Learning & Training for Supervisors
The author has spend years training supervisors, generally in manufacturing. With whatever curriculum he used he would add a chapter on adult learning theory. With this as a framework, he believed that trainees are far more receptive to the training as they have some understanding of why and how the program is constructed to benefit there growth. Very rarely do training facilitators take the time to explain the basics of adult learning to class participants. Indeed, if he has limited facilitator experience the facilitator may not even know the basics of adult learning himself.
The Supervisor: A Key Position
From the outset you need to know that there is no other job more important than that of supervisor. It is the supervisor who helps staff work at their optimal levels. It is also the supervisor that helps make management’s work smoother and more trouble-free than it would otherwise be. But developing the necessary skills to be successful in this pivotal position is a real challenge and does not just happen because the new supervisor used to be a first rate tradesman!
The new supervisor probably has the potential to be an excellent supervisor otherwise his boss would not have appointed him. But it is too much to expect you to “pick up the supervisory skills on the job.” This is why the boss normally provides supervisory training. When and if this occurs, the new supervisor owes it to himself, his boss and the training facilitator to do the best he can to participate fully in the session discussions and other learning activities.
As a prerequisite to training, the new supervisory needs to understand how best to get the most of any supervisory training he may receive.
1. Learning Activity: The Benefits of Training to You and Others
Or: What’s in it for Me (WIIFM)!
Firstly, we need to consider the importance of participating in supervisory training. “Because the boss wants me to” is an incomplete answer. To get the most from it and, in turn, be prepared to put a lot into it, the new supervisor needs to see the importance of it and the benefits to him, his staff, his boss and the company as a whole.
Here is a partial list of the importance of undertaking training.
It will help you become :
A better communicator
Know how to develop a more positive work environment
More cost-effective
More satisfied on the job
Develop more productive workers
More confident in your abilities
More self-aware and self-confident
A person with better morale
Increased in skills and make so fewer errors
A better leader able to gain respect and discipline others respectfully
A better problem solver
More stree free
A more collaborative team leader
A strong team spirit developer
Less likely to face personal liability lawsuits
Better respected by staff
A better time manager and more highly organized
2. Basics of Learning
It is important to know how you learn for at least two reasons:
When you proceed through a training experience, you will have a better idea of what is taking place in the learning process and you are therefore more likely to respond positively to the experience.
Good supervisors are also coaches and trainers of their staff. Therefore, it is essential for you to understand basic training theory and practice so you can increase your training skills.
A.Learning as Change
The objective of learning is to bring about changes in your behavior so you can do things differently. Learning can be transformational–it can change your life forever. As you acquire new knowledge and skills, you begin to see new potentials and opportunities that you perhaps had not thought possible beforehand. Learning can be a difficult experience as you strive to break through old prejudices and habits, but it also can bring many rewards.
The focus in a training program is on your learning. The flip side is that the person standing up front is a facilitator of your learning, more than he is a teacher or a trainer.
The focus, therefore, is on you, the learner, not the facilitator (trainer).
B.Active and Positive Participation
People learn in different ways, but one thing is clear: one of the best ways that all people learn is through active and positive participation, i.e. doing, discussing, listening actively, talking, being keen and enthusiastic about what you learn.
It is important that you become actively involved in what happens during the training. Being active and positive will ensure you learn close to 100% of what there is to learn. Being passive, not participating, listening with one ear, day dreaming is a waste of your time, the facilitator’s time and the company’s money. You need to make the effort for learning to happen.
C.Self-Directed Learning
A component of learning is the concept of self-directed learning, that is, a student has “learned on his/her own.” Research has shown that 75% of the learning that adults do is self-directional as opposed to institutional or employer provided learning. Write down the many things that you have learned on your own: