp motivate the learner. Allquestions must providemeaningful feedback. Feedback isespecially important duringpractise sessions where it should

immediately follow the learner’sresponse. In a testingenvironment, it may beappropriate to leave the feedbackuntil all questions have beenanswered. Either way, thefeedback that you give shouldalways be:

� positive, not criticising theperson for having made a wrong decision

� corrective if a distracter isselected (but avoid makinganswers to distracters sointeresting that learners choosethe wrong answer deliberately).

Learning is aided by providingerror-contingent feedback. This iswhere the feedback you provide isdifferent for each distracter, ratherthan: ‘No, that is not correct.’Error-contingent feedback can be developed to the extent ofproviding remediation exercises.This is where you re-package andre-present information that thelearner has already seen. You can do this by changing a graphicpresentation to text or vice versa,altering the emphasis or byproviding a different type of example.

Finally, we are witnessing a wave of enthusiasm forcomputerised studentmanagement systems to collectinformation about the learner’sprogress through the course and to score tests. If you are using such a system, you need to think carefully about the kind of information that is tracked,stored and reported on. It may be tempting to believe this canhappen automatically, but thelearning manager must specifywhat data is important. It is all tooeasy to go overboard and gatherso much data that it becomesdifficult to handle and ends upbeing of little practical use.

ivTrain the Trainer

In next month’s ‘Train the Trainer’ …In the October issue, we’ll turn our attention to writing and structuring thecontent and look at how we select the most appropriate learning method foreach instructional goal.


Publisher and managing editor Martin Delahoussaye (tel) 01353 665533.

References1. Lazarsfield PF, and Henry NW,

Latent structure analysis,Houghton Mifflin, 1968.

Recommended readingIn this article and throughoutprevious issues of ‘Train theTrainer’ I have made severalreferences to the work of Robert F. Mager and Peter Pipe,and to the late Tom Gilbert, thefounding father of the concept of performance engineering. For a fuller account of their work, I highly recommend the following titles.

Gilbert, T, Human competence:Engineering worthy performance,McGraw-Hill, 1978.

Mager, R, Measuring InstructionalResults: The New Mager Six Pack,Centre for Effective Performance,1997 (ISBN 1-879618-15-X).

Mager, R and Pipe, P, Analyzingperformance problems, LakePublishing Company, 1984(ISBN 1-879618-17-6).


Issue 10 October 2000www.trainingjournal.co.uk

Phil Green looks at how to write and structure the contents of acourse, and how to establish the most appropriate method foreach instructional goal.

E d i t o r i a l

Acommon complaint whenemployees return fro mtraining events is that you

cannot always be sure what theylearned or how it relates to theirneeds. In the March edition of ‘Tr a i nthe Tr a i n e r’, we first met BenjaminBloom’s method of sortingperformance into three domains: thecognitive, the psychomotor and thea ffective. Then in August we spentsome time thinking about objectives.To recap, the cognitive domainranges from simple recall ofinformation to complex pro b l e msolving. The psychomotor domainincludes the skills behind physicalactivities such as opening a containeror moving a box. The aff e c t i v edomain includes attitudes, beliefs,values and feelings such as enjoyingor appre c i a t i n g .

It is fairly easy to set performanceobjectives for the psychomotordomain – for example, ‘the traineewill put on safety goggles and glovesb e f o re opening a batch of chemicals’.Writing performance objectives forthe cognitive or affective domain isnot quite so straightforward .

I have often seen inexperiencedtrainers produce objectives that arevague, ambiguous and difficult tom e a s u re. The events they design arerooted in knowledge, but fail to dealwith how that knowledge is applied.

Clear objectives are essential, so Iam unrepentant about urging you toput in some more practise at writingthem. As a seasoned campaignerwho works with trainers in a varietyof organisations, I can tell you thatthe most vulnerable are those whobelieve their skill with objectives isgood enough to get by! Once thelearning objectives are in place, thenext step is to design a pro g r a m m eof activities – the course.

Phil Gre e n

Optimum Learning Ltd

Tel: 0114 281 6727

Email: [email protected]

Where, when and how?

iTrain the Trainer

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Phil Gre e n ’s company is Optimum Learning, a consultancy that has helpedsome of the UK’s best known organisations to achieve business impro v e m e n t ,and has trained hundreds of trainers in the skills and techniques of analysis,design and delivery. He is a member of the F o rum for Technology inTr a i n i n g (w w w. f o r u m t t . o rg . u k), an active training consultant, and aformer teacher and shoe salesman.

Tr a i ntheTr a i n e r

R ight from the first issue of the ‘Train the Trainer’ supplement, wehave favoured a performance approach to instruction. Now wehave arrived at the point of designing instruction, let’s revisit the

steps that have brought us here and preview those we are yet to take.

Step 1: Analyse a performance gap. Step 2: Draft objectives and design tests of skill and knowledge. Step 3: Conduct goal, task and target group analysis for your course. Step 4: Select methods and media for your course. Step 5: Define the roles you might perform (trainer, presenter, facilitator,

coach and so on). Step 6: Draft a lesson plan for your course. Step 7: Plan course logistics (procedures, preparation, post-course

support). Step 8: Design evaluation forms for your course.

Well-organised trainers capture their thoughts, ideas and intentions inlesson plans. A lesson plan is a road map for a course. In essence, itshows the various things that will happen during the course (theactivities) and in what order they will occur (the structure). The goal forany lesson (course) is for learners to master specified objectives within thetime and conditions available. You may draw upon a whole range ofresources, some of which are currently in existence and some of whichmust be designed. As you work through each step in the plan, you willbe making decisions on the methods and media that you will use for thevarious activities that comprise the lesson.

Table 2: Bloom’s cognitive taxonomy

Selecting methods and mediaWhen we talk about methods, we mean the types ofa c t i v i t y, events or interactions that constitute a moduleor course. Media, as the name suggests, describes thelearning aids such as videotape, overheads, handoutsand any other materials that are used to supportlearning. There is a great panoply of methods andmedia open to the trainer. Table 1 lists some examples.

Often it is not what is best for learners, but acombination of the trainer’s own confidence and theavailability of resources that determine the selection. Sohow do you decide the best strategy? If you have donea proper job of writing performance objectives, theverb will suggest the most obvious method and media.L e t ’s return to Bloom’s work (which we referred to inthe Editorial). He draws a distinction between low andhigh levels of mental performance. You can build ‘lowlevels’ (recall) through passive learning methods like‘chalk and talk’. However, learners must becomeinvolved in some sort of action if they are to reachhigher levels of mental agility (analysis and evaluation).Strategies for imparting knowledge might includelectures, questions and answers, workbooks and guidedreading, audio/visual, demonstration and observ a t i o n .

