In today’s Advisor, we get expert input from a practitioner in the field of safety consulting.
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We asked Ross Luko, project manager of consultation for Amerisafe Consulting and Safety Services (www.amerisafe-css.com), what he thinks is trending in the world of training. The Pittsburgh-area firm serves clients across the United States in industries including construction, power generation, oil and gas (O&G), and manufacturing.
Amerisafe trainers travel to client sites. As well, the business operates two dedicated training facilities, one near Pittsburgh and one near Chicago. Luko says employers often send a small number of workers to the Amerisafe training centers to save on the cost of hosting on-site programs. As a result, classes are made up of employees from diverse industries, which keeps things interesting and lets trainees learn from one another.
Fresh approaches. Good training keeps things fresh and relevant. Find new ways to approach a familiar topic. Audit your materials for content and relevance, as well as for visual appeal. If your handouts look like copies of copies with washed-out, distorted print, you need to redo them. Consider adding color or graphics to heighten interest.
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Here are other recommendations on how to change things up:
- Reorder the outline of your presentation.
- Give a brief quiz at the beginning of the session. This helps reveal what your audience knows and doesn’t know about the subject, which enables you to tailor your presentation.
- Ask discussion questions before you begin the session. For example, ask a trainee for three things he or she hopes to get out of the training and use this in your presentation.
- Find an item in the news or popular culture that relates to the material you’re presenting. This can be a good icebreaker and an effective way to draw people in.
Keeping it real. Like many other professional trainers, Luko is a big believer in keeping training relevant and focused. He encourages trainers to get their hands dirty and actually perform the tasks they’re training. Before a recent forklift class, for example, he went out and drove forklifts at the client site in order to understand the specific demands and characteristics of the workplace. “I want to know what I’m doing so that if someone has a question, I will have the answer,” he notes.
Similarly, if the topic is lockout/tagout, Luko will learn how to perform a site-specific lockout procedure. “I’ll also walk through after the training and see how employees are performing the lockout” or other skill.
Even when the curriculum is highly structured, Luko finds ways to make the content personal and more meaningful. An example is an industry-developed training course required for workers in the fast-growing O&G industry. “We go well beyond the training given to us to deliver. We make it specific to the industry, the company, and the type of work they’re doing.”
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In tomorrow’s Advisor, we’ll hear more from Luko, including how to ensure that trainees always know the answer to “what’s in it for me?” (WIIFM?).