We’ve got a new article over at EHS Today magazine. It discusses the job hazard analysis (JHA) and the job safety analysis (JSA). In particular, it asks if they’re the same thing or are different. Here’s the link if you want to read up on JHAs and JSAs. Hope you find it interesting!  Feel free to comment there or here if you’ve got an opinion on this  barn-burner. If you’re especially interested, check out our previous What is a JHA? article here at the Convergence Training blog and keep your eyes open for our upcoming JHA Guide Checklist. Finally, many thanks to EHS Today editor Sandy Smith. Sandy runs a great magazine over there at EHS Today and we encourage you to check it out.     The post JHA or JSA? Does it Matter? appeared first on Convergence Training Blog.

We’re fans of "blended learning" solutions that make use of different types of training activities. This might include written documents, instructor-led training, on-the-job training (OJT), and more. The idea is to pick the type of training activity that best suits each training need. For example, maybe you really need the real-time, spontaneous feedback that instructor-led training can provide for one training need. Or, maybe the hands-on practice in the real work environment with an experienced co-worker fits the bill for another training need. When you’re choosing the right activity type, one thing to think about is "Does this allow me to deliver the same, consistent training message every time?" Something we hear again and again from new customers is that they struggle to deliver the same standard, consistent training message on a given topic to each worker, every time they hear the message. You can see why this is important. For example, you may have a set of policies that you want to make all new employees aware of during their onboarding. Or, maybe you want each employee in the Production department to perform a particular procedure in the exact same way. Or, maybe you want to make sure the message in your yearly refresher training matches the message employees learned the first time they were trained. Need some e-learning courses for your workplace? Check out our e-learning course libraries and our learning management systems (LMSs). Why Instructor-Led Training Doesn’t Always Lead to a Standard, Consistent Training Message As we mentioned earlier, instructor-led training is great for a lot of things. But it’s not always so great for delivering the exact same training message time and time again. That’s true if only one instructor leads each training, and it’s even more true if you have multiple instructors training employees on the same topic. What are some reasons why instructor-led training can lead to inconsistent training messages? Well, we’ll list a few below. And we wouldn’t be shocked if you could add some more on your own (hey, that’s what the "Comments" section at the bottom is for-feel free to add on). Instructor misspeaks during training and accidentally says the wrong thing Instructor forgets to mention something during training Instructor doesn’t actually agree with the training message and goes "off-script" from time to time Different instructors have different understandings of the same training materials and train employees differently as a result We’re guessing at least one of these have happened at your workplace. If not, it’s probably easy enough for you to imagine that they could. Use e-Learning Courses for Standard, Consistent  Training Messages On the other hand, one thing e-learning courses do very well is allow you to deliver the same training message to all of your employees every time they hear it. Let’s list a few reasons why below: You can read, review, edit, and approve the storyboard and script before a custom e-learning course is created for you (click to learn how Convergence Training can create custom e-learning courses for your workplace training needs) You can create your own e-learning courses and control the training messages they contain (click to see an example of how to create your own e-learning course using PowerPoint and an e-learning authoring tool) You can use a learning management system (LMS) to deliver your e-learning course online to your entire workforce, or to selected parts, such as a department (click to learn more about the LMSs available from Convergence Training) If you need to change or update your training message, you can modify your e-learning course and deliver a new version through your learning management system (at least you can with the LMSs from Convergence Training) Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments below. Your Thoughts? What are your experiences? Do you struggle to deliver the same training message to each of your employees? If so, why? And, what have you done to try to fix the problem? Did it work?     The post Use e-Learning for Standard, Consistent Training Messages appeared first on Convergence Training Blog.

Convergence Mobile has won a silver medal for "Best Advance in Performance Support Technology" in Brandon Hall’s annual Excellence Awards. Our Convergence Mobile solution debuted in 2012 and has seen continued development of new features designed to arm employees with the knowledge they need to make smart operating decisions quickly. Winning this award validates the hard work our team has put into developing a performance support solution that meets the needs of our industrial and manufacturing clients. All Excellence Award entries were evaluated by a panel of veteran, independent senior industry experts. Brandon Hall senior analysts and executives evaluated the series based on innovation, value proposition, and measurable results. Convergence Mobile can take advantage of built-in mobile optics to immediately access asset-specific content Convergence Mobile was designed to help industrial and manufacturing facilities operate more efficiently by offering instant performance support and digital on-the-job training tools to workers on the floor. Developed according to the requests of some of our key manufacturing customers, Convergence Mobile can help reduce maintenance-related downtime, improve operator performance, and reduce some of the inefficiencies of paper-based maintenance support. Where many "mobile" products are simply cellphone and tablet-formatted versions of existing learning management systems, Convergence Mobile was built from the ground up for the express purpose of delivering training and performance support to industrial and manufacturing employees. Unique features like our video-based Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), scan-accessible training content, mobile on-the-job (OJT) training tools, and offline access, help differentiate Convergence Mobile from competing products and propelled us to success in this award category. To learn more about Convergence Mobile, or to request a live demonstration, visit our website. A full list of the 2015 Brandon Hall Excellence Award winners can be found on the Brandon Hall website. The post Convergence Mobile Wins Brandon Hall Award for "Best Advance in Performance Support Technology" appeared first on Convergence Training Blog.

