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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Serie: Wiley - IEEE
- Sprache: Englisch
I was pleased to review Dan's new book - pleased because he addresses an old topic in a new way. He is making no assumptions for trainers who are not fully experienced and seasoned. He takes them step-by-step through practical and realistic methods to set up training graduates to actually be on-the-job performers. Enjoy, learn and be inspired.
Jim Kirkpatrick, PhD
Senior Consultant, Kirkpatrick Partners, USA
Daniel Bixby’s approach to Product Training for technical experts is practical, relevant and exactly what anyone who is required to train others on technical content really needs. He writes with candor and with a sense of ease, making the reader feel as though he is right there with you helping to develop your training competency. A must read for anyone on your team required to provide technical training to others!
Jennifer Alfaro
Chief Human Resources Officer, USA
An expert guide to developing and delivering technical product training programs
While there are many books on talent development, leadership training, and internal training program development, there are precious few offering subject matter experts (SME’s) guidance on training others to get the most out of their products. Written by a training expert with many years of experience working at top technology companies, Product Training for the Technical Expert fills that yawning gap in the training literature by providing technical experts with a comprehensive handbook on becoming effective product training instructors.
When new technology is rapidly transformed into products for popular consumption, technical experts, such as engineers, and other subject matter experts, are the ones tasked with instructing the public on their use. Unfortunately, most them have little or no prior experience or training in adult education and don’t have a clue about how to transfer their knowledge to others. In this book, author Daniel W. Bixby draws upon his vast experience developing and delivering training programs at Honeywell, Delphax, Telex, Bosch, and TE Connectivity, among other technology companies, to arm SMEs with the knowledge and skills they need to add “Product Training Specialist” to their resumes.
- Addresses an area of training too often overlooked and ignored in the professional literature
- Equips SMEs with the tools they need to become effective product instructors
- Covers both the educational and business aspects of product training for SMEs
- Packed with tables, illustrations, problem-and-solution sets, tutorials, enlightening real-world examples, worksheets, and group or self-study questions
- Features a companion website with worksheets and other valuable tools: www.wiley.com/go/bixbycert
- A must-have professional development resource for students and experienced technical experts alike
Product Training for the Technical Expert is an ideal guide forengineers, product managers, product marketing managers, and technical instructors looking to expand their repertoires and hone their skills. It also makes an excellent course text for graduate-level engineering programs.
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Table of Contents
Cover
Title Page
Foreword
Preface
Acknowledgments
How to Use This Book
About the Companion Website
Introduction
Part I: The Foundation of Hands‐On Learning
1 Hands‐On Learning in the Classroom
Product Training as You Know It
What Makes Training Effective?
Your Goal: Proficiency
Articulating Your Training Approach
Conclusion
Making It Practical
2 Experiencing Learning
How Does One Develop a Skill?
Remember How You Became an Expert
Build on Your Students’ Experiences
Create Experiences in the Classroom
Let Them Learn from Negative Experiences
Capitalize on Informal Learning
Allow Students to Share Their Experiences
Give Lecture and Observation Their Rightful Place
Provide a Structure for Your Hands‐On Training
Conclusion
Making It Practical
3 You Know It, Can You Teach It?
Address Your Biggest Challenge: Yourself
The Four Stages of Competency Applied to Instructors
How Experts Can Teach It
Conclusion
Making It Practical
4 Ready or Not?
The Four Principles of Learner‐Readiness
Conclusion
Making It Practical
Part II: The Strategy of Hands‐On Learning
5 It is Never Just Product Training
Product Solution Training Versus Talent Development
Employee Product Training
Customer Product Training
Business Plan
Conclusion
Making It Practical
6 From Good to Great
Aim at the Right Target: Doing Versus Knowing
Change the Approach: Facilitator Versus Lecturer
Call It the Right Thing: Training Versus Presentation
Make It Sustainable: Standardized Versus Customized
Measure the Right Things: Performance Versus Reactions
Value the Right Things: Results Versus Head Count
Use the Right Delivery Methods: Effectiveness Versus Availability
Continue the Conversation: Process Versus Event
Keep Improving: Progress Versus Contentment
Conclusion
Making It Practical
7 What Is Expected Must Be Inspected
Assessing the Individual
Evaluating the Class
Conclusion
Making It Practical
Part III: The Structure of Hands‐On Learning
8 Dethroning King Content
When Content Is King
Is Training the Solution?
Conclusion
Making It Practical
9 Designing for Proficiency
The 4 × 8 Proficiency Design Model
Level 1
Level 2
Level 3
Level 4
Conclusion
Making It Practical
10 Pixels or Paper?
Ask the Questions Again
Create a Student Guide
Create Your Visual Aids
Statement of Indemnification
Create an Instructor’s Guide
Running a Pilot Class
Conclusion
Making It Practical
Part IV: The Facilitation of Hands‐On Learning
11 Speak Up
Decorative Speaking
Declarative Speaking
Conclusion
Making It Practical
12 Shut Up
What You Are Listening for
The Foundation for Engaging Learning
Practical Engagement in the Classroom
Icebreakers, Games, and Other Interactive Options
Conclusion
Making It Practical
13 Stand Up
Observed Communication: What They See You Saying
Perceived Communication: What They Feel You Are Saying
Environmental Influences
Hosting a Training Event
Conclusion
Making It Practical
14 The Smartest Engineer
Set the Expectations at the Beginning
Be Prepared for Difficult Responses
The Stubborn Mule
The Pessimist
The Helper
The Talker
The Extreme Introvert
The Sleeper
The Expert
Conclusion
Making It Practical
15 Virtual Facilitation
What Doesn’t Change
Facilitating Virtually
Conclusion
Making It Practical
16 Technical Presentations
When to Use Presentations
How to Design Effective Technical Presentations
Conclusion
Making It Practical
17 Culture and Proficiency
What Doesn’t Change
What Does Change
Other Tips for the Traveling Trainer
Conclusion
Making It Practical
Part V: The Operation of Hands‐On Learning
18 Certifying Proficiency
What Is Product Proficiency Certification?
