Training

Benefits Of Camaraderie?

One cannot underestimate the value of camaraderie. The more we value each other, the better we all work together.

It never ceases to amaze me how so few people actually get this concept.

The fact is if we do not feel what we are doing has some value to others (and ourselves), then our will to work collaboratively for the good of everyone just dissipates. It disappears.

The Unhealthy Result

We all needs friends be it at work or outside of work. It is part of human nature.

While work friends may be different to outside of work friends we all need people to talk to and to share the good, the bad and the trivial with.

If we cannot do this, we bottle things up inside and unhealthy stress is the result.

The Nature Of Bullying

Bullying also causes unnecessary stress.

This is usually done by people who have low self-esteem, feel insecure in their job, are pressured in their work by those above or believe they are better than they are at their job.

They try to compensate for their own insecurities or short falls in the belief that bullying someone else will make them feel more powerful, look better than they are or make them feel better…

When in actual fact, the opposite occurs.

You will never get anyone to work well or better through fear. It is not possible.

It just builds up resentment, anger, and frustration that works against you rather than for you.

Conflict In Your Organization

How do handle conflict in your organization?

Do you face conflict and deal with it or do you avoid it?

Do you let it fester or manage it?

Have a look at this video on transferring conflict into collaboration in healthcare:

The Importance Of Workplace Culture

So what sort of culture do you have in your workplace?

Is it a collaborative or divisive?

Is it one of universal respect or a dog eat dog mentality?

Is it one where everyone contributes and is respected for the contribution they make… where everyone wins or do you work on a lose, lose principle?

How To Turn It Around

Have you considered what makes people feel good about their work?

Well if you watch this video of the same name, just may make you consider your employees and or peers more (Really worth watching if you want to get the best out of your staff)…

Successful Groups

Now to follow on from camaraderie, let’s look at what makes successful groups.

Successful groups are those that have a high degree of social connectedness where people talk to each other and get to know each other. A group that fosters helpfulness because when the going gets tough it will be helpfulness that pulls you through.

A workplace that develops and fosters a culture of helpfulness is far more successful that a culture that rewards stars.

So developing camaraderie among your staff, where a culture of helpfulness and encouragement will give a company momentum and makes them robust.

What creates a successful group? Have a look at this video…

The answers may surprise you!

Get these printable Infection Control Protocols to share with your team and learn how to deal with 19 different infections & communicable diseases in your care facility.

Is Your Training Actually Effective (Or Just Wasting Time)?

by Leigh Kelly

I want to take time to talk a little about evaluating your training. There are actually 5 levels of training that need to be evaluated.

Level 1
This is done immediately after a training session. In fact, you have probably all done these from time to time.

Emma Weber, the author of Turning Learning Into Action, calls these the “happy sheets”. They are the reaction type based evaluation.

Level 2
What do participants know? What has the person learned from the training or retained from other learning?

Core competencies could come into this level. By which I mean you send out an annual sheet for the staff to complete about what they know on a particular topic.

Or if you don’t already have one in the training session you could set a questionnaire at the end of an inservice.

Level 3
What are people doing differently as a result of the training?

This is behavior based. IT IS GLUE THAT CEMENTS THE LEARNING. This should be the aim of learning – to change or improve behavior.

Level 4
What are the results of the training? What effect has the training had on the business or environment?

Level 5
ROI – what impact has it had on the bottom line?

Now I want to focus a little on Level 3 because I think this is what can make the biggest difference to levels 4 and 5.

How can you measure this? What can you do to find out what they have learned, and not just from a competency assessment or worksheet that they do at the time of training or before or after?

My suggestion is to set a group case study.

Divide the staff into groups of 4 or 5 and set them a task to explore from the learning they have just done or a real life experience that has happened in your facility/organization.

Example 1: Complaints topic:
Use a complaint you have received and get them to analyse the complaint (like you the manager or RN have had to do), go through the process of communicating with the complainant, write a letter to the person, examine how it could have been avoided and so forth. This will make them more aware of complaints and enhance the learning.

Example 2: Sensory System – Vision:
A client may have macular degeneration. As a Case Study, get them to define clearly what it is and how they could make life easier for a person with the disease. Include getting them to sit and talk to the client about the disease, how it affects them and what they need to do to help them. This gives a better appreciation of what it is like to have this condition.

There are numerous real life situations that occur in your facility or organization that you can use as a fun and practical exercise.

Give groups time to complete the project and present to you or even at a staff meeting. What better way to enhance the learning of your staff?

While I could put scenario examples in Care Training Online that you could use, what more effective way than using your organization’s own real life examples with people you already know.

Ready to start effectively training your team?
Get these printable Infection Control Protocols to share with your team and learn how to deal with 19 different infections & communicable diseases in your care facility.

A Quick Trick To Keep Learners Interested

by Leigh Kelly

Have you ever wondered why training may be ineffective in your organization? The answer lies in the one you are teaching.

At What Point In A Training
Does A Learner Stops
Paying Attention?

Neurologists all give slightly different answers but the average appears to be around 7-20 minutes.

So with an hour long training session, unless you keep learners interested or do something different in that hour to bring their back to the session, you can expect the learner will miss out on a lot of information.

Unless you create smaller sections of time and facilitate the training, you have probably done nothing more than tick the box that you have trained staff (or some of them) on a topic required for your contracts.

But there will be few benefits to the care being given or to saving you time by caregivers knowing what to do and doing it right.

How And When Should You Stimulate Interest?

Every 10 minutes you should have an exercise, stimulate discussion or provide a quiz.

Do something that is going to help your staff sit up and take notice again or bring their attention back.

With Care Training Online, you can pause the video and discuss a real situation or stimulate with some form of question.

Why Is Group Learning Better Able To Stimulate The Learner?

“Every time something changes in the training room, you reboot the learner’s attention AND increase their retention of information and decrease difficult learner behaviours” says Derek Rowe a Melbourne based training consultant.

This is where you come in. How can you reboot your learners to retain what they have learned? What do you need to do to stimulate the learner?

For me the most logical way is to discuss a person in your care that maybe be causing a problem or may have had a problem solved.

It could also be a complaint that was received: retrace the steps in the restraint process to see at what point it went wrong and became a problem.

When people relate training to personal experiences or stories, the retention is greater.

REMEMBER: All stage plays and films have a director. Running a training session is just the same. YOU are the director.

So when teaching your caregivers, the best way to get a person to learn and retain information is to “Provide them with real life experiences that become indexed in their memory. Comprehension comes when the learner draws inferences that are relevant and correct,” say Jenny Swain, Educator and Learning Designer.

For all of you who are struggling with caregivers doing things wrong or you are continually fighting fires, the only solution is to invest in learning and development for you staff.

As I said earlier, abdication of this responsibility and ticking the box to satisfy auditors will not save you time; it will compound your problem.

Take a look at this video to help understand how people learn. It really puts it into perspective..

Start training effectively with these printable Infection Control Protocols.
Share them with your team and learn how to deal with 19 different infections & communicable diseases in your care facility.