People like you and I have goals: "I want to be a good parent" or "I want to be healthier." Businesses have goals: "We want to be an industry thought leader" or "We want to be cutting edge" or "we want to be lean." And trainers have training goals for their employee learners: "I want them to be motivated" or "I want them to want to do their jobs well." Of course, the point of having goals is that we want to meet them. But it can be hard to meet a goal if you don’t really know what that goal means. Consider our examples above. How does a person know if she’s a good parent or healthier? How does a business know when it’s an industry thought leader, cutting edge, or lean? And how do trainers know if employees are motivated or want to do their jobs well? These goals are abstractions instead of being concrete. In this post, we’ll show you a method that will help you develop goals that are clearly stated, concrete performances. The reason for doing that is that it makes it easy to tell you’ve reached the goal. And that’s the goal of goals, right? Goal Analysis The book Goal Analysis by Robert Mager is a classic in the field of human performance improvement (HPI) and is one of the six volumes of the famous "Mager Six Pack." Mager’s book does two nice things: Lays out a simple way to identify goals that are abstractions instead of concrete performances (he calls these "fuzzies") Provides a simple, five-step process for creating concrete, performance-based goals We’ll use Mager’s book and his methods as a source for this article. If the article catches your interest, we definitely recommend the book. Identifying "Fuzzy" Goals (Abstractions) Many times, a person, business, or trainer will develop a goal that’s really an abstraction-what Mager calls a "fuzzy." They’re abstractions (or fuzzies) because it’s hard or impossible to agree when they’ve been reached. When a person wants to be "healthy," when a company wants to be "lean," and when a trainer wants employees to "have positive attitudes about their work," they’re expressing abstract, fuzzy goals. That’s because there’s no visible action that we can observe to see if someone is healthy, if a company is lean, or if a worker has a positive attitude. Or, as Mager puts it in discussing his own examples: "Intents to develop such states as "favorable attitudes," "deep appreciation," or "sense of pride" are examples of abstractions; they do not tell you what a person would be doing when demonstrating the state or condition, nor do they suggest the behavior that would indicate how you can tell that he or she has done it. On the other hand, items such as "writing," "decanting," and "hopping" are examples of performances; they do tell you what a person would be doing when demonstrating his or her ability to do it." So this is the first thing to do when you are creating or evaluating goals. Ask yourself if it’s concrete and would lead to an observable performance, or if it’s fuzzy. What To Do When You’ve Got a Fuzzy Goal If all your goals are concrete, performance-based ones, and you can easily tell if the goal is reached through observation, congratulations. You’re done. But, if you’ve got a fuzzy on your hands, you’ve got another question to address: Is this abstract goal really so important? If you ask yourself that question, give it some thought, and come to the conclusion that it SEEMED important when you said it, but in after-thought it’s not that big of a deal, then drop it and you’re done. But maybe you’ll decide that yes, it IS important. Great. In that case, you’ll have to go through some further steps to "unfuzzy" that abstraction. Or, in other words, to figure out the behaviors that someone would have to perform so that you’d be able to recognize those behaviors as a sign that the goal is reached. And that’s what Mager’s five-step method is for. Five Steps of Goal Analysis The book gives a simple, five-step process for analyzing your goals and making them concrete. Those steps are: Write down the goal Write down everything a person would have to do for you to agree that he or she has met the goal Review the items you listed in step 2 and revise Write a complete sentence that describes each of the items on your list after step 3 Test the sentences you wrote in step 4 to make sure they’re complete We’ll take a further look at each of the steps in the sections below. Goal Analysis Step 1: Write Down the Goal Start by putting pen to paper-or, finger to keyboard-and writing down your goal. Don’t worry if it’s a complete sentence or a fragment. Just get it down. You don’t even have to worry-yet-if it’s a performance or a fuzzy. The important thing is to make sure you’ve got it on paper. Mager’s only caution here is this: "Make sure your statement describes an intended outcome rather than a process. That way, you won’t get bogged down with the problem of means and ends before you get started. Once you know what you are trying to attain, then you can think about the best means of getting there. So, make your goals talk about the ends rather than about the means of attaining those ends. Make the statement say "have a favorable attitude toward barnacles" rather than "learn to have a favorable attitude toward barnacles." Make it read "understand foreign trade" rather than "develop an understanding of foreign trade." So that’s it. Write it and make sure it’s an outcome (an end) and not a process (the means to that end). Then move on to step 2. Goal Analysis Step 2: Write Down Everything a Person Would Have to Do for You to Agree He/She Has Met the Goal The next step is to take some time to write down everything you’d have to see in order to know that the goal had been met. The important thing in this step is to just write the ideas down. It’s OK if they’re not all good ideas, and they probably won’t be. But you’ll backtrack in step 3 and take of that. So for now, just write down everything that comes to mind. Mager offers four strategies that can help you do this. They are: Answer the question "What will I take as evidence that my goal has been achieved?" Answer the question "Given a room full of people, what is the basis on which I would separate them into two piles-those who had achieved my goal and those who had not?" Imagine that you’re going to ask someone else to determine who has achieved the goal and who hasn’t. What instructions would you give that person how to tell if the goal has been met? Think of a person who you believe has met the goal and write down why you think they’ve met it. In other words, what does he or she say or do to make you feel this person has achieved this goal? Mager offers one final tip in case you get stuck at some point here. If you can’t think of positive statements that show that someone has met the goal, start by thinking of negative statements that show that someone hasn’t met the goal. For example, if your goal is that a person be "pleasant," you can list "frowns," "complains," and "argues" here. Then, you can revise these negative statements into positive ones. Goal Analysis Step 3: Review the Items You Listed in Step 2 and Revise Step 3 is all about reviewing your list from step 2 and making it better. "Making it better." That sounds kinda fuzzy, doesn’t it? So, to make that more concrete and performance-based, here’s how to start: Cross out and delete any items that are duplicate other items (redundancies) Cross out and delete items that, now that you give it some more thought, aren’t good indications that the goal has been met Place check marks next to items that are fuzzies and/or that represent processes (means) instead of outcomes (ends) Once you’ve done that, it’s time to rework those fuzzies. To do that: Take every checked item and write it down on a separate piece of paper Treat each of those checked items as if they are a goal-meaning, perform steps 2 and 3 as described above for each Eventually, your list (which will be on several pieces of paper) will include nothing but concrete, observable performances. When you’ve gotten that far, you’re done with step 3 and ready for step 4. Goal Analysis Step 4: Write a Complete Sentence That Describes Each of the Items on Your List After Step 3 You’ll begin step 4 with you list of performances from step 3 (things that can be "done" and that you can observe to see that they’re done). The performances listed in step 3 might have been a single word, or a short phrase, or a fragment of a sentence. The trick in step 4 is to take each of those statements of performance and turn them into a complete sentence. That sentence, Mager says, should include: Who does it What that person does How well they do it Let’s take a look at an example from Mager’s book. In Mager’s example, the goal from step 1 was "good reporting." Then, as a result of completing steps 2 and 3, the goal of "good reporting" was broken down into four observable performances: Identifies routing Determines presentation form Writes report Presents report And, in step 4, he rewrites those performances this way: Goal: Good reporting For each report, the scientist can name the members of senior management to whom the report should be directed for decision-making. For each report, the scientist can determine (name) the form of presentation that will most clearly communicate the content to a nonscientific audience. The scientist can prepare a written report that summarizes all the findings, conclusions, and recommendations bearing on the researched issue. The scientist can report (orally) to the appropriate members of senior management, providing them with all the information they need to take effective action. What starts as a fuzzy, becomes a chaotic list, and then is transformed into an ordered list of behaviors is now a nicely written series of steps of action. Goal Analysis Step 5: Test the Sentences You Wrote in Step 4 to Make Sure They’re Complete With luck, you’re done after completing step 4. But relying on luck isn’t good enough. So, step 5 is a built-in double-check. For this step, you’ve got to ask yourself one simple question: "If every item on my list occurs exactly as they’re described, will the goal have been met?" If your answer is yes, then you’ve met you goal-your goal to complete a goal analysis and create a proper goal, that is. Pat yourself on the back and put this one to bed. But if your answer is no, there’s still some work to do. If you answered no to the question above, you’ve got to ask yourself another question. This time, it’s: "What else would have to happen before I’d agree that the goal has been met?" Once you’ve answered that question, add that new item to you list and ask yourself the first question again: "If every item on my list occurs exactly as they’re described, will the goal have been met?" If you can answer yes no, you’re done. If not, you’ve got to keep repeating this cycle until you’re finished. Either way, you’ll have a full set of performances, each described in a complete sentence that explains who, what, and how well, that in total represent full observable evidence that your goal has been met. You’ve finished your goal analysis, and now you can move forward to seeing that the goal is met. What To Do AFTER Your Goal Analysis is Complete Obviously, you’re not done just because you’ve completed your goal analysis. What the goal analysis does is help you create a road map to getting those goals completed. What you’ve still got to do is actually complete those goals. So, here’s what to do depending on the type of goal you were analyzing. New Year’s resolution (we’re throwing this one in since we’re writing this on New Year’s Day): Achieve those goals during this year. A personal goal: Achieve those goals. A business goal: Inform the workers at your company of the goals, determine which employees are responsible for meeting which goals and how they’ll meet them, and then work toward meeting those goals. A training goal for employee learners: Use your goals and the underlying performances to perform a training needs assessment to see if training or some different "intervention" is needed to help reach those goals. If it’s training, create learning objectives (or click here) and then design and deliver the training. Finally, evaluate the training to see if it was effective. Conclusion That’s it-we hope it was helpful. If this post has caught your interest, we remind you that the ideas are drawn from the book Goal Analysis by Robert Mager and we recommend that you check it out. His book has extended descriptions, examples, and practice exercises to help you master the procedure we sketched out above. We’d love to hear your thoughts about the goal analysis procedure listed above and/or about some goals you’ve got. Hey, we’d even be happy to hear about your new year’s resolutions. Would it help you to perform a goal analysis on them? And, of course, we’d welcome if you came back later, after putting this process into action, to let us know how it worked for you.       The post Goal Analysis: How to Analyze Goals (So You Can Meet Them) appeared first on Convergence Training Blog.