When Do You Need a Certification Program?
The Requirements of Product Proficiency Certification
Documenting the Certification Program
Conclusion
Making It Practical
19 Managing the Details
Measurable
Sustainable
Traceable
Conclusion
Making It Practical
20 Developing New Product Talent
Why Mentoring Matters
Mentoring for Proficiency
The Foundation of a Mentoring Program
Conclusion
Making It Practical
21 Now, Go Do It
Define Your Approach
Develop with a Strategy
Design with a Structure
Deliver with a Purpose
Don’t Forget the Details
Conclusion
Making It Practical
Part VI: For the Boss: Executive Overviews
22 The Foundation of Hands‐On Learning
An Overview
How You Can Help
Conclusion
23 The Strategy of Hands‐On Learning
Overview
How You Can Help
Conclusion
24 The Structure of Hands‐On Learning
Overview
How You Can Help
Conclusion
25 The Facilitation of Hands‐On Learning
Overview
How You Can Help
Conclusion
26 The Operation of Hands‐On Learning
Overview
How You Can Help
Conclusion
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
How to Use This Book
Table i.1 Who should read this book.
Chapter 02
Table 2.1 Hands‐on learning stages.
Chapter 06
Table 6.1 Presentation versus training chart.
Chapter 07
Table 7.1 Rubric.
Table 7.2 Likert‐like survey.
Table 7.3 Evaluation question (question developed by Will Thalheimer, PhD, of Work Learning Research, Inc., based on his book
Performance‐Focused Smile Sheets: A Radical Rethinking of a Dangerous Art Form.
SmileSheets.com.).
Chapter 09
Table 9.1 Action verbs for learning objectives.
Table 9.2 Objections for using activities.
Chapter 11
Table 11.1 Verbal communication chart.
Chapter 12
Table 12.1 Stages of hands‐on learning.
Chapter 16
TABLE 16.1 Presentation versus training chart.
TABLE 16.2 Four learner‐readiness principles.
Chapter 18
Table 18.1 Certification documentation.
Chapter 23
Table 23.1 Presentation versus training chart.
List of Illustrations
Chapter 01
Figure 1.1 Ineffective product training process.
Figure 1.2 Pillars of effective learning.
Chapter 02
Figure 2.1 Graph illustration.
Figure 2.2 Parabolic curve.
Figure 2.3 Learning outcomes.
Chapter 03
Figure 3.1 Four stages of competency.
Figure 3.2 How experts use the four stages of competency to teach.
Chapter 06
Figure 6.1 Ineffective training cycle.
Figure 6.2 Delivery method exercise answers.
Figure 6.3 Training event is one step in a process.
Chapter 08
Figure 8.1 Curriculum design is like planning for a trip.
Figure 8.2 4 × 8 Proficiency Design Model.
Figure 8.3 Is training really the answer?
Chapter 09
Figure 9.1 The ADDIE design model.
Figure 9.2 The 4 × 8 Proficiency Design Model.
Figure 9.3 Answers to Exercises 9.1–9.3.
Chapter 10
Figure 10.1 Example indemnification statement.
Chapter 12
Figure 12.1 Diagram of questions.
Chapter 13
Figure 13.1 U‐shaped classroom.
Figure 13.2 Answers to Exercise 13.1.
Chapter 16
Figure 16.1 Five‐step technical presentation design process.
Figure 16.2 Slide with too much text.
Figure 16.3 Simplified slide.
Chapter 18
Figure 18.1 Three requirements for certification.
Figure 18.2 Sample code of conduct.
Chapter 19
Figure 19.1 Three roles of training administration.
Figure 19.2 Simple revision tracking numbers.
Figure 19.3 Simple revision tracking items.
Figure 19.4 Enterprise classification system.
Figure 19.5 Sample enterprise classification items.
Figure 19.6 Example classification number.
Chapter 24
Figure 24.1 4 × 8 Proficiency Design Model.
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Begin Reading
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Product Training for the Technical Expert
The Art of Developing and Delivering Hands‐On Learning
Daniel W. Bixby
This edition first published 2018© 2018 John Wiley & Sons Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as permitted by law. Advice on how to obtain permission to reuse material from this title is available at http://www.wiley.com/go/permissions.
The right of Daniel W. Bixby to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with law.
