Transformational Learning - Essay Example

PDLD 380 Assignment No. 2 As a Training Coordinator of my company, the responsibility of preparing new recruits for their new jobs fall into my hands. This assignment in PDLD 380 has made me conscious of the importance of my role in the different ways of workplace learning like coaching, mentoring and transformational learning. For this assignment, I have chosen to delve into the aforemen- tioned ways of workplace learning and the manner in which they have become relevant and applicable to the practice of my profession as a Training Coordinator for Travelex Foreign Exchange. This assignment begins with a summary of Assignment Number 1 where I tackled the notion of the workplace as a learning environment taking into account the company where I work, viz., Travelex Foreign Exchange, and my job as a Training Coordinator. In the succeeding paragraphs, I try to make an analysis of the kind of workplace learning being employed by the Travelex in the process of inducting and training the new recruits. The learning processes will be taken from the point of view of the company recruits whom I train successively for four weeks and from my own perspectives as a Training Coordinator, comparing them with the workplace learning particularly described in the several readings prescribed for this assignment. Most of the workplace learning I will be describing will be a depiction of the new recruits learning experience although I have already emphasise that my work as a Training Coordinator does not preclude my learning and acquiring new skills as recruits’ input of the training process is an integral part of the four-week training. The workplace learning described in the readings of Jennifer Bowerman and Gordon Collins in The Coaching Network: A Program for Individual and Organizational Development, Daryl Dymock in Blind Date: A Case Study of Mentoring as Workplace Learning, and Merriam and Caffarella in Transformational Learning will be tackled one by one applying and comparing each one as they become relevant to the discussion of the actual workplace learning taking place at the Travelex Foreign Exchange training room. In the last assignment, I gave brief descriptions of the physical and social environments of my job as well as enumerated the different aspects of my job as a Training Coordinator for Travelex Foreign Exchange. As therein stated my job consists of three functions: as inductor of new recruits into the company; as workplace trainer of these recruits to make them ready for their new jobs, and; as material and resources planner for the workplace training. The training of the new recruits itself takes place in a classroom-type of environment where there are tables and chairs for them to work and sit on and a white board in front of them during the duration of the four-week training until which they are deemed sufficiently prepared and oriented for their jobs. At the end of the four-week period, a new set of recruits stay on the sideline ready to be trained for the next four-weeks in the same induction, orientation and training processes. In addition, every training I conduct gives me an opportunity to learn new things and advance my knowledge and skill as a trainer as every trainee is obliged to submit a survey form of their opinions, observations and inputs on the induction and training process. As a fitting end to that assignment, I gave my own observations as to the impact of the global economic recession on my workplace and job as a Training Coordinator of Travelex Foreign Exchange. My personal observation was that there was a general slowdown of activities underpinned by a reduction of middle management and company staff. The cut down in manpower has resulted in changing roles for Training Coordinators, like myself, as more work are appended to our original load. The New Recruits and Workplace Learning The Travelex Foreign Exchange is one of, if not, the largest in the foreign exchange business whose activities can be categorised into three: servicing payments of its clients in any part of the globe in their preferred currencies; selling of banknotes and foreign exchange in a number of currencies in over 700 branches all over the world found mostly in seaports and airports, and; supplying foreign exchange currencies to travel agencies and other groups who may have need of them for transacting business . Like all other branches of Travelex, the Australian branch, the third biggest in the world, offer all these services. As a Training Coordinator for the New South Wales branch, it is my responsibility not only to introduce the company and its business to the new recruits and successfully integrate them to the existing workforce but also develop their competency in accordance with the competency standards set by the Australian government for the industry. The induction stage of company training include classroom-based training, online learning, and field based sales visits and various workplace learning are employed and often mixed together in dealing with the new recruits. During the first week of the four-week training period of the new recruits, the focus of the activities is on the resolution of issues and problems that the new recruits may have about the company, its operations and their present and potential roles in it. Thus, the new recruits are given the floor to interpose any questions about the company as