In Real Life: Don’t Forget About On-the-Job Training

What was your first corporate learning job? Igot into L&D as part of a hybrid operations/human resources role with AMCTheatres. I was responsible for all my location’s HR functions, includingrecruitment, payroll, and training.

At the same time, I was working as anattractions cast member on the weekends at the Walt Disney World Resort (+5 fornomenclature). There, a lot of my time was focused on training new cast membersat Star Tours and The Great Movie Ride. While I have spent mostof my career in management and individual contributor roles, my time as afrontline trainer really helped shape my perspective on L&D. Specifically,it solidified the importance of effective on-the-job training as the foundationof the workplace learning experience.

Figure 1: Receiving instructionis a very familiar experience—regardless of professional background (Pixabay)

Formal on-the-job training (not to be confusedwith informal learning on the job) continues to play a considerable role inmany employees’ learning experiences. This is especially true in high-volumeoperations with large numbers of deskless workers, including retail, food andbeverage, distribution, and hospitality roles. Employees who are new to thecompany and/or role are typically paired with a “trainer,” who is responsiblefor instructing them on how to do the job. This training could take place one-to-oneor one-to-a-group, depending on role and staff needs. After a set period, theemployee is handed off by the trainer to their team and manager, often aftersome form of knowledge and/or performance assessment. Does this sound likesomething your company does to support initial skill development?

On-the-job training (OJT) has been around …well … forever. It’s one of the most straightforward parts of workplacelearning. “Bill will show you how to do it” isn’t exactly a learning strategy,but, in real life, it’s been getting the job done for a long, long time. Sothen why am I writing about it? Well, that’s just it. OJT isn’t“transformative” like mobile. It isn’t “sexy” like AR or VR. It isn’t “trendy”like microlearning. But that’s just it! How often do you have deep conversationsabout OJT strategy? How many articles or presentations do you come across onthe topic? As I work with organizations across a variety of industries, I’venoticed a few things about OJT practices today:

• OJT hasn’t really changed in decades. Meanwhile, the rest of workplace learning strategy is rapidly evolving.
• OJT relies heavily on tribal knowledge (aka, the way things really work here).
• There’s almost no use of data to inform the OJT experience—before, during, or after.
• Trainers are provided with limited instruction—and almost no continuous development on how to train.
• Success is more often based on who you get as a trainer rather than the effective design of the OJT program.

As we continue to drive toward a modern visionfor workplace learning, we can’t leave OJT behind. We also can’t just replaceit with “new” concepts like digital and self-directed learning, just like weshouldn’t blindly swap classroom training for eLearning. OJT has survivedbecause it plays a unique role in the employee learning experience. It createsa personalized, adaptive, engaging learning experience with immediate feedbackin a way technology cannot. It is based on real-world experience and guidedpractice, which are critical for rapid skill development. It provides an immediatepersonal connection for the employee within the organization and team. Finally,it provides a safety net—someone to protect the employee as they develop—as a wayto bolster confidence and promote learning from failure.

Yes, OJT can be awesome. But …

• It’s expensive, as you’re paying two(or more) people to not do the real job for an extended period.
• It’s often inconsistent. Trainers often base the experience on what they prefer rather than the established expectation.
• It can be ineffective. Some employees are just bad at training—even if they are great at the job.
• It can be disconnected from the larger learning strategy with no regard for long-term retention and behavior change.
• Then there’s everything else that can go wrong, from distractions to personality conflicts.

Like any other strategy, L&D must weigh the benefits with the drawbacks to deliver the right-fit, high-value learningand support experience needed to drive performance and achieve business goals.In many cases, OJT will play an important role in helping a new employee getoperational, especially in the deskless space. Therefore, L&D must evolvethe OJT experience so that it better integrates into the modern learningecosystem.

So how do we do OJT better?

Coach, don’t train

This isn’t just about language. It’s aboutpositioning. Trainers tell people what to do to get better. Coaches focus onperformance and find the right methods to help each individual become theirbest. Coaches are also held accountable for their team’s performance. Coachingis relational, not transactional. We should position OJT as a coaching activitythat sets the tone for ongoing learning and support in the workplace.

Find the right people

Coaching won’t work without the right peoplein the role. Too often, managers just pick the most veteran employees to becometrainers—or the role of a trainer is used as a formal stepping stone tomanagement. In both cases, people are selected for the wrong reason. Instead, weshould choose coaches based on their ability and desire to help people getbetter. If they happen to be senior employees and/or people with manageraspirations, that’s great too. But the ability to coach within the role shouldbe the primary qualification. In addition, we should only leverage managers ifthey clearly have the time and capacity to dedicate to coaching in thiscontext.

