General Principals of Training

General Principles of Training

Introduction

“Training means getting a person to do a job effectively, and conscientiously; then bringing about continuous improvement in the quality of this persons work. It includes everything done to make an individual a successful negotiator.” This statement defines the broad area of training and it also points out the responsibility for training. Training is the acquisition of know-how, the application of “do-how”. It is the ubiquitous KASH formula in action; KASH, Knowledge, Attitude, Skills, Habits. It is the KASH formula arrived at and attained through the five steps that make up the PESOS formula- Prepare, Explain, Show, Observe, Supervise – the steps that make up the complete training process.

When new Negotiators are inducted it is essential that they be given thorough grounding in what Choices is all about. What we do, how we do it, and the things that must be done in order to be productive. They need knowledge of the planning and prospecting that must be done, the sales presentations which must be mastered and the records that must be kept. But it is even more essential that they must be coached, drilled and polished in the use of that knowledge until they have confidence and belief in their own ability and the necessary skills in order to function effectively in their own right.

At Choices we have excellent training tools and sales aids to provide the knowledge and to help build the right attitude, but these alone will not give a person the needed skills or the right habits. These must come from the trainer and no matter how good the raw material the new negotiator will never reach their full potential until this duty is fulfilled. Only once this has been done can a negotiator be considered properly trained.

After completing this unit, you should

• Be able to properly define training and to distinguish between training and education.
• Be able to explain why there has been no effective training if productivity does not improve.
• Understand the elements of the KASH formula and explain why each element contributes to training.
• Be able to identify the ways in which negotiators learn best and be able to explain how these principles can be applied to your own training program.
• Understand that an evaluation of a negotiators strengths and weaknesses must precede training and be able to demonstrate your ability to carry out an effective evaluation.
• Be able to identify the characteristics of good training objectives and be able to write specific training objectives and meet those characteristics.
• Be able to measure actual results against stated objectives.

Review questions

1. How would you define the training responsibilities that you have?
2. Explain the KASH formula and say why each element is important.
3. Is there a conflict between producing and training?
4. Describe the conditions under which individuals learn best and explain how you can make use of this knowledge in your training activities.
5. How would you diagnose the training needs of a new negotiator who has just started and a negotiator who has been in the business about six months?
6. “After completing viewings training with a negotiator they should be able to maintain a consistent and adequate number of viewings” is this a sound objective? Why or why not? Explain.
7. How will you evaluate the effectiveness of your training?

Projects

• Based on your evaluation, you have determined that Negotiator Smith is weak at closing and needs more training in this skill. Before starting the training, you should decide on a training objective. Write down this objective.
• Chose a Negotiator with about six months experience evaluate their strengths and weaknesses and create an appropriate training program for their future development using the training Diagnosis Worksheet.

Reading Material –

The General Principles of Training

What Is Training?

Introduction

There are many different definitions of training. Webster defines train­ing as:

The process or state of being guided, drilled, or prepared. Training includes not only the idea of knowledge received, but that of such knowledge digested through application, drill, and discipline.

This is a good definition, but there are others that are probably more specific to the purposes of this text. Three such definitions follow:

1. Training means getting a person to do a job correctly, effectively, and

Conscientiously­

·   Correctly - so that what has been learned can be applied

·    Effectively - so that the desired results can be produced

·   Conscientiously - so that underlying attitudes, convictions, and en­thusiasms provide the discipline necessary to keep the person doing the right things in the right way

2. Training means bringing about continuous improvement in the quality of a person's work.

By this definition, no training has taken place unless the quality of the person's work improves. Training is a continuous, never-ending process because the job of helping negotiators to improve never ends.

3. Training includes everything that is done to develop a negotiator into a suc­cessful, competent career estate agent.

In none of these three definitions is training defined as teaching, telling, showing, or, for that matter, as a process. Rather, training is defined in terms of the results to be achieved.