Registered Office(s)John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, USA
John Wiley & Sons Ltd, The Atrium, Southern Gate, Chichester, West Sussex, PO19 8SQ, UK
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Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of WarrantyWhile the publisher and authors have used their best efforts in preparing this work, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this work and specifically disclaim all warranties, including without limitation any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives, written sales materials or promotional statements for this work. The fact that an organization, website, or product is referred to in this work as a citation and/or potential source of further information does not mean that the publisher and authors endorse the information or services the organization, website, or product may provide or recommendations it may make. This work is sold with the understanding that the publisher is not engaged in rendering professional services. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a specialist where appropriate. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
Library of Congress Cataloging‐in‐Publication Data
Names: Bixby, Daniel W., 1972– author.Title: Product training for the technical expert : the art of developing and delivering hands‐on learning / by Daniel W. Bixby.Description: First edition. | Hoboken, NJ, USA : John Wiley & Sons, Inc., [2018] | Series: IEEE | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Identifiers: LCCN 2017042183 (print) | LCCN 2017057183 (ebook) | ISBN 9781119260370 (pdf) | ISBN 9781119260387 (epub) | ISBN 9781119260349 (pbk.)Subjects: LCSH: Manual training. | Product demonstrations. | Occupational training.Classification: LCC TT165 (ebook) | LCC TT165 .B59 2018 (print) | DDC 658.3/12404–dc23LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017042183
Cover design by WileyCover image: © Laborant/Shutterstock
Dad,More than anyone I know, you believed thatdoing teaches better than telling.I love you.
Praise for Product Training for the Technical Expert
Most organizations have some of their greatest competitive advantage and wisdom locked hopelessly in the mind of their technical experts. Sure, as a force‐of‐one, subject matter experts get the job done incredibly well. But try to extend and multiply that individual expertise through learning and development efforts for others and the results are usually disappointing. Dan Bixby has been there and through this comprehensive and practical book, he shows how to overcome this challenge and unlock individual smarts for highly effective learning and development efforts. Further, as we are in the midst of a generational shift in the workforce, this is a very timely guide to ensure “what we know best” is effectively passed along to the new generation of talent.
Kevin D. Wilde
Executive Leadership Fellow,
University of Minnesota Carlson School of Management,
Former Chief Learning Officer, General Mills
Author of Dancing with the Talent Stars: 25 Moves That Matter Now
I was pleased to review Dan’s new book—pleased because he addresses an old topic in a new way. He is making no assumptions for trainers who are not fully experienced and seasoned. He takes them step‐by‐step through practical and realistic methods to set up training graduates to actually be on‐the‐job performers. Enjoy, learn and be inspired.
Jim Kirkpatrick, PhD
Senior Consultant, Kirkpatrick Partners
Co‐author of Kirkpatrick’s Four Levels of Training Evaluation
Dan Bixby’s book will help technical experts create training that actually works to improve performance. Backed by years of experience, Bixby connects with practical advice and empathy—and helps experts avoid the most common mistakes in product training.
Will Thalheimer, PhD
President, Work‐Learning Research, Inc.
Author of Performance‐Focused Smile Sheets: A Radical Rethinking of a Dangerous Art From
Great book! A practical, must‐have resource for any technical expert tasked with presenting information or training others. Bixby breaks the process down into simple, easy‐to‐follow steps that can be utilized by anyone to create dynamic and engaging learning sessions.
G. Riley Mills
co‐author of The Bullseye Principle
Daniel Bixby’s approach to product training for subject matter experts is practical, relevant, and exactly what anyone who is required to train others on technical content needs. He writes with candor and with a sense of ease, making the reader feel as though he is right there with you helping to develop your training competency. A must read for anyone on your team required to provide technical training to others!
Jennifer Alfaro
Chief Human Resources Officer
Recognizing that changing other people’s behavior is the hardest thing you will ever try to do in your organization is the first step. The next step is recognizing that knowing the what, why, and how; telling the what, why, and how; and showing the what, why, and how is very different from facilitating learning. Dan has captured all of the key factors that one should consider in the conversion process from expert to learning facilitator. The ability to frame up the expertise into memorable, applicable, and measurable performance objectives is a complex, complicated endeavor. Dan’s innovative and iterative approach can serve as a blueprint to do this successfully.
Kristin Ford Hinrichs
Chief Effectiveness Officer, Best In Learning
Product Training for the Technical Expert is a must read for anyone who endeavors to bring their training capabilities to the next level. Especially helpful to me was understanding the clear difference between a Presentation and Training. All too often we confuse the two, and frustrate both the learner and the facilitator.
John Schmidt
VP Fiber Market Development, CommScope, Inc.
This book is a must‐read for anyone involved in teaching and training regardless of industry. The author, Dan Bixby, outlines principles that will transform any training program into a hands‐on learning experience. I highly recommend this book for anyone who desires to improve learning and engagement within their organizations.
James M. Hunter, PhD
Chief Academic Officer, Emerge Education, LLC.
I have already begun recommending this practical manual to experts, trainers, training managers, and instructional designer who are interested in helping people acquire technical skills that are transferable to the workplace. It is obvious that Dan Bixby has enormous expertise and experience in the technical training field. Surprisingly (and fortunately), he has not forgotten the empathy required to engage the beginner’s mind.
Sivasailam (Thiagi) Thiagarajan
Resident Mad Scientist, The Thiagi Group.
Author of Interactive Techniques for Instructor‐Led Training.
Foreword
How do you design, develop, and deliver effective product training? Effective product training is more important than ever in government, business‐to‐consumer, and business‐to‐business environments.
Many technical professionals are asked during their career to train others on what they know. The request to train others is a compliment—people in your organization value product expertise and believe that those who best know a product are also those who can best train others.
There is a significant divide between knowing and doing. As you will learn in this book, the objective of product training is not knowledge transfer but rather proficiency development, as measured by the student’s ability to do. Especially for adult learners, the goal is to enable the student to be comfortable using the product and confident specifying the product for others in their organization or for their customers.
