Using Teams to Develop Training Content

TeamOJT Tip of the Month for February, 2004

A recurring question among members of the training profession is who should develop training content: subject matter experts, trainers, instructional systems designers, etc.?

Traditional training relies on subject matter experts, including trainers, for input to the design and development of the training. They either develop the training themselves or enlist the aid of an instructional systems designer. There are many drawbacks to this approach:

It is costly and time-consuming
Instructional systems designers are usually not familiar with the job
Input is obtained from only one or two subject matter experts via observations and interviews and may not resemble "real" tasks
Subject matter experts and trainers often leave out information that is essential for trainees
Training content is not in the "language" of the employees
Training content lacks employee ownership

A far less expensive and faster approach is to use the employees themselves working together in design teams. Design teams should consist of 6-9 employees who perform the job. For example, an airplane manufacturing facility may have design teams of inspectors, design teams of wing assemblers, and design teams of quality auditors. In a retail company, various design teams might involve customer service representatives, managers, sales personnel, or warehouse employees. Design teams ideally include a wide range of knowledge and expertise, including trainees. Training content reflects "best practices" and is written in the language of the employees to the level of detail deemed necessary for trainees.

Consider the following benefits of using a team-driven approach to training. Here is what team-driven training can accomplish:

Create a learning environment. In his famous work, The Fifth Discipline, Peter Senge writes, "Teams, not individuals, are the fundamental learning unit in modern organizations." Groups of workers meeting once a week to identify tasks and write step-by-step procedures create an active learning environment in which tasks continuously are examined and updated. Team members cooperate in solving problems and learn from one another not only during meetings, but also back on the job itself. They develop mutual respect and gain new perspectives. Learning as a team also helps people remember information.
Shorten development time. Using teams of employees to develop training materials allows a potentially enormous workload to be spread over a large group of people. When there are several design teams working on the same tasks, they share the workload-even serving as one another's approval teams.
Involve and empower employees. Having the employees in each work area involved in the process from the outset builds commitment. People usually support what they help to create. Employee ownership is fundamental to the success of any process or program.
Highlight tasks that require team coordination. Cross-functional design teams are ideal for addressing tasks that require the coordination of people in different teams or departments. Procedural steps that explicitly promote effective coordination and use of team resources can be embedded directly into the training content so that they are learned up-front and become second nature to employees carrying out the tasks.
Create a holistic approach to performance improvement. A range of existing or anticipated problems surface naturally as teams discuss the "best" way to perform tasks and begin to evaluate task performance from a systems perspective. Training content that results from a team effort is generally far superior to training materials written by an individual.
Create future problem-solving capability. Employees not only learn how to build an OJT program by analyzing tasks and writing and verifying training content, but they also learn a methodology by which they can address all types of performance and organizational issues that may arise. Teams are able to anticipate and prevent future problems.
Address the hidden causes of performance problems. These hidden causes always involve the following factors:
- No feeling of belonging or significance among employees
- Lack or employee decision making and tangible control over the job
- Absence of social embeddedness, that is, working cooperatively with others
- Skills and knowledge not put to full use
- Lack of synergy or coordinated efforts, that is, not seeing the bigger picture
The act of building something together-a team-driven process of developing training--provides a solution to these hidden causes. Only when these fundamental concepts of human behavior are addressed can organizations relieve such signs and symptoms of human performance problems as low productivity, poor quality, and high costs.
Change organizational behavior. One of the fastest ways to change organizational values or culture is to change group behavior. When group behavior changes, the group attitude changes. This is followed by a change in the norms (unwritten rules of behavior) and values of the group. And when groups adopt new values, the individuals change their own behaviors. When work crews come together to share their ideas, skills, and knowledge to remove hindrances to getting the job done as efficiently and effectively as possible, they develop attitudes, norms, and values conducive to high performance and high-performing individuals.

Human Performance Applications
Phone: (206) 447-0860
FAX: (206) 447-3410
E-mail: diane@teamojt.com