Every firm wants competent employees. And if you listen to any earnings call, you’ll likely hear a CEO say that their workforce is a competitive advantage. But how do they know?
Most training nowadays takes the following form:
- Read a manual. Or, if you’re lucky, watch a video all the way through.
- Answer some multiple choice questions. Don’t worry, you can guess as many
times as you want. - Repeat until all the boxes are checked.
Where in that process does the trainee prove that they know what they are doing?
The reality is that managers don’t know whether or not their employees are competent until it’s too late. A mistake triggers an unhappy customer, or production line downtime, or a recall. Given the cost of these, why do we fool ourselves into thinking that a checkbox equates to competency?
Truly ask yourself: how do I know that my employees are competent?
Here is a quick guide to what we call the Competency Triangle:
- Being able to do quick
- Being able to explain
- Understanding why
If an employee can perform the task, explain what they are doing, and understand why they are doing it, they are much more likely to be competent. No one would consider themselves a competent baker because they watched someone on Food Network bake a cake. Being able to bake the case is a good first start, but it’s pretty easy to follow directions on the box. Explaining what you’re doing, such as mixing the wet and dry ingredients until they reach a smooth consistency, is step forward. And understanding why that consistency is important is a sign of true competence.
Here at CrossBraining, we irrefutably answer this question. We give learners the tools to prove their competency by making a short, narrated video of their skills that managers can watch and give feedback on. No more checkboxes. No more three-ring binders. No more travel. Just competency.
