Training Frustrations

So I am having some trouble training a new employee that has been with the company now for 3 months. I have trained other employees in the past with less experience and have had wonderful results. I teach a very specific way. I explain what needs to be done for the project and the markups from the engineer. Explain what certain elements, where to find certain CAD items like blocks, templates etc. The first month is basic stuff so that they get use to the styles and layers, so most of the time they are making quick edits to the plans, adding notes some minor plan changes, etc. Then I will break them into setup work. Another easy way to get people orientated into the correct way to work with the projects. Then progressively over time integrate more and more complex items. That's how I go about teaching.

So we hired the person who passed the CAD test that was administered the best. Which is based on CAD fundamentals. Lately it seems that this candidate has no fundamentals. For example, I just opened up a drawing that has 2 tables in it. Both of them where exploded to be edited and then turned into a block.

Some of the stuff that was done a month ago was done great. Now the same stuff can be done and its like the person hasn't done it before ever. There are basic projects that require very limited CAD time, adding notes, some charts etc. And I constantly have to point out that the wrong template file was used and that the wrong text styles, etc. from project to project.

The person also teaches AutoCAD and Revit at a local community college too.

Not sure where to go on this. Any thoughts?

Don't take their college course.

I am in a somewhat similar boat. One of my users does great on one project, but the next project forgets all of the necessary basics to start the project. \

Unfortunately, I have no solution to remedy the problem.

Same here.

It's a tricky thing, with me as the trainer and tech support, but, not their boss. Do I schedule repetitive training every three months? Six months? Just to prevent the same issues from cropping up over and over again?
I know my written procedures are referenced once and then forgotten about two weeks later, so, I'm feeling hands on training is my only viable option here.

But, what if the person(s) realizes what I'm doing, telling them the same thing over and over again? Next thing you know, they're offended and complaining to the VP that I'm wasting their valuable time when they're so busy (hence the importance of not being tripped up by the same mistakes over and over).

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Originally Posted by Iceberg

So we hired the person who passed the CAD test that was administered the best. Which is based on CAD fundamentals. Lately it seems that this candidate has no fundamentals. For example, I just opened up a drawing that has 2 tables in it. Both of them where exploded to be edited and then turned into a block.

The person also teaches AutoCAD and Revit at a local community college too.

Not sure where to go on this. Any thoughts?

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It sounds as if (s)he was prepared to adapt to get the job but has now reverted to familiar practices.

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Originally Posted by Wanderer

Same here.

It's a tricky thing, with me as the trainer and tech support, but, not their boss. Do I schedule repetitive training every three months? Six months? Just to prevent the same issues from cropping up over and over again?
I know my written procedures are referenced once and then forgotten about two weeks later, so, I'm feeling hands on training is my only viable option here.

But, what if the person(s) realizes what I'm doing, telling them the same thing over and over again? Next thing you know, they're offended and complaining to the VP that I'm wasting their valuable time when they're so busy (hence the importance of not being tripped up by the same mistakes over and over).

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With that situation, you may have to adjust the training to other things and break this task up into additional steps (if possible) to sprinkle into the recurring training.

To respond to the complaints to the VP, you might mention this redundant training is to maintain lower project costs. If the VP is okay with the added expense to their projects, then let the training on that workflow stop. Of course, you would want to document that.

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Originally Posted by Opie

With that situation, you may have to adjust the training to other things and break this task up into additional steps (if possible) to sprinkle into the recurring training.

To respond to the complaints to the VP, you might mention this redundant training is to maintain lower project costs. If the VP is okay with the added expense to their projects, then let the training on that workflow stop. Of course, you would want to document that.

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It's difficult in a department like mine that is all overhead, but, I do keep track of repetition just in case I should need it later.
;) A lesson learned in my last job, document document document, if I get thrown under the bus and end up in one of these meetings, I have a timeline of what happened in succinct bullets. That part I'm not so concerned about, as I expect it and deal with it as a part of this process of supporting overburdened luddites.
But, my job is to keep these users working and it's going to be up to me to figure out how best to do that for each of them.

When possible, I'm building redundancies into the software to make it harder for them to make some of the mistakes. Unfortunately, that won't help in every case.

:lol: As the old heads around here have always taught me, something like don't let a personnel problem become a software problem, or don't over-engineer the software when you should just be training them to do it right in the first place.

Often the best way to learn is to explain it yourself. Ask the employee (if they're still around) to document the step-by-step procedures required for notes, charts, choosing text styles, and templates. Then you can review and provide feedback and have them update/edit it, and then they can keep it as a reference manual at their desk.