Low levels of mental performance are usually assessedthrough some sort of quiz – oral or written. Te s t i n ghigher order skills such as problem solving andjudgement requires a different approach. You cannotuse a quiz to judge someone’s ability to argue orcriticise! Assessment must connect with the conditionsand standards of the objective. For example, when yourgoal is to instruct someone in how to analyse a set of

c i rcumstances, then you will almost certainly be drawntowards ‘On-the-job training’, ‘Practice through activity’or ‘Learn by doing’ strategies.

A well-conceived programme of learning will startwith low-level knowledge and build up to higher orderskills. Take, for example, a course for mortgage advisers.The learning objectives might include the following.

Examine the verbs in the objectives you write for yourcourses, then refer to Table 2. In the left-hand columnare the groups of actions connected with ‘thinkingprocesses’ (Bloom’s cognitive domain). The right-handcolumn suggests suitable learning strategies dependentupon where you have placed your verbs (see theexamples in the middle column). If all the verbs inyour learning objectives fall in the knowledge andcomprehension category, then you’d better check thatyou are really meeting all the performance objectivesthat your learner needs to attain.

The suggestions in Table 2 are not meant to beprescriptive, nor are they exhaustive. In our earlierexample, mortgage advisers must learn to presentthe most suitable product to an enquiring customer.Their programme might be a rich mix of learningactivities in the classroom (through tutorials and roleplay) and on the job with actual customers. Theinstructional strategies might include a workbook toguide the process of finding out about productfeatures from various sources of information. It mightbe practical to do a presentation or guide adiscussion, with a quiz at the end. You might havelearners observe an experienced adviser in action (liveor on video) in order to get a good view of the wholeprocess of matching customer needs to productfeatures. You might then follow this with practicesessions so the learner can have a go at actuallyp e rforming the job under the guidance and coachingof a high perf o r m e r.

iiTrain the Trainer

Low level

High level

● Describe the characteristics and features of anaccount and compare it with the product ofparticular competitors.

● Apply the rules and procedures to be followed inorder to set up an account for various customerswith distinctive needs.

● Resolve the issues and difficulties that particularclients have with these accounts.

Table 1: Methods and mediaMethods Media LectureL e c t u r e Pre-recorded video

(including CDI and DVD)Role play Audio tapesTeam working Games and simulationsIndividualised instruction/ Case studiesc o a c h i n gDemonstrations Discussion groupsProject work Site visits

Cognitive domain I need the learner to: Examples of suitablemethods and media

LOW LEVELRecall information. • L e c t u r e

K n o w l e d g e Appropriate verbs: memorise, name, order, recognise, • R e a d i n grelate, recall, repeat, reproduce, state. • A u d i o / v i s u a l

Interpret information in his or her own words. • D i s c u s s i o nC o m p r e h e n s i o n Appropriate verbs: classify, describe, discuss, explain, • O b s e rv a t i o n

express, identify, indicate, locate. • Case studiesUse knowledge in a novel situation. • Role play

A p p l i c a t i o n Appropriate verbs: apply, choose, demonstrate, • O b s e rv a t i o ndramatise, employ, illustrate. • Case studiesBreak down knowledge into parts and show inter-relationships. • On-the-job-training (OJT)

A n a l y s i s Appropriate verbs: analyse, appraise, calculate, • Practice by doingcategorise, compare, contrast, criticise. • Simulations of job settings

Bring together parts of knowledge to form a whole/solve problem. • Real-life situationsS y n t h e s i s Appropriate verbs: arrange, assemble, collect, • Games/Role playing

compose, construct, create, design. • Simulation of job settings

HIGH LEVELMake judgements on the basis of criteria. • Trial and error

E v a l u a t i o n Appropriate verbs: argue, assess, attach, choose, • M e n t o r i n gcompare, defend, estimate, judge, predict, rate. • Coaching

The lesson plan

We have defined the lesson plan as a map to chart thekey points of a course. There is no perfect model. Ithas to serve more than one purpose: to guide thetrainer in what to prepare and what to do in thelearning environment, and to inform the trainingmanager (or customer) as to what will be covered byyour course. As a preliminary to writing the detailedlesson plan, there are a number of issues you shouldc o n s i d e r, as outlined below.

Issue 1: Ti t l eWhat is the title of your course or programme? Ti t l e sare very revealing. If you have difficulty in coming upwith one, or if it is vague and woolly, then that sayssomething about the clarity of your understanding ofthe performance problems your course will attempt to resolve.

Issue 2: PurposeBe clear about the overall goal for your training. Do you have to conform to an industry or companystandard? Reflect on the high level goals andp e rformance indicators of your business – if they have not directly driven the need to supply thistraining, then what particular business objectives will this lesson support?

Issue 3: ObjectivesWe have already said a great deal about theimportance of objectives. Remember that here we aretalking not about activities that will be used in thelesson but about the learning outcomes of thoseactivities. Keep in mind the learner’s level of ability.

Issue 4: Resourc e sDraw up a list of resources and make it as prescriptiveas you can. You should go to the level of detail ofreference material, handouts and even paper, markersand paper clips. Anyone else using your plan will knowat a glance what materials are required.

Issue 5: BenefitYou need to plan how to introduce the topic anddevelop interest and involvement among learners. Thisis a sales gambit, and successful sales people alwaysprepare a powerful opening benefit statement.Likewise you need to ‘sell’ the benefits to reluctant oranxious learners.

Issue 6: ProceduresNow you need to write the stepwise procedures thatwill be performed to reach the objectives. You don’thave to detail every word that will be said, but youshould list the relevant actions the trainer needs top e rform – for example, ask about …, distribute … andset up … . Some key points to consider are:

● get off to an interesting start● remember to present facts, examples and

arguments that will best get the objective achieved

● present a logical flow of argument● give supporting examples and evidence● summarise from time to time● test transfer of knowledge throughout the course● for skills training, model the desired outcome –

that is, show how it should look when the task isp e rformed to standard

● use language that fits your knowledge of the audience

● eliminate ‘nice to know’ material.

Issue 7: PracticeAllow ample time for practice and feedback alone, inpairs or in groups.

Issue 8: ClosureHow will you bring the lesson to a close?

● Return to your opening benefit statement, and reinforce the value and application of this learning.

● Review the main points.● Re-emphasise the overall message. Call for action.

Issue 9: AssessmentLearning is not an event; it is a journey from one stateto another. The starting point is current knowledge,skills and performance. The end point is desiredknowledge, skills and performance. The end assessmentmust reflect this transition. Assessment must be specificand an integral part of the original objectives.

