Transferring Skills to Build Capability
Using external advisors to support performance improvement only makes sense if it enhances existing capabilities and develops new ones, so you need to do it only once
Transferring skills is not simply about introducing people to new techniques and training them in their use. It means developing their understanding as well, into when and why the technique should be used, so that staff are equipped to make valid judgements about:
- when a particular technique should be used;
- how to apply it, in any particular set of circumstances.
Whole Brain Learning
Successful skills transfer requires both the rational and experiential “learning brains” to be engaged. This relatively new theory of learning explains that we learn in two different ways.
Professor Seymour Epstein at the University of Massachusetts, in his study of learning, suggests that we have an experiential mind and a rational mind:
- our experiential mind learns directly, thinks quickly, pays attention to the outcome, and forgets slowly;
- our rational mind learns indirectly, thinks deliberately, pays attention to the process, and forgets rapidly.
He suggests that for learning to be fully effective it must engage both those minds.
This explains why the education and training for many safety-critical professionals, such as pilots or doctors, contain a balance of both academic “rational” learning and hands-on, practical “experiential” learning. This combined approach is exactly what MML has always done.
Learning By Doing
From the very start, all our courses have contained a balanced mix of theory and practice. Sophisticated computer based business simulations, practical process simulations, paper exercises and case studies all provide a means of enhancing the academic classroom learning with intuitive, experiential understanding.
The practical sessions allow people to try out their new knowledge, test their understanding, see what happens “if”, and start to discover how new techniques can be applied to the real world of work. The benefits are significant:
- learning and understanding are embedded. People have returned to us fifteen years after attending a course, because they still remember the impact it had on them;
- the company retains the acquired skills — no longer having to bring in external expertise every time it's needed;
- staff learn from their mistakes — but without any risk of damaging the business;
- they see the impact that getting it right (and wrong) can have on performance;
- as a consequence, they return to work with the enthusiasm and confidence to put theory into practice — many start making improvements right away.