TechnicalTrainer.org

If you’ve read my background, you know that I train techies. Specifically, I train Oracle programmers, primarily internal employees in the E-Business Suite (EBS) line of business, how to write J2EE-based applications for Oracle’s EBS product using our framework called Oracle Applications Framework (FWK). It should come as no surprise that I read technical blogs, along with blogs on workplace learning and performance (WLP).

One of my favorite blogs in the technical category is Coding Horror. Why? I think Jeff “gets” it. He wrote an outstanding piece that I think applies equally as well to Programmers (his audience) as it does to WLP Professionals (my intended audience). His post is titled, “The One Thing Every Software Engineer Should Know.”

In that post, he said the following.

This is painful for developers to hear, because we love code. But all that brilliant code is totally irrelevant until:

1. people understand what you’re doing
2. people become interested in what you’re doing
3. people get excited about what you’re doing

In a word, WOW! This is an incredibly powerful observation, and one that I have agreed with for a long time. Just replace the word “developers” with “trainers” or “instructors”, and replace “that brilliant code is” with “those brilliant courses are”. This is as true for WLP Professionals, in fact, it may be even more relevant to us. Why? When was the last time you read about an Open Source Learning company? BLUE CAP LEARNING anyone? Or TeachUx? It doesn’t exist because there is no business model for doing it. As WLP Professionals, we have to rely on our abilities to persuade people to do that right thing. Which comes back to Jeff Atwood’s three observations.

Moreso, after Jeff’s post, a commenter on his blog accused Jeff of, “having the most dangerous programming blog.” Jeff, your post is dangerous, just like Thomas Payne was dangerous. It is truth. And truth applies more than just to the situation at hand. It applies broadly in categories you might never have considered. Hopefully, it is dangerous like a virus. Hopefully it spreads the idea about to communities, infecting them with the idea. Hopefully it morphs into other communities considered isolated from the effect. If nothing else, hopefully this gets your idea into the realm of WLP Professionals. We certainly need to hear it.

I am continually amazed at the vast number of training organizations that use response evaluations (aka smile sheets). What amazes me is not the number that use them, but how they use or do not use them. From my limited subset of observations, I have seen these evaluations used in one of two primary ways.

One, the evaluation is used to punish the instructor. WAIT! I know. The organization refers to it as evaluating the instructor, or perhaps even the less offensive feedback to the instructor. But, it really is punishment. Why? Because, the instructor has very little control over their situation, and yet we blame them for the outcome. The instructor does not control the learning materials. I know! I know! You have a separate area on the evaluation for evaluating the materials. But, I think it is insane to think that an outstanding instructor could teach an outstanding class with horrible or even substandard materials. It just cannot happen. In addition, the instructor does not control any of the other critical factors, classroom, students, setup, the instructor’s training, support, etc. And yet, we boil it all down to a single number, and fully place the blame on the instructor.

Want a secret? If an instructors asks the students the following question at the start of class, “I am concerned with your progress. I want to know if at any point you are not satisfied. If you are, just let me know, and I will do what I can to assist.” And then, at the end of class, the instructor says, “I appreciate your feedback. I tried hard to earn your highest ratings. I just want you to know that I am evaluated on your feedback, and I really appreciate you giving me the highest ranking possible.” If the instructor says these statements or some close variation thereof, they will find their evaluations will go up. Period! This experiment has been done countless times. It is not performance. It is human psychology. And, it shows you when you have an experienced instructor versus a new instructor. The experienced instructor probably knows enough to ask these of their class.

Two, the evaluations are collected merely to be collected. Nothing meaningful is done with them. They are “hmmm” sheets. Instructors look them over, go “hmmm”, and then ignore any recommended changes. Is that bad? No! I would argue that this is probably a far better use of these sheets than just about any other use.

How so? Here is a story. My local ASTD chapter had a monthly meeting that focused on mentoring. The evaluation scores from that meeting were aligned around the poles. About 2/3rds of the attendees thought it was the worst meeting they had attended. About 1/3rd of the attendees thought it was fabulous. Meaningful info? Let me give you more backstory. From that “awful” meeting, came a mentoring process that is an outstanding success. We have a waiting list of people who want to be a part of the mentoring process as both mentors and proteges. It is likely to go down as a watershed moment in the history of the chapter, and yet if we looked at the evaluations we would have never done anything at all.

This is why LEARNING is far more important that teaching, instructing, facilitating, or any other word you’d like to use for the process. You have to read this article by Alfie Kohn. (Note: Do not discount this article because it is written for school children.)

It’s Not What We Teach; It’s What They Learn

He is exactly correct. Learning is based on context. It is hard work. And, it is certainly not someone standing up in front of students, adults or children, and reading from a PowerPoint presentation. It is not a collection of subject-matter expertise that allows you to intimidate the student into silence either. It is hard work that requires understanding, training, and commitment.

Want your company to consider you an essential element of the company, instead of a cost center? Then, learn to focus on learning.