What if Content Is All They Need?

Perhaps there are exceptions to every rule. You might think that’s what I’m doing—making an exception about how adults learn—by acknowledging that sometimes content is all that is needed for learning to take place. I am not. Learning still happens when we take new information and construct it on existing knowledge and experiences. But there are times when content is all you need to offer a student to make that happen. A facilitator is not always the key to learning.

Consider the dictionary. You don’t need a facilitator to look up every word you want to learn about in the dictionary (online or on paper, it doesn’t matter). The dictionary is a study help, a tool, or a job aid. Now, it likely took a facilitator to teach you how to use the dictionary, but now that you know how to use it, that facilitator—or elementary teacher in this case—can gladly back off and let you learn by accessing content alone.

The dictionary is a good example because it was designed to be used in just that way. You don’t read a dictionary. You use the dictionary. You first provide the context and experience to learn and then you use it to find what you already know you need to learn. In the same way, content that is going to be consumed in that way must be designed to be consumed that way. This book does not address that, though there are many helps on building knowledgebase content.

How to Tell if Content Is King

So how do you tell the difference between knowledgebase content and content that has become the king of your training efforts? Diagnosing the problem is not difficult. Do you use the words “training” and “content” synonymously? Do you find yourself saying things like “I have the training, but I haven’t taken it yet” or “I sent them the training” or similar statements? If so, you have probably assumed that handing over material is the same as the process of transferring knowledge. You may understand that they still have to consume the content, but even that would not constitute learning.

A dictionary is a powerful tool to a person who needs to speak, write, or listen. But a dictionary will never help anyone do any of those things. The most powerful thing about a dictionary is also the one thing that makes it a terrible curriculum. The dictionary is for everyone and includes everything.

In the same way, when content is king, your training will include too much information. When content is king, it does what it wants to do. And it wants to be seen by all. If you have a one‐size‐fits‐all approach to training, it is likely that the material is more important than the message.

Another problem that arises when content is the most important part of your training programs is that you lose control of the content itself. If there are 20 product experts in your company and each of them has their own version of a “training” curriculum on their laptop, you have one of two things. First, you may not have training at all, but may merely have product presentations. Second, you may have training that is content driven. Content must be assigned its proper scale and context in order that you have more control over how that content is used and applied.

Giving Content Its Rightful Place

The most important reason to put content in its proper place is to get it right. I am not anti‐content. I am so pro‐content that I want to get it right. Compare your preparation to teach a product training class to your preparation to take a road trip. Of the questions listed below, which would you want to know first and which would you want to know last?

Exercise 8.1 Planning a trip exercise

Introducing the 4 × 8 Proficiency Design Model

When I build product curricula, I use an eight‐step process (Figure 8.2). I have borrowed parts of this from several different sources, though I have modified it for product training specifically. I won’t go into the detail of each step here. That will come later. I do want to introduce it, however, because this may be the single most important paradigm shift for you as a subject matter expert. You will get asked to provide training content. Make it valuable by putting it at the end of the curriculum design process. Content is so important it must come last.

The chart above shows the eight steps and four levels. The levels must be done sequentially, though some of the steps in the levels can be done out of sequence. The numbering shows the ideal situation, but flexibility in the levels leaves room for real‐life situations. At the top of the table, you can see how it equates to the road trip illustration I used in Figure 8.1.

But before you spend too much time creating the perfect curriculum and designing the best learning possible, you must make sure that it will solve your problem.

Training Will Not Improve Your Product or Solution

Training is sometimes used as an attempt to correct a product flaw. The flaw could be that the product doesn’t meet a true need, or there could be an actual technical imperfection. Training can be a solution in these cases, but don’t ever assume training will correct the fundamental problem with the product. If you are asked to create a training program for a product with a fundamental flaw, make sure your training won’t be judged on the outcome. In these cases, training programs are often perceived to be ineffective because—well, because they are—they’ve ineffectively trained customers to do something a product can’t do.

