5 Ways to Improve Your Plant’s Training Strategy: Your questions answered

Webcast presenter Shon Isenhour answers more viewer questions on new training and devices as well as the best approaches for training and other best practices to consider.

By Shon Isenhour August 21, 2015

The August 13 Plant Engineering Webcast, "5 Ways to Improve your Plant’s Training Strategy," was presented by Shon Isenhour, Partner, Eruditio. The presentation was sponsored by Atlas Copco. There were a number of additional questions from viewers that were answered by Isenhour. The full archive version of the Webcast can be found here.

Q: Please discuss new training and devices.

Isenhour: Training is changing significantly with more companies looking for ways to engage a younger workforce the old death by power point will not work. We are seeing more blended learning approaches as well as gamification of learning. In these new sessions the student remains active and is part of the educational experience not just a bystander watching. Technology also is changing which is allowing for more video and on demand training delivered through phones, tablets and watches.

Q: What are the best approaches for training, best practices for a tail gate, how do you know if they "get it?"

Isenhour: We would suggest that simple single point lesson based training is very powerful especially when delivered with a touch of humor but don’t forget to add some interaction to check for understanding as you deliver it. Another option is to have the attendees research and share their own lessons that they have gleaned from sources like www.ReliabilityNow.com

Q: Is the key is to engage the trainees?

Isenhour: Engagement has many forms and drivers. It can be created through learning games or interactive activities or group discussions just to name a few and your training should make use of these techniques every ten to 15 minutes.

Q: How do you feel about interactive training experiences?

Isenhour: Interactive training experiences are a critical part of creating engaging and effective training sessions. They create long term retention of the material by creating an experience. We use them extensively aboard the USS Yorktown where our training center is located. In our case the ship and its flight simulators fit nicely into leadership and communication training by creating a fun and memorable training experience. We find that they can take traditional training to a new level.