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The human factor
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Why do dick and jane learn differently?- Challenges in implementing today's GIS/IT systems
John A. Middlestead
Manager, Data Integrity & Technology
MichCon Gas, a subsidiary of DTE Energy
3200 Hobson St.
Detroit, Michigan 48201
Abstract
Have you ever wondered why it is so tough to train and rollout a geographic information
system / information technology (GIS/IT) system to either an office and/or field work force?
Why do some people get it and others do not? What does it take for the light bulb to go on?
What about the effects of all this change on the work force? These questions can be
frustrating to the Team who has worked diligently to put forth a system that they thought was
easy to learn. In today’s dynamic organizations where employees are being peppered with
new systems and new hardware tools, we must find ways to help all employees not only learn
the system but to understand why their contribution is important. As many of us found out in
college, it was not necessarily the material itself that was hard to learn but the way an
instructor or professor taught the course. System implementers must go in with their eyes
open to training alternative opportunities. Some people are visual learners, some auditory,
and some are “hands on.” How to integrate the various learning styles into a system rollout
must take careful planning, especially when the luxury of numerous training revisits is
impractical in today’s world of competition. This paper incorporates the viewpoints of several
utilities and outside consultants as well as this author’s experiences as to what works and what
does not.
Introduction
“Why don’t “Dick and Jane” understand?” The world would be allot easier to live in if
everyone had the same level of knowledge, the same personality traits, processed information
the same, behaved in predictable ways, all accepted change at the same pace, attacked work in
a like fashion, learned in the same way, etc. This may be great in theory; however, it is not
very realistic. We are not designed that way. Besides as many of us have concluded it would
be pretty boring if we were all the same.
Any change in the way we do things results in a variety of responses by individual. We have
all been subjected to a substantial amount of change in how our business is done. Everything
from office tools to field tools is different today from twenty years ago. Resistance to change
comes when there is uncertainty, feelings of insecurity, and the ever popular “I don’t want to
be told what to do”. How we design and roll out technology requires that we understand the
bridge to those who will use our GIS and IT solutions. This requires our increased listening to
those who will do the work and provide some degree of flexibility in the tools we provide.
Along with this we need to understand that a very critical component that is often
shortchanged is the training required for the office and field workforce. Understanding first
that there are differences in “how” Dick and Jane learn and secondly, accommodate those
differences through the enterprise, then and only then, will we maximize our investment in
technology and the information that is obtained and used.
Differences in all of us
Work Preferences and Learning
Most of us have gone through some battery of profiling for personality e.g. Myers Briggs® or
various work / career preference surveys. An excellent tool that is available for analyzing
“work preferences” is The Kolbe Concept®, which is the one that I will reference. I
recognize that there are other tools available for measurement, however, for purposes of an
example I have chosen Kolbe.
“The mind has three parts – thinking, feeling and doing. We have all been tested for how
much we know by taking tests in the classroom – that’s the cognitive part of the mind. Your
personality or emotions are the feeling or affective part of the mind. What you do comes from
the conative part of the mind, the part that originates the way you take action, strive towards a
goal and exercise your willpower. The Kolbe Concept® deals with conative part of the
mind.”
The four Kolbe Action Modes that we all have varying levels of instinctive actions of are
as follows:
– Fact Finder – Through which we are a pragmatist, prober, arbitrator, practitioner,
researcher, judge or realist.
– Follow Thru – Through which we are a planner, designer, programmer, theorist,
systemizer, or pattern maker.
– Quick Start – through which we are a catalyst, generalist, innovator, entrepreneur,
promoter, or impressionist.
– Implementor – Through which we are a manufacturer, molder, builder, handcrafter,
weaver, agriculturist, or handler.
Picture if you will what “Action Mode” many of your trainee’s fall into. If it is your field
personnel that you are training then you will probably experience a higher than normal
number of Implementors. One of the characteristics with Implementors is that they are
“hands-on” kind of people. Many of us have experienced these co-workers as those who hate
to be tied to a desk and would much prefer to be in the field or the shop. Are these the
individuals who are dying to have a one-day classroom training course let alone a five-day
one? No! What if the training went to them? This may not be practical in all cases but may
be an option in some cases where geographic distances and costs are an issue. One Canadian
gas utility that I am familiar with configured a truck trailer as a training center and went to the
employees.
The content and methods of training must be carefully considered when it comes to
understanding the audience. So, when a professional trainer or someone from the IT Staff
who happens to be either a heavily weighted Action Mode of Fact Finder or Follow Thru try
to train an Implementor conative stress can occur. Kolbe defines it as three forms of conative
stress:
– Conflict: arises from interactions between two people who have significantly
differing intensities in one Mode.
– Strain: results from unrealistic self-expectations for how you will act.
– Tension: stems from another person requiring you to function out of your mode of
operation (MO).
As one who has taken Kolbe I can attest to the fact that you can learn to respect another
person’s MO. In addition, one can leverage a team’s composite self for synergistic gains and
have some fun as well. Once again we learn that “one size does not fit all” when designing or
training a corporate IT system. So that is why “Dick and Jane” learn differently!
Another Perspective
Psychologist Howard Gardner, who has become very influential in education, has addressed
the changing world of work through what he calls “The Seven Types of Intelligence”.
According to Gardner, all people possess at least seven distinct sets of capabilities – or
intelligences – which work in concert, rather than isolation. When thinking about “Dick and
Jane” and how they learn, Gardner poses additional challenges for us as the teachers of
geospatial and enterprise-wide information and technology to the workforce. Gardner’s
Intelligence Areas include:
| Intelligence Area
| Is Strong In:
| Learns Best Through:
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| Verbal-Linguistic
| Reading, writing, telling
stories, memorizing dates,
thinking in words
| Reading, hearing and seeing
words, speaking, writing,
discussing and debating
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| Math-Logic
| Math, reasoning, logic,
problem-solving, patterns
| Working with patterns and
relationships, classifying,
categorizing, working with
the abstract
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| Spatial
| Reading maps, charts,
drawings, mazes, puzzles,
imaging things,
visualization
| Working with pictures and
colors, visualizing, using
the mind’s eye, drawing
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| Bodily-Kinesthetic
| Use one’s body to express
ideas and feelings, use
one’s hands to produce or
transform things.
| Touching, moving,
processing knowledge
through bodily sensations,
tactile capacities
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| Musical
| Singing,picking up sounds,
remembering melodies,
| Rhythms, melody, singing,
listening to music and
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| rhythms
| melodies.
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| Interpersonal
| Understanding people,
leading, organizing,
communicating, resolving
conflicts, selling
| Sharing, comparing,
relating, interviewing,
cooperating
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| Intrapersonal
| Understanding self,
recognizing strengths and
weaknesses, setting goals
| Working alone, doing self-
paced projects, having
space, reflecting
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