Training is engaged in to produce a given result. By combining the three definitions cited above and by having a complete understanding of their implication, we arrive at the following overall definition of training:

Training means getting a person to do a job correctly, effectively, and con­scientiously; then bringing about continuous improvement in the quality of that person's work. It includes everything that is done to make the person a successful career negotiator.

The K-A-S-H Formula

When you talk about "getting a person to do a job correctly, effectively, and conscientiously," you have to think about what must be present before a person can perform in an accepted manner.

To perform a job "correctly, effectively, and conscientiously," a person must first have the knowledge necessary to do the job. But knowledge alone is not enough. A person who "knows" but who does not want to do, or who does not care, will not perform the job "correctly, effectively, and conscientiously"; hence, the importance of attitude. A person must have the proper positive attitude toward the job for it to be performed the way that you expect it to be performed. But as important as these two factors - knowledge and attitude - are, they are not enough.

People may be extremely knowledgeable, may have a fine attitude, and may still not be able to do the job "correctly, effectively, and con­scientiously" for the simple reason that they do not know how it should be done. Perhaps no one has ever taken the time to prepare them, to explain the job, to show how it should be done, to observe them doing it, and then to supervise their performance until the skills have been acquired - not only acquired, but until they have actually become habits.

So we now see that there are two other essential ingredients of good training - skills and habits. When these four ingredients are put together, this definition of training evolves:

Training improves a person's knowledge, builds the proper attitude, develops the proper skills, and makes certain that those skills are applied over and over again until they become habits.

The first letter of each of the bold-faced words spells KASH - and that is what proper training can put in your pocket.

Training and Production

Training by the K-A-S-H formula will not only build immediate sales but will also build a solid foundation for continued growth. If production does not result, there has been no training.

Training and production are inseparable partners. It is not a case of either/or, one or the, other. It is possible to get production without training by carrying a whole staff on your back, but it is impossible to have good training without getting good production results.

There are many statements made in business that have become accepted as truisms because they are repeated so often. Some deserve to be called truisms; others are accepted only because they have never been challenged.

One statement that you have probably heard, and one that practically everyone new to management has heard, is "In a few years, you will have the staff that you deserve.' What does this statement mean? It means that in a relatively short period of time, the way that you recruit, train, and develop your negotiators will be reflected in the results of your staff. In that short period of time, your staff will be a reflection of you. If you sincerely believe in the importance of training and in the fact that sound training is the only way to get solid production, your staff will have both, because your staff will be what you have made it

Training by Objectives

Most people are familiar with the management-by-objective philos­ophy. It consists of:

1. Knowing where you are today,

2. Knowing where you want to go,

3. Knowing how you will get there, and

4. Following through.

Training by objectives is nothing more than the same four-step process:

1. What training is needed,

2. What level of training you want,

3. How you will provide the training, and

4. How you will follow through.

Conclusion

Your job in sales management is a big and important one, having many aspects, duties, and responsibilities. In the final analysis, everything that you do is but a means to the end result or goal of production of a satisfactory volume of quality new business and the conservation of existing business. Of the many parts of your job, probably the most important and potentially rewarding as far as production and conservation are concerned is training. We can recruit and select good people, give them good ideas, and put good tools into their hands, but unless you train them to use the ideas and tools regularly and with skill and understanding - and supervise them to see that they do - neither you nor they are likely to achieve the results that you both seek. Given people of similar backgrounds with the same degree of motivation, the extent and quality of the training that they receive will determine, more than will anything else, their relative success or failure.

Your training goal boils down to having the negotiator become self-sufficient; that is, actually producing at a rate that will meet both income needs and the company's production and growth requirements. Training is a big task - and one that is likely to become bigger and tougher as time goes on in light of the increasing costs of living and doing business and the need for more income that must come from sales.