Let’s continue our series of articles about ANSI Z490.1, the national standard that lays out "Criteria for Accepted Practices in Safety, Health, and Environmental Training." In this post, we’ll look at Section 4 of the standard, which focuses on how to develop effective EHS training courses. Earlier posts in the series have looked at Effective EHS Training: An Overivew of ANSI Z490.1 and EHS Training Program Administration and Management: ANSI 490.1 Sections 1-3. Section 4: How to Develop Effective EHS Training Section 4 is a big one, and it covers the need for a systematic method for developing EHS training. That systematic method includes the following elements: Training needs assessment (also called training needs analysis) Learning objectives Course prerequisites Course delivery method Course content Instructional materials Training environment Training time allocation Trainer criteria Course evaluation Course completion criteria Continuous improvement of courses That’s a lot, so let’s get started. Before You Start Developing EHS Training So how do you decide that it’s time to create EHS training materials? And, once you’ve begun, what’s your method for doing it? At its most basic level, section 4 is intended to help you answer these questions. It may not seem obvious,  but your EHS training program will be much more effective if you always use the same method to: Determine if EHS training is the appropriate solution for a particular problem or issue and, if training IS the appropriate answer, to Walk through an orderly series of steps to develop that training Let’s look at each of those two points a little more closely. Is EHS Training Needed? Will EHS Training Fix the Problem? So you’ve got an EHS problem. Or what seems like a problem. Sounds like time for some training, right? But let’s hold our horses here. When you’ve got a problem, it’s easy to assume that training is a universal band-aid that will fix it. But that’s not always true. If you rush to provide training, you may end up wasting money on training development when training can’t solve the problem. Even worse, you risk wrongly putting your resources into training development, ignoring a different aspect of the situation, and leaving a hazard in place. For example, say a machine operator gets his hand cut while working on a machine. You can create training materials for machine operators, telling them to be careful of a dangerously exposed moving blade. Or, you can put a guard on the blade, control the hazard, and skip the training. In this instance, installing a guard on the sharp blade is the better solution. That’s a simple example, and there are more reasons why EHS training may or may not be needed, but it gets you started in the right direction. Here are some things to consider at this phase: Can you change something in the work area instead of developing training? Are there obstacles in the workplace or work flow that contribute to the hazard? Can these be removed or reworked? Can you create and provide a job aid at the work area that will improve safety (like a checklist to follow) instead of providing training? Is there currently some form of incentive that allows the hazard to continue existing? For example, are workers running down the hall because they get a bonus for units produced per hour? Can that incentive be removed? Is there currently some form of punishment that causes workers to work unsafely or to work in the presence of a hazard? For example, does taking the time to perform a JHA make it impossible for the employee to reach his/her weekly goals, and thereby lead to disciplinary action? If EHS Training Is Needed: Use A Systematic Development Method If you’ve determined that EHS training is the right way to go, then work through the following steps to develop it: Perform a training needs assessment (you’ve already completed the first half of this-"Is EHS training needed?") Identify any prerequisites to the training Develop learning objectives Design the EHS course, including: The training content The training delivery method The instructional materials The trainer’s guide The physical training environment The time allocation for training Criteria for trainers Develop a method for evaluating the employee’s post-training knowledge or skills Create criteria for determining when the employee has completed the training in a satisfactory manner Make plans to continually improve the training course The bullet points above are the focus of Section 4, so we’ll look at each a little more closely below. Perform a Training Needs Assessment We’ve already discussed the first part of this. That was the "Is Training the Answer for this Problem?" issue above. In our earlier example, we highlighted a case when training wasn’t the answer. The better solution was to put a guard on the blade. But there are many times when training is the right answer. For example, you probably remember OSHA’s recent adoption of HazCom 2012 and GHS Alignment. Training was the right answer in this case for two reasons. First, because it was the right and safe thing to do. In OSHA’s own words, employees "Workers have the right to know what hazards are present in the workplace and how to protect themselves". And second, because OSHA specifically said you had to do it. It was a regulatory compliance issue. So yes, training is the right solution in a case like this. Once you’ve identified a real EHS training need, it’s time to complete the second part of the training needs assessment. In this phase, you’ll: Determine what your employees have to know or be able to do after the training Identify characteristics of the employees, including their age, gender, current knowledge and abilities, the languages they are most comfortable using, demographic and cultural traits, and prior training on related topics, that might help you develop training best suited to their needs Gather any relevant site-specific safety information Review any relevant job descriptions, job hazard analyses, etc. Consider any relevant regulatory requirements You can gather this information in a number of ways, including: Reviewing job descriptions from HR Reviewing Job Hazard Analyses documents from Safety Interviewing employees and/or having them complete surveys Observing employees in the field Interviewing supervisors and/or having them complete surveys Reviewing data for injuries, illnesses, and near-misses Consulting regulations from OSHA, EPA, MSHA, and similar agencies Need a quick way to find which OSHA regulations apply to you? Two nice resources that OSHA provides are this Small Business Compliance Guide and this Compliance Assistance Quick Start. Develop Learning Objectives Once you’ve performed your training needs assessment, it’s time to develop your learning objectives. A learning objective is something your employee should know or be able to do when the training is complete. It’s the point of providing the training-because you want the employee to know or do something. Your course should have one or more learning objectives. Many people begin creating training materials before they create learning objectives. Or, they never create learning objectives. The problem with this is you’re likely to create meandering, content-heavy, "flabby," and irrelevant training materials that don’t solve your problem. If you’ve heard of "information dumps" or "spray-and-pray" training, this is the most likely cause. So don’t be this trainer creator. Characteristics of Well-Written Learning Objectives: ABCD and SMART If you’re new to learning objectives, it’s helpful to know about SMART and ABCD. These are two methods you can use to write effective learning objectives. Let’s look at each. First, your learning objective should have four parts-A, B, C, and D. These parts are: Actor: Every learning objective should state something that your employees should be able to do after the training. Sometimes, your objective may refer to the "actor" in general terms such as "the learner" or "you." Other times, you may identify the actor by his or her job role, such as "the customer service representative" or "the press operator." Regardless, remember that each learning objective states something that the actor must be able to do after the training. This is the "WHO?" of your objective. Don’t fall into the trap of writing learning objectives that simply explain the content of the training. Your learning objectives must state what your employees who will take the training must become able to do. Behavior: Every learning objective should state something that the learner must do—a behavior of some sort. This may be something as simple as stating a definition or it may be something more "physical," such as performing an action. But it must be some form of observable behavior, not something unobservable like "know," "understand," or "appreciate." This is the "WHAT?" of your objective. Condition: Many times, your learner will have to perform the learning objective’s behavior within a set of given conditions. For example, you might say "given a list of words, circle the ones that are part of a given machine," or "given a wrench, tighten this bolt," or "given a schematic diagram, correctly identify the machines in a work area." This is the "HOW?" of your objective. Degree: This part of the learning objective explains the criteria for performing the task well enough. Examples here include "in less than ten minutes," or "with 90% accuracy," or "90 times an hour." This is the "HOW WELL?" of your objective. Notes: You don’t always have to write the name of your actor in your learning objectives (meaning, use the words "you" or "employees" within the objective). But, you should always remember that you’re writing an objective that an ‘actor’-your employees-must be able to perform. Also, you may find you don’t need a condition or a degree for every learning objective, but it’s a good idea to always ask if you need them when you’re writing each learning objective. The important think is to make sure you’re very clear and leave no room for confusion or misunderstanding. Click here for more about ABCD learning objectives.  