Issue 10: Special needs Be aware of learners with special needs such asphysical difficulties or learning disabilities. Also beaware of fast learners! You may need to preparealternative activities to break things down for slowlearners or to speed things up for others. Here let memention the work undertaken by Ron and SusanZemke, who are prominent in the field of humanperformance technology in the USA. They have puttogether some excellent guidance regarding thecharacteristics of adult learners. It has great relevanceto your approach to learning. Their advice issummarised under three headings: ‘Motivation tolearn’, ‘Curriculum design’ and ‘In the classroom’ (fordetails refer to ‘Reading and weblinks’ on page iv).

Issue 11: ConnectionsIn August’s ‘Train the Trainer’, we spoke about coursemaps. You should create one (if the course is part of awider curriculum) to show how the lesson fits in withother subjects.

E v e ry trainer has his or her own particular method forcreating lesson plans. I like to use icons that representeach type of activity. In this way, I can immediately tellhow much variety I have built into a lesson. Othersprefer a less artistic approach. I’ve even seen lessonplans in the form of mind maps. If you are new to thebusiness of training then you might want to start withsomething straightforward and simple. I have given anexample in Table 3 (next page).


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ivTrain the Trainer

In next month’s‘ Train the Trainer’ …We have been talking aboutwriting and structuring thecontent of courses, and haveplaced much emphasis on clearobjectives as the key to success.Next month we will square thec i rcle by looking at evaluation.

‘Train the Trainer’ is a supplement toTraining Journal, a Fenman publication.

Clive House, The Business Park, Ely,Cambridgeshire CB7 4EH.


Reading and weblinksPrinciples of Instruction Design Gagne & Briggs ISBN 0030347572

Producing Instructional Systems A.J. Romiszowski ISBN 185091012X

Study: A Guide to Effective Study, Robert Barrass ISBN 0412256908Revision & Examination Techniques

Taxonomy of Educational Benjamin S. Bloom, Bertram B. ISBN 0582280109Objectives (cognitive domain) Mesia, and David R. Krathwohl

Taxonomy of Educational Benjamin S. Bloom, Bertram B. ISBN 058228239XObjectives (affective domain) Mesia, and David R. Krathwohl

Making Instruction Wo r k R . F. Mager ISBN 0749405929

What Every Manager Should Know R . F. Mager ISBN 1879618087About Training: Or I’ve Got a Tr a i n i n gProblem & Other Odd Ideas

Developing Attitude To w a r dL e a r n i n g : R . F. Mager ISBN 1879618052Or Smats ‘n’ Smuts

30 Things We Know For Sure About Ron and Susan Zemke w w w. h c c . h a w a i i . e d u / i n t r a n e t /Adult Learning committees/ FacDevCom/guidebk/teachtip/

a d u l t s - 3 . h t m h t t p : / / w w w. n w l i n k . c o m / ~ d o n c l a r k / h r d / s t r a t e g y.html

Table 3: Example of a simple lesson plan for a course on leadership

TIMING CONTENT METHOD RESOURCES

9 am Introduce yourself, and provide a brief Trainer input OHP and handout:

Welcome and overview of the course. Deal with any domestic, ‘Course objectives’Introduction and health and safety information.

9.10 am Invite participants to introduce themselves to Plenary

Activity each other.

9.15 am Form group into four teams. Hand out Team exercise Handout:

Ice-breaker instructions. ‘Who am I?’

9.30 am Introduce the module, explain the objectives and Trainer input OHP and handout:

Presentation the benefits. ‘Module 1 objectives’

9.45 am Invite participants to identify the key attributes Plenary Flipchart

Activity of a successful leader.

10 am Introduce and run video. Then summarise the Trainer input Video:

Activity five leadership styles. ‘Leadership styles’

10.30 am COMFORT BREAK

10.45 am Distribute copies of ‘Leadership style inventory’. Individual Handout:

Exercise Issue instructions for completing the instrument. exercise ‘Leadership style

Invite each participant to share the results. Plenary inventory’

11.45 am Form group into pairs. Hand out copies of recent Pair exercise Recent magazines

Activity newspapers and magazines. Instruct participants and newspapers

to identify at least two leaders and the style of

leadership they display.

Lead a discussion on the strengths and Plenary

weaknesses of each of the five styles.

12.20 pm Reinforce the main discussion points. Summarise Trainer input

Summar y the role of leadership, the five styles, and the

strengths and weaknesses of each style.

12.30 pm LUNCH

1.30 pm Instruct participants to identify five work roles Individual Writing pads/pens

Activity and explain which leadership style best suits exercise

each role. Share results with the group.

2 pm Form group into pairs. Instruct each pair to Pair exercises – Handout:

Activity assume a leadership style that is not their own. role-play ‘Characteristics of

Taking it in turns, each participant will leaders’

communicate with their partner using the Handout:

example statements provided. Invite each ‘Role-play

participant to choose a different partner until instructions’

all five styles have been demonstrated.

3 pm COMFORT BREAK

3.15 pm Invite each participant to share how s/he felt Pair exercise

Activity when communicating with each of the five

leadership styles.

4 pm Show video then lead a discussion on the Plenary Video:

The question ‘Why everevaluate training?’ invitesother questions in turn:

‘Who wants to know what?’,‘ W h o ’s going to find out?’, ‘Howwill the findings be used?’ Tr a i n i n gmanagers have a customer–supplier relationship with coursedelegates. They may wish to provecost-effectiveness and ensure thattrainees react positively to theproduct they supply. They mayprefer not to know how much orhow little that roadshow, away-dayor video has added.

But put yourself in the shoes of thecorporate operations director. Yo uare due to introduce a new multi-million pound IT system. If theimplementation goes belly-up, yourjob will be on the line. The newsystem radically alters how youremployees gain information and dotheir jobs. Of course, training can’thurt. People have to overcome theirresistance and get to know how top e rform new and differentprocedures. But past experience hastaught you two things.

1. E v e ry new system createsproblems at roll-out.

2. Sooner or later, even untrainedstaff work out for themselveshow to do jobs. You mightaccept some short-term errors,but your colleagues may nottolerate the financial and political

flak while people learn throughtrial and error, and time is short.

So, will you buy training? If so,how much and at what cost? Yo u ’ l lweigh up the risks to your personalstatus, your career ambitions andvarious other factors. You could callin that nice team of consultantsyou met last week and get them todo a proper, formal evaluation. Butwhat if the money you spent ontraining is shown to have beenwasted? Why not play safe andmake some calls, asking a fewtoken questions? Training is aninsurance policy – protectionrather than intervention. As long asno one can say the absence oftraining got in the way of thesuccess of the implementation.

What else discourages trainingprofessionals from conducting a proper evaluation? Trainees go their separate ways at the end ofa course, which makes it difficult tofollow-up and track theiraccomplishments; it’s hard toidentify small changes in skill and jobbehaviour; and it is hard to assessthe value of adjusting attitudes.

