The other day, I was teaching a friend how to do some tasks in Access. She was getting so frustrated because she could not grasp a couple of the step-by-step instructions. She kept messing up or not being able to wrap her brain around how Access was functioning. I told her that she needed to learn to think like Microsoft. She said that she just wished I could dump my brain into her brain.
She said that what I was teaching her was not something she could learn from a book. She had to really play with the software and learn from someone who had used it before, who was able to “teach” it. She had tried to get a couple of people she worked with to help her. Both of those people were top performers on her team, who had used Access for years. One of her team members did not have the time to help. The other team member tried to help but was not able to help her learn. He just wanted to click quickly through the steps and have her memorize what he did.
I know that I have had those same thoughts when learning a new application. The learning curve is so steep some times. How often as a company do we wish the same thing? How do we mine our top performers knowledge to make it available to everyone else without creating a situation like my friend was in at her company?
I have thought of a few ways that companies might be able to help with this. In every part of our job, we must all work as efficiently and effectively as possible. We cannot leave folks behind and expect to have our team function at its top potential.
One of the ways I thought of was to have your top performers write out “how-to” steps or even set up a blog. One client I worked with had me sit down with each of their team members and work one-on-one to see what the top questions were in relation to the software they used. After working with them for a few days, I discovered many duplicate questions. I then developed a “how-to” manual for them to share with team members. The newer team members said that this was a valuable resource since it got them up to speed quickly with the tips and tricks from the more veteran team members.
Another way to help mine information from your team would be to have a professional circle or brown-bag lunch time to share ideas and questions. I have participated in one of these many years ago and really learned so much. At that point in my career, I was a new trainer and needed all the guidance and wisdom from some tenured trainers. The group was structured informally but everyone agreed to stay positive and not turn it into a gripe session. To help with this, we had a trainer come in to facilitate the discussion and keep it on track. The goal of the group was to help each other so that our team of trainers could be the best among the different locations.
These are just a couple of ways to start thinking about how to get your top performers to share their secrets. If you can provide incentives to help them share, that is great. However, your team may not be able to provide much more than a complimentary letter in that person’s file. Either way, it is important to share our software tips and tricks for the success of the whole organization!
Have you ever thought about becoming Microsoft certified in Word, Excel, Access, Outlook or PowerPoint? I’m surprised at how many of the clients I train have not thought about adding a Microsoft Office Specialist certificate to their list of accomplishments.
Recently one of my family members, after many years of contemplation, decided to open her own business. She gave me a call and asked me to help her create some of the forms she’ll need. I was impressed that she had already assembled some paper forms that she liked to use for ideas when we created the ones for her soon-to-be formed new company.