Next, your learning objectives should be SMART. What does that mean? It means your learning objectives should be: Specific:  Use clear, direct language to tell the employee exactly what he or she should learn and what he or she should be able to do after the training. Don’t be vague, unclear, or misleading. Measurable: The point of setting a learning objective is to determine if the learner can meet, perform, or satisfy it. And you can only do that if the objective is something that you can measure. That means, first, that it must be an action that you can observe. This is how you can avoid the common mistake of using words like "know" or "understand," which are not actions that can be objectively observed, in learning objectives. And second, write the objective so that any observer could watch the learner’s performance and agree if the learner satisfied the objective or not. Don’t create a learning objective that can be satisfied only by your own unique, personal understanding, for example. Achievable: Your learning objective must be something your learners have a chance of completing/satisfying. They must have enough pre-existing knowledge, time, and similar resources. For example, you wouldn’t create a learning objective that asks an elementary school child to construct a rocket in an hour-it’s just not achievable. While checking your objectives at this level, make sure your learning objective isn’t too easy, either. Relevant: The objective should be something the learner sees the value in learning. Don’t teach material that’s not important or won’t be used. Remember that your training should matter to your learners. Timely and time-based: First, make sure your objective is something your learner will have to use in a timely fashion-like tomorrow or next week instead of next year. Second, explain if there are time-constraints on the learner’s performance. For example, in many cases, they should be able to complete the objective "at the end of this training." And finally, the learner may need to perform the action described by the objective within a given amount of time-for example, "to change the oil within 10 minutes." Click here for more information about SMART learning objectives. Two Common Methods of Creating Learning Objectives There are two common methods for creating learning objectives: Bloom’s Taxonomies and Performance-Based Learning Objectives. Bloom’s Learning Taxonomies You can use Bloom’s Learning Taxonomies to help you pick the correct "behavior" word within your learning objective. Click here to read more about Bloom’s three learning taxonomies and/or click here to read a nice summary of how to use this approach together with the ABCD and SMART methods in this guide to writing learning objectives. Performance-Based Learning Objectives Writing a performance-based learning objective is pretty similar to the method we’ve described already. For example, the "behavior" in an ABCD learning objective is the "performance" in a performance-based learning objective. If you want to know more, we’ve got two options for you: This short explanation of performance-based learning objectives This book review of Robert Mager’s classic book Preparing Instructional Objectives (where this idea began) Course Prerequisites While you’re identifying and creating your learning objectives, you may notice that the training you’re about to create assumes that your employees already know something or have a certain skill. If that’s the case, the skill or knowledge is a "prerequisite" for your training course. Identify that and make sure all employees have that necessary information first. Design the Course Once you’ve got your learning objectives in order, it’s time to design your course. In this phase, you’ll consider: The training content The training delivery method The instructional materials The trainer’s guide The criteria for trainers The physical training environment Training time allotment Let’s see what each of these are about. Training Content (The Ideas You Need to Get Across) A good place to start thinking about training development is to think about the information the training must include if your employees will be able to satisfy the learning objectives when training is done. According to the ANSI standard (see 4.4.2), you can base this decision on: Current literature Recognized scientific principles The judgement of subject matter experts (SMEs) Regulatory requirements Site-specific issues Your employees as a learning population (what they already know, etc.) Training Delivery Method (The "Format" or "Type" of Training) It’s easy to fall into the habit of always developing EHS training materials that make use of the same delivery method. For example, you can get in the rut of always creating training materials for instructor-led training.  Or, maybe you always using e-learning courses. Do you do this? If so, now’s a good time to consider broadening your range. Training can be delivered via many different methods. So, you should begin the design phase by asking yourself which training method would be best for this specific EHS training need. Some possibilities to consider include: Instructor-led training in a lecture setting Online e-learning courses (or DVD-based courses) On-the-job, in-the-field training Peer mentoring Group discussions Case studies Safety exercises performed in a classroom setting Safety demonstrations Group interactive safety training activities Webinars Others The ANSI standard says that when you are making this decision, you should choose a delivery method(s) that will "ensure adequate feedback mechanisms for trainee questions and concerns" (see 4.4.1 for this note). But what do"adequate" and "feedback" mean here? Let’s take ‘em one at a time, starting with "feedback." What does "feedback" mean? In the context of EHS training delivered to your employees, feedback can mean a number of things. These can include: Q&A sessions during instructor-led training Group discussions Feedback from an instructor while the employee performs simulated hands-on exercises Feedback from a knowledgeable trainer, mentor, or supervisor during OJT training Electronic feedback to questions presented and answered in a traditional e-learning course (typically multiple-choice or true/false questions) More sophisticated, interactive feedback in role-playing or simulation e-learning courses An anonymous comments drop-box posted in a public place The ability to write and send follow-up emails to an instructor when training is over (and receive a reply) Others What does "adequate" mean? Next, let’s look at "adequate." It standards to reason that some courses will require a LOT of opportunity for feedback, and others won’t call for much feedback at all. For example, your workers will probably have a lot of questions and concerns about a significant change to a safety regulation like the HazCom 2012/GHS example we offered earlier. You might want to develop some form of instructor-led training that allows for a lot of feedback in this case. Likewise, if you’re implementing a new job procedure, the employee will probably benefit from a lot of feedback as well. But maybe in this case, some form of hands-on and/or on-the-job training with a supervisor providing real-time feedback would be best. Of course, you may not need so much feedback in other cases. If you’re simply saying that smoking cigarettes is now allowed only outdoors in designated smoking areas, maybe a written document distributed to the workers, followed by a simple "Any questions?" is all that’s necessary. A final thing to keep in mind when selecting a training delivery method is that a "blended