After spending billions of dollars a year on corporate learning, U.S. companies probably assume that their employees have the knowledge and skills they need to carry out their jobs. The employees themselves probably think they’re prepared, too, having gone through these exercises. But according to data from industries including academia, health care, technology, manufacturing, retail, sports, and business services, people are actually “unconsciously incompetent” in a typical 20% to 40% of areas critical to their performance. One global technology company my team works with, for example, discovered that, on average, its sales employees didn’t understand or know about 22% of its product features, even though they believed they did.
How to Teach Employees Skills They Don’t Know They Lack
Redesign your corporate training programs.
September 29, 2017
Summary.
Despite the billions of dollars companies spend on employee training, research shows that workers are unconsciously incompetent in 20% to 40% of areas critical to their performance. How can you teach people skills and knowledge they don’t know they lack? By redesigning corporate learning programs so they are adaptive and force users to admit when they’re guessing, and by encouraging a culture of continuous improvement, in which mistakes or lack of confidence is acknowledged and openly discussed.
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New!
HBR Learning
Developing Employees Course
Accelerate your career with Harvard ManageMentor®. HBR Learning’s online leadership training helps you hone your skills with courses like Developing Employees. Earn badges to share on LinkedIn and your resume. Access more than 40 courses trusted by Fortune 500 companies.
Support and challenge your direct reports to help them reach their potential.