Empower Your Team: Training vs. Learning

Are you training your workforce or helping them learn?

Unlock the full potential of your team by understanding the difference between training and learning.

Distinguishing Teaching and Learning

In his book, “Five Principles of Human Performance: A Contemporary Update of the Building Blocks of Human Performance for the New View of Safety,” Dr. Todd Conklin expresses that "learning and improving is vital" and that learning should be deliberate. Having been a fixture in the energy industry learning community for over 30 years, HASC understands what makes training effective and how to elevate that training into learning. Why is it essential to move from training to learning? According to LinkedIn, training is characterized by providing information in a manner that instructs, much like procedures. On the other hand, learning focuses on knowledge acquired through experience and a change or capability that persists over time.  

In his book, “The Field Guide to Understanding Human Error,” Sidney Dekker writes, "safety improvements come from organizations monitoring and understanding the gap between procedures and practice.” Finding opportunities to help the energy industry learning community transition from short-term training to long-term learning can help our workers find safety improvements as they move from following procedures to understanding the nature of safety and their work.  

Exploring Workforce Diversity

HASC has performed several formal studies internally to determine the extent to which our courses help influence learning rather than merely train. The learning community that HASC supports includes learners from a multitude of generations. While the baby-boomer generation continues its exit from the workforce, leaving it to Gen X and Millennials, Gen Z workers expect more from their training than mere instruction.

These workers need to understand the why and be more involved in their training so that it becomes part of their overall development and performance. HASC's studies identify these differences and utilize the results to develop more effective learning for the evolving workforce.  

Nurturing Growth through Scaffold Learning

One aspect of our courses being leveraged in the HASC instruction, design, and development process, regardless of whether the training is instructor-led, hands-on, or e-learning, is the importance of scaffold learning. A recent study found that the one-size-fits-all style of course development led to cognitive overload for the learner. The working memory load of learners with less experience becomes overwhelmed compared to learners with established complex schema developed through experience.

Knowing this, why would we expect one course to satisfy the needs of a newer and experienced learner? Scaffolding over time helps learners build more sophisticated schema, and working toward an adaptive learning model will help ensure all workers are learning at the appropriate degree and gradually building understanding.   

Efficient Learning: Reducing Redundancy

A final aspect HASC is working to eradicate from the learning community involves reducing redundancy. Richard Mayer, in his book Multimedia Learning, states that although redundant information might help the learner in the short term, it has a negative effect on the long-term transfer of learning.

Moving from training to learning can encourage safety improvements, and if deliberate learning is a fundamental principle of human performance and performance improvement, ensuring that there is less redundancy in courses and that instructional designers encourage strategic scaffolding and reinforcement should be an overarching goal. 

HASC's Commitment to Promoting Learning

HASC is dedicated to helping the energy industry move from one focused on training delivery to becoming a community that encourages learning. In the book, “The 4Ds for HOP and Learning Teams: A Practical How-to Guide to Facilitate Learning from Everyday Work, critical and Dynamic Risks with the 4Ds,” work scopes are overcome through a focus on learning by the worker rather than on prescribing a rote adherence to process and procedures.

The philosophy behind human performance indicates that accidents will happen regardless of the systems and safeguards put in place to prevent them. A workforce focused on learning and understanding safety can help HASC's members overcome and prevent accidents more effectively.  

Key Takeaways: Empowering your workforce through learning

1. Training vs. Learning: Training emphasizes instruction, such as procedures, while learning involves acquiring knowledge through experience and fostering lasting change or capability. 

2. Workforce Diversity: HASC recognizes the evolving workforce, including Gen Z's desire for understanding and involvement in their training. Additionally, customizing learning experiences based on generational differences can enhance overall effectiveness.

3. Scaffold Learning: Acknowledging cognitive overload in learners, HASC promotes scaffold learning to tailor courses to varying levels of experience. Adaptive learning models ensure learners progress gradually, building upon existing knowledge.

4. Efficiency through Reducing Redundancy: Minimizing course redundancy and emphasizing strategic scaffolding fosters efficient learning and retention.

5. HASC's Learning Promotion Commitment: HASC aims to shift focus from training delivery to cultivating a learning-oriented community within the industry.