CARE: Adult Leaning

Why and What of Training

PRINCIPLES

Adults are greatly influenced by peer groups. So, it is all the more important that the programme that is offered will not attract criticism and opposition from the peer group of the trainees.

Adults have prejudices. Beware of them.

Adults by nature are conservative and cautious. However, this does not mean that you need not be innovative. The only caution is to watch these tendencies.

Adults learn best when actively involved in all the stages of learning.

Learning is a continuous and life-long process.

One learns through experiencing, observing and reflecting, theorizing and finally testing the theories whether they work or not.

A person must sense in some way that he lacks something that he needs. Then, he should understand precisely that which will satisfy his needs. It is not enough that he feels the need, but should really want to fulfill that need and decide to obtain that knowledge, skill, habit or ability. Further, he should act to see that this need is fulfilled and continue to act till he reaches that goal.

The key points about adult learning are:

Time, relationship, user relevance, user urgency, user friendliness, attention span, peer group, previous experience, prejudices, humour, fear of change, pain and pleasure, incentives, loss of sense of discovery and risks.

The key points reveal the adult learning principles you have to take care of.

Keep participants active.

Get feedback.

Help the participants understand the meaning of the new knowledge or a skill.

Relate training to their profession and work experiences

As a trainer, you should aim at the participants doing:

RATS

Retain what they learnt, Apply the learning in their chosen areas, Transfer the learning to others in the organization, and Solve the problems which were hitherto bothering them.

Learning happens through the four stages of experiencing, reflecting and observing, theorizing and experimenting. You can see that the each trainee will have a learning style that will show off one or more of the characteristics mentioned above. The session will have all the four types in varying degrees and the trainer should plan his programme as per the learning styles of the trainees.

Once you know as to how the adults learn, you will be able to guide the trainees to discover what they have come for.

“You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him discover it within himself.” - Galileo

EXPECTATIONS:

Human beings are driven by expectations.

What are the learning expectations? Why do adults learn?

NEEDS, WANTS, FEARS and THREATS.

Needs are basic and are essential. A person who is on the move most of the time and is spending a lot of money on conveyance starts feeling the need for owning a vehicle.

The person starts scouting around for a vehicle. A Maruti 800 will serve his purpose, but the advertisements and promotions of Ford Ikon make him want a Ford Ikon. Wants are not as essential as needs, but are powerful motivating factors or drives behind the decision.

We also harbour fears. Fears are internal emotions that are born out of expectations of certain things that will disturb your peace and tranquility. You buy a better car or television for fear of loss of face in the locality as everyone owns a better car or television.

We also expect circumstances and environment to be a threat to our well being. The threat of a better equipped and multi-cuisine restaurant will make the existing restaurant owner to go in for a renovation.

Adults behave the same way while deciding to participate in a training programme. They are driven by needs, wants, fears and threats or to sum it up in one word - aspiration.

Adults will learn more quickly if the trainers realize the reason for their behaviour and try to understand why they want to learn.

In short, adults are motivated by various factors to learn. We have reasons for things we do. Different things motivate different people to do the same things. The same things can motivate different people to do different things. People may not do things for your reasons; they do things for their own reasons.

Adults are motivated by needs, wants, fears and threats. As trainers, we should help the trainees to satisfy their needs, to achieve their wants, control and overcome their fears and handle their threats.

What motivates people?

Recognition, love, care, rewards, interest, responsibility, promotion, respect, publicity, achievement, trust, fear, status, satisfaction, acceptance, pride and shame.

These are not permanent. In this world where breakneck speed is the order of the day, change is constant. Trainers need to understand this and acquire new knowledge, skills and the needed attitude level at every point of time. Trainers have complained that the organizations have flip-flopped and changed constantly. This is the challenge that is facing the trainer of today. What makes a person tick today may not be enough for tomorrow.

The trainer has to assess the expectations of the trainees in order to deliver what was promised. This is very similar to the stage prior to diagnosis for a doctor. The trainer will have to:

Gather information

Estimate the current level

Project the future level and

Determine the gap between the current and future levels.

In other words, you have to conduct a discrepancy analysis. You have to find the existing levels, determine what should be the levels in future and then ascertain the GAP or the ‘must be’ or the need.

This is very essential for the preparation of the programme. In other words, needs analysis has to be undertaken. The needs can be analysed and expectations assessed in advance, before the programme, during the programme at the start and during the course and also after the course.

Training Needs analysis will help you decide what training is required and in what way it should be conducted.

Training Needs Analysis could be done through observation, surveys, complaints, performance, brainstorming, questionnaires, interviews and frequent checks during the sessions.

“The simple universal objective in all adult training can be summed up in this simple statement:

TO BE THE BEST I CAN BE!”