Training vs. Learning with Print Software

Here is what I want you to get out of this article. It is as simple as changing one statement to another, and it could save you a ton of money.

Take this statement (often not true)...

“We didn’t get trained”

...and convert it to this (often the real truth):

“We didn’t have the time to learn.”

According to LinkedIn’s 2018 Workplace Learning Report, “The #1 reason employees say they are not engaging in workplace learning is because they don't have the time.” 

Let's first talk about the difference between training and learning. I want to use an example we can all relate to. What if your parents had tried to teach you how to drive a car by explaining it, providing you with video instructions, and giving you documentation? Would any of you have felt prepared to get behind the wheel with that kind of prep? I hope you answered no. You can’t learn how to drive a car by sitting in training classes or having it explained to you; obviously, you have actually drive in order to learn how to drive!

Why is this so obvious when we’re talking about driving and completely lost on us when it comes to learning new software? I was at a printer recently who is demanding more training—on top of a huge pile of training that has already been delivered. Why are they asking for more training? Because their employees can’t confidently “drive” the new Print MIS. So they must need more training, right?

They don’t need more training. They need more “driving time.” They need more time to learn because before the Print MIS went live, they didn’t have the time to learn. So they attended the training, but they never did the deliberate practice required to actually learn. They learned what the blinker was but they never applied that knowledge to their daily work (when to use the blinker, how to turn it back off, etc.).

I found this definition online about the difference between training and learning.

Training is the giving of information and knowledge, through speech, the written word or other methods of demonstration in a manner that instructs the trainee. Learning is the process of absorbing that information in order to increase skills and abilities and make use of it under a variety of contexts.

Training is studying for the drivers exam.

Learning is driving the car around with your parents nervously sitting in the passenger seat.

Training on a Print MIS is watching the vendor navigate around the system during remote training.

Learning is trying to get actual work done in the system on your own (deliberate practice).

Training is something you receive as the learner, but learning is what you actually do as the learner. Learning implies “I am doing something. I am taking part and doing the work.” Good training inspires people to learn how to do something, but it does not do the work for them. You cannot outsource learning. Your team has to do the learning. This is the number one misunderstanding about Print MIS implementations, that somehow the vendor is going to do all of it for you. They can’t. They can configure, they can train, but they can’t learn for your team. Your team needs to learn, and, most importantly, management needs to carve out “driving time” for them to do this.

Let's talk about one more idea: deliberate practice

When you took your kid out driving, did you stay in your quiet neighborhood? No, you gradually took them further from home and put them into conditions like the freeway, merging, taking a left across multiple lanes of traffic. They are going to be driving your car on your insurance—you wanted them to learn how to think for themselves in all the situations they would face when you’re not there. You were very invested in their learning!

Asking your 15-year-old to learn how to merge onto a busy freeway is deliberate practice. It’s stressful, it’s stretching their comfort zone, it’s requiring their full attention, it's making you both nervous. Deliberate practice in a Print MIS implementation might be trying to put a complex estimate into a new Print MIS, when you’re not sure how to navigate, don’t understand the operations, and are trying desperately to remember how the trainer did it. It is not mindless work and it requires uninterrupted focus.

How many people in your operation have uninterrupted time to learn in their daily lives? In every printer I’ve been in for the last 20 years, I haven’t seen one that isn’t an “interrupt driven culture.” Technology has just made this worse because even when we’re up walking around or in the bathroom we have our electronic leashes with us (cell phones).

If your team is really busy (which is pretty much standard) because printers have optimized their organization around giving everyone a couple jobs to juggle, then there is no time to learn. Learning isn’t something you do between emails, especially for drastic Print MIS changes. Learning takes deliberate practice. The greatest challenge of deliberate practice is to remain focused.

Lots and lots of money is spent on training. The next time you hear people say “they weren’t trained”—even though you have the invoice from the vendor, you saw the vendor’s resources in the building, and you walked by the conference room this person was sitting in—rather than challenging them on this statement, try this one: “Are you really saying that this is a big change and you haven’t had the uninterrupted time to learn by practicing on the new system?” Would that be more accurate? This would be a leadership gift to your people—showing them that you actually understand their plight. Then do something about it. Give them an allocated amount of uninterrupted time to learn and hold them accountable for their learning.