Ep 61 - Learner Controlled Systems

Covey was asked to consult on a project with a large banking
institution.  They needed to evaluate and improve their
management training program.  At the time, they selected
college graduates and put them through two-week assignments in each
of the 12 departments, creating a 6-month training program. 
At the end of the 6 months, the trainees were assigned as assistant
managers in different branches. To start, Covey’s consulting team
tried to nail down objectives.  What did the execs want the
trainees to know?  They got vague and contradictory
answers.  As it was the program dealt with methods, not
results.  So, covey’s team suggested learner-controlled
instruction.  They sat down with executives and hammered out
objectives for each department and came up with over 100
objectives, which were combined, simplified and consolidated to 39
objectives.  The trainees were told, here are the objectives,
here’s the criteria, here are resources-including each
other-go”  It took them 3.5 weeks. Paradigm shift is hard, and
the execs didn’t like it-without saying as much because they had to
go through 6 months, so should these guys.  Staying with
learner-controlled instruction, they came up with 8 more objectives
with very tough criteria and the execs admitted that if the
trainees can do this, they’ll be better off than anyone that did
the 6 months.  The trainees did it, they met the objectives in
unbelievable ways, some knowledge was already gleaned from college,
some came from books, other trainees, and approaching the
executives. The 6-month program was reduced to 5 weeks with
significantly better results creating a win/win situation.
Learner-controlled system is highly motivated for the learners and
the executives get to set the criteria. L Learn more about
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