part of the induction period. In this manner, the new recruits are apprised of the company and its business. At this stage, workplace learning strictly takes the form of mentoring as the recruit, almost bereft of work-related skills and knowledge, are introduced into the company and its line of business. In succeeding weeks, the new recruits are taught the skills and the knowledge they need to meet the requirements of their jobs. Thus, their knowledge on foreign exchange and different currencies are brushed up as well as how to make effective pitch sales and handling cash. In addition, the legal aspects related to the industry like the Anti-Money Laundering law are taught to them. The emphasis at this stage is still imparting the recruits with the knowledge and skills that will be relevant to their job in Travelex and therefore mentoring as the prevailing workplace learning tool still predominates at this stage. After infusing them will all the knowledge they may possibly need in the course of performing their jobs, the new recruits are tested for the practical application of this knowledge as well as their ability to think on their feet and effectively respond to various situations. In mock sales of foreign currencies conducted in the course of the training, the new recruits are made to play either the buyer or the seller of the foreign currencies. New recruits are also taught the basics of online security as well as appropriate actions and reactions in times of actual security breaches like robberies in the branches they will be assigned to. The culmination of the training is the on-the-job phase where the new recruits are taken to actual work sites and are made to deal with real customers. It is during at this stage and perhaps also in the mock selling phase that the new recruits are confronted with experiences on which they are forced to rely not only on their recently acquired knowledge and skills but also on their wits and ability to handle customers of varying personalities. They may be confronted with situations that are unexpected and are not prepared for and one which may cause a great discomfort or even embarrassment for first timers on the job, one which Mezirow might call a “disorienting dilemma” and one “that cannot be solved through the application of previous problem-solving strategies” learned during the classroom training. Exposing the new recruits in the field and handling real customers for the first time is part of the workplace learning at Travelex and is an effective learning tool at that. In Mezirow’s transformational learning, learning is effectively achieved when a person is confronted with a new experience that sets him to the path of self-examination to analyse his shortcomings and inability to sufficiently respond to the situation and eventually to formulate plans that would help him resolve his dilemma. In the case of the Travelex recruit, his exposure to what seemed to him a discomfiting situation allows him to gauge the depth and extent of his skills and knowledge and thereby plan a form of action that will correct this skill and knowledge gap to make him competent to meet the same situation the next time it confronts him. This is transformational learning in Mezirow’s book. My job as a Training Coordinator unfortunately does not end after the four-week training period where a batch of recruits is concerned. A batch of recruits which has completed the training period and has moved on to take their position in the company staff must still be kept track on to see if they are performing in accordance with what is expected of them. Thus, I have to go over their sales records from time to time and conduct ocular inspection of their on-the-job performance, a task that is done for a period of three months. Recommendations and reports are then made on the basis of their records and performance and these recruits, now called at this stage as sales consultants, are summoned and apprise of their progress especially on the areas on where they need to improve. A checklist is literally given to them enumerating their weaknesses and strengths. This assessment part is done every three months for any batch of recruits to keep them abreast of their progress and apprise them every time of the things they need to focus more on. At this stage, coaching and mentoring as workplace learning tools are utilised in combination to address the need of the sales consultants to gain more skills and competence in certain aspects of their jobs although the mentoring tool, which stresses professional and personal development, is more emphasised at this stage than coaching because of the relative freshness of the sales consultants to their jobs. Mentoring is important at this stage because it helps “bridge the gap between training and real world application”. As the Training Coordinator, mentoring the new sales consultants after they have taken their positions in the company is made easier because of the rapport established with them during the four-week period of training. As months progress however and the sales consultants have developed more skills and knowledge, coaching as the workplace learning tool takes the place of mentoring. Coaching becomes the new learning tool as the relatively experienced sales consultant becomes more confident of his knowledge and skills but still needs to consult and seek help from time to time with specific job-related issues