Most difficult of all is the questfor proof that accomplishments aredue to the influence of training. If your goal is to increase sales,how do you disentangle thebeneficial effect of training from allthe other factors that contribute –


Issue 11 November 2000www.trainingjournal.co.uk

Phil Green takes you on a voyage through some of the reasonsfor undertaking (and perhaps for avoiding) evaluation. Hefinishes with an excursion to one or two common models thatprovide a framework for doing it.

Why evaluate?

Some delegates go to a trainingcourse at a nice hotel inHastings. When they return to

work, their line manager asks: ‘Howwas lunch?’ The answer comes back: ‘The food was poison; and suchsmall portions, too.’

If this raises a smile, perhaps thereal joke is not in the answer but inthe question. In many org a n i s a t i o n speople re g a rd training as a kind ofh o l i d a y, removed from the pre s s u re sof the daily routine. Value ism e a s u red in much the same terms asyou might judge the success of aholiday – great hotel, wonderfulfood, wish you were here. Of course,the more enlightened andsophisticated trainer knows better.Muttering sagely about levels 2 and 3evaluation, he pours scorn on thosewho still rely on ‘re a c t i o n n a i re s ’ .

So what should we evaluate andwhy? It seems there are far morequestions than answers: ‘What arewe trying to find out and for whosebenefit?’, ‘What does training costand is it worth it?’, ‘Who says andw h e re is the evidence?’, ‘Is it theperformance of trainees or trainerswe need to scrutinise, or is it thetraining department?’, ‘Do we needto judge the effectiveness of aparticular training course ormaterials, or even training ingeneral?’ Then what are we trying toachieve – modify behaviour, adjustattitudes, improve job performance,eliminate errors, increase sales, raisequality? Perhaps it is efficiency thatcounts? Can we reduce the time thattraining absorbs? Can we makebetter use of on-the-job training orjob aids instead?

Evaluation is a poser for thosewith an interest in training, made allthe more difficult for those wholeave it to the end as if it were somekind of optional addition to the main menu.

Phil Gre e n

Optimum Learning Ltd

Tel: 0114 281 6727

Email: [email protected]

The results of training

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Phil Gre e n ’s company is Optimum Learning, a consultancy that has helpedsome of the UK’s best known organisations to achieve business impro v e m e n t ,and has trained hundreds of trainers in the skills and techniques of analysis,design and delivery. He is a member of the F o rum for Technology inTr a i n i n g (w w w. f o r u m t t . o rg . u k), an active training consultant, and aformer teacher and shoe salesman.

Tr a i ntheTr a i n e r

management, commission rates,lead generation, productdevelopment and so on. On theother hand, why should you try ?R&D departments don’t have to prove the return on investment of every single penny spent, sowhy should training?

What types of result does abusiness demand of training? Wehave stressed that training is amanagement tool, the purposes ofwhich are many and varied. Yo umight care to draw up a quick listof reasons why your organisationturns to training. My own list ofpurposes is shown in Table 1.

For the organisation that footsthe bill, you might expect all ofthese purposes to be aboutbusiness improvement. Buildingskill and knowledge may be part ofa strategy to reduce waste causedby errors and defects – ap e rformance problem. Thefinancial value of reductions inerrors, defects and waste providesthe measure of the value added bytraining. (We’ll come back to thatl a t e r, when we look at popularmodels of evaluation.)

Well it can’t do any harm, can it?The good news is that investment intraining and learning does seem topredict corporate financialp e rformance. In the mid-1990s, anAmerican study1 c o m p a r e dcorporations. One group invested anaverage of US$900 per employee onlearning; the other invested justUS$275. The results showed thathigh investors in training had 57 percent higher sales and 37 per centhigher gross profits per employeethan lower investors. There was alsoa more positive effect on behaviourand attitudes.

Still there is no neat answer tothe question: ‘What and how

should we evaluate?’ Training isoften about prevention rather thancure. If you invest in a coursewhose aim is to prevent accidents,how can you ask: ‘What businessresults did we achieve?’ If you buya package to protect staff fromexposure to attempts of fraud ormoney laundering, how can youtruly measure the value thattraining has added? The paradox isthat the only way to prove thevalue of such pre-emptive trainingis to stop doing it for a while, thenassess the carnage!

What getsmeasured is what gets doneLeading computer manufacturersmeasure success by how oftentheir systems crash. Distributors ofproducts and services trackcustomer delight. A low-fare airlinefocuses on the cost of making aseat available for sale – marketing,maintenance, fuel. It measuresvolumes of business from existingcustomers and personalrecommendations. If you wereresponsible for training in thisorganisation, you’d probably wantto show how you had contributedto these factors, too.

E v e ry organisation has itsessential indicators of successagainst the background of itsultimate goal. Even the world ofeducation, with its increasingc o m m e rcial awareness, has to beclear about the values that make itstand out against its competitors.John Quelch, Dean of LondonBusiness School, says: ‘We’re not inthe education business. We’re inthe transformation business. Weexpect everyone who participatesin a programme – whether forthree days or for two years – to betransformed by the experience.’And so one year after students

leave, and every five years fromthen on, a questionnaire asks themwhether they recall thep r o g r a m m e ’s content, whetherthey have they kept in touch, andhow big an impact the programmehad on their careers and theirquality of lives. You see, evaluationcan be a very long-term affair.

C l e a r l y, you would not measurethe same effects in each of theorganisations mentioned above.When evaluating you should askthree questions: ‘What matters?’,‘What gets measured?’ and ‘Whatgets done?’ The results required oftraining are as diverse as thepurposes for doing it.

Why organisationsinvest in trainingWith all this variety and complexity,you might be attracted by the ideathat there are really only fourreasons why any organisationinvests in training.

1. ‘To spend’ is about theallocation of an annual trainingbudget. The training departmentmakes a saving by preferring onemethod, or one supplier, toanother; success is then measuredin terms of cost saving rather thanperformance improvement. Theseorganisations allocate andprobably pay for resources beforethey can embark on a programme.It is vital to express the intendedoutcomes before the training, notafter. In a John Le Carré novel, acharacter remarks: ‘You know, adesk is a very dangerous placefrom which to watch the world.’2

This is every bit as true for trainersas it is for spies!

2. ‘To mend’ is simply to fixspecific problems such as loss,waste and inefficiency.

3. ‘To bend’ is to ease thechanges that a business is goingthrough. How is it changingshape? What new markets is itexploring? What new buildings,systems or staff is it considering?

4. ‘To defend’ is aboutforestalling problems likepreventing accidents and injuries,fines or sanctions.