Training is also a serious responsibility and moral obligation for you because even in those situations were you did not personally sell the career to the new negotiator or to the negotiators already on your staff, you must accept a share of the responsibility for each negotiator's success and must do everything possible to help them produce at their capacity. Without a doubt, the negotiators Look to you for help and guidance. You will have to live with the kind of behavior that you build into them, as your success also depends on what they do. Training is your chance to make that behavior what you want it to be.

Also, your own self-interest dictates that you should adequately per­form this job function that is so inextricably entwined with the success of your negotiators and with all of your other job functions, because of its major effect on your income.

How People learn

A trainer can no more train without knowing how people learn and develop than a farmer can farm without knowing how crops grow. Once you have become familiar with the concepts of learning, your ability to deal with any training situation, whether in the office or in the field, will be greatly enhanced.

People learn best when there is motivation for learning - It is not enough merely to provide the opportunity for learning. Most people are able to learn, but to get the greatest return from the training efforts; we must make them eager to learn. By motivating negotiators to learn, we are benefiting from a condition under which learning takes place - a condition identified as readiness.

We should not expect a study course to provide its own motivation. We must provide personal and direct motivation if we expect learning to take place.

People learn best when there is active participation in learning - One truism in training is that we learn by doing. To a large extent, learning is a habit-forming process. New habits need to be created and old habits changed. Repetition is necessary. One experience or performance is not sufficient to build a well-established habit. The development of skills requires repetition of the process involved. Similarly, points of information or ideas are seldom learned by going over the material only once.

People learn best when things are taught the way that they are to be used

a. Teach the basic information and the field procedures under conditions

that are ideal for effective learning.

b. Teach the same steps or procedures that the negotiator will have to follow in the field.

c. After teaching the fundamentals, have the negotiator practice and perform the work under conditions that are as similar to the field situation as it is possible to make them.

By incorporating these practices into our system of training, we derive benefit from two more conditions of learning - primacy and intensity.

Primacy means that earlier experiences are more likely to be retained than are later ones. This indicates to us the need for guiding the negotiator so that he or she learns the correct way and begins building the right habits from the very beginning of training.

Intensity means that the more realistic and vivid a learning experience is made, the longer it will be retained.

People learn best when there is knowledge of progress - Reinforcement occurs when a response leads to a desired result.

This need of the trainee to experience progress and satisfaction from learning and the need of the trainer to guide and follow up learning are based on three conditions of learning known as (1) reinforcement and ex­tinction, (2) recency, and (3) disuse.

Reinforcement and extinction mean that an individual tends to repeat those activities that, on the whole, are personally satisfying and tends to avoid those that are annoying.

Recency means that the more immediately that which has been taught is applied, the more quickly learning takes place.

Disuse means that when knowledge and skills are not used over a period of time, their value and effectiveness are continuously diminished.

Some Additional Principles of Learning

1 . After maturity is reached, learning ability remains practically constant, although desire to learn may diminish.

2. Learning requires activity.

3. Learning is based upon past experience.

4. Feelings that people experience affect learning.

5. Extreme emotional responses affect learning.

6. People learn something from every experience to which they are exposed.

7. Interest is essential to effective learning.

8. Early successes increase chances for effective learning.

9. Friendly competition stimulates learning.

10. Challenging problems stimulate learning.

11. Knowledge of the purpose, use, and application of things to be mastered stimulates learning.

12. Knowledge of the standards required makes learning more effective.

13. Continuous evaluation of progress is essential to effective learning.

14. Recognition and credit provide strong incentives for learning. The trainer should be aware that people have different learning rates and that certain subjects require more time to absorb than others. The important thing is to follow the training program step by step, making sure that each item is completed and mastered before moving on to the next one.

Realism

Many managers have learned a lesson from military combat training and are now using the techniques of realistic training in their agencies. These managers realize that it is unrealistic to permit the negotiator to have the satisfaction of succeeding every time a demonstration of a a sales talk is attempted. If the new negotiator makes one sale out of five viewings in the field, we are happy with that perform­ance. Isn't it logical, then, for the negotiator to have a less-than-perfect ratio during office training?