So how do you design, develop, and deliver effective product training? This question is relevant to a range of professionals. You may be a field product expert being asked to train customers for the first time. You may be an individual in a call center asked to provide one‐to‐one or one‐to‐many on‐demand product training through webinars. You may be responsible for corporate training and development organization—“training” is in your job title—and you are searching for more effective strategies to create training that results in improved measurable business outcomes. You may be a business leader focused on helping your customer—the technical product specifier—who is thirsty for product knowledge.
My job is a combination of all of the aforementioned roles, and my success directly depends on my organization’s ability to develop and deliver effective product training. I lead the sales engineering organization for a multibillion dollar global leader in infrastructure solutions for communications networks with individuals in over 30 countries worldwide.
I have had the privilege to work with Dan Bixby and directly benefit from Dan’s passion for product training excellence. Dan has developed a remarkable approach to developing product training and technical experts’ skills to deliver product training. I have seen Dan’s methodology work firsthand across cultures, languages, and geographies with my global sales engineering team.
You can benefit from the same methodology and principles detailed in this book. As you read this book, you will be surprised by many “ah‐hah” moments where striking foundational ideas are conveyed. These insightful gems are critical in taking your product training effectiveness to new heights. A few examples you will encounter in this book are:
The true objective of product training (product knowledge is important but is not the goal)
Recognizing the difference between product training and product certification
The journey to unconscious competence and how product experts should train audiences at different levels of expertise
It’s never
just
product training—always keep the business objectives in mind
The 4 × 8 proficiency design model—content is important but must be developed
last
Additionally, management professionals will benefit from “Executive Summaries” that recapitulate the learning objectives for book sections and highlight how you as a leader can support the individuals in your organization to learn and apply the methodology in this book.
As you, or those in your organization, put the principles in this book into practice, your ability to design, develop, and deliver effective product training will grow by leaps and bounds. Your customers will be confident about choosing and using your products, and you as a technical professional will now have skills, methodology, and appreciation to deliver effective product training…. You may even pick up Dan Bixby’s passion for training excellence in the process.
Kevin Ressler, PhD
VP, Field Applications Engineering & Technical Centers
Preface
Nothing influences a human being to learn like another human being. Instructor‐led training is not an old‐fashioned approach only used by technology latecomers. As wonderful as the Internet is and as powerful as computers are, even the most advanced companies turn to their experts when it matters most. What they want is for the specialist to provide something beyond mere content. The human influence and perspective that a skilled practitioner provides can be more powerful than any interactive software or fancy delivery mechanism. It can also be dangerous. If you are that expert, you must deliver training that changes what people do with your product. Changing what they know about it is not enough.
Like me, you probably did not begin your career with the goal of becoming an instructor. My technical vocation began on the night shift, cleaning silicon wafers in a wet chemical lab. At the time, I thought my new profession was the end of a previous one—teaching. I was wrong. As my technology skills increased, so did my love for learning and helping others to learn. I have been blessed to be able to combine these two skills into a lifelong passion of educating adults in skills that will make them more successful in their careers.
My journey has led me to several companies where I have experienced everything, from being a one‐man training department to leading global training programs for large corporations. Like you, I understand the unspoken pressure to be a technical expert first and a good instructor second. I want to help.
It has been my privilege throughout my career to transform engineers into artists. I have helped many people much smarter than I to become effective instructors by demonstrating to them that their students cannot be proficient in something they haven’t done. I hope you will be next.
Acknowledgments
I have often skimmed this section and wondered why authors put down a list of names that many won’t appreciate. Now I understand. Just as learning requires relationships, so does writing a book. These are just a few of those who have made this book possible.
My kids have been gracious to give up many of my evenings and weekends. Thank you. My brother, Bob, is probably glad this book is finally finished. Now we can spend our Tuesday calls talking about something else. Thank you for your patient ear. Mom, thank you for teaching me to read and write. I am grateful for both you and dad and the time you’ve spent assisting on this project. I learned so much about teaching from both of you. I’m glad Dad got to read the majority of this book, though I’m sad he never saw the finished product. What I wrote in the front of the book was what I had intended to write in his personal copy. Since he isn’t here to read it, everyone gets to. To the rest of my family, both immediate and extended—many of whom became proofreaders by proxy—thank you for volunteering your skills.
Morten Tolstrup, thank you for pushing me to write and introducing me to Wiley. As an author yourself, you knew how much work this was going to be. Thank you for not telling me!
Dr Kevin Ressler, your feedback and encouragement was helpful and is appreciated. Jack Culbertson, I am so thankful for your help in making this book as practical as possible. It is better because of your input. Dianne Schanhaar, you have regularly encouraged me when I needed it most. Thank you.
Thank you, Rebecca Rosemeier and Sara Briggs for your help with the artwork used in this book.
So many others have encouraged me along the way. You have read and offered suggestions and feedback, corrected my grammar, or simply given a kind word of encouragement. I hesitate to mention some, knowing I will forget many: Thompson Lewis, Kristin Hinrichs, Jim Breezley, Christa Harrison, Jennifer Alfaro, Dave Gilbert, Dr David Farrar, Genevieve Farrar, Dr Will Thalheimer, Dr Brian Hanson, and Dr Jim Kirkpatrick. Thank you.
Finally, I’m not even sure how to write a proper thank‐you to my wife, Brenda. I don’t think I will. It would require too many pages. I’ll find a better way. I love you.
