Despite our best efforts, it’s not as easy as it looks to get the job training equation right.

“I learned so much during orientation. It’s too bad I won’t use most of it for six months. I took some notes, but I’m sure I won’t remember half of what they told me to do.”

“I’m overwhelmed. I learned a new piece of equipment today. The person showing me what to do knew everything. The problem I had was the deep dives. He spent so much time on troubleshooting techniques. It was just too much for my first day.”

“I can follow the steps, but I have no idea why I’m doing what I’m doing. I sort of feel like a trained monkey. I hope nothing goes wrong because I will have no clue how to fix it if something does.”

These are just a few comments you might hear after someone's first week on the job.

We train too early, we train too much, or we make a host of other errors. Although some of us learn from our mistakes, many of us practice a cycle of rinse and repeat as we make the same blunders year after year. It doesn’t have to be this way. With some careful planning and follow-through, you can avoid problems many people will encounter again and again.

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