It is generally recognized that in order to be a top-notch life producer, a negotiator must be able to think on his or her feet and be willing to stay in and fight for business. By giving the new negotiator realistic training in the office, we can find out whether those strengths are inherent or whether we must develop them.

Repetition

Habits and skills take a great deal of time to develop. Merely telling or showing negotiators how something is done is not enough. They must be drilled in it continually before it will become a permanent part of their sales equipment. All too often there is a tendency on the part of managers simply to teach or to show a negotiator a technique that would solve a selling problem. Then they stop at that point, failing to follow up with the repetitious drill that would have made the technique an integral part of the negotiator's selling equipment.

Reward

The commission dollar is by no means the only reward that will help to motivate the negotiator and build confidence and skills. Other rewards include praise, ego-recognition, and material prizes, where this is permis­sible.

When motivating the negotiator to do better, the trainer may use a positive approach or feel it necessary to shame or put the "fear of God" into his motivation (negative approach).

Know the type of individual whom you are asking to respond. Negative motivation appeals more to a person who is competitive and has pride in the career. Positive motivation should be used when one lacks confidence or thrives on ego-recognition.

Summary

Realism, repetition, reward - the three R's of training. Ignore any one, and the best training plan in the world will bog down. Include all three in your program, and you will have tremendous help in building career negotiators.

Diagnosing Training Needs

Since the job of an individual negotiator is essentially to sell our service and look after clients needs, your training efforts must be directed toward building strengths and avoiding and overcoming those weaknesses that are keeping the negotiator from being more successful. This simply means that a diagnosis of strengths and weaknesses must precede training.

The doctor who would attempt to prescribe medicine or surgery for a patient without a careful diagnosis of the body functions that have broken down would soon have a very low ratio of cures to treatments, a rather high mortality rate among patients, the likelihood of a rapidly shrinking practice, and gigantic headaches caused by malpractice suits. Patients, if the doctor had any left, would have little confidence.

By the same token, your negotiators will have little confidence in you if you try to "lay on" training programs without first determining whether they have a need for them, and, if so, whether they need the entire program or only portions of it.

This means then that you must determine who needs what training, recognizing that these needs will vary. They will vary not only between new and established negotiators as groups, but they will also differ widely for in­dividual negotiators within the groups.

If you are to accomplish any worthwhile training, you must know the present level of abilities of the members of your staff. You must know their strengths as well as their development needs, and you should keep in mind that the sole purpose of training is not to overcome weaknesses.

The fact of the matter is that oftentimes more can be accomplished in the way of improving a negotiator's overall performance by concentrating initially on developing strengths further in areas where he or she is already strong. For example, a negotiator who is weak in several areas but who is somewhat better in initially approaching prospects can become more suc­cessful without increasing total activity if the negotiator has help to make more viewings.

There is another reason for looking for strengths as well as weaknesses. Success breeds success. When negotiators see the payoff of the training that they are receiving, they are more willing to accept more. And because they talk to other negotiators, the climate for greater acceptance of training by your other negotiators is being improved.

How to Diagnose

There are three key elements in the diagnosis procedure - records, observations, and conversation.

If there is anything that we have enough of in the business, it is records. Records are available to show how many valuations are carried our, how many calls are made, conversion ratios, pipeline turnover, fall through’s etc etc. Our problem is not in having enough records and data, it is the fact that they tell us only "what" was done and not "how it was done." Records will tell you that a negotiator is not producing up to expectations, but they will not tell you "why." Is it because the negotiator doesn't know how to prospect? Doesn't have a good approach? Doesn't know how to obtain all of the necessary facts? Can't make a good presentation? Doesn't know how to overcome objections and how to close?

But it might not be any of those things at all. Maybe it is a question of health. It could be any one of a number of things. All that records can do is to indicate whether you have or do not have a problem. If you have a problem, you have to dig further to find the cause.