learning solution" that makes use of more than one method maybe just what you need. Blended learning solutions use more than one type of training delivery for a given training need-for example, you could assign an e-learning module, hold a follow-up instructor-led training to answer any questions and provide other feedback, and then distribute written documents as reminders or post-training references. Instructional materials Once you’ve identified your training audience, your training delivery method, and your learning objectives, it’s time to sit down and begin creating those training materials. These can include any number of things, including: A trainer’s guide for the instructor (more on this soon) A trainee’s manual or student book for your employees Any additional handouts for employees Audiovisual materials you’ll display to employees during the training Hands-on exercises you’ll have employees perform during the training Evaluation tools (quizzes, tests, questionnaires, role-playing scenarios, procedure demonstrations, etc.) There’s a lot to be said about the best ways to create training materials that are truly effective, and we’ll go into more detail on this point again later in this series. But here are a few things to keep in mind: Create training materials that focus on nothing but your learning objectives Create training materials that make use of and appeal to adult learning principles Consider creating training that includes the following 9 events of instruction (developed by famous learning theorist Eric Gagne) Use simple, conversational language Consider using training that includes effective visual training materials (here are 25 great tips for creating training visuals that work) Create training assessments that truly determine if your employees can satisfy the learning objectives (again, more on this later) Consider working with safety training development professionals If you want to check out one short, easy-to-read book that’s full of great tips for creating effective training materials, you could do worse than Design for How People Learn by Julie Dirksen-we recommend this one highly. Create a trainer’s guide (for instructor-led or on-the-job training) If your training will include some form of interpersonal instruction, whether it’s formal instructor-led training in a classroom setting or on-the-job training, you should create a trainer’s guide. According to the standard (see E4.4.4), this guide should include: An outline The learning objectives Any necessary prerequisites Scheduled instruction time Training aids and handouts Requirements for the training environment Emergency evacuation procedures and route, and the post-evacuation meeting area location (hey, we’re safety people, right?) Tools for evaluating the learning of the employees A list of reference materials The date on which the training guide was published A revision date, if applicable Determine Criteria for the Trainer(s) Come up with a list of the minimum criteria a person must meet to be qualified to lead a training on the topic.This will help you identify appropriate trainers for the particular topic and help ensure the right trainer facilitates each training. While you’re at it, come up with a desired ratio of trainers-to-trainees. You can use this later when you are scheduling trainers and trainees for the training session(s). Create a Training Schedule That Allocates Time Necessary to Complete Training Once you’ve got the training materials developed and know the number of trainers necessary to train your trainees, you can begin allocating time for the training. Provide an appropriate amount of time based on: The amount of material to cover The complexity of the material The learning objectives your employees must satisfy Regulatory or compliance factors Your schedule should include an: Estimated duration for the entire training session Estimated duration for each individual topic within the training session Time to address questions and concerns, and provide feedback Select and ensure an appropriate training environment You should also be sure that the training can be conducted in an environment that is: Safe Appropriate for the delivery method chosen It may be obvious that you should train employees in a safe environment, but it’s worth noting nonetheless. For example, if you’re going to teach the HazCom 2012 chemical labeling requirements, don’t bring hazardous chemicals into the training room when empty bottles will work just as well. And, once you’ve chosen your delivery method, make sure your training environment matches. If you’re going to do instructor-led training, you’ll probably want to book a quiet, out-of-the-way conference room instead of leading the training in the middle of the production floor. If you want to do some on-the-job training, that conference room won’t work so well. And if you want to deliver online e-learning courses, you’ll want to make sure the trainees have access to a computer in a quite environment with proper computer ergonomics. There are a number of good books and websites that can you help you select and set up the training environment. The Association for Talent Development’s website is a good place to start looking. Design a strategy for evaluating your employees’ learning Developing materials to teach your employees essential safety information is important. But it’s just as important to develop some form of assessment to determine if your employees learned anything. And by that, we mean "can the employees satisfy the learning objectives after the training is over?" Don’t fall into the trap of providing training but never determining if your learners "get it." Your method of evaluation will depend on a number of things, including: The training delivery method Your learning objectives Interesting tip: Many training creators begin by creating the learning objectives, then the training evaluation/assessment, and only then move on to create the training materials. The idea of doing this is that it helps to keep things focused on the learning objectives. Develop criteria for determining when employees have completed the training satisfactorily When you’re creating that training evaluation, remember to determine what it means to "pass." Obviously, that answer should be largely answered by your learning objectives, since they state what the employee should be able to do after the training is over. But this issue may include some additional variables. For example, if you want your learners to be able to do something, do they have to do it every time, or 95 times out of 100 (this would be addressed in the "degree" of your ABCD learning objective). Or, if you want the employee to "know" something, how do they demonstrate that-by repeating it to you once, or by scoring 80% or greater in a written test? Either way, the standard states that criteria for valid training completion criteria should (see 4.6.1 for this): Be created before the training occurs Be applied in same consistent manner for all training sessions Indicate test score or similar qualitative measure of success Include standards for minimum attendance and participation Your completion criteria may also include an alternative procedure that can be followed by an employee who fails to satisfy the primary completion criteria. This may completing a full retraining, getting some remedial help, or other similar actions. Make plans for continuous training improvement OK, so you’ve created your training materials and led a training. Congratulations. But that doesn’t mean you’re done. Far from it. In fact, the process has only begun. Once you’ve rolled out a training program, you’ve got to periodically review it to ensure it’s up to date and effective. And you’ve got to revise it when necessary. As for as keeping it up to date, you’ll need to keep tabs of all the stuff you’d expect: injury/illness/near-miss reports, revised JHAs, regulatory changes, new procedures, and more. As for evaluating the effectiveness of the training program, two places to start are: The assessments taken and completed by your employees in the training-are the employees passing or failing? Post-training evaluations and surveys handed out to employees (making these anonymous may improve the feedback you get) If you want to expand on that, consider using Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Training Evaluation. Conclusion: How to Develop Effective EHS Training That’s our review of ANSI Z490.1 Section 4, Training Development. Do you have tips for any of these steps? What’s effective at your work place? What have you tried that didn’t work? We’ll be back with the next article in this series soon enough. That one will look at Section 5, which is a more in-depth coverage of Training Delivery.   The post How to Develop Effective EHS Training: ANSI Z490.1 Section 4 appeared first on Convergence Training Blog.

Our aerial work platform safety course has been a perennial best-seller since its release in 2009. It was among the first courses we produced, and though it offered great information and provided effective training content, we decided that after 6 years, the popular course could benefit from an overhaul. Many of our courses get this treatment as they age, receiving new looks and updates to the original training content. Today we present the new and improved Aerial Work Platform Safety course from Convergence Training. The first thing you’ll probably notice are the updated 3D models and high-resolution sets, but this was no mere facelift; 5 minutes of totally new content have been added to the course, and some existing sections have been updated to reflect current regulatory standards. We’ve also updated the built-in progress review quizzes and aligned all the content more closely with the clearly stated learning objectives. Check out a sample below: We’re really pleased with the updated course. Check it out for yourself by requesting a full-length preview, or learn more about the content by visiting the course page on our website. Request a full-length preview Side-by-Side Take a look at some of the new and improved scenes next to their first-generation equivalents: One of our old models next to our new scissor lift model. Outriggers should be fully extended on a solid surface that is capable of supporting the weight of the work platform. Boom platforms must have upper and lower controls. However, the lower controls may only be used with permission from the person in the boom, or in certain emergency situations. A number of our popular courses will be receiving similar treatment this year, so stay tuned for news on those as they’re completed.   The post Aerial Work Platform Safety Course Gets Reboot appeared first on Convergence Training Blog.

Not that long ago, we wrote a blog post titled What Is a JHA? That post was such a big hit we’ve created this second post. It walks you though the steps of performing a JHA, and  even includes a free downloadable guide to performing JHAs at the bottom. This guide for performing a JHA incorporates suggestions made in OSHA’s Job Hazard Analysis booklet (OSHA 3071, revised in 2002). We think you’ll find it useful when you perform JHAs at your worksite.  How Can I Get Started With a JHA? Before you begin the JHA for a specific job, do the following. Get your employees involved. Safety works best when management and employees are both involved. That’s true of the JHA process as well. Remember, it’s their job, and they probably know it better than you do. This will also help you get their buy-in for this process and for safety in general. Plus, two sets of eyes (or more) are always better than one. Review your history of injuries, illnesses, near misses, and machine/tool damage. Go over your written records of injuries, illnesses, near-misses, and incidents that have required machine/tool replacement or repair. Then, get feedback from your employees, asking if there are things that have occurred but are not in the records.  (Make it clear you’re trying to make work conditions safer, not punish anyone because something hasn’t been reported.) Ask your employees which hazards exist in their work area. Ask your employees if they’re aware of hazards in their work area. Write them down-you can use this list later when you’re performing the JHA. Note: If a serious hazard comes to light at this point, stop what’s you’re doing and correct the problem before you continue with the JHA process.  Create a list that prioritizes the jobs for which you’ll perform a JHA. It’s great if you do a JHA for every job, but you should do JHAs for the jobs with the highest risks first. Take the information you’ve already gathered and prioritize the order  in which you’ll perform the JHAs. With these steps down, you’re now ready to complete the formal JHA process, described below. Steps of the JHA Process Once you’ve completed the introductory steps above, it’s time to begin the formal JHA process for a given job. Here’s how to do a job hazard analysis: Step 1: Begin the JHA for a specific job by breaking the job down into the steps or tasks performed while doing the job. Here are some ways to do this: Watch an employee performing the job. Ask the employee what the various steps are-the employee may have some good insight here, but remember that the employee may leave out some steps because they’re "automatic" to him or her. Ask other employees who have performed the job to list or review the steps. Film the employee while the employee performs the jobs-this will help you identify the steps. Write these steps down anyway you want. It’s common to create a JHA form that represents each task of a given job, plus a description of the task, the hazards, and potential hazard controls. There’s a sample form for this in OSHA’s JHA document. And our guide at at the bottom of this post, which you can download, includes forms you can use for this too. Step 2: Identify and list the hazards associated with each task (do one task first, then another, etc.) Consider every possible thing that could go wrong. How could the worker be injured or be made ill? How could machines or equipment be damaged? Ask yourself the following questions: What could go wrong? What could cause that thing/those things to go wrong? What other factors could contribute to that thing/those things going wrong? What would happen if that thing/those things did go wrong? How likely is it that that thing/those things will go wrong? Our downloadable guide at the bottom of this article includes a table that lists common hazard types. You may this very helpful when you’re trying to identify hazards. Step 3: Write a hazard description (also called a hazard scenario). Write a description of each hazard in a consistent, orderly manner that will help ensure you will later put in steps to control the hazard and create the best possible controls. A good hazard description should include the following items. Environment: where does this hazard exist? Exposure: who or what might be injured or made ill by this hazard? Trigger: what event might cause the hazard to lead to an injury or illness? Contributing factors: are there other factors that might contribute to cause the hazard to lead to an injury or illness? Outcome/consequence: what would be the result if the hazard were to occur? Here’s a one-screen sample from Convergence Training’s e-learning course on the JHA that explains the hazard description and gives an example. Step 4: Create a plan for controlling each hazard associated with each task. Once you’ve written the hazard descriptions, now it’s time to brainstorm some hazard controls so the hazard never really does lead to an injury or illness. And remember what we said earlier-if you’ve identified a severe hazard, and/or one with a great chance of causing illness or injury, address it immediately. When you’re considering a list of controls, think of the following (and in this order): Elimination and/or substitution: If you can remove the hazard entirely, or put some form of substitute in place, do that. That’s the best way to deal with a hazard-make it go away. An example would be removing a sharp edge on the corner of a machine so nobody could get cut. Engineering controls: Engineering controls involve re-designing the work area so that the hazard is eliminated or reduced. An example would be enclosing a noisy motor inside a sound-proof box. Administrative controls: Administrative controls involve modifying the way people work around a hazard to reduce the risk. An example might be limiting the number of hours someone works lifting heavy boxes from the end of a conveyor belt. Personal protective equipment (PPE): PPE can be used to protect people who are working in the presence of hazards. An example would be giving a respirator to someone working near airborne crystalline silica. PPE should only be used as a last resort, once the other forms of controls listed above have been tried. PPE may be used in combination with the other forms of controls, too. Need more help on controls? Here’s a nice OSHA page on hazard controls and here’s an OSHA website on the Hierarchy of Controls. Watch our blog, too, we’ll be posting an article on the Hierarchy of Controls soon. When Should You Control Your Hazards? Once you’ve completed the JHA, start controlling them hazards, cowboy. Do You Have to Review and Revise Your JHAs? Yes. Our form below includes lines you can use to schedule these reviews and make sure they’ve happened. When Should You Review and Revise Your JHAs Review your JHAs and, if necessary, revise them: On a routine, periodic basis-maybe every year When an injury or illness occurs at a a specific job When there’s a close call or near-miss When the job changes When an employee suggests considering it Anything Else? Well, now that you understand how to do a Job Hazard Analysis, you can go out and do one for real. Download our free JHA guide and forms to help you formally record the process. Good luck! The post How to Do a Job Hazard Analysis: 4 Essential Steps appeared first on Convergence Training Blog.

Recently we published an extensive article titled What Is a Job Hazard Analysis?  And we followed that up with a companion piece that explains How to Do a Job Hazard Analysis. If you haven’t read those yet, but are interested, go right ahead. We’ll wait for you here. We wanted to follow those popular articles up with with a free job hazard analysis guide and forms that you can use to guide you through your own JHAs at work. And here it is. Need help with your safety training program at work? Check out our e-learning courses on safety topics and more, see our learning management systems, or just contact us to see how we can help. This job hazard analysis guide includes five parts: Getting Ready to Perform a job hazard analyis: Some things to do and think about before you begin. How to Perform a job hazard analysis An introduction to the two-step process for performing a JHA: Identify the steps or tasks of a job and then identify hazards associated with each task. Guides for Performing the job hazard analysis Part 1 is a form you can use to list the tasks of a job. Part 2 is a form you can use to identify the hazards associated with each task, and then write up a hazard scenario (including hazard control measures) for each. Hazard List Consult this handy list of different types of hazards to help you identify hazards for each task. Hierarchy of Controls Check out the hierarchy of controls to help you identify the types of controls to implement and the other in which to consider them. Hope you find this free job hazard analysis guide helpful. Let us know what you think.   The post Job Hazard Analysis Guide appeared first on Convergence Training Blog.

