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Keystones of HPT: Performance-Based Training

Douglas Leigh

New Mexico Chapter

Years ago, I heard a researcher report of influences on performance in the workplace. Training ranked way down the list, far below the influence of the supervisor, compesation systems and such. Futhermore, the researcher said that only training related to specific jobs tasks had an effect; more generic training had no effect on performance at all! While humbling, this affirmed the value of performance-based training which, by its nature, directly relates to the tasks at hand.

Performance-based training is so logically simple:

    1. Determine what you want the trainees to be able to do after they've finished the training.
    2. Design training that will lead them to do it, giving feedback on their performance.
    3. Check at the end to see if they really can do what you wanted, revising the training as need.

What could be simpler?

If you follow these steps, you will discover what works and doesn't work. If you want to avoid recreating the proverbial wheel, take courses from ISPIers Mager, Harless, Clark and Sink, and others.

Here are some tips I find helpful.

Step 1: Determine what you want the trainees to be able to do after they've finished the training.

• The key is focusing what they are to do (performance) rather than on topics.
• People are usually paid to get an output or a result, not just to do tasks. So determine what those results are and how you'd wanted, they often figure out how to get to it without further training.
• On the other hand, for many tasks beginners need at least one way to get to the outcome so they don't flounder. Define this is by doing a task analysis (see August 1998 issue of Peak Performance).
• Target the training by finding out what the audience already can do or can learn elsewhere, so you don't have to repeat it.

Step 2: Design training that will lead them to do it, giving them feedback on their performance:

• The goal is that the students can do something at the end of the training. Therefore the training needs to provide practice in doing it.
• The best design, regardless of media, is one that presents the information (or demonstrates the skills), gets the learner to apply the information, and gives feedback on how well they did.
• Most people can't listen for longer than 20 minutes. Therefore develop a string of short segments, each with a brief overview, 20 minutes (or less) of information, an exercise applying the information, and feedback.
• Before writing the content, develop exercise that, if the students how to do them correctly at the end of class, will show that they have learned the skill. Once you have the exercises mapped out, write brief step-by-step jobs aid. "Teaching the test" works if the test is good enough! For example, a finance expert had been giving lectures on what to look for in reports . Student were lost. I helped her develop a class in which students actually analyzed reports with typical conditions, using a job aid. The students cheered!
• The teacher (or other media) must model using the job aids. Otherwise the subtle message is that "winging it" is better than using jobs aids.

Step 3: Check to see if they really can do what you wanted, revising the training as need:

• Asking the learners their opinion doesn't show you whether they really "got" it. To find out if they can achieve the goal, have them do the work in the class. If they can do it, great! If not, find out where they are weak and revise the class accordingly.
• The key question is: "Can they do what's needed when back on the job?" Touch base with their supervisors to see if the performance after training was up to par.

Performance-based training is the way to make a difference. By applying the guidelines, you can create training that translates to better performance - the goal of human perfomance technology.

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