Wilderness Trips and Outdoor Training. To increase employees feelings about the here and now and to raise their self-esteem, organizations use programs that involve physical feats of strength, endurance, and cooperation. These can be implemented on wilderness trips to the woods or mountains or water. Siemens, for example, dropped 60 managers from around the world onto the shores of Lake Starnberger, south of Munich, and gave them the task of building rafts using only logs, steel drums, pontoons, and tope. Among the rules for the exercise No talking. The objective was to teach managers the importance of knowledge sharing. Back on the job, managers could can bonuses for contributing their knowledge to Share Net, the company’s knowledge management software.
Whereas firms such as Siemens use some variation of outdoor experiences in their management training with success, many others question the degree of transfer to the job that these experiences offer. Firms using outdoor experiences recognize this experiences and the competencies needed by the managers on the job. At its retreat for managers, well Fargo uses activities specifically designed to improve teamwork skills. The firm’s CFO feels the expense is justified, explaining that the managers are “very high-powered, very capable, very technically skilled. And very competitive. And they are very individualistic in their approach to work.” What he wants is to get them to “see the power of acting more like a team.” His view is that activities like walking a narrow plank blindfolded and crossing a river on a jerry-rigged bridge can build the sense of teamwork that Wells Fargo needs.
Cooking Events. One of the fastest growing forms of off-site training may be team cooking. UBS, the financial services company, used a team cook off- to help develop employees’ teamwork skills. Based on popular television such training provides a comfortable, fun, and satisfying environment for employees to team to collaborate in a nonhierarchical team. UBS brings in famous chefs for its training events, but other companies simply use the services of a cooking school to local catering cater company.
MAXIMIZING LEARNING
Even when a training technique is appropriate, learning may not take place if the experience isn’t structured appropriately. Thus, when designing a training or development program, it is important to take time to set the stage for learning, to create condition that will maximize learning during the training or development programs, and to provide condition that will maintain performance in the longer term.
Setting the stage for Leaning
Before launching a training program, trainers or managers need to consider how information will be presented. In addition, they must consider the beliefs of trainees regarding task-specific
competencies.
Clear Instructions. To perform as desired, employees must know what is expected. Clear instructions establish appropriate behavioral expectations. Training expectations should be stated in specific terms. The conditions under which performance is or isn’t expected should be identified, along with the behavior to be demonstrated.
To set the stage for desired performance, it’s also useful to specify up front what the reward will be for performing as desired. Trainees are more likely