Training is a Language
Fundamentally, training is a lot like learning a new language.
The reason language learning is a perfect analogy to any decent training program rests on the fact that, like with the effort to learn (or teach) a new language, there is no hidden secret by which fluency is attained, outside of time, effort, and repetition. And just like with language learning, some skills/languages are easier to master, and no two people will develop fluency at the same rate. Nevertheless, better and worse learning approaches do exist.
Time = Patience
Time in the context of skills training means patience, on the part of the trainee and the trainer. Arguably, even more so for the trainer, because they are the ones who set the tempo of the program, as well as the mood. A trainer that is impatient and allows their impatience to seep into their training when communicating with trainees is creating a counterproductive learning experience that will make it even harder to progress forward in the program.
Trainees will be naturally anxious coming into a new professional and learning environment, and part of the trainer’s job is to mitigate that anxiety by displaying a calm and patient demeanor with their trainee. The best way for a trainer to stay within the appropriate patience mindset is simply to try to remember their own Day 1 perspective on the job, back when all this content looked foreign to them, before they gained fluency in the work “language” they are now teaching to others.
Effort = Genuine Attempts
Putting in Effort Doesn’t mean perfection. Quite often is means repeat failures that get incrementally better through subsequent genuine attempts to improve. Just like reading a dictionary won’t make you fluent in a language, memorizing work terminology won’t teach you how to do the work. Trainees must put the skills they’re learning to practice and be given enough room to fail under the guidance of their trainers. Every genuine attempt at performing a new skill should (with time) get most people closer to fluency.
On the part of the trainee, effort entails memorizing and applying what is being taught to them. Effort on the part of the trainer means setting realistic expectations for a trainee’s fluency progression and being ready to guide them in their development by reinforcing the proper grammar of the training as needed…as often as needed.
Repetition = Patience (yet again)
The more you repeat something, the better you’d remember it.
The more you repeat something, the better you’d remember it.
The more you repeat something, the better you’d remember it.
Learning cannot occur if the person doing the teaching is not ready or willing to repeat themselves, over and over again, on the same topic (often within the same lesson), until what’s repeated becomes ingrained in the student’s long-term memory.
A simple formula to remember: Repetition -> Recognition -> Familiarity -> Comfort -> Confidence -> Fluency
Whether you’re a toddler learning to speak for the first time, or an adult learning to get by with the natives in a foreign country, language learning is all about repetition. The more you are exposed to the content, concepts, and make a genuine effort to learn the rules of your new language, the better you’ll be at communicating with fluent speakers.
Some Thoughts for Trainers
It is important to keep in mind that when it comes to job skills training there are no native speakers.
We’re all foreigners who learned how to speak this common language, and it took time and effort for every one of us to get to a point of comfort and fluency so that we can communicate with each other. And none of us did it overnight. And if pressed, most likely you can’t even name an exact moment when this fluency happened for you. But happen it did. Training is just about helping others reach that same point in the road we all crossed, where the road signs finally start making sense.
Want to learn more about training methods that will help you succeed reaching your goals, contact us at succeed@stevicstrategic.com