So what does this mean for you,the trainer? Well simply this: if yourbusiness is done from behind adesk you can forget about

iiTrain the Trainer

• Training builds skills.• Training builds teams.• It can result in certification,

accreditation and licensing.• It creates a community based on

some shared experience.• It focus energy on issues.• It identifies the best talent.• It inducts new staff.

• It imparts knowledge and information.

• It legitimises issues.• It raises the profile of work

and issues.• It promotes change.• It reduces risk.• It rewards perf o r m a n c e .• It supports other initiatives.

Table 1: Why turn to training?

evaluation; go out and talk with thepeople at the coal face, and thereyou’ll find the answers to whoshould measure what and when.

How to do itWe could devote an entire series ofarticles to the most popular modelsfor undertaking evaluation. Sooneror later we would be bound tomention the Kirkpatrick model.3

Over the past 49 years manywords have been written on thistopic and there can be very little toadd, so I’ll be brief. In Figure 1 youcan see five points at which tomake an assessment.

1. Before training.2. During training.3. After training or before entry

( r e - e n t ry ) .4. In the workplace.5. Upon exiting the workplace.

The other four elements ofK i r k p a t r i c k ’s original framework(also shown in Figure 1, andexplained in more detail below) arereaction, learning, behaviour andresults. (Others who came afterKirkpatrick – in particular Cronbach(1969) and Goldstein (1993) –suggested an additional element,‘ultimate value’.)

R e a c t i o nThis may best be defined as howwell the trainees liked a particular

training programme. Reactions aretypically measured at the end oftraining – at point 3 in Figure 1.H o w e v e r, that is a summative orend-of-course assessment andreactions are also measured duringthe training, even if only informally in terms of thei n s t r u c t o r ’s perc e p t i o n s .

Reaction is a soft measure, butnone the less important, especiallyto those who take part! Manyfactors – content and method,other trainees, training context,location, success on assessment –have an impact on how welltraining is received. Reactions mayswing during a programme, so youmust decide when and how oftento take soundings.

L e a rn i n gYou may measure what traineesknow or can do at the end oftraining, but in order to showprogress, you must establish thetrainees’ level of knowledge orskills at points 1, 2 and 3 in Figure1 – before as well as during andafter training.

B e h a v i o u rAny useful changes in behaviourmust take place on the job.Changes that begin during trainingmay or may not transfer to theworkplace, so it makes sense toassess behaviour at the end oftraining (point 3) and back at work(point 4).

R e s u l t sKirkpatrick gave examples such as‘… reduction of costs; reduction ofturnover and absenteeism;reduction of grievances; increase inq u a l i t y, quantity or production; orimproved morale which, it ishoped, will lead to some of thepreviously stated results’.4 T h e s eeffects are measurable in theworkplace, as you will see at point4 in Figure 1.

P e rformance: a crucial factorThere is a fundamental differencein Kirkpatrick’s fourth element. Thefirst three centre on the traineesand the fourth shifts the focus toorganisational benefits.

Management probably has littleinterest in reaction, except in so faras it keeps team motivation high.Whether the training has raised job performance is the most crucial factor.

Learning is not the same asp e rformance. But as we havementioned, it’s generallyimpossible to prove thatp e rformance is due to learning andnot to other effects. We tend tomeasure learning just once at theend of a course. But there isp o w e rful evidence that someknowledge and skills decay rapidlyover time. The Ebbinghaus Curv esuggests that as much as 90 percent of new learning is forgottenafter 30 days, and 100 years ofo b s e rvation has done nothing todiscredit that assertion.5

The ultimate value of trainingIn due course, change in a learner’sjob behaviour should benefit theorganisation and is generally judgedby its financial effect. But evaluatingReturn on Investment (ROI) canitself be a costly process. It wouldnot make much sense to let the costof evaluation exceed the financialreturn from the training.

Evaluation should not beconfused with validation. Internalvalidation is a series of tests andassessments to ascertain whether atraining programme has achievedthe behavioural objectives specified.External validation is a series of tests


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1

2

3

4

5

Before training

During training

After training or before entry (re-entry )

In the workplace

Upon exiting the workplace

ultimate value

r e s u l t s

Figure 1: The structure of training evaluation

and assessments intended todetermine whether behaviouralresults of an internally recognisedprogramme are practically basedon an initial training needs analysislinked to the organisation’s criteriaof effectiveness.

Evaluation is undertaken againstthe same backdrop of needs andobjectives that shaped the designof the training programme. Atraining manager may procurefurther training on the basis of at r a i n e e ’s scores in a trainingprogramme. A trainingadministrator may want to look atpractical issues such as whether thetrainers, the equipment andtrainees have kept to schedule, andwhether unforeseen problemsoccurred. Costs must form part ofany attempt to measure ROI.Planning and analysis, design anddevelopment, equipment, pilottesting, tutors salaries, trainee costs,evaluation costs, buildings and soon all enter into the equation.

As we have seen, Kirkpatrick’sframework suggests when youshould collect data. We tend totest for reaction during or at theend of training, but why not testagain when the trainees have beenback at their jobs for a while? Notonly will the rosy glow of themoment have faded, but also, ifsomeone other than the trainer iscollecting the feedback, a morethoughtful and objective responsemight emerge.

If you compare the feedback yougather during training (point 2 inFigure 1) with feedback in theworkplace, you might gain insightinto how closely the trainingenvironment matches or resembles

the workplace environment. This,in turn, suggests how likely it isthat so-called ‘transfer of training’will take place.

Other modelsOver the past 40 years many othermodels of evaluation have hit thestreets. Most are Kirkpatrickderivatives. Table 2 shows how theCIRO framework works.6 The Bellsystem approach has four levels, asoutlined in Table 3. Powerf u lcorporations with massive trainingbudgets have their own versions ofthe evaluation model.

C o n c l u s i o nWe have taken a trawl through theseas of evaluation. We have stoppedat ports called ‘too hard’, ‘too risky’,‘too little’, ‘too much’ or ‘too late’.We have considered the moments

at which to take soundings. Wehave given thought to who thevarious customers for evaluation areand how their needs differ. We haveseen how the reasons for evaluatingtraining are closely tied in with thepurposes for the training beingevaluated. So to summarise, below are the evaluation needs you should consider.

● The purposes of the training (inwhich context you should referto the purposes of youro r g a n i s a t i o n ) .

● The purposes of the evaluation.● The audiences for the results of

the evaluation.● The moments at which we will

take measurements.● The timeline.● The overall framework.● The conundrum that you cannot

isolate the training effect fromother effects.

ivTrain the Trainer

In next month’s‘ Train the Trainer’ …In December we’ll pick up some ofthe issues that trainers we knowmeet day by day. We’ll face someof the obstacles that make it moreof a challenge to follow the‘primrose path’ we have planted inthis series.

