Hi there,

11 months faster.

That’s how much faster one customer took to train new hires on how to master a specific task in their business.

The time went down from 12 months to 1 month. That is mind boggling. 🤯

Initially you might think, “Wow! How did they change their training program?”

But if you just focused on the training, you would miss the key insight. They didn’t just change the way they trained. They changed the way they worked.

An example might help to clarify this point. Let’s look at the difference between how taxi drivers in London work vs. how Uber or Lyft drivers operate.

London’s taxi drivers work primarily from memory. Here is an explanation from their website:

London's taxi service is the best in the world, in part because our cab drivers know the quickest routes through London's complicated road network. There are thousands of streets and landmarks within a six-mile radius of Charing Cross. Anyone who wants to drive an iconic London cab must memorize them all: the Knowledge of London.

 

The Knowledge was introduced as a requirement for taxi drivers in 1865.

 

Mastering the Knowledge typically takes students three to four years; it's a challenge, but plenty of help and support is available if you are determined.

In contrast, Lyft and Uber drivers use GPS apps on their phones to help them navigate to their destinations. They will typically be able to start driving in around 2 days.

Taxi drivers in London cram all the knowledge into their heads. Uber and Lyft drivers rely on digital guidance for the majority of knowledge they need to do their job.

Change the Way You Work, Change the Way You Train

The client we worked with was originally like the taxi drivers of London. Employees who had to complete complex tasks had to work primarily from memory. This required extensive memorization, months of experience, and a lot of mistakes/corrections along the way.

But they don’t do that anymore.

Now employees rely on digital guides that guide them through the complexity and messiness of the process.

As a result their time to proficiency has dropped by 11 months. Same process, different way of working.

This is why in most organizations, L&D can’t make significant training and performance improvements on their own.

The operations team has to get involved because unless you change the way work is done, you can’t make significant improvements to your training results.

Looking Inward

Look at your business. In what ways are you operating like a taxi driver in London? Are there areas where you should reduce the amount of memorization and experience that are required to work independently?

If so, then I think you will love our new book that is coming out in the next few months: Find & Follow: Reduce Supervisor Burnout and Increase Employee Performance by Transferring Knowledge Faster.

It will give you the tools and roadmaps needed to reduce your reliance on tribal knowledge and memorization, and take your training and performance to a level you never thought possible.

Sign up for the waiting list to receive the first two chapters for free here.

In the meantime, let me know what wins and challenges you run into by reducing the amount of memorization required by your employees. I'd love to hear them.

Talk soon,

Greg