What’s the best way to protect your workers from hazards at the workplace? One common and effective method is to use the hierarchy of controls. To which you may ask-but what is the hierarchy of controls? That’s the focus on this article, and we’ll explain it in full detail soon. First, though, let’s set the scene.   What Is a Hazard? In general terms, a hazard is something that has the potential to cause harm. To be less abstract, a hazard is something that can cause an injury or illness (or cause damage to a machine or equipment - but we’ll focus on the things that can cause injuries and illness right now). There are several different kinds of hazards. We’ve listed some categories of hazards below. Type of Hazard Description Example Safety Hazards Common hazards that cause immediate injuries and illnesses, and may lead to death Slip, trip, and fall hazards; working from heights; electrical hazards; moving machines; mobile equipment Biological Hazards Other life forms that can cause injury or illnesses Viruses, bacteria, mold, fungi, animal bites/stings, toxic plants, blood and other bodily fluids Chemical and other Exposure Hazards Things that can cause harm to you when you are exposed Radiation, temperature (high or low), noise, chemicals Ergonomic Hazards Strains and stresses on the body caused by workplace motions and body positions Poorly designed work areas, repeated motions, lifting heavy weights Psychological or Societal Hazards Hazards caused by interacting with people and social conditions at the workplace Workplace violence, sexual harassment, stress, depression, alcohol and drug addiction Notice that we said a hazard is something that has the potential to cause harm. While it’s important to remember that potential for harm, it’s also worth pointing out these three facts: A hazard is not the same thing as the injury or illness itself A hazard may never cause an injury or illness (even though it has the potential to) Identifying hazards before they cause harm gives you a chance to remove or reduce the potential for harm How to Identify Hazards It’s important to try to identify hazards before they cause harm. If you do this, you can then eliminate or otherwise control the hazard so that the hazard never does cause harm. There are many ways to identify hazards at the workplace. Here are a few: Perform routine hazard inspections Maintain health and environmental monitoring programs Talk to workers about hazards in their work area Check your records of near misses, injuries, and illnesses Request a free onsite safety consulation from an OSHA inspector Perform job hazard analyses (click to read a full article on the job hazard analysis or download our free JHA guide) Assessing and Ranking Hazards In a perfect world, you’d eliminate or control every hazard identified at your work place. But as you know, the world’s not perfect. So it makes sense to assess the hazards you’ve identified and then rank them in the order in which you should address them. These are the kind of hazards you should address first: Hazards that are very likely to cause harm Hazards that would lead to very severe consequences These kind of issues are typically addressed under the topics of risk management and risk assessment. Click to read more about risk management and safety. Controlling Hazards Now that we’ve explained what a hazard is, learned some general categories of hazards, listed some ways to identify hazards at the workplace, and touched on the assessment and ranking of hazards, let’s turn our attention to different ways to control safety hazards. What does it mean to control a hazard? "Controlling a hazard" is the way that safety people talk about taking a hazard and either: Removing its ability to cause harm Reducing its ability to cause harm So, in everyday language, controlling a hazard is a way to make the workplace safer by making a hazardous situation less dangerous. Are there different types of hazard controls? Just as their are different categories of hazards, there are also different categories of hazard controls. Those hazard controls are listed in the table below. Hazard Control Description Example Elimination Remove a hazard from the workplace Changing a production process so that a chemical known to cause cancer is no longer used Substitution Replace a hazard with something less hazardous Changing a formula so that instead of working with a highly explosive fluid, workers work with a fluid that’s less explosive Engineering Control(s) Design a solution that controls the hazard at its source (requires a physical change at the workplace) Encasing a noisy machine inside a sound-proof barrier Safe Work Practice(s) Develop specific rules and procedures for all workers to follow when working in the presence of or potentially exposed to a hazard Placing warning labels on hazardous chemicals Administrative Control(s) Developing other work practices to protect workers from hazards Limiting the amount of time workers can work in a noisy area Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Protective clothing or equipment that protects a worker from a hazard Providing hearing protection to people who work in a noisy area Now that you’ve seen the table with the various hazard controls, let’s discuss a few finer points. Elimination and Substitution: You’ll sometimes see these two lumped together within the Engineering Controls. Safe Work Practices: Some examples of safe work practices include: Lockout tagout (energy control programs) Confined space entry programs Hazard communication Safe Work Practices and Administrative Controls: You’ll sometimes see these grouped in as forms of Administrative Controls. However, OSHA specifically says "OSHA uses the term administrative controls to mean other measures aimed at reducing employee exposure to hazards" (other than safe work practices, that is). Which hazard controls should you use? Which should you try first? You shouldn’t just try any random hazard control, and you shouldn’t try them in just an order. Instead, there’s a logical progression to work through. Here’s where the title of our article-the Hierarchy of Controls-comes into play. What Is the Hierarchy of Controls? It’s important to work through a logical progression when you’re considering controls for a hazard. That logical progression, from first to last, is represented by the hierarchy of controls. Look at the diagram below. The hazard controls are listed in order. At the top is elimination. This is what you should try to do first. If elimination isn’t possible or feasible, then you continue down the list, trying substitution, then engineering controls, then administrative controls, and then finally (and only as a last resort) personal protective equipment. Note: We’ve "collapsed" work practice controls into the administrative controls category here, but don’t forget about it.     Why are the controls in the hierarchy of controls ordered in the way they are? The most effective controls are the ones ranked at the top. Think about it-you can’t do much better than completely eliminate a hazard, can you? Likewise, using an engineering control (such as enclosing a noisy machine inside a sound-proof barrier) is going to be better than limiting the number of hours a worker can work in the room with the noisy machine, right? You’ll notice that the use of personal protective equipment is at the bottom of the pyramid. That means it’s the control that should be tried last. And that’s because it’s the least effective.   Using More than One Control to Control a Hazard Many times, you’ll find you can’t completely control a hazard by using just one of the controls. What should you do? Use more than one control. For example, you could use Substitution to remove a very hazardous chemical with a less hazardous chemical. But it may still be necessary to create Administrative Controls that limit the time a worker is near the chemical, and even then it may still be necessary to provide the worker with personal protective equipment (PPE). Use PPE ONLY as a Last Resort Although PPE may be one of the first things that springs to mind when you’re thinking of controlling a hazard, it should never be the first control you turn to. In fact, you should only turn to PPE as a possible control when all other controls have been exhausted and there’s still an unacceptable level of hazard. The post What Is the Hierarchy of Controls? appeared first on Convergence Training Blog.