‘Train the Trainer’ is a supplement toTraining Journal, a Fenman publication.

Clive House, The Business Park, Ely, Cambridgeshire CB7 4EH.Publisher and managing editor

Martin Delahoussaye (tel) 01353 665533.

References 1. American Society for Training and Development (ASTD).

Website: w w w. a s t d . o r g2. Le Carré, J. The Honourable Schoolboy, Hodder & Stoughton, 1977, p. 84.3. Kirkpatrick, Donald L. Evaluating Training Programs; The Four Levels, ASTD,

B e r r e t - K o e h l e r, 1998.4. Ibid.5. See Hermann Ebbinghaus website at

w w w.yorku.ca/dept/psych/classics/ Ebbinghaus/index.htm6. Wa r r, P., Bird, M. and Rackham, N. Evaluation of Management Tr a i n i n g,

G o w e r, 1970.Additional reading• D r u c k e r, Peter F. The New Realities, Harper and Row, 1989.• Nickols, Frederick W. ‘Training: a strategic view’, NSPI Journal, April, 1982.• Reith, Jack. ‘Miami Conference Evaluation Methods and Results’, E v a l u a t i n g

Training Programs, ASTD, 1975.

C = Context evaluationObtaining and using informationabout the current operational contextin order to determine the gap thattraining might help to bridge.I = Input evaluationObtaining and using informationabout possible training resources inorder to choose between alternative‘inputs’ to training.

R = Reaction evaluationObtaining and using informationabout trainees’ expressed current or subsequent reactions in order toimprove training.O = Outcome evaluationObtaining and using informationabout the outcomes of training in order to improve subsequent training.

Table 2: The CIRO framework for evaluation

A: Reaction outcomes Similar to KirkpatrickB: Capability outcomes What will trainees know, think, do or produce by the

end of training?C: Application outcomes How will trainees knowing, thinking, doing or

production show itself in the real world?D: Worth outcomes What is the balance between the costs and beneficial

effects of training?

Table 3: The Bell system approach to evaluation

JANUARY‘What is effective training?’Bobbie: In January, you wroteabout the changing nature ofwork. You quoted Peter Drucker:‘What business are you in?’ and‘How’s business?’. I can give youmy response to that. Thismanufacturing company has notchanged since 1952. We’re stillusing the same processes, thesame machinery and some of thesame people. We don’t havecomputers on desktops and therewasn’t a training departmentbefore October of last year, when I joined. The business we are in is‘survival’, and we’re only just‘hanging in there’. You also spokeabout ‘andragogy’. What’s that all about?Phil: Let me take you back to thequestion on the last page ofJanuary’s supplement. ‘How do (orwill) you know you are doing agood job as a trainer?’ Someone inthis organisation has beensufficiently aroused to create therole of ‘trainer’ for the first time in50 years. You don’t seem to bevery clear about what the businessneeds you to deliver. I suggest youhave a chat with the boss beforehe takes his needs to someoneelse. You asked about andragogy– usually defined as the way adultslearn. The word has come to beused as an antonym for pedagogy

and refers to learner-centrededucation for people of all ages. It dwells on five issues in formal learning.

� Letting learners know whysomething is important to learn.

� Showing them how to directthemselves through information.

� Relating the topic to theirexperiences.

� Recognising that people will notlearn until they are ready andmotivated.

� Helping them to overcomeinhibitions, behaviours andbeliefs about learning.

Even Malcolm Knowles,1 whosework is associated with the term,agrees that all but the last of thesekey issues apply equally to adultsand children. Children have fewerinhibitions and pre-establishedbeliefs than adults and thus haveless to unlearn.

Learning should let adults acquirenew knowledge and abilities, andthus allow them to move fromnovice to expert. Learning shouldalso build their brains so they havethe capacity to learn even more. Itmay suit trainers to do the samethings in the same way over andover again. Our present experienceand background is the startingpoint for new ideas, but the needsof the learner may be the last

Phil Green takes a final opportunity to reflect on the content ofhis supplements throughout the year as he aims to alleviate theconcerns of any newly appointed training manager – whosespokesperson on this occasion is the formidable Bobbie.

The last farewell

Before I start the final part of‘Train the Trainer’, I’d like tothank my friend Martin

Delahoussaye for his skilfulcontribution in keeping the contentfrom wandering off the point. I hopethe USA is ready for him!

This is issue 12 of ‘TTT’, and ifyou’ve read them all, you may befeeling that there are more questionsthan answers. As Bobbie said when I visited her last week, ‘It’s all verywell in theory, and it’s helped me withmy IPD, but in real life things don’talways go according to the script.’

‘Who is Bobbie’ I hear you ask?She is the newly appointed trainingmanager of a manufacturingcompany and, having closelyfollowed the ‘TTT’ series, she tookthe opportunity to comment on thecontent of the supplement.

We sat together in the splendidsurrounds of a war-time Nissen hut,the Queen’s Award for Industry(1962) nailed to the wall beside somewonderfully curled and faded lettersfrom grateful charities dated 1968and 1974. Reflecting the sentimentsof Louis XIV with his historic ‘L’étatc’est moi’, Bobbie declared: ‘I am thetraining department!’ She talked andI listened …

In her State of the Union, shetackled me first about the Januarysupplement: ‘What is effectivetraining?’ I delivered my answer(which you can see opposite), but sheproceeded with queries and analysisrelating to February and March(‘How do you approach analysis?’),April (‘Design, development andmethod) … and so on throughouteach of the supplements.

Having given my responses, I tookone last look around and got readyto leave. But I noticed thatsomething had changed since thelast time I had been in the Nissenhut. Behind the typist’s chair withthe torn red leatherette covering wasa new bookshelf. I noted down thetitles, and have reproduced them onpage iv. In your pursuit of trainingexcellence, I hope you find themuseful. Farewell for now …Phil GreenOptimum Learning LtdTel: 0114 281 6727Email: [email protected]

Bobbie’s ‘State of the Union’

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Issue 12 December 2000www.trainingjournal.co.uk

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consideration. Content may notlend itself easily to presentation ina different way. It may suit theorganisation to continue firefighting rather than thinking aboutimproving processes and learninghow to avoid crises in future.

Organisations expect people tolearn despite the obstacles put intheir way. Learners must haverespect, relevancy, immediacy,safety, praxis (action withreflection), engagement and active participation.

FEBRUARY/MARCH: ‘How do you approach analysis?’

