TRAINING MILLENNIALS ONE-ON-ONE
by Robert Wendover
Those of you who have heard me speak on the subject of hiring know that I am forever telling employers to avoid the " Yups," as in " Are you a hard worker?" " Yup." But the yups go beyond hiring. They are also common during training.
People, in general, don ' t like to appear dumb or dense. So when someone tries to teach us something and we don ' t get it, we ' re inclined to say " Yup " anyway when they ask if we understand. The Millennial generation is no different in this regard. In fact, it may be worse with them simply because our training is competing for " share of mind " with everything else going on in their heads. I ' m not casting aspersions. They ' re just wired that way due to their immersion in digital technology and fast-paced media since birth. So how do you connect with these so-called " digital natives " in one-on-one instruction? Here are few tips that I see working:
Show them the big picture-- Most new employees have never learned what role their job plays in the scheme of things. They can ' t explain how the place makes money. They know that money comes and that people get paid. That ' s about it. Show them how that $ 500 part they handle nets the company $ 25, before taxes. Explain to them that between your hourly wage and theirs, that one hour ' s worth of training is equal to the profit on two of those $ 500 parts. This may not sink in the first time, or even the fifth. But over time, they will understand that training is valuable and they better pay attention.
Show them how. Do it with them. Watch them do it-- Anyone who has been trained to
Robert Wendover will be presenting at the 2017 Education Conference
train has been taught this old saw at one time or another. The trouble is, most of us don ' t do it. We start out okay by showing them how. Sometimes we do it with them and sometimes we watch them do it. But we find all kinds of reasons not to follow through-- scheduling, distractions, perhaps just boredom with teaching something so basic. But this follow-through is essential. After all, repetition is the best teacher and these learners need to know that while mastery doesn ' t come immediately, you ' re there to support them.
Use relatable metaphors-- Millennials have their own frame of reference, just like the rest of us. The more you can provide examples, terms, phrases, celebrity names, product names and things to which they relate, the more they will engage. This is also true of lifestyle needs and wants. Years ago, for example, I was trying to explain to someone the cost of a mistake due to carelessness. I could ' ve said $ 400 over and over until I was blue in the face and he would not have gotten it. After all, the company has lots of money, right? So instead, I knew that the tires on his car were rather bald and I said " This mistake is the equivalent of a new set of tires for your car." He got it right away.
Challenge their yups-- The next time someone says " Yup " when you ask if they understand, say " I don ' t believe you." Then make them demonstrate that they do. You can let them off the hook, of course, if it is obvious that they don ' t understand. But you should also inform them that saying yup when they don ' t understand doesn ' t serve anyone. After all, it could be that their instructor didn ' t do an adequate job. If you make it a little memorable the first time, they ' re more likely to speak up from then on when something doesn ' t make sense. Of course, you want to be careful to make sure that they understand that everyone struggles with learning things sometimes. You certainly don ' t want them to feel dumb.
Provide a resource for reinforcement-- One of the advantages of today ' s technology is that you can create instant training tools. Not long ago I conducted a couple of seminars on safety training and Millennials at a utility conference. During each session, I broke the audiences into teams and asked them to create a two-to-three-minute video on a safety topic of their choice. This 20 minute exercise resulted in some straightforward, but amusing video clips designed to engage and reinforce. Any instructor can produce video and audio clips and provide links to resources on the web. So there are five ideas for training Millennials oneon-one. If you have ideas, let me know. I ' d love to share them.
Robert W. Wendover is an award-winning author of ten books who has been researching and writing about workforce trends for more than 30 years and is the principal of Common Sense Enterprises | www. commonsenseenterprises. net
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