This is where we move into the second element of diagnosis - obser­vation. Observation means getting out in the field with the negotiator and seeing how the negotiator really does. You may find that this is quite different from what you were told was being done. It means resisting the almost irresistible urge to jump in and save the sale that the negotiator is "butchering." It means observing knowledge and skills, observing attitude, and determining the habits that have been developed.

With the knowledge acquired from your analysis of records and through your observation of the negotiator, you can learn a lot more by simply talking - conversation. In fact, this is where it all comes together and you get the knowledge that you need on which to base sound training objectives.

Those objectives will be sound because they are based on a foundation of ROCK - Records plus Observations plus Conversation equals Knowl­edge.

Setting Training Objectives

Having accurately diagnosed your negotiators' training and development needs, you might, if you're thinking of the planning process, say that you now know "Where I am today." The next step is to determine "Where do I want to be? - What will my training objective be?" Again, as with diagnosis, this must be determined on an individual basis for each negotiator. For example, you want all of your negotiators at a certain level of competence, but the training necessary to bring individual negotiators to that level will differ. Some will be more advanced than others and will need less training to reach that level than will the new negotiator whom we hired last week who had no previous selling experience of any kind.

Characteristics of a Good Training Objective

Good training objectives have the following characteristics:

1. They specifically state what the learner will be able to do.

2. They state the minimal acceptable level of performance.

3. They state how and when the objective will be reached.

4. They are geared to the individual's ability and capacity to achieve them.

Let's take an example of a training objective:

"After studying the use of a new total freedom guarantee presentation visual, Negotiator Bill Jones will be able to make effective presentations using the visual."

Now, let's take that objective apart and see how well it meets the four criteria of a good objective:

1. Does it specifically state what the learner will be able to do?

It says, "Bill Jones will be able to make effective presentations." But will he be able to use the presentation visual? And what does "effective" mean?

2. Does it state the minimal acceptable level of performance?

Here we have the same problem as above - "effective" does not give an indication of what is acceptable and what is not acceptable.

3. Does it state how and when the objective will be reached?

It says "After studying," but what does that mean - self-study, role-play, or what? And it does not say how long "after studying."

4. Is it geared to the individual's ability and capacity to learn?

We cannot tell this from just reading the objective. But, hopefully, Bill Jones' trainer has done a good job of diagnosis and has determined with Bill that this is a worthwhile skill that Bill needs to develop.

It is apparent that we did not have a very good objective to begin with. How could it be improved? Suppose that it read:

"Within three weeks after reading the training text covering the total freedom guarantee visual, watching the trainer demonstrate its use, role-playing presentations with the trainer, and joint fieldwork, Negotiator Bill Jones will be able to use the total freedom guarantee visual to make presentations that result in at least five instructions per week."

Now we have an objective that states what the learner will be able to do (use the total freedom guarantee visual to make  presentations), how well the learner will be able to do it (resulting in at least five instructions), how the objectives will be reached (read­ing the total freedom guarantee study material, watching the trainer demon­strate its use, role-playing presentations with the trainer, and joint fieldwork), and when the objectives will be reached (within three weeks after the study, demonstration, role-playing, and joint fieldwork).

Setting objectives is not an exercise in writing. Well-written objectives that are not reached do not help anyone. But setting objectives is a key function of management. To turn an old phrase around:

"If you don't know where you're going, there isn't any road that will get you there."

To summarize: Training objectives are essential and must be specific. They must:

1. Specifically state what the learner will be able to do.

2. Specifically state the minimal acceptable level of performance.

3. Specifically state how and when the objective will be reached.

4. Be specifically geared to the individual's ability and capacity to achieve them.

Evaluating Training and

Follow-Through

The ultimate purpose of training is to help meet goals. The trainer must be effective in monitoring and measuring actual results against the stated objective and then in communicating the results of the evaluation to the negotiator (or company) in a way that helps the negotiator (or the company) to recognize areas where further development is needed (or material or methods need to be changed).

