September-Octobe. 0, Volume 70 Number Three

A bi-monthly newsletter for professional trainersin business, industry, government and education.

.s EPUsing guidance materiais instead of formal training is one

approach to minimizing time and cost without sacrificing results.

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Copyright © Praxis Corporation, 1970

Guidance: The Short Way Home"I know you're understaffed and your budg

ct is already strained. But I've got some menwho need training-and fast. What can you dofor me?"

You've probably heard this statement-orvariations of it-on more than one occasion.And given the less-than-ideal conditions of to-day's economy, you're probably hearing itmore today t~an ever before.

And indeed, what can the training directorwith a fixed/ and often limi ted budget do tointroduce ne'1" skills or improve performance inhis organization?

Using gu idance materials is one approach toeliminating the need for hundreds of hours ofconventional training .and thousands of traininclollars. In fact, over half the time, Praxis ana;Iysts have found that guidance is superior totrain ing for increasing worker accuracy, teach-ing complex tasks and reaching personnel at remote location. Further, it is often possible tohire workers with modest sala y requirements ifguidance tools are put to use.

Basically, there are three levels of guidance.In ascending order of complexity they aFC: thedlrcct orv, the ensampler and the query.

The directory is the simplest and 1110stfarn Iiar form of guidance. Designed to tell a workerhow to do a job, step by step, a directory car>be a checklist; worksheets; a list of instructionor even a tape recorder strapped to workerbelt, telling him exactly what to do.

he ensampler is a more sophisticated formof guidance, used when a job requires judgmerather than structured procedures. The ensarn-

ler, in most cases, gives the user a number of,examples that he can refer to when making do-cisions about the task at hand.

The query is used when judgments are socomplex or so subtle that instructions and e: -amples will not suffice. Also, the query is help

ful for i t oducing new techniques to peoplewho might be offended by more rudimentarytypes of guidance.

The form that each of the guidance toolstakes is described in the case examples below.

The DirectoryClerks at: a large insurance agency were con-

tinually behind schedule in entering data fornew policies on computer-coded forms. Sincerecording t.his data was the first step in adding anew policy holder's personal history to thecompany's records, the entire organization su f-fered from the clerical lag.

The clerks' job involved numerous steps, butnone of these steps was especially difficult. Spe-cifically, they were required to read a policyapplication and transfer dat.a from the applica-tion to a form that provided for more than2,000 b:s of information. Of course, all 2,000items did not have to be filled in for every pol-icy. In fact, it was rare that 50 or more itemswere called for. Nevertheless, the clerks had tobe familiar with all 2,000 items.

To compound their problems, the items onthe form were coded. For example, the spaceallotted to date of birth might be called 0-17.History of illnesses might be called 1-19. Wife'smaiden name might be called X-43. And so on.

While these codes were critical' for the com-puter's opera tion, they had absolutely no signi f-icance for the clerks. Therefore, they constan t-Iy were referring to the three-volume code man-uals the company had designed to bridge thegap between them and the computer.

The clerks' accuracy, for the most part, wasquite high. Their speed, however, left much tobe desired, since they were forever combing themanuals to find the codes for unfamiliar items.

The company's training department wasasked to increase the clerks' form-completionrate. And since the company believed this step

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to he critical to overall efficiency, it gave thedepartment carte blanche. Any solution thatwas workable-from designing a sophisticatedand costly training programto doubling the sizeof the clerical staff (if speed absolutely couldnot be increasedl=would be implemented.

While he could liave launched an ambitiouand expensive training Qrogram, the trClinin'gdirector instead designed a template-a cardwith holes punched in it-- thai could be place~over each computer form. The template indI-cated-in English-what each item called for,thus eliminating the need for constant referralto the code manuals.

At a cost of less than $500 (for printing,graphics and the time necessary to explain thetemplate to the clerks) the trainer increased theclerks' speed by 500% and, as a result,smoothed and speeded the flow of paperthroughout the entire company.

What the trainer had actual.y developed wasa directory-a performance improvement. toolperfectly su ited for routine tasks.

The beauty of directories is that theyneedn't even be as complex as a template. A setof instructions, it checklist, worksheet s and, infact, any simple directive that produces the de-sired result can be used-vat low cost-sand canimprove performance almost immediately.

The Ensamp!erWhile the directory is fine for fairly straight-

forward, repetitive tasks, its Value is limited fortasks requiring judgment and complex discrim-ination. Here, ensamplers =examples that: enablfthe user to generalize about his immediate sit-. ,uation-are helpful in improving performance.

