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Next time you catch yourself grumbling that "I could do it faster
myself"...or complaining about a client who "just doesn't get it"....pull
out this article.
Studies show that we remember:
10% of what we read...
20% of what we hear...
30% of what we see...
50% of what we hear AND see simultaneously...
70% of what we hear, see AND say
90% of what we hear, see, say AND do.
Confucius, that wise Chinese philosopher, first offered this insight around
2,000 years ago, when he said:
"I hear and I forget. I see and I remember. I do and I know."
Here's what this means in business terms:
Handing someone written documentation on how to bill a new client - they'll
only recall about 10% of it. Telling them how to process new members -
they'll retain about 20%. Showing them how to fill out the forms - 50%.
Using a "show and tell" approach - and then having them repeat the process
while you observe and provide feedback - gets you to 90%.
Use the five steps of the "Confucius Checklist" to successfully transfer
your knowledge to an employee or client:
1) Tell.
Using both written and verbal guidance, tell the person what you want them
to know. It may be a business process that you want employees to follow. Or
it may be healthy living information for clients.
2) Show.
Let's say you're training a new staffer on how to close up every night.
Perform the steps yourself, as you normally would - and have the new
employee shadow you with a copy of the written instructions. Have her read
each step to you out loud as you both complete the process together. (You
may find you've been skipping some steps yourself!) Prompt them to turn
their copy of the instructions into a living document by adding their own
notes, clarifications and reminders.
Perhaps you're leading a healthy living workshop for families. This is a
great opportunity to use props that encourage interaction from your
customers - for example, real fruits and vegetables, or a scale, or portion
equivalency props (like a deck of cards = a serving of chicken). Why stop
with pictures of these items in a PowerPoint presentation? Instead, pair the
presentation, which has text and graphic cues, with the visual learning that
the props encourage.
3) Watch.
The next step in the process of transferring knowledge to someone else is to
watch them apply the new information by performing the task or using the new
skill themselves.
This time, your staffer takes the lead on closing up for the night. You
shadow her, making notes for later feedback on what she's doing right and
where she's missing something.
To apply this technique in your healthy living workshop, consider activities
where participants can actually apply the information you've given them. For
example, perhaps you could provide a worksheet shaped like a dinner plate
and have them sketch out how much room vegetables, grains, proteins, and
other meal components should occupy.
Another way to "watch" is to have workshop participants track certain
lifestyle activities outside the session in a log that you then review at
the next meeting.
4) Give feedback.
Feedback works best when it's fresh. On the other hand, "death by a thousand
nicks" - pinging your staffer with lots of little tweaks and critiques at
every step along the way - is incredibly demoralizing to employees.
So accumulate feedback while you're observing the employee perform the
process. Then provide it at well-timed intervals. For example, if your close
process has four steps - reconcile cash register, clean restroom, straighten
stock, and set alarm - perhaps you can mainly provide comments at the end of
each major step.
Base the timing and frequency of your feedback on the employee's learning
style, the urgency of the correction, and its impact on the rest of the
process.
For example, a critical mistake made early in the cash reconciliation
process probably should be corrected instantly, since it will affect all of
the subsequent steps. On the other hand, if your staffer is learning to lead
a client session, it may be more appropriate and useful to provide comments
after the session is complete.
Remember to ask for her observations as well - what went smoothly and where
she feels it could have gone better.
5) Watch again.
We call this the "lather, rinse, repeat" step! You've explained the process
verbally and in writing. You've demonstrated the process. You've observed
them perform the process. You've given feedback on their performance of the
process. Now, watch them perform the process again.
Continue this cycle until the employee or client demonstrates mastery of the
material.
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