or to confirm certain job-related questions and decisions, consultations which they seek not only from me but also from other senior sales consultants and even from batch mates in Travelex. Workplace Learning and Me, the Training Coordinator As the company’s Training Coordinator, I am not without my share of learning experiences every time I conduct an induction and training sessions for and with the company’s new recruits. During the first week of the training, for example, I am confronted with the prospect of dealing with new personalities who may be different from the ones I dealt with in the past or may be asked questions that are thrown at me for the first time. During such moments, I am placed at a dilemma which forces me to confront and question my own skills and knowledge as a Training Coordinator. In the end, I resolve these feelings by accepting my own inadequacies and seek ways to bridge what I see as gaps in my competence. Mezirow’s transformational learning often has a hand in my development as a Travelex Training Coordinator. In addition, the training session culminates with the distribution of survey forms handed out to the recruits where they are asked to jot down their input and comments on the whole process, particularly on what they think needs to be augmented or amended to make the sessions more effective. In this way, the feedbacks help me see the weaknesses and strengths of the training and conduct a better one in the next sessions with the new batch of recruits. Mentoring as the Most Pervasive Workplace Learning Tool During the induction and training sessions, the workplace learning tool that emerges as the most often employed is the mentoring tool. This is not surprising considering that the training involves a group of neophytes who are introduced for the first time to the company and to their jobs. Being new at the company and the job, the recruits need to be furnished with appropriate knowledge and skills to develop their competency for the job. Initially, this is a one-sided process as the trainer naturally dominates the sessions by steering the course of the training towards a goal which he sees as appropriate and fitting. The recruits are naturally characterised at first by seeming meekness with their immediate goal of taking in as much knowledge and information as possible. Eventually however, the process evolves into a two-sided process as the recruits’ confidence grows by the day. Perhaps because of the global economic downturn being experienced today and the need to cut down on manpower, much of the work load in training and follow-up sessions are all lumped in the shoulders of the Training Coordinator. Unlike the man-to-man mentoring described in the article of Daryl Dymock, much if the responsibility of training at Travelex falls on the hands of just one person because of inadequate manpower to handle a one to one ratio mentoring. This is however being remedied in other branches of the company by extensive online learning where training is delivered to the users through online communications rather than the users travelling to classroom-type sessions for their follow-up and compliance training. Nevertheless, the Training Coordinator is still much saddled with work specially where training of new recruits are concerned. Conclusion As the Training Coordinator of the Travelex Foreign Exchange, a company involve in the sales of foreign exchange and currencies, among others, I am encumbered with the responsibility of introducing the company to the new recruits as well as equipping them with the necessary initial skills and knowledge they will need to perform their functions properly within the company. I am a first-hand witness to the evolution of its personnel from new recruits to full-pledge staff of the company. I witness the skills and competencies of these recruits grow and evolve and I, as Training Coordinator, play a role in initiating this growth. The different workplace learning tools are interchangeably employed to impress the recruits with the knowledge and skills required of their jobs. However, because of their relative newness to the company, the use of mentoring as the workplace learning tool – characterised by the dominance of a senior employee to subordinates – inevitably prevails during the first stages. This relative newness of the recruits to the company and to the job unwittingly exposes them to situations that ultimately become a source of workplace learning for them – a process that Mezirow et al would call transformational learning. From the point of view of a person upon whose shoulders fall the responsibility of initiating the recruits to their tasks, the role of workplace learning tools plays a vital role in the development and progress of the recruits from fledgling employees to full-pledge Travelex personnel. Bowerman, J. & Collins, G. 1999, The coaching network: A program for individual and organizational development, Journal of Workplace Learning: Employee Counselling Today, vol. 11, no. 8, pp. 291-297. Retrieved 25 November 2005 from Emerald database. Dymock, D. 1999, Blind date: A case study of mentoring as workplace learning, Journal of WorkplaceLearning: Employee Counselling Today, vol. 11, no. 8, pp. 312-317. Retrieved 25 November 2005 from Emerald database. Merriam, S. & Caffarella, R. 1999, Transformational learning, in Learning in Adulthood, Jossey-Bass, San Francisco, pp. 318-339 Read More