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A fine ensarnpler was designed for the Ipartment. of Agricul ture and used in i I S CDI rpondence course for secretaries.

The course replaces many complex an't!"iilreferred to style manuals that secretaries wepreviously given as reference materials.

The ensampler used to aid secretaries in \\J'

ing telegrams is typical. When a secretary qu-tions proper form for abbreviating a tclcgr.:she simply refers to the ensampler sectionher correspondence course and finds:Abbreviating the Telegram:Original Message: "Our memorandum of Ap18 certainly states our problem quite clearly.we were to agree with the United States PubHealth Service, we could not possibly hop

. our commitments.Shortened Message: ORMEM April 18 ClEALY STATES PROBLEM, IF AGREE WI IUSPHS, COULD NOT HONOR COMMIMENTS.

A short glossary of abbreviations and <;UIgeneral rules about abbreviation accornpany l

ensampler. But the important point is th.r: Isecretary is given a model for her own worShe can take the general principles dl'Ill'

strated by the ensampler and apply them to !

telegram she must send out immediately.The ensarnpler, then, has helped the ~('l I

tary make some fairly sophisticated ju~erabout abbreviating telegrams, wi thoulW'ciher to plod through unnecessary rhetorrc.

The Querye query, better known as the paper c

puter, is the most soph isticated form of guance. .iS is particularly useful for structurimanagerial and professional de~sio-;:;?' where Iskills inv.QJ¥cd.are hard to define.

j'IJo one can tell a high-level decision-rnakh ,w to do his job, since the input requiredoften known only to th~ decision-maker h.:self. But while it isn't easy to describe or codithe decision-making process, this doesn't methat the process is ideal I or mystical. Deci<;11makers themselves are quick to admit th.n lh,thought processes are often unsvsterna:Available alternatives are sometimes neglect=with costly results.

Given these two facts about high-levelcision-making=its indefinable nature and I

absence oCa.rational syste~+t would be.h:fui if. a system. if not the input to that svs:could be ordered to produce predictable res,that-would yield a high percentage of SlICCC

The qLJ.m' does precisely thi!\JA paper corputer designed for a magazine publisher shoohow:

The Hunqry Horne", a national~ermagazine, was steadily losing advertising reve"The magazine title is Iictlonalized. The case history is a true one.

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ues. Advertising account executives had cometo ~rd it as a lifeless publication, reaching ane<¥t . lifeless readership.

~their own admission, account executiveslay great emphasis on intangibles: status, mys-tery and what is known as a "sexy" look. TheHungry Horne could claim none of these "as-sets."

But despite their "pedestrian" world view,Hungry Home's readers were, in fact, super con-sumers. They spent their money on powermowers instead of season tickets to the ballet,soap powder instead of pate de foie gras. Whileits readership's buying habits were well-docurnen.ed and its space salesmen-who werewell-trained and diligent-were covering ac-count executives' desks with proof of the maga-zine's pulling power, Hungry Home failed toshake its uninspiring reputation and continuedto lose advertising lineage.

Convinced that if they could get account ex-ecu tives to make rational dec isions abou t adver-tising they could increase revenues, the publish-ers asked a consultant to devise a more effectivesales presentation.

The consultant's solution was a paper com-puter--a tool that could guide account execu-tives through a rational argument. The harddata, he said, would inevitably favor buyingspa~ Hungry Home over space in any of itsslic Impetitors. And at the same time, thepaper compu ter would not take any of the de-cision-making powers away from account ex-ecutives.

Specifically, the paper computer helped ac-count executives choose between two women'smagazines (Hungry Home and its most sophisti-cated competitor) for placing an ad for break-fast cereal. Without identifying either publ lea-tion, the paper computer led account execu-tives through a number of sta tements and ques-tions about media selection. A typical state-ment read: "The more a magazine's editorialcontent concerns food, the more likely thatreaders wiil see food advertisements." If thestatement was reasonable to an accoun t cxecu-tive he would then refer to a chart that toldhim what percentage of editorial content wasdevoted to food in publication "A" and "8".

Based on the data, he selected the magazinethat would give the breakfast cereal ad thegreatest visibility. He did this by making a markin a punched out section of the paper computerterm (see example above), in effect recordinghis selection on the last page. Other questionswere keyed to data about eating habits, age,income, response to coupons and contests, andotl~ stors media buyers consider during thedec, . aking process.

The last page of the computer contained all

of the account execu tive's responses, along withan identification of the Hungry Home and itscompetitor. In most instances, the account ex-ecutive had chosen Hungry Home a'; the bestmedium for the ad.