Bobbie: All right. But in Februaryand March you gave us thatPerformance Engineering Model.You talked about usingperformance analysis and trainingneeds analysis to lead to a cocktailof solutions. To tell you the truth,I can’t get near people on theshop floor. It’s always too franticon a shift and anyhow it’s toonoisy to hold a conversation with anyone. Phil: Remember the five Ws:‘Who?’, ‘What?’, ‘Why?’, ‘When?’and ‘Where?’. In an ideal world,you’ll go on to the shop floor andobserve, ask questions, shadowpeople and challenge your long-held views of the way things are. Inthe real world that you inhabit,you may have to begin withcoinciding with lots of tea breaksand getting in the pub at the endof a shift. As an absolute minimumyou should at least reflect on thelikely answers to the five questions.I know you face some difficultiesand there are bridges to build. Ifyou tell yourself now that there isno chance of following the systemsapproach to identify performance

gaps, then your instructionalstrategy is going to be hit andmiss. In May, I introduced you tothe idea of a self-fulfillingprophecy. Here you are telling meyou haven’t time, space, supportor budget for analysis. A self-fulfilling prophecy, do you think?

APRIL‘Design, development and method’

Bobbie: We use job aids all overthe place. People have been herefor generations, and have createdand gathered their own. And don’ttalk to me about operationalpractices and procedures. Have youseen our manual? It was last used in1977 – and that was to support theUnion flag for the Silver Jubilee. Asfor resistance to change, I think youcan describe us as stable to a fault.Phil: I’m really not arguing forrevolution. Training is a tool to helpManagement achieve its objectives.It is not there to define or refinethem, although this may happen asa useful by-product of analysis.

If your procedures are unclear, orif they are not documented, then asyou design training andperformance support, you mayquite validly produce quickreference and technicaldocumentation material too. Youhave to be pragmatic and takeaccount of the culture andresources of the business you are in.

As for job aids, if people areproducing their own, doesn’t thatindicate a need? You would hopethat technical and operationalmanagers would documentprocedures. But maybe the bestsupport you can give is to gatherthem up, dust them off and make the best of them morewidely available.

MAY‘Motivating the learner to learn’Bobbie: I was thinking about thatfour-point theory about howtrainers with positive expectationsget the most out of trainees.Hardly rocket science is it? Butbasic needs in this part of theworld amount to pay day, theboozer and bed. For most, thelearning process ended at 14 when they left school.Phil: Of all the objections youhave raised so far, it is this one thatworries me the most. I’m glad thatyou can see the significance ofbuilding a positive expectation inorder to get the best out ofpeople. But haven’t you justexpressed a very limiting picture ofthe interests and abilities of thoseyou work with?

When I was a boy at grammarschool I was a nuisance to myteachers. I had little interest inwhat was on offer. The optionsavailable and the manner in whichthey were taught led me intoregular and sometimes painfulconfrontations with authority.Later, in my roles as teacher, headteacher, corporate trainingconsultant and parent, I met manywith problems in learning similar tothose of my own adolescent days.

As my own children and theirfriends have been processedthrough the education system, Ihave watched the same conditionsdevelop. They enter school keen tolearn, but later become anxious,troubled and discouraged.Teachers in further education andtrainers in the workplace lowerpeople’s expectations throughnegative reinforcement and lack ofprofessional commitment. I amconvinced that many bright peoplelearn despite the system, and notbecause of it.

You might think the link betweenknowing, learning and teaching isobvious. It is a system that ignoresnatural interests and so stifles thelearner’s motivation. Motivation,relevance, encouragement andrespect for learners form the crux ofthe matter for all learning. Thinkabout how these might affect therange of opportunities you areoffering your people and your innerbeliefs about all they can achieve.

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Table 1: Questions to ask yourself before designingor running a training session

• What kind of people make up the target group?• What do they need?• What environment do they work in?• What are their problems at work?• What can I do to help them solve these problems?• What mental and practical learning tasks must I set in order to satisfy the

needs of these people and of my employer?• How should I put the course together?• What teaching methods and media should I use to complete the learning

tasks that have been identified?

Train the Trainer


Please read May’s ‘TTT’ again andcompare your approach with BenZander’s.2 Remember that with aclear goal, positive reinforcement,high expectations and strong self-belief, everyone gets an A.

JUNE‘Experiential learning’

Bobbie: I laughed to myself whenyou wrote about factors affectinglearning, especially when it cameto the influence of our pastexperience and completing thelearning cycle. Most of our people,even up to senior management,have been schooled in ‘hardknocks’. That’s their version ofexperiential learning. As forAccelerated Learning, if I putMozart over the tannoy instead ofWogan, it would blow theirmultiple intelligences sky high.Phil: I’m glad you found it amusing;it obviously has stimulated at leastone of your own multipleintelligences. I too am a fan of the‘University of Life, Faculty of HardKnocks’. Isn’t that just an agreementthat learning is not just somethingthat happens in classrooms?

Often in the classroom I ask thatparticipants each tell me somethingthey have learnt recently. Someyears ago I made this same requestto a group of students, many livingaway from their parents for the firsttime. At first they spoke of learningvarious facts such as grammaticalrules or events in literature.Suddenly, one woman told me shehad learned that a Brillo pad willscratch a plastic bathtub. Anothertold me he had learnt the locationof the best Chinese takeaway in hisdistrict. As people in a real world,they had to deal with theirenvironment, set up a new home,cook for themselves and understandwhat was expected of them in theirjobs (or job-search). Thepracticalities of Life made them buildrelevant knowledge and think forthemselves. As ‘students’ they weresimply copying what they were told.As ‘people’ they were trying thingsout and attempting to make rulesabout what might hold true in thefuture. The woman who learns toparse a sentence may forget, but thewoman who scratches her bath isunlikely to repeat the mistake.

JULY‘Dealing with people in groups’Bobbie: You said between eightand 12 people is a good number forgroups in a classroom for learning.I’d be lucky to get two off the shopfloor at any one time. Sometimesthere are more managers thandelegates in the classroom and theyonly turn up to check on me. By theway, I did recognise some of thosegroup identities you listed. Most ofour groups I could categorise as‘idiot’, ‘worker’ or ‘fighter’.Phil: Remember, the classroom isyour domain and an effectivelearning group works as a unit,whether it’s inside or outside theclassroom. If managers insist ontaking part do not let them simplyobserve. Either use them for theirexpertise to take Q&A sessions orto demonstrate high performance.Otherwise let them complete thesame activities and assessments aseveryone else.

AUGUST‘Design for learning’

Bobbie: When you described theprocess of preparing an outlinedesign and setting the endobjective, you asked: ‘Why isoutcome analysis important?’ Thenyou seemed to make great play ofsetting objectives and working outa modular structure. Everyone herehas heard about SMART objectives.Our managers have seen the video,read the book and now wear thetee-shirt, so what’s the big deal?Phil: SMART is a very helpfulacronym because it reminds us tocheck for measurability when we setobjectives. Taken on its own, SMARTdoes not necessarily help us to makeabsolutely certain that we have puttogether the right objective. In herbook Adults learning, Jennifer Rogers3

tells us that to create an effectiveadult learning scheme the learnermust come first, not the subject.

