Preface
Low-Cost, High-Return Training

As a training practitioner, I have spent a good deal of my working life documenting jobs and developing systems to help people learn. For over thirty years I have applied numerous up-to-date training methods and have found it fascinating to watch the evolution toward more and more systematic approaches to learning. Yet as effectiveness and efficiency have increased, so has the cost of developing sophisticated training programs. And unfortunately, training professionals still have little ammunition when they face skeptical managers who often weigh the cost of doing nothing at all against what they view as the high cost and unpredictable results of formal training. For all the changes in my chosen profession, that’s one aspect that has changed very little.

When the situation doesn’t justify a large expenditure or when the choice is to do nothing, the alternative is not “no learning.” The learning will happen anyway. It won’t be structured or systematic or efficient, but it will happen because motivated workers will find a way to muddle through, doing the best they can with what they have. And what they have is usually some form of unstructured on-the-job training (OJT): probably the single most expensive training method available. The cost of the resulting inefficiencies will simply be buried beneath the numbers on a chart of accounts as decision makers brag about how much they saved by avoiding a large (and obvious) expenditure to develop formal training. I learned this the hard way, and as I began to sense the inevitability of on-the-job training, I also began to see that the approach had power waiting to be harnessed. So I began to experiment with structures for on-the-job training that could provide inexpensive and reasonably effective training alternatives based on sound learning theory mixed with more than a little common sense. This book summarizes what I have learned. Starting with a research project at Bowling Green State University in Ohio and continuing to this day, the elegant concept of introducing structure into on-the-job training consistently has yielded amazing results in terms of learning, training time, productivity, financial gain, and just about any other type of return available. Hands-On Training is truly low-cost, high-return training.

I wrote Hands-On Training primarily for on-the-job training instructors: supervisors and skilled workers who actually train others. I use the book to supplement instructor training seminars for clients where most participants are not professional trainers. They are not theorists. Most are part-time instructors. They include skilled office workers, lab technicians, software engineers, machine operators, truck drivers, customer service representatives, miners, assemblers, nurses, and warehouse workers. They come from high-tech aerospace, computer, and biotech companies as well as old-line industries such as machine shops and food, steel, and automotive companies, to name just a few. While they come from all walks of life, my repeated observation has been that on-the-job training instructors are very serious about their responsibilities and are searching for ways to make their training better. These instructors persevere in the face of many obstacles. Most of them are open and ready to accept help when it is practical and straightforward. When they see Hands-On Training, they know it will work.

If you share this observation or if you’re willing to experiment, I say leave the fads and fancy stuff in the training center. Teach workers how to do on-the-job training—and teach them to do it well! Hands-On Training is on-the-job training that works. Use it to help new on-the-job training instructors get started, support your own instructor training, or provide experienced instructors with a fresh perspective. Many on-the-job training instructors will grasp it like a life preserver!

A Word about Semantics

A new book gets read several times before it is printed for publication. The publisher has editors and reviewers who make suggestions about style and content. And as the author, I had more than a dozen friends read the manuscript and give me their thoughts as well. I got a lot of good suggestions, but one troublesome pattern emerged during this process. Almost every single reader suggested that I change words used to identify some of the most important people and ideas in the book. The first couple of times I changed the words, only to have subsequent readers suggest I change back to those I used in the first place. It was a frustrating experience.

Is the person who delivers Hands-On Training an instructor, a facilitator, or a teacher?

Is the person on the receiving end a trainee, a student, or a learner?

Is the training about skill, expertise, or a subject?

Perhaps you can see my dilemma. I couldn’t find words that would satisfy everybody. While all of these words have shades of meaning that may appeal to different types of readers, they are also nearly identical in many ways. So I hope that you will bear with me when I refer to the instructor, the trainee, and the skill. I am doing this only in the interest of simplicity and consistency. Please feel free to substitute your own favorite alternatives. They won’t change the message of this book.

Gary R. Sisson
Littleton, Colorado
April 2001