How to Use This Book: And Who Should Read It
Self‐Study
Instructors are learners. Leaders are learners. All successful employees are learners—they want to get better at the skills they have been asked to do, even if they seldom practice them. The goal of this book is to increase the effectiveness of anyone asked to provide hands‐on learning.
If you are a product instructor, read the whole book. Take the time to answer the questions at the end of each chapter. You will find them helpful. There are questions about what you have just read and questions about what you are going to read. You may wonder why there are questions about a topic you have yet to read about. Two reasons. First, this encourages (as much as possible in a book) a two‐way conversation. I don’t know everything. Together, you and I can learn a lot more than we can alone. The answers you provide before you read the text will come from a very different perspective than the ones you provide after you read the text. This will give you a chance to compare them and learn more. Second, it is a teaching tool. By prompting you to think about one or two things first, I am encouraging you to look for those principles as you read. Feel free to use that technique with your own students!
Since product training is a team effort, there are many people who can benefit from parts of this book. Here are some examples, along with the sections they should concentrate on (Table i.1).
Table i.1 Who should read this book.
Part One: Foundation
Part Two: Strategy
Part Three: Structure
Part Four: Facilitation
Part Five: Operation
Executive summaries
Technical trainers
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Product specialists
✓
✓
Instructional designers
✓
✓
✓
✓
Training coordinators
✓
✓
Training managers
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
✓
Product managers
✓
✓
✓
Field engineers
✓
✓
Human resources
✓
✓
✓
Executive leadership
✓
Group Study
Some technical training groups may choose to use this book as a workbook for group study. Take a chapter a week (or however often you meet) and come together ready to discuss (and maybe even debate!) the questions at the end of the chapter. Create your own questions as well and discuss how you can apply or have applied the principles in real life.
Textbook
I teach a class based on the principles in this book—a train‐the‐trainer course for product specialists. In general, I concentrate on certain elements in Parts one, three and four. If you find this book helpful, it may work for you as well. If you choose to do so, please do me the favor of letting me know. I would love to hear how this book is helping other product trainers.
Encouragement
I love training. Maybe you do, too. Maybe you don’t—you do it because you have to. Perhaps you are an excellent and engaging instructor. Perhaps you’ve been told you are boring. Wherever you are at, when it comes to product training, this book should encourage you.
To be effective, instructors don’t have to know all there is to know about training any more than an engineer needs to know everything about a particular product or technology. But we can all improve.
Practical Performance Guide
This book is not an encyclopedia of everything there is to know about product training. It is a practical resource from one person’s perspective. Yes, I have a lot of experience in training all over the world. But I don’t know everything. In fact, the more I learn, the more I realize how little I know. I hope that this book can provide a real‐world difference in the way you teach.
More than anything, I hope you will do more than just read this book. The theme of this book is that your students learn best by doing. In the same way, readers of Product Training for the Technical Expert will learn best by doing. If you don’t get anything else from this book, remember this one thing:
You can’t be proficient in something you haven’t done.
About the Companion Website
Don’t forget to visit the companion website for this book:
www.wiley.com/go/Bixby
There you will find valuable material designed to enhance your learning, including:
Exercises
Checklist
Action verbs
Certification verification
Making it practical
Revision numbering
Scan this QR code to visit the companion website
Introduction
When subject matter experts are assigned the task of delivering a product training class, it is not typically because they are great trainers or because they can hold an audience spellbound with their charismatic personality. Usually, it’s because they know a lot or have access to a lot of content. Your familiarity with your product solutions gives you a distinct advantage as a technical trainer. But training is like a two‐edged sword. You need more than product knowledge. You need to know how to facilitate learning for others. Once you are armed with both your product skills and teaching skills, you will be ready to transform good training into great training.
You may already be a natural instructor. If so, I hope that the principles and suggestions in this book will sharpen that natural ability, strengthen your resolve to continuously improve, and broaden your skillset with practical tips and tricks.
Maybe you are afraid of teaching or think you don’t have the skillset. This book will help you become a better instructor as well. As an expert, you will need, at some point in your career, to help a subject matter beginner improve his or her skills. If you aren’t asked to get in front of a classroom, you may be asked to assist a trainer, to give a webinar, to provide content for an eLearning module, or to mentor a new employee. The concepts in this book will help with all of that.
Of course, my hope is that seeing people become proficient in something because of your training will make you proud. I hope that it will make you and your company more successful and that training will become more than just something you do, but something you do better.
Being skilled at something implies that one has more than just knowledge. An accomplished artist combines knowledge with art to create something unique and exquisite. A skilled trainer does the same. You should know your product well. You must take that knowledge and create something unique and exquisite: an individual with a new skill.
It takes skill to teach skill.
Part IThe Foundation of Hands‐On Learning
1Hands‐On Learning in the Classroom: Articulate Your Approach
You are a product expert.
I’ve worked with you. I’ve been on conference calls with you. I’ve heard those who respect your expertise in your product and say that you should be the one to train the beginner, because you know the product as well as anyone. I’ve seen you reluctantly agree to teach them again. Maybe they’ll get it this time.
Okay, so I haven’t worked with you, but I’ve worked with many like you, and here’s what else I know about you. I know that you are very smart. People say that you “just get it” when it comes to your product, technology, or industry. You can probably install or use your product with your eyes closed. When people need help understanding the limitations of your product or stretching the possibilities of what it can do, you are one of the few that gets the call. What others think is difficult, you find to be simple. You like to fix it, install it, program it, commission it—whatever you do with your product—you like to do it yourself.
Now you’ve been told you need to “transfer your knowledge” to others.
