on the job training

[marcicat]

Just a quick report from my workplace this week:

Person Replacing Me: “I’m a hands-on learner. I learn by doing.”

Me: “Great! Why don’t you get started, and I’ll be right here if you have any questions.”

PRM: “Wait, what? Before I can possibly begin I’ll need detailed verbal instructions of every step, and preferably also a written procedure of how this works.”

Me: “I think you may be confused about what ‘learn by doing’ means.”

Mirrored from The Marci Rating System.

Comments

[wildforce71]

I generally need to be told/shown what to do if I'm learning something new, but I don't actually retain it until I do it myself. So your trainee may have said it wrong, but I sympathise with his (her? Somehow I feel like it's a him.) way of learning.

[marcicat]

And it is a totally awesome way of learning! (And you explain it very well. If our trainee had explained it thusly from the start, we could have avoided much frustration!)