RESIDENT RETENTION
ROBERT WENDOVER | COMMON SENSE ENTERPRISES, INC
Clips, Texts and Tweets: Training Today’s Millennials
I
spoke with a fifty-something manager recently and he asked me if I
thought that video clips might be a better way to connect with his
emerging workforce. My first thought was, “Well, Duh!” But then I got
thinking about my 61-year-old self. So much has changed about train-
ing delivery in the past five years that it makes my head spin. As someone who
began his career with overhead projectors and flip charts, there are days when
I feel like I’m playing a constant game of catch-up. This article will address a
few global questions. The next two will give you some
practical ideas that I, and others, are using in the
field. Finally, I’ve provided some thoughts on
training individual Millennials.
First, digital technology is just a
tool. In spite of what Apple, Google,
Microsoft and the others will tell
you, software is not, in any of its
incarnations, a solution. The big
focus these days is faster, better,
cheaper. While it’s easy to define
faster and cheaper, better is a
different story. Software takes
much of the thinking out of
learning. For perfunctory tasks,
that’s great. But for the develop-
ment of problem solving and trouble-
shooting skills, it’s a nonstarter.
Talk to teachers and trainers and they’ll
you about the menu-dependent souls in their
classes who appear intimidated when asked to
reason thru a challenge outside of the computer environ-
ment. The real solution? Develop case studies and situations they’ll face on
the job and then ask them, perhaps force them, to find solutions. It might
be tough at first, but with trial, error, and repetition come mastery. No one
has ever grown without discomfort and no one is going to do so in the future.
Second, it’s all about the messaging. As some have heard me say from
the platform, Millennials are the most diverse, wired, impatient, demanding,
fun-loving workers in US history. This means that everyone is competing
for their attention 24/7/365. Yes, the average person under thirty seems to
be able to do five things at the same time. But that doesn’t mean that they’re
doing them well. This generation has come of age immersed in non-stop
hyperbole, with shocking and outrageous video clips, photos and lyrics thrown
in periodically just to interrupt the mindset. This doesn’t mean we have to
have naked people running thru the classroom, training room, shop or
laboratory to capture their attention. But it does mean, we all have to put a
lot more effort into the stories, illustrations, titles, and exercises we use when
competing for a share of mind. Whether it’s one-on-one, in a classroom, in
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the field, or over the Web, successful instructors spend a lot more time these
days on training delivery than they do on training content.