Consider this scenario, if you will. You’re a training manager. Or maybe you’re someone else who is involved in training-the head of operations, or in HR, or the safety manager. You or someone else at work determines there’s a performance problem. More specifically, you think your employees may have a skill gap. What’s the answer? Create and lead some training? Well, maybe. But maybe not. It’s easy to jump to the conclusion that training’s the answer for everything. But there’s nothing worse than creating a training program for a problem that the training can’t solve. You’ve now spent a bunch of money and time creating and delivering the training, and you’ve still got the problem to boot. The best way to avoid this scenario is to take a step back and analyze the performance problem first. If you learn more about the problem, you can then figure out what the best solution for it is. Maybe it WILL be training, but maybe it will be something else. With that introduction down, let’s look at a process for analyzing performance problems and addressing skill gaps. This method was developed by the noted human performance improvement (HPI) expert Robert Mager, and it’s explained in his classic book Analyzing Performance Problems, or, You Really Oughta Wanna (co-written with Peter Pipe). Mager’s method provides a series of steps for you to consider when you evaluate the proper solution to a performance problem at work. Once you’ve considered every item, you’ll be ready to propose the best solution-or a combination of solutions-and then put them into effect. This method will help you identify and close skill gaps as well as determine when a performance problem is NOT the result of a skill gap. Here’s his method. State and Describe the Problem with the Performance First things first, right? State what the problem is and describe it so you know you fully understand it. Ask Yourself: Does the Performance Problem Matter? Once you’ve written the problem down, ask yourself if it’s really a big deal. Is it so significant that you should do something to fix it? Or is it really not a big deal, and should you move on to something else? If you’ve decided it’s not a big deal, you stop here. And if you’ve decided it IS a big deal, continue. Is There A Skill Gap: Are Employees Not Performing Because They Don’t Have the Skill? If you’ve decided that you want to fix this performance problem, you should ask yourself why employees aren’t already doing what you want them to do. At this level, we can divide the answers to this question into two different categories. The first is that your employees don’t know how to do it or they can’t do it. The second category involves cases in which your employees can do it, but they’re not doing it for other reasons. If your employees just don’t have the skill-meaning they can’t do what you want them to do-then go to the next section, titled "Yep, It’s a Skill Gap: When Your Employees Don’t Have the Necessary Skill(s)." But if your employees DO have the necessary skills, go to the section after that, titled "No, It’s Not a Skill Gap: When Your Employees DO Have the Necessary Skill but Still Aren’t Performing." Yep, It’s a Skill Gap: When Your Employees Don’t Have the Necessary Skill(s) If your performance problem exists because your workers don’t have the skills to do what you want them to do, you’ve got a few options to consider. Those are listed below in this section. Is it Something They Used to Be Able to Do? If the employees used to be able to do it, give them some guided practice with feedback telling them how they’re doing and what they’re doing right or wrong. If the employees could never do it, consider a formal training session to teach them. Remember that training should include an explanation of what to do but also practice and feedback. Is it Something They Do A Lot on the Job? In some cases, your performance problem/skill deficiency will result from a case in which people perform the skill a lot on the job and, over time, they’ve begun to do it wrong. In that case, arrange feedback to get them back on track. In other cases, it won’t be something they do a lot. In that case, set them up with some practice, and remember to include feedback. Is There a Simpler Way? When you’ve identified that you’ve got a performance problem and your workers currently have a skill gap, there may be times when you look for a simpler solution. Simpler, that is, than teaching your workers to perform the skill. For example, maybe you can change the job so workers don’t have to perform the skill. An example of this would be buying a machine that performs the task. Or, maybe you will continue to expect workers to perform the task, but you don’t think it’s necessary to have a formal training session to teach them. Maybe a little OJT, with an in-the-field demonstration and a bit of practice with feedback, is all they need. Is the Employee Incapable of Performing the Task? Finally, another thing to consider is that one or more employee may be simply incapable of performing the desired task. In that case, you may want to consider transferring the employee to a different position where he or she is better suited. No, It’s Not a Skill Gap: When Your Employees DO Have the Necessary Skill but Still Aren’t Performing In some cases, your employees CAN do what you want them to do, but they’re still not doing it. In those cases, there are a few things for you to consider to find out why they’re not doing it. Those are listed below. Disincentive: The Employee is Somehow "Punished" for Performing the Desired Skill Sometimes companies want employees to do something but don’t notice that there’s a disincentive to follow through and do them. For example, a safety manager may want employees to record all near-misses, but employees may not do this because they’re worried their coworkers will get upset. Or maybe you want employees to fill out a checklist every time they perform a procedure, but the checklists are stored on the opposite side of the plant. If you’ve got a situation like this, training isn’t the solution. Instead, remove the disincentive that punishes the behavior you want, and you’ll see performance improve. Incentive: The Employee is Somehow Rewarded for NOT Performing the Desired Skill As you probably guessed, this is the flip-side of the "disincentive" coin we just discussed. Even though you want your employees to do something, they may have a built-in incentive to not do it. For example, maybe you want your service technicians to do something during each visit. But if not doing it (a) doesn’t cause an immediate problem and (b) gets them on to their next visit more quickly, in particular if you’ve set up a system that rewards them for completing as many service visits as possible, then you’ve set up a system that rewards them for not doing what you want them to do. So, if you’ve got this issue at work, remove the reward for not performing the desired task. No Consequences: It Doesn’t Matter to the Employees if They Do It Or Don’t Do It Sometimes, employees can do something but there are no positive consequences to doing it and there are no negative consequences to not doing it. For example, maybe you want your employees to fill out weekly reports. But if they don’t, someone else does it for them, and there’s no penalty to the employee who didn’t do them. On top of that, there’s no particular reward-even recognition in the form of saying "good job" or "thanks"-for doing the report. If you’ve got a situation like this, then set up some consequences: good consequences for people who do what you want them to, and bad consequences for people who don’t. Obstacles: Employees Don’t Do It Because Something Prevents Them From Doing It The final "they have the skills to do it but still aren’t doing it" thing to consider is that there is some obstacle that prevents them from doing it. This can be as simple as not having enough time. Maybe you want employees to wash their hands thoroughly every time they enter the production area, but their work requires them to leave and return to the area often and you also have set high expectations of how much they should do while they’re in the production area, meaning they just don’t have time to wash their hands that much. Remove the obstacle (in this case, not enough time) and you’ll get better compliance. (If you want to read a real-life example of this, Dr. Atul Gawande explains how doctors at a hospital have exactly this hand-washing problem and explains efforts to address that problem in his book Better.) What’s the Best Solution? Once you’ve worked your way through the questions above, you will have identified some potential solutions to your performance problem. Now it’s time to look at your possibilities and decide what the best solution would be. Remember that in some cases, you’ll combine more than one solution. Implement the Solution And, with your best solutions now identified, it’s time to put them into effect at work. It’s not a bad idea to create some kind of form or checklist to help you make sure you get it done. Actually, that’s such a good idea we’re going to look into writing a post on that in the future. Conclusion That’s it. Hope you find this technique helpful. Please leave a comment below if you have any questions or have any experience or tips on these issues.   The post How to Identify and Close Skill Gaps at Work appeared first on Convergence Training Blog.