There are times when training is essential as a temporary fix to a larger problem. I reluctantly accept these assignments as part of my job, but I admit, I don’t like them. This is when training gets the “necessary evil” tag or executives get the idea that training won’t be needed after the solution’s flaw is corrected. Often, they are right.

From a customer perspective, your training gets the same reputation. It’s never fun to teach a classroom or webinar full of people who know that they shouldn’t have to be there. No matter how much time you are saving them, you’re still wasting their time. If you have to train in this circumstance, make sure that there is a real solution in progress. If at all possible, do not offer a training course until that solution has been determined and progress is being made.

Training Is Not a Marketing Gimmick

I recently had the opportunity to visit Caterpillar’s world headquarters in Peoria, IL. Sitting in the bed of a giant mining truck and watching videos of how it works was fascinating to me. But even though I learned a lot more about their mining trucks that day, I did not learn how to drive one. I am not, and likely never will be, proficient in using one. However, the trainer, or training video in this case, did meet its objective. It impressed me. Caterpillar never intended that I come away as a proficient operator of the CAT 797F. They recognized that the video was purely to provide me with information about the truck that would interest and entertain me. It worked.

Marketing and introductory videos are great ways to introduce concepts, but they are not sufficient in ensuring that a learner’s behavior has changed. The strength of a video for marketing purposes becomes a weakness when it comes to training. You can use a video to reach thousands of people, with the hope of influencing a small percentage. You cannot accept those odds in a technical training class. Learning is an individual process, which means training is also an individual process. Effective training targets individuals. What is effective for training may not be efficient for marketing.

Creating a training course for the wrong reasons only dilutes the true value of training. You don’t want your product to be used incorrectly and then be told it doesn’t work. Similarly, you don’t want your training program to be offered for the wrong reasons and then be told it isn’t effective.

How Can You Know if Training Is the Solution?

So how do you know that training is the solution? Ask the right qualifying questions. Questions like what is the problem (or potential problem)? Who is completing this problem? What behavior/action needs to change? How will you know when it has changed? These and others are just some of the questions you should ask to determine if training is the right solution. Don’t make up your mind that more knowledge will correct the problem without honestly looking for other solutions.

I recently received a request for training. After asking lots of questions, I realized the problem was not a lack of proficiency, but rather an issue with motivation. In this case, the problem was that technicians were cutting corners on an installation. What I found out, however, was that they were highly motivated to do so. They were being compensated by the quantity of installations without any concern for quality. In this case, a better solution would be to change the way the installers are compensated.

You cannot know if training is the solution if you do not know what is causing the problem or cannot articulate what success looks like. Make sure you can articulate those two things before you suggest that more education will correct the unknown.

I am not a great golfer. Actually, I’m not even a good golfer. But I’ll never forget one of my better swings. Thankfully, I have a policy of only golfing with friends who swear to secrecy that I can hit the pitching wedge as far as I can the driver. On this particularly nice day I was feeling good. We were on the fourth hole of a very short par 3 course—exactly my kind of course. I must have only double‐bogeyed the hole before and was feeling overly confident. I placed my ball on the tee and took a swing. It was perfect. The perfect club and the perfect swing. I couldn’t believe it when my ball landed on the green, very near the hole. I had a chance at my very first birdie. My self‐congratulatory yell of delight covered up the gasp from my friend. When I turned around, he was doubled over in laughter. I had almost gotten a hole in one—on the eighth hole. He still ribs me about that shot—though his version has gotten progressively better over the years.

The story illustrates that bad results start before the event (or golf swing, in this case) ever occur. Bad training starts with a misunderstanding of what training is and how adults learn. Good training cannot happen if you don’t know what good training is. Even what might have been good, training is useless if it is not the right solution to begin with—if you’re aiming toward the wrong green.

Figure 8.3 provides a flow chart by Cathy Moore that you may find particularly beneficial.¹ While her emphasis is not specifically technical or focused on product training, the applications are useful and helpful. If you follow it, you will avoid putting effort into the wrong solution. You will be able to answer with confidence if training really will help to solve your needs.