It's called the "far transfer problem," and what it means to trainers is the issue of getting you help when you're back on the job. It's easy to learn the basics of a process or procedure in the classroom, but it's common for a trainee to get back on the job; and then, a day, a week, a month, or a year later to have to do a process that they don't remember very perfectly. For years, trainers have tried to deal with this through extensive manuals and through something called "job aids.%
Job aids are reminders of how to do things or why to do them. Many folks make up their own, making specific notes that mean something to them, and keeping them near their desk so they can get to them on a moment's notice. Years ago, we used to give every trainee in our supervision classes little pocket cards that summarized basic points of the course. It is fascinating, sometimes, to get a letter from someone who had been a trainee ten years before, asking if we could send them another pocket card because they'd worn out the ones they'd had. Trainees like job aids.
Now, with the Web, you have the ability to put job aids where people can get them over the network. The best way to do this is to put course material online so that people can get to anything that they need to get to. Put summaries of important procedures, points, and processes on separate pages with links to more detail. That's using the power of the Web to do its best.
Don't stop with simple Web-based tools, though. Consider programs that will let people make little mini-movies of keystrokes so that the next time they have to do a process they can see what they did last time to make it work.
When all else fails in the real world, we usually want someone to call. That's not a bad idea for training follow-up and job aids as well. You might not want to make someone available on immediate call; but for many kinds of training, an expert available by e-mail who can respond to questions makes it possible for a trainee to be more effective sooner.
Making It Work
One company that I know goes one step further than what we've already talked about. In that company, the instructor and trainees from a particular class participate in a discussion group for three months after the conclusion of training. The trainer is supplemented by a couple of content experts; and all of them, trainees, trainer, and experts respond to inquiries about the course and how to do things.
Created/Revised/Reviewed: 30 July 2002
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