A study for the American Society for Training and Development and the U.S. Department of Labor estimated that 80 to 90 percent of an employee’s job knowledge and skills comes from on-the-job training (OJT). Think about it: After an initial orientation program (if there is one), where do employees on a manufacturing line or in offices learn how to perform the day-to-day activities of their jobs? Usually at their place of work, from their co-workers, through direct instruction or observation. This is a prime opportunity to facilitate employee learning; ignore it and you will be leaving to serendipity the development of knowledge, skills, attitudes, and beliefs that your employees need to help the organization reach its potential.
Structured OJT:
The planned process of developing task-level expertise by having an experienced employee train a novice employee at or near the actual work setting. (Jacobs, 1995)
All employees must perform certain job tasks, such as solving problems, making decisions, inspecting products and processes, following procedures, planning and organizing resources, and using tools. You can help an employee learn to perform these tasks by planning and executing OJT. The process will vary depending on whether the needed training is managerial, technical, informational, or motivational, but the steps are the same:
1. Prepare the trainee (describe the purpose of training, prerequisites, requirements, process of training, and elicit questions from learner)
2. Present the training (give an overview of the task, give examples, break down the parts of task, demonstrate the task, explain desired outcomes of task, summary)
3. Require a response (learner describes task, learner demonstrates task, learner summarizes learning)
4. Provide feedback (indicate correctness of learner response while coaching learners)
5. Evaluate performance (compare to standard and desired outcomes)
Additional individual-focused learning strategies that you might consider are:
• Peer Tutoring
• Employee Exchange
• Job Aids
• Self-Instructional Books and Articles
• Writing Assignments