This is a program for those who plan or deliver job skills training. If you are a full-time or part-time trainer, or a manager responsible for training, perhaps you have struggled with these dilemmas:

• Why doesn't training seem to transfer to the job?
• How can I cope with the variations of experience, interests, and learning styles in a group of trainees?
• How do I know what information is really important?
• How can I cover everything in the short amount of time I'm allowed?

These are common dilemmas wherever trainers deal with learners as members of a group. The trainer must tailor the curriculum to the "average" member of the group, and must coax the rest to go along with the program. But people learn as individuals, not as members of a group. Programs that are learner-directed produce far better results in less time.

Self-directed learning is based on these fundamental principles.

Learning is driven by the need or desire to perform tasks, solve problems, or make decisions on the job. The goal is performance, not merely the acquisition of information. Although information may be needed, it does not automatically translate into performance. Performance results from practice.

Individuals vary widely in experience, interests, and priorities, in capacity and readiness to learn, and in preferred ways of learning. These differences increase with age and experience. Even among individuals doing the same job, learning needs at any particular time vary widely.

Responsible adults want to direct their own individual learning efforts. They want to succeed, and they have an idea of what success requires of them. They will accept responsibility for their own performance. They may need help in articulating their learning objectives, in choosing a learning path, and figuring out how to execute. They may need feedback to tell them how they are doing. But they don't need to be motivated or controlled by a trainer. For those few who are unwilling to accept responsibility for their own learning, a trainer can do little of lasting value.

Rich Makela's program will help you develop the skills to create learning programs that help people perform tasks, solve problems, and make decisions on the job. You will learn how to:

• Create practice exercises that are based on real tasks, problems, and decisions that learners actually face on the job. Insure that training aims directly at desired business results.
• Link information to the activity that requires it, and significantly increase learning efficiency.
• Create job aids and information resources that support people on the job and reinforce learning.
• Avoid dependence on group lectures, and allow each individual to learn what they need to learn at a pace that suits them.

This program can be conducted in two ways.

• Rich Makela can coach a small group as they actually develop a training and support program. The program will be tailored to your situation and will lead to concrete results. Instead of just learning how to do it, you will actually do it.
• Rich can conduct a one-day seminar that introduces the fundamental concepts and gives examples of how they can be applied.

Contact Makela Performance, Inc. to find out how this program could work in your company.