Stated Objectives

Most training programs or units state or should state objectives in terms of behavior (results). They spell out what it is that the negotiator ought to do - i.e., read a text, listen to a cassette, complete review questions, role-play with the trainer, follow up with joint fieldwork, etc. They tell the negotiator what it is that should be known or accomplished after completing the program or after completing the study assignment. They tell trainers what the be­havioral objectives are, what the negotiator is expected to know and do; and what they as trainers should do before, during, and after the assignment. It is against this background that the training (results) evaluation is made.

Evaluating Training and Implementing Additional Training

The trainer will utilize most, if not all, of the following steps in each evaluation process:

1. Compare results against objectives

2. Diagnose causes of or reasons for differences

a. Does the negotiator have the necessary KASH?

(1) Tests for knowledge

(2) Role-play or observation in the field

     (3) Negotiator's attitude as disclosed in conversation and by observation

b. What is compared with what should be

3. Determine further development needed.

    4. Make decision to "go on" or to terminate (posts election).   Summing It Up

We are a results-oriented business. Training is a means to an end or end results. The effectiveness of training should be measured by those results.

 The General Principles of Training -  

Example answers

1. How would you define the training responsibilities that you have?

My Training responsibilities boil down to making the negotiators working for me profitable and self sufficient, in other words, consistently producing at a rate that satisfies both their needs for money and the company’s targets.

I have to achieve this by improving each negotiators Knowledge, Attitudes, Skills and Habits. This must be done taking into account the level reached by the individual negotiator. In other words, first I must get an individual to perform their job correctly, efficiently and conscientiously; then bring about continuous improvement in the quality of that persons work.

The responsibility in training is to do everything that is necessary to make a person a successful negotiator.

2. Explain the KASH formula and say why each element is important.

This is the Pneumonic which defines the requirements nrcessary to successfully perform a task. Knowledge is no good without the right attitude and together they are ineffective without skill. Even these three things will not lead to continuous success unless they are repeated over and over again until they become habits.

3. Is there a conflict between producing and training?

At no time; the ultimate purpose of training is to increase production or improve the quality of production, if none of these objectives are set and reached then no effective training has taken place.

4. Describe the conditions under which individuals learn best and explain how you can make use of this knowledge in your training activities.

People learn best under the following conditions.

• When there is motivation for learning.
• When things are taught the way they are to be used.
• When there is awareness of progress.

It is essential that training is relevant to the person being trained, this can be achieved by keeping record, through observation and discussion.

5. How would you diagnose the training needs of a new negotiator who has just started and a negotiator who has been in the business about six months?

You would evaluate a new negotiator or one with six months experience in the same way, records, observation and discussion. The difference would be the track record of the experienced person. This would make it easier to pin point strengths and weaknesses and aim training precisely in the areas where they would benefit the most.

6. “After completing viewings training with a negotiator they should be able to maintain a consistent and adequate number of viewings” is this a sound objective? Why or why not? Explain.

No, because it is not precise enough, good training objectives fulfill the following criteria.

• They state what the learner will be able to do.
• They state the minimum acceptable level of performance.
• They state how and when the objective will be reached.
• They are geared to the individual’s capacity and ability to achieve them.
•  
6. How will you evaluate the effectiveness of your training?

The effectiveness of training will be hinted at by observation, role play, written papers and field work. However, the only real way to judge true effectiveness is through looking at and analyzing sales results following periods of training.

Example project

• Based on your evaluation, you have determined that Negotiator Smith is weak at closing and needs more training in this skill. Before starting the training, you should decide on a training objective. Write down this objective.

Negotiator Smith will, having completed training be able to successfully establish a sales to viewing ratio of one in ten or better.

This will be achieved by learning the viewings script and role playing the companies accompanied viewings approach twenty times with the trainer followed by five joint work viewings and post call analysis. By the end of the training period which will last one week negotiator Smith will be able to meet the objective of one sale in ten viewings.