The Hungry Home paper computer is an ex-cellent sample of what queries accomplish.They help the decision-maker:

* Consider whether a variable, such as edi-torial content dealing with food, applies tohis situation.

* Consider data and decide on its meaning.* Weigh the cumulative value of various ar-

guments.The query, then, affects the user's decision bymaking the decision-making process open andsystematic.

Using queries needn't: be restricted to fac-tual judgments about personal matters. For ex-ample, a query could be designed to help some-one select an insurance program for himselfwhen he is faced with alternative ways ofspending his money (what does he want nowversus what he wants to put away for the fu-ture). The input would reflect his life style.

{Praxis is now publishing a paper computerthat aids the training director in establishing thevalue of overcoming performance deficiencies.Inquiries will be welcorned.)

Is Guidance for Me?One of the superstitions in the training busi

ness is that skills have no value unless they arefixed in our memories. rainers who hold withthis notion will obvious y discount guidance asa possible alternative to training.

Obviously, guidance should not be usedwhen it interferes with the job it's supposed tofacilitate. On the simplest level, a bricklayerwouldn't be able to do his job well if he had to

Aold a directory in one hand. And a bank tellernrldri't handle many customers if he had to

refer to a guidance tool prior to each trans-act~.

In addition to physical it terfcrence, guid-ance sometimes presents emotional and psych -logical roadblocks for users. Some people rese tperforming a task by following a "recipe. ' Thisdoesn't mean that guidance should be dis-counted completely: t does mean hat somesupportive training in the theory of a taskmight be needed. Once reluctant guidance usersare given some grounding in theory, they usaaIy accept guidance material enthusiastically.

How can the training director interested inusing guidance materials to improve perform-ance in his organization decide whether it isapplicable to a specific problem?

The guidelines above will aid you in makinga choice between guidance and training and,where guidance is appropriate, will provide atool for choosing the best guidance technique.

While gu idance is certainly not a cure-all forall performance ills, the benefits far outweighpotential drawbacks. For certain types of jobsespecially, gu idance materials produce fewer er-rors than train ing. For exa mple, laboratorytechnicians and airline pilots cannot afford rnis-

~kes. A good deal of their instruction, then, is.etter left to gu idance than to memory.

Guidance is also valuable for people whose

GUIDANCE OR TRAINING?*

Use Guidance for:

1. Tasks that involve many simple steps.l ., - ,\

; 2, Tasks that allow instructions to be read- . during performance.

, 3. 'Tasks where small errors in performanceI~,rcan produce significant negative C(IIl- ,<>

, sequences.4. Tasks that are performed only infre-

t . queritlv.5. Tasks where accuracvis generally more

important than speed.6. Tasks that are assigned small instructional

budgets.

Use Training for:

1. T sks where speed is generally more lm-,. portent than accuracy.

2. Tasks where reading instructions wouldinterfere with performance.

3. Tasks where small errors are not usually~. ccstlv.

.)f eou!'ie, some usks will meet crlterla fOf both cuidanco: OIndtraining. n these CoaSts, the tn&iIling dirfCtol must \\eigh eachc;riterkm to thoose the a.ppropriale instruGtionil method,

What Kind of Guidance?

Directory: for relatively simple, routine taskswhere a worker can be given step-by-step in-structions.

Ct'Ensompler: For any job requinng judgmentwhere examples would aid in making thosejudgments.

Query (Paper Computer): for tasks where [udg-ments are complex and sophisticated, and input

. -data is km)wn ~nly to the user.

ta ks are so complex that they are very hard tolearn.

Further, guidance tools are particularly ef-fective for learning how to perform tasks thatarise infrequently. The manager who must re-trieve information from a computer from timeto time, for instance, would finlJ it easier to usean cnsampler for making requests from a com-puter than he would being trained in the theoryand applications of computer technology.

Most important, using guidance materialsrepresents a terrific oppcrtunitv to cut costs Ifa good guidance tool is avail.ib e, fairly lowlevel and rather low salaried people can be hired.to perform a Iask usually associated with well-trained, high sa aried workers. Utility com-panies could make extensive use of guidancematerials for showing high school graduateshow to calculate the power needs of commer-cial buildings. Without guidance, trained engi-neers have to be employed to calculate thoseneeds.

In short, guidance works. It saves time andmoney and produces good results. -or thesereasons, Praxis analysts often consider andrecommend guidance materials to clients asalternatives to train ing. Guidance, Praxis be-lieves, is the short way home.

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