Lansing Linde Training

Lansing Linde engaged in a companywide project to introduce technology and support tools to its field service engineering teams. It commissioned Skill Zone Ltd to develop and deliver a bespoke training program to support this project.

Unlike most software courses which teach an off-the-shelf product using off-the-shelf course materials, this project was for a unique product which was still under development. The target audience ranged from computer novices to computer expert, from nervous to confident, and the course had to cover both software and hardware issues, all in a short time scale.

Designing the course

Working with beta-test versions of the software, we first worked out what the software was trying to do, worked out the terminology that the comapny used, and learnt to think like an engineer so that we could design the best possible training course. During this analysis process, we uncovered ambiguities in the interfaces, confusing messages and clumsy control sequences, and we were able to suggest a number of significant improvements to the software prior to roll out.

Before we ever started training engineers, we embarked on a process of training our own trainers, running simulated courses, making sure that everyone understood the technology, understood the sorts of problems that could arise, understood the nature of questions that the students would ask, understood the aims and objectives of the company.

Documentation

We authored and published the workbook for the training course which was also designed as a valuable take-away reference guide for the software. It had to be clear, concise, and use a minimum of technical jargon. We made liberal use of diagrams, screen shots and flow charts to make it appealing to field engineers. We created it as an A4 landscape format booklet with a tough flexible plastic cover because this layout proved easiest to use in harsh field conditions and was easily stored in the laptop's carrying case.

Delivery

Over the course of two years we carried out on site training programs at Basingstoke, Winchester, Norwich, Hoddesdon, Milton Keynes, Birmingham, Leeds, Warrington, Glasgow and Dundee. We trained field service engineers, depot support staff and the management teams, a total of 120 courses and 690 students.

There were often subtle variations in the operational procedures between the different Lansing Linde Operating Companies and each roll-out started with establishing the unique methods and procedures of the operation, working with the local management teams to understand their needs and objectives, and customising the course delivery, handouts and guidelines.

Feedback

The feedback we obtained from the training courses was invaluable in moving the project forward. Management staff participated in training courses alongside engineers and were able to hear, first hand, operational problems that the engineers spotted and each particpant was required to complete a feedback form at the end of the day.

In the early roll-out, debriefing sessions at the end of each day enabled us to discuss issues arising with the project managers and agree on modifications to course delivery, changes in terminolgy, and even the overnight production of new help sheets to address issues arising from the training.

Likewise, the implementation teams were able to feed back problems to us highlighting problems arising in the field so that we could modify the training courses, or give greater emphasis to the more difficult areas.

Flexibility and communication was a key element to success.