The Importance of Teaching in the Workplace
Posted February 18th, 2014
Consider the last time that you were told (in the form of an invitation) to attend a training session on leadership, or a Lean workshop or training on the use of an enterprise software system?
Did you sigh and moan and groan and generally rue the day you asked for more “professional development” opportunities on your year-end review?
Most of us have, because, once we arrive, we are simply talked too – in fact, many times read to – and then sent on our way with a preprinted binder of PowerPoint slides that do not mean very much anyway without the context of the actual presentation.
This is not teaching, and to be successful, our mindset has to turn away from monotone speeches to engagement and education. Traditional training has always focused on one thing (at least for the attendee) – getting through the ordeal and back to the job. Teaching focuses on providing value…to provide a takeaway that can be used in the daily job to add more value.
This is education. This is what we fight for so hard for our children, because we want things to improve for them. This goal should not stop once the mortarboard is taken off. People should not walk away from every learning opportunity because they have done their time in the halls of academia.
When workers are sent to “training sessions” there is a stated value – to improve safety, to improve processes, to introduce a new way of thinking, or to learn a new technology. That is the value… to improve or to learn something new.
Managers who send workers to training are looking to add value to their status quo. Therefore when our workers attend professional and on-the-job training, there must be a focus on maximizing the value of that decision; not on minimizing its impact on the status quo. The status quo is not the objective. Improvement (in the form of a better skill set and outlook) is the objective.
Therefore, the focus must be on learning.
So take a look at the training materials and methods you have in place. If they simply explain out loud what a person could just as easily read from preprinted PowerPoint slides, then you are becoming the stereotype of the trainer who wastes everyone’s time.
Redevelop your training materials and methods to exercise the desired skills and new concepts in simulated situations. For example, if you are teaching Lean methods, let the audience of the training improve a real, meaningful process. Provide hands-on activities; place participants into learning groups (based on their background and job duties); require a summation presentation.
Education in the workplace is not just an interruption to the daily job tasks. It is an investment – in your workers, in your facility, in your business.
When you need skilled and reliable manufacturing employees, call on Bayside Solutions. If you are looking for recruiting agencies in Northern California, contact our team today.
