Training Methods Today Must Evolve from Training Methods Yesterday

Effective System Operations training is a must, but with the latest tech savvy “Smart Phone dependent” brand of operators joining the landscape, what new tricks must a trainer learn to grab their attention and overcome the shorter attention span of Millennials and the upcoming iGeneration?

Even though System Ops is faithful to provide a steady stream of training sessions, which is weaved nicely into the operators shift schedule, the current culture comes with many challenges and in many cases the employees are not fully engaging in the learning process.

The very nature of training is for the workers’ benefit, to inform, educate, and equip them. Why then is training perceived as a painful experience and in many cases unenjoyable for employees? I offer that often it is simply in the delivery, which can make or break a trainer’s instruction and how it is received by employees. I utilize 3 simple rules when preparing curriculum.

1. Interactive:

Let’s first understand the attention span of a 20 or 30-something employee in the year 2017. It’s a known fact that the attention span of a Baby-Boomer (1945-1965) is approximately 20 minutes. And the Generation-Xer (1966-1989) like myself has an attention span closer to 8 minutes. Today’s Millennial (1990-2010) employee has an estimated attention span of approximately 8-10 seconds, due to the instant gratification and speedy results of the smart phone age and speed of the internet experienced by those born into this generation.

For obvious reasons, a good instructor must not just capture the attention of today’s System Operator, but maintain it (for more than 8 seconds!). This can be accomplished by including pauses in his lesson plan, and welcoming dialogue frequently from the class. This method includes soliciting questions, input, or even requesting a short example of the subject matter that a classmate can speak to, which offers a fresh point of view, a personal experience, and relatable anecdote from a fellow operator. This contribution to the class discussion naturally augments the principles being discussed and in most cases will maintain the attention of the rest of the class who may feeel liberty to follow-up with additional contribution to the discussion. Where maintaining audience focus becomes increasingly challenging is during morning sessions within the first two hours of the class, or during afternoon sessions right after lunch when built in pauses meant for interaction are met with the sound of crickets. This is when a trainer must “up his game” and get creative to notch up instructional methods to keep the attention of the class, as well as the interaction component of the class. When a trainer uses demonstrations, visual images, or offers a way for the trainees to participate, he captures and maintains their attention. The key to an engaged classroom is to offer a variety of training methods and consider interactive ways for employees to become involved.

 2. Training Required vs Training Suggested

Employees working in Transmission Control rooms must be trained, competent, and Certified to perform tasks and job duties associated with maintaining the System Reliability of the Bulk Electric System. This is not a suggested characteristic of Transmission control rooms, but a mandatory requirement. Following the Blackout of 2003, the governing entity was given authority, and “bite beyond the bark”, allowing them to enforce their standards and forcing utility control rooms to raise their standards to abide by the requirements set up for the Transmission industry. This certification requirement means learning must resonate with control room workers. While it is important that employees have situational awareness that applies daily to their duties, most training for Transmission workers is specific and based on standards, as well as the RTO or ISO requirements which fall in line with each governing entity all the way up to inevitably the DOE. 

Whether the subject matter can be perceived as dry, instinctive, or unnecessary once initially covered, it is imperative for the Trainer to cover the material for Continuing Education Hours to maintain the certification(s), which means they are tasked with delivering the material in a way that promotes learning. Delivering the same material the same way every time is a sure way to lose the audience and undermine the learning environment. Training should be fresh, up to date, and delivered in such a way to exemplify the significance to the worker. All training must clearly demonstrate how the instruction or lessons correlate to the employee’s jobs, the reliability of the grid, and the personal safety of the workers in the field. The goal is Training that is useful, relevant, easily understandable, and relatable. The trap is when training becomes ambiguous monologuing of arbitrary facts and details.

 3. Can We Provide Too Much Training?

Lulling employees into a snore-fest of 6-8 hours of “Death by PowerPoint” will not just fade into white noise for the employee in training, but can turn them off altogether to other fulfilling training sessions that prove to be rewarding and bear much fruit. The way training is scheduled is very important. Staggering interactive exercises and simulations to mix in with the classroom instruction portion of the material to be covered will prove interesting and rewarding for the class. Many people learn best incrementally and through repetition. Sometimes in the process of providing engaging and relevant training, the acquired knowledge can falter or fall flat without proactive follow up. Learning is a lengthy process of building for retention, and should never be done in a giant woosh of information. While we can never have too much training, the perception becomes our reality if the delivery is stale, non-engaging, or redundant, rather than fresh and engaging.

Final Thoughts…

Effective training should be interactive, easily digestible and given in a way that directly correlates to the workers. It may take time to reformat your training program, but it’s worth the effort. Applying some of the methods mentioned above, and avoiding the pitfalls can make your safety program robust and engaging, and change even the most reluctant worker’s mind about continuous training programs.