‘I’ve told them dozens of times, and yet they’re still not doing it.’ Those were the words of an exasperated health and safety officer. Her goal was to get the manufacturing team to use the hazard register. All the team had read and signed the health and safety manual as part of their induction, they were also given repeated verbal reminders, yet no one was using the hazard register.

Sound familiar? Of course, in your workplace the hazard register might not be the problem, maybe it’s another workplace policy or procedure that you need the team to follow.

Why training sometimes fails

Reading instructions and listening to instructions can be and often is an important part of good training. However, we generally need to do more than simply read about something and hear about it to be able to learn it and to put it into action.

Think about this: did you learn to drive a car by simply reading about it and having someone tell you how to do it?

What else can you do when training the team?

We all need to use a variety of ways to learn and develop our awareness, skill, and knowledge.

The next time you are training the team, in addition to telling them what to do and why you want it done, try adding some of these approaches:

Seeing
Show the team what you want done. For example, show the team where yoou keep the hazard register,  show them what it looks like and show them how to make an entry in the register.

Reflecting
Give the team time to think. For example, ask the team some thought provoking questions to help them consider when they might need to use the hazard register and why it would be important.

Relating
Give the team opportunity to talk. For example, ask the team to discuss with each other why they might avoid using the hazard register, or questions they have about how to use it.

Doing
Give the team opportunity to have a go, to rehearse, to practise. For example, give the team a fictional scenario along with blank hazard register forms and ask them to practice making an entry.

If you add those extra ways of learning it will have a real impact on the results you get from the team.

Interested in an in-house workshop for your trainers?