But you’re frustrated that no matter how much you go over it with people, they still think it’s difficult to understand. It seems so obvious to you. You’re afraid some might think you don’t want others to become as smart as you are—that you’re one of “those” knowledge‐hoarding engineers—but that’s not true. You genuinely want to make it easy for them as well.
“But,” you say, “I can’t.”
Take heart. Here’s the good news and the bad news all at once: you’re right. You can’t.
But what you can do is help them learn it for themselves. And that is a skill that starts right here.
Product Training as You Know It
I’ve been involved with product training for nearly 20 years, so I’m pretty confident that if you have taken many technical training courses delivered by subject matter experts, you are familiar with the training process described in the following text. Like the fictitious John in this scenario, you, too, may have struggled with the following progression.
John will deliver the content
John believes this is the most critical step. If he can only accomplish one thing, he must make sure his students get “the training,” by which he refers to the information in his presentation. He hates to be rushed. He would love to explain it better, but he has only a limited time to deliver this content.
John will more thoroughly explain the content
This is what John calls a
real
training class, as opposed to a presentation (though, admittedly, he uses the same material for both). He has put as much information on the slides as he can, just in case he doesn’t have enough time. That way his students can read them later. With a little more time, John can add stories and anecdotes about how he has used the product successfully, as well as a question and answer time at the end.
John will demonstrate the product
John loves this part, because he loves working with his product. He gets to show them how easy it is to use once you become proficient using it. He likes watching students’ eyes light up in apparent understanding as he pushes buttons and adjusts settings at the front of the room. Since John wants to confirm their learning, he asks the class to gather around him, so they can observe what he is doing more closely.
John will let the students experience the product
John’s classes don’t often get this far, though he wishes they would. He believes in hands‐on training—that the students should test their newfound knowledge on the equipment they’ve been studying. They should be able to change those settings and troubleshoot those problems, but the lab time will help to reinforce it. Not all of the students will get through the exercises, but if they struggle, John will be there to show them how to do it.
Have you been there? My guess is you have. Of course, you will need to adjust some things to your setting, or to an online or webinar environment, but the general progression is there. Technical experts, like John, have become so accustomed to the “Tell, Explain, Show, Try” model that they actually expect this progression when they go to a product training class (Figure 1.1). This undefined and ineffective template has become the accepted standard for product training. This model needs to change. It is hurting your learners. You didn’t become an expert by merely receiving information. Your students won’t either. You became an expert by doing it.
Figure 1.1 Ineffective product training process.
What Makes Training Effective?
Your training must be effective. In the words of a colleague and expert in training design and facilitation, Terri Cheney, “Ineffective training is expensive.”1 If you provide training that doesn’t work, you are wasting your time and your students’ time, and you are wasting their money and your company’s money. No one wins unless the training works.
Most product training begins with a problem. The problem may be real, and it may be that training is part of the solution. I’m going to start with the assumption that other potential factors have been eliminated—the quality of the product, the environment, and so on are not issues, and the right product is being used for the right solution. The real need truly has been narrowed down to the way users understand the product functionality. Even then, simply providing a training class is never the solution. That may surprise you, coming from a training professional in a book about training.
The reality is that you already know that. You’re a subject matter expert. It is precisely because you are a subject matter expert that you have been asked to provide the training or help develop the curriculum. You know that asking a subject matter beginner to give the training could be catastrophic. You agree with the statement that bad training on your product is worse than no training. “So,” you’re thinking “it’s good training. When people need to understand something new, good training is the solution.”
You’re getting closer. The problem is that most subject matter experts and even most corporate executives are unable to define what good training is. Their emphases are placed on any number of good and very important things that actually detract from the goal. Following are a few that are prevalent in product training:
Content
. By far the front‐runner on this list is content. Bad content equals bad training. Therefore, we reason, good content must mean good training.
Unfortunately, this deduction is not true. Content is extremely important. It is true that bad content would turn into bad training and that having good content is essential. However, just because something is important—or even essential—doesn’t make it the solution. Good content, by itself, is not the solution to your training needs. Understanding this principle is so important that it is the focal point of Chapter 8.
Presentation skills
. No one wants to sit in a class or on a webinar with an instructor who can’t communicate well. If instructors can take good content and add in good presentation skills, maybe
that
is the solution for good training.
Here again, good presentation skills are necessary. I love teaching subject matter experts how to present, but it is not the solution to your training needs.
Availability
. Here, the emphasis is quantity over quality. The more knowledge one distributes to those using their products, the fewer issues they will have. Product experts need to spread their knowledge. If those experts can just take advantage of available technologies and get more people through the training course, that will solve any education problems.
Believe it or not, this is a common approach. The desire to make your training available to the most people possible is a great desire. Sometimes executives mandate a certain availability; other times it is the subject matter experts that believe availability is the answer. However, if you have determined to deliver your course via eLearning or webinar before you even develop the objectives for the course, you may be guilty of focusing on the wrong thing first.
The list could go on to include other great things, like adult education and profitability. Both of those, to some degree or another, are key pillars in a philosophy of proficiency, but none of them stand alone.
So, what is the solution to the problem? The solution is to effectively change a person’s skills or behavior—to change how they do something. Everything else just helps you reach that goal. You need good content, great presentation skills, and a good mechanism to deliver training that will change behavior. You certainly want to improve the skillsets of as many people as possible. Making the outcome something that can be observed and measured, however, will help you choose the right content and deliver it the right way.
Your Goal: Proficiency
To be proficient in a skill or task, according to Merriam‐Webster’s simple definition, is to be good at doing something.2 Fuller definitions might include words like expert, well advanced, or competent. The desire of all product trainers should be to help others become experts with their product—to be able to use their products with competence.
It is important to point out the verb “to do” in the definition of proficient. To be proficient in something requires more than just knowledge. It requires being able to do something with that knowledge. Knowing a lot about your product is useless. Doing something with your product can launch immense success.
Product proficiency training involves more than just teaching people about your product. It is about making the training effective. The training is only effective when it changes the way the learner uses your product. This is not an issue of using the right terminology. This is a vital foundation of effective training.
If you merely teach students about your product, you may well gain some admirers, but you will not produce specialists or skilled users. Only changing how people use or what they do with your product will produce skilled users. Skilled users are the lifeblood of a product. The more there are, the more successful the product will be. Knowledge may affect behavior, but when push comes to shove, behavior is always more important than knowledge.
If you are lying on the operating table, what is more important to you: a doctor who knows a lot about the anatomy or one who can effectively perform the surgery you need? What about the pilot flying your airplane? Which do you want—knowledge or proficiency? The same can be said of you and your products. What makes your product valuable is what it does. What makes you valuable is not how much you know about your product, but what you are able to do with your product. What will make you effective as an instructor is how successful you are at changing what others do with your product.
Articulating Your Training Approach
In many ways, defining your approach to training is like articulating a good vision or purpose statement. It takes time and effort to create one that is broad enough to cover any learning application, but specific enough to define the approach you should take and demand consistency. Your primary goal is to clearly state how you will teach your students. You need a blueprint that will guide you no matter the product on which you are training on and no matter who you are training.
But first, you must understand how your students learn. Think about your product. Imagine the difficulties you would have if it had been designed without any understanding of how it would be used after production. It is more likely that product managers and engineers have taken great lengths to understand the market, the environment, the user preferences, and other factors that affect how your customers will use your product. The foundation of your approach starts with an understanding of what you want to accomplish—in this case, teaching proficiency. It is possible for training programs without a documented focus on proficiency to be successful. They may teach proficiency without really trying. Chances are, though, that that sort of training will be hit or miss.
There are several practical benefits to having a defined philosophy. First, by defining what you expect the outcome to be, you will ensure consistent training. Second, by emphasizing proficiency over knowledge, you will increase retention. Proficiency endures longer than information, which can be easily forgotten. Third, and most importantly, you will guarantee that your training is effective.
Three Things to Document
You want your training to be effective. Every time. When you document three important areas of instructor‐led training, it can be. The beauty of documenting how your students will achieve proficiency is that the process of documenting will provide answers to most of your questions before they are even asked.
Creating an effective product training class is like building a house. First, a house needs a well‐designed strategy that includes blueprints and financial backing. Second, a house needs a strong and supportive structure that aligns with your plans. Third, the house must be livable and presentable or it won’t get used. Consider how that applies to training:
Strategy. Training blueprints include the financial information that will make them successful as well as the expectation of what the finished product should provide.
Structure. Effective training doesn’t just happen. Effective training is carefully built with a thoughtful and proven process.
Delivery. If training isn’t presented in a way that encourages learning and is enjoyable for the learner, it won’t get used. And it must get used since a great product that doesn’t get used has no value.
Try a little exercise with me. You will be tempted to skip over it, but take the time to do the exercise, since it will help to shape your definition of effective training. Think about a class or learning module you have taken in the recent past—preferably one where you learned a lot and enjoyed the class. Write down answers to the following questions as you consider that learning experience.
Exercise 1.1 Class you have taken
Class you have taken
Why did the company or organization offer this class?
What can you do differently after this class?
How did you learn in this class?
I asked you to answer those questions before reading any further so that you can see later how a different approach may change some of the answers. Before taking a deeper look at the strategy, structure, and delivery of product training, take a moment to consider a class that you might teach or have recently taught on one of your products or a technology of your choice. Answer similar questions about the class, course, or module you are planning to teach.
Exercise 1.2 Class you will deliver
Class you will deliver
Why should your company or organization offer this class?
What should students who take this class be able to do differently after the class?
How will they learn in this class?
Refer back to these answers as you read through this book. Add or adjust your answers as necessary, but make sure you can answer them with confidence.
Adult Learning Principles: The Foundation of Hands‐On Learning
Why, what, how? All three questions are really about how adults learn. Perhaps you thought the last question was a typo that I meant to ask what students would learn about. Maybe you thought it was a question about the delivery medium; will it be an eLearning class or will it be an instructor‐led class? Both the topic and the delivery method are important. But the third question really is about how—how the information will be transformed into understanding—not about materials or delivery styles. Understanding how adults learn is an essential part of being a good instructor.
Training is a skill. There are good trainers and there are poor trainers. Facilitating technical learning is like the skill of photolithography inspection, web development, computer skills, engineering, or any other technical skill. It requires an understanding of the topic to get started and experience to become proficient. You don’t expect a new technician to have the same expertise that you do, much less someone who has no technical background at all. Then why would you expect someone who hasn’t studied how to teach or how adults learn to be a good instructor?
Training, like the technical skills I mentioned earlier, also requires another ingredient to make a great teacher. Behind every successful technical expert is a little bit of artistry. Part of what will make you a technical success is your ability to hear that the machine isn’t working properly, to see a default before it is released, and to feel an imperfection. That’s art, not science. Those are instincts that become part of who you are as a technician. However, those fine‐tuned instincts also make it harder for you to teach the skill.