If the learning situation does notsuit their needs and interests, adultswill always walk away from it, eitherliterally or simply by withdrawingtheir participation. We are warnedby Merriam and Caffarella4 that informalised systems the majority ofadult learning is still designed anddirected by the trainer.

Managers are depending on youto ensure staff have the skills to usesystems and processes, develop andapply controls and understand howthese all fit in to their jobs. It is onlyby carefully analysing the needs oflearners in the context of theprocesses of a job, managementand the environment in which thejob is performed that you can beconfident you are helping to makethe business the most successful itcan be. Answer the questionsshown in Table 1 before you designor run a training session.

SEPTEMBER‘Designing measurementand assessment tests’

Bobbie: In September you madesome comments about whatmakes a good test. If questions arebased on objectives, does thatmean every objective has to belinked with test?Phil: No, I’m not saying that at all.It really comes back to yourdefinitions of ‘test’ and of‘objective’. Questions that provetransfer of knowledge andunderstanding must relate to anidentified objective. And learnersmust always receive some feedbackso they, as well as you, know ifthey have made the grade. Butsome objectives may relate to thestyle, usability and functionality ofa learning programme. In that casethe ‘test’ may be that the learnerpersevered and completed the taskwithout confusion or irritation.

OCTOBER/NOVEMBER‘Designing the course (whenwhere and how), and theresults of training’

Bobbie: In October you gave usexamples of lesson plans and I amreally pleased with one I havetackled recently it. Let me tell youabout it.

As you know we make pumps,and over a period of time we’verecruited nine salesmen, mostlyfrom an operational background.Sales were excellent until last yearwhen performance droppeddramatically. Our MD thoughtthere were two reasons for this:recession has made customersmore cautious; and competitors


➤➤


have come into the market withcheaper, inferior models, whichhave sold well. There are otherproblems, too. For example if amodel sells out, we cannot replaceit; the tooling for a job makes it tooexpensive to manufacture one-offs,no matter how successful they are.

I am not a psychologist, but Ibelieve there is a psychologicaldimension to the problem too.Although we have a range of almost20 models only about six areregularly sold and these best-sellersattract the highest commission. Wekeep the other 14 models in stockbut the sales team grumble becausewe cannot supply the models theylike best because they have sold out.

The sales director and I invitedthe sales team to help in theselection of the models to bemanufactured and sold in the yearahead. Despite initial enthusiasmwhen the new models came out,they decided they did not like themafter all. Our unsold stock rose to60 per cent of our annual turnover.The HR and Sales directors sooncame to regret their policy ofrecruiting nice people from the lineinstead of sales professionals. Whensales dived again, panic andfrustration set in. I have nowdesigned and run a training courseaimed at improving sales, andalthough I am happy with it theproof of its success is going todepend on the results it produces.So what about evaluation?Phil: Well done Bobbie! You haveexpressed the crucial problem, lackof sales, and you have taken alandscape view of the reasons whyit has happened. Through yourprobing and identification ofproblems in recruitment policy andprocedures, combined with asound knowledge of your ownorganisation, your competition andthe external economy, you havemanaged to get alongside the MD,HR and Sales directors to worktogether to implement a cocktail of solutions.

It seems to me you have workedthrough these problems using the‘Performance Tuner’s model’ Ioutlined in February’s ‘TTT’.You’ve also undertaken someproper business analysis beforeyou designed your programme.Your plan is therefore tied to your

company’s specific business needand this should aid yourevaluation at the end of the day.What gets measured in this caseis improvement in sales volumeand product mix, and reductionin stock levels. There will be other indicators, too – the moraleof the sales and productionteams, the optimism of seniormanagement, bonuses and incentives.

EpilogueWell, my comments andsuggestions to Bobbie (and,indeed, to all of you), havehopefully solved some of the issues that have been raisedthroughout the last 12 months.Thanks for staying with me on this year-long journey. I hope you feel the road we have travelled has been worthwhile.

iv

Next month … ‘It’s your business to know’A brand new Training Journal supplement starts with an overview of core business themes.


Editor: Debbie Carter (tel) 01353 665779 ext 210

References1. Malcolm Knowles, The adult learner: a neglected species (4th edition),

Gulf Publishing, 1990.2. Ben Zander, conductor, Boston Philharmonic Orchestra,

www.fastcompany.com/online/20/zander.html3. Jennifer Rogers, Adults learning, Open University Press, 1989.4. Sharan B Merriam and Rosemary Caffarella, Learning in adulthood: a

comprehensive guide, Jossey-Bass, 1991.

On the shelfBelow is a list of essential reading and reference sources that any trainer should have in his/her bookcase. The list has been broken into categories forquick reference.

Active and experiential learning• Experiential learning: experience as the

source of learning and development,David Kolb, Prentice-Hall, 1984

Adult learning• Adults learning, Jennifer Rogers,

Open University Press, 1989• Learning in adulthood:

a comprehensive guide, Sharan BMerriam and Rosemary S Caffarella,Jossey-Bass, 1991

• Learning to listen, learning to teach:the power of dialogue in educatingadults, J Vella, Jossey-Bass, 1994

• Mastering the teaching of adults,JW Apps, Krieger, 1991

The brain• Mindmapping, Joyce Wycoff,

Berkley Books, 1991• The brain book, Peter Russell,

Plume, 1979• The owner’s manual for the brain,

Pierce J Howard, Leonian Press, 1994

Educational psychology• Punished by rewards: the trouble with

gold stars, incentive plans, A’s, praise, and other bribes, Alfie Kohn,Houghton Mifflin, 1993

Instructional technology• Making CBT happen, Gloria Gery,

Ziff Institute, 1987

Knowledge age• The fifth discipline: the art and practice

of the learning organization,Peter M Senge, Doubleday, 1990

• Thriving on chaos, Tom Peters, Harperand Row, 1987

Learning styles and preference• Accelerated learning, Colin Rose,

Dell, 1985• Frames of mind: the theory of multiple

intelligences, 3rd edition; HowardGardner, Basic Books, 1993

• Quantum learning, Bobbi DePorter,with Mike Hernacki, Dell, 1992

• The adult learner: a neglected species(4th edition), Malcolm Knowles, Gulf Publishing, 1990

• Understanding and facilitating adultlearning, Stephen D Brookfield,Jossey-Bass, 1986

Performance technology• Handbook of human performance

technology, Harold D Stolovitch andErica J Keepseds, Jossey-Bass, 1992

• The ASTD technical and skills training handbook, Leslie Kelley,McGraw-Hill, 1995

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