In 1991, we put some 900 people through a basic seven-step problem-solving course, using two approaches. About half the employees came to our central corporate training facility for standard classroom training. The other half were trained in teams, on the job. This group didn’t get trained until they were part of a team that was working on a real problem. When they got to a point where they needed help, they called in a facilitator. First they learned Step 1 and applied what they learned. They didn’t worry about Steps 2 or 3 until they needed them. You might call this just-in-time training.
Three or four months later, we surveyed the people who went through these two programs. Of those who had received just-in-time, on-the-job training, 80 percent said they felt they used what they learned. Of those who had received standard classroom training, only 30 to 40 percent felt they had actually put to use what they were taught. We think a lot differently now about how to do training.
Source: Organizational Learning: The Key to Success in the 1990s by Ray Stata | Prism, Q4 1992
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