Adult education is a field that some spend their lives studying. You don’t need that level of understanding, but you do need to understand some of the basics. You need to be able to answer the question, “How will students learn in this class?” The philosophy of product proficiency doesn’t change. That said, the strategy and the structure of training might change as new reasons and ways to design and build effective training are developed. The delivery might change as well, as new technologies are made available to us. The principles of adult learning do not. As demonstrated in Figure 1.2, they are the foundation that holds the three pillars.
Figure 1.2 Pillars of effective learning.
The Strategy of Hands‐On Learning
Why should your company or organization offer this class? The first question will drive you to define a purpose statement. Product solution training differs from general education in one key area: the impetus to have it in the first place. All product training is driven by a business strategy. Never offer a class unless you know why it provides value to your company and to your students. If you work in a for‐profit business, your company’s mission statement will likely be a major part of your purpose statement. Even if you work for an institution of higher learning or a nonprofit organization, it is critical to be able to understand and articulate the purpose statement.
Make certain your answer to the question earlier reflects your company’s vision for your product. Perhaps you wrote down an answer like the one I often see: “So that students can learn more about our products.” Or perhaps you were more specific in your answer: “So we don’t get so many calls in technical support.” That last one is a better answer, but it doesn’t answer why it is important to reduce technical support calls. Your training should support the goal of the company. Usually, the main goal of the company is to sell more products. Sometimes, it is to save money. A better answer may be “to increase sales by $700,000” or “to decrease technical support spending by $200,000.”
The Structure of Hands‐On Learning
What should students who take this class be able to do differently after the class? The second question pertains to the expected outcome of your class. If you don’t know what you are seeking to change, you have no framework to build on. Almost as importantly, it is impossible to be consistent if you cannot answer that question.
Product training that is consistently effective always completes the phrase, “At the end of this class, students will be able to do _____.” Note that this phrase is specific, without ambiguous expressions like “know more” and “understand better.” It is almost impossible to be consistent unless you are precise. When a former student cannot adjust a sensor on your product, his or her boss is not going to ask them if they learned “a little more” in your class. They are going to ask if the instructor teaches how to adjust that sensor in the class. “No” is an appropriate answer, but “sometimes” or “depending on the instructor” is not.
Often, your purpose statement will imply an answer to this question. For example, if your “why” answer was “to increase sales by $700,000,” you might add “by ensuring our resellers can integrate our product.” If your answer was “to decrease technical support spending by $200,000,” you might add “by verifying that our installers can install it correctly.”
The Delivery of Hands‐On Learning
How and where will the classes be taught? How will the instructor ensure that real learning happens? Questions like these are important to develop a clean, organized teaching environment. A structurally sound and well‐designed house will not be used if it is not livable and presentable. The same is true with training. A great training program, driven by a solid strategy and built on great theories, is still useless if those theories aren’t actualized in the delivery of the learning. The best way for subject matter experts to do that is to abandon the idea of presenting training and adopt, instead, the concept of facilitating learning.
Facilitating effective learning is what this book is about, but getting there requires some groundwork. You can’t hang pictures in your house before the walls are built. Too many instructors have been told it is their presentation skills that need to improve, when the structure of the training course is the real problem or when the lack of a forward‐thinking strategy would doom the training anyway.
But it is important to hang those pictures—to perfect those delivery skills. Training that is boring will not attract students. More importantly, however, your training must be effective. It must help your company meet its goals by changing what people do with your product.
Conclusion
It is challenging enough to teach one effective and well‐delivered class. Teaching effectively in every class or creating a program that involves multiple instructors all seeking to teach effective classes requires enormous effort. The key to your success will be determined by how you answer those questions. Are you confident that this course will help your company achieve its goals? Can you say, with reasonable certitude, that all students who successfully complete this course will be able to perform the intended task?
You will never be able to do everything. You will have decisions to make: how many students to include, who can take the class, what technologies will you use, how will you measure results—all are discussions you must have before you offer training. If you don’t, you’ll end up altering what you do with every class. Inconsistent programs are difficult to improve. You will naturally reflect on your best examples (when you did teach about that sensor) and fail to improve the others.
Having the right approach to product education is just the beginning, but it is the right place to start. When you consider your product training, can you articulate what makes it effective? Can you answer the questions that define your approach to proficiency learning? Your ability to meet those two objectives is an important first step in becoming an effective instructor of your product, solution, or technology.
Making It Practical
The principles of teaching for proficiency instead of merely increasing knowledge can change the way we think about product training. How does it apply in your company or department?
Define how proficiency with your product is different than knowledge of your product.
In your own words, describe whether you would prefer the pilot of your airplane to be knowledgeable or to be proficient and why.
What are three areas that are important to articulate in order to provide consistently effective product training?
Before you read Chapter 2, “Experiencing Learning: Emphasize Skill over Information,” answer these two questions:
In your own words, what do you think I mean by the phrase, “Don’t teach to yourself”?
Write down how you think you learn best in one to three sentences.
Notes
1
Terri, Cheney. From Know to Do: A Quick Guide for Experts Training Other Adults. Unpublished.
2
Merriam‐Webster online dictionary.
http://www.merriam‐webster.com/dictionary/proficient
(accessed August 8, 2017).
2Experiencing Learning: Emphasize Skill over Information
Do you do things because you have learned how to do them, or have you learned how to do them because you did them?
