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To a performance-based training model

A US-based manufacturer of top-of-the-line dental equipment and furniture offered technical field service training to their dealers’ field service technicians.

As their product range and market penetration grew, so did the demand for technical training. It also was becoming apparent that presenting such large volumes of information with a lecture-style instruction was ineffective - learning objectives were unclear, and there was little or no follow-up to determine longer-term retention of the training course.

After conducting a comprehensive audit of the current training, we undertook a thorough needs analysis to determine the best instructional model for the target audience. We subsequently recommended that the course be re-designed, shifting from ‘knowledge-based, lecture style instruction’ to ‘problem-driven, competency-based, interactive instruction’. The needs analysis clearly indicated that the service technicians would be best served if the training could improve or enhance their diagnostic performance.

Working with the technical trainers and with input from the customer service department and the company’s dealers, we collected realistic service scenarios, incorporated multiple possible causes in the scenarios, developed specific lesson plans for each service scenario, using varying didactic models, designed diagnostic learning aids, and piloted the first module in February, 2006. Initial feedback indicates that the new approach is not only more lively and participatory, but much more useful to the participant group. Released from the requirement to ‘remember everything’, participants can now focus on the actual problem-solving diagnostic process, secure in ‘knowing where to find information’.

An added benefit - unanticipated at the outset - is that the new approach also condenses two week-long courses into one, doubling the annual training capacity, and saving hundreds of thousands of dollars in travel and accommodation costs per year, since a technician now only required one week of training to become fully proficient, compared to three weeks in the old set-up. How? Initially, the courses had been developed based on the latest product line. Over time, there were separate courses for each product line. However, once we moved to problem-driven instruction, we discovered that the service scenarios for a malfunctioning dental chair are virtually identical - regardless of the production model - since the technologies involved in the dental chairs are identical.

Although it is a simplification for the sake of brevity: “diagnose one dental chair malfunction; diagnose them all.” The actual repair of the malfunctioning component is described in step-by-step detail in the specific product’s service guide: ‘look-up’ information, rather than ‘remember’ information.

Last updated on Feb 11, 2006 at 10:17 AM
Category: Training and Instructional Design
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