Quality System Induction Training for New Employees

Jean_B said:

If it's the interest and engagement level that's waning then a template or pre-fab isn't going to fix it.
Engagement is determined more by interactions and delivery than by how attractive something looks.
Interest is linked to motivation, be it extrensic (make this or miss out (on money, promotion, a job)) or intrinsic (partially influenced by engagement but more up to the culture of the workforce and the character and experiences of a person).
If there's confusion then the structure of a template or someone else's might help as inspiration, but it isn't a replacement for making and knowing your own presentation by heart (hint: if you need more than a glance at the slides now and then you don't know it well enough).

For engagement the biggest effect our company (medical device) achieves is done with equipment to simulate the condition of our patient. This is timed to coincide with the point in the induction where we mention what our core objective is, and how hard our personal and working life would be if we would suffer from these conditions. This hits home quite well, on the awareness of the end result we're going for. (It doesn't garantuee attention on all of those baby-steps in doing and supporting production, R&D and customer service matters).
Interest is too personal to make comments about without knowing the people and the company. It is recommended to talk with each of the attendees on a personal or inclusive group base before the presentation, and some research suggests having looked each other in the eyes before training increases effectiveness.
Structure-wise, think of breaking stuff up, even if it's just by switching away from a particular topic to come back to it later. Long stretches without breaks are terrible for interest, attention and learning capacity. Also switch the people presenting in a team manner, instead of one-out, other-in; this shows how well you work together (if you pull it of). Have duo's present and support or take over from each other on the long stretches if you must have those, because there are only very few people that keep interest going before their voice, mannerisms and looks becomes their focus instead of what they're saying.
For making stuff attractive, Presentation Zen was always a nice and clear book.

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RoxaneB said:

For any presentation to be meaningful - and memorable - it needs to resonate with the attendees. I start off any presentation planning with WHY. WHY should these people care about what you have to say.

Just yesterday, I sat in a meeting with some clinical leaders at a site as they outlined their upcoming Skills Day. This is actually a week of learning for our front line staff (e.g., nurses, personal support workers, and therapists). They are learning (or re-learning) some basic clinical skills - everything from properly charting/documentation to diabetic foot care to medical technology found in homes and so on. It's a pretty intensive time - held over one week, but staff come in for only one day.

The clinical team ran through everything, turned to me with smiles on their faces and asked "Well, did we miss anything?"

"Why?" I challenged them. "Why should our staff come in and learn all this stuff that they hopefully learned back in school?"

"Because it will refresh their knowledge." Was the response.

"So?" I persisted. "If I supposedly know something already, why should I bother coming in for this?"

I was greeted with blank stares.

"You're telling them WHAT to do and HOW to do it, but not WHY. Make me give a d@mn."

"Well, it's part of their job requirement."

"I can get a job somewhere else, if I'm a nurse or personal support worker. There's a shortage. Anyone will hire me. Try again."

"To stay current on your training?"

"Has it really changed? And if it has, why are we waiting so long to get the information out there? Shame on us. I still don't want to come."

At this point, the site leader spoke up, "Okay, I know what Roxane is getting at. It's technical, but we need to find an emotional connection. How do we do that?"

Silence. Then 5 sets of eyes turned to me.

"Tell a story." I said simply. "We spoke before this meeting about a little boy who was given the incorrect dosage of medication because the nurse didn't read the pump properly. You have a station for that particular pump. Why not post of picture of 'little Timmy' (not his real name) and what happened to him when his insulin dosage was wrong? Say how little Timmy felt...and his Mom...and the fear during the trip to the hospital. I presume the majority of our staff went into healthcare because they wanted to help people like little Timmy. Have them think about *him* while they learn about the pump. Make them care. That's your why."

So, you want to make quality and environmental training more interesting? Tell a story. Talk about an environmental disaster - not necessarily your own if you prefer - and how an EMS could have helped address it, manage it, learn from it, and reduce the likelihood of recurrence.

Stories are a powerful tool and an excellent way to help provide the WHY. They are grossly underused in business, maybe because we associate them with children.

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Jean_B said:

For engagement the biggest effect our company (medical device) achieves is done with equipment to simulate the condition of our patient. This is timed to coincide with the point in the induction where we mention what our core objective is, and how hard our personal and working life would be if we would suffer from these conditions. This hits home quite well, on the awareness of the end result we're going for.

Click to expand...