Prepare your coaches

There may be instances when you hire people tospecifically play the role of coach as the full-time job. However, in manycases, we pull our coaches from the operation. They may have a willingness toexecute the role, but they may also lack the tactical experience to do so atthe desired level. Therefore, L&D should provide programs and resources todevelop coaches’ skills during their transition into the role—as well asongoing. Just because they are L&D doesn’t mean they don’t need dedicatedsupport from L&D.

Improve support resources

When I ask about OJT processes, I’m oftenhanded a checklist designed to guide the experience. That’s great, but how muchconsistency can really be driven from a single-page checklist? We shouldoutline expectations in much greater detail to ensure consistent executionacross the coaching team. While a checklist can certainly help track anemployee’s progress, we should provide a more detailed program guide to clarifyeach topic and desired capability; and we should provide coaches with a varietyof tactics to support employees with common challenges. They should also haveaccess to clear, objective definitions and examples of “good performance” sovarying opinions don’t get in the way.

Integrate the experience

Sticking an employee in the back room tocomplete eight hours of eLearning before OJT is not a blended learningexperience. Digital content is a consistent, scalable way to providefoundational information, introductory simulation, and ongoing reinforcement.Classroom sessions provide the opportunity for group practice and discussion. Weshould leverage these modalities to augment the coaching experience due to itscritical focus on learning by doing.

Expand the discussion

To borrow from Mark Britzof eLearning Guild fame: “Real knowledge doesn’t exist within us but between us, inour conversations.” One of the biggestbenefits of this coaching experience is the ongoing interaction with a realperson (as opposed to a pre-programmed screen). If the trainer is justexecuting the steps of the checklist, this benefit is lost and the value of OJTis reduced. We should encourage coaches to engage in open discussion with thenew employee to focus on their performance, motivations, and objectives. Theseconversations will not only help the coach get to know the employee better, butthey will also help shift the focus from knowledge delivery to ongoingapplication. Discussion should purposefully expand beyond the coach and includethe larger peer group so the employee can gain insight from more than just oneperson.

Capture data

How can the coach maximize their limited timewith the new employee? How will the manager know if the employee is ready tobecome operational? How does what’s happening during the coaching experienceinform how the employee will be supported in the future? Answer: data. Weshould use knowledge and performance assessments throughout the coachingexperience to capture hard data on the employee’s progress. By targetingmeasurement on specific, high-value knowledge and behavior topics, coaches canget a snapshot of where the employee needs additional focus, and they can sharethis data with managers to signal progress and potential for early “release”into the operation. We can also use the employee’s data profile to driveongoing reinforcement and suggest additional development opportunities.

Measure impact

Just like any other employee, we should hold coachesaccountable, specifically for the initial performance of employees they havesupported. While we should establish standards of measurement based onperformance expectations, we must adjust these as necessary to account forindividual employee progress. After all, no two new employees will perform thesame, and pass or fail on a single assessment isn’t enough. We can use theongoing assessment data I mentioned previously to normalize these expectationsand ensure optimal outcomes from the coach.

Expand the coaching experience

Employees will always leave OJT with gaps.That’s expected. But how do you facilitate closing those gaps? Ongoingreinforcement plays a part in this strategy. Management support is anotherimportant component. But L&D and managers can’t always be there. Peers are.The initial coaching experience can set the tone for ongoing peer-to-peer support.It can establish the trust and confidence necessary for employees toconsistently coach one another and reduce the need for structured intervention.

On-the-job training will continueto play a critical role in a variety of organizations. When done right, it cannot only enable initial performance, but it can also establish the foundationfor long-term employee success. I stillremember my first coach—Tommy. He found a way to make me capable and confidentin my first job, even though it was a super busy summer and I had never handledcash or used a POS terminal before. He set the tone and got me through my firstfew days. I stayed for six years and ultimately became a very successfulmanager. Thanks, Tommy!

Postscript

I’d liketo address Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. As a Central Florida resident, I was lucky to experience very minimalinconvenience during our recent, devastating storm. Other Floridians—as well as those who live in theCaribbean and Texas—werenot as lucky. These areas need our help. Please consider donating to the Red Cross or to another organization that is providing much-needed aid toaffected areas. AccuWeather has a very useful post that lists a number of reputablecharities you can support, as well as providing links to tools you can use tovet any charity before you support it.