Why don't people listen anymore...selective hearing maybe?

Mikebits said:

In the emergency fire/rescue industry, mistakes can mot be made, nor are they tolerated, or someone gets hurt or worse. For new people, training is at the forefront of their new career, both written and practical exams, they must show they can function with competence and little or no hesitation. We end up with high caliber people, but this is not due to only employing high quality people, rather high quality instruction with proficiency written and skills exams. The pass/fail rate is a reflection of the instructor, not the student.

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Hi Mike

Excellent post from you. And what you say is so true. If you are working with quality minds and people that want to learn....then yes the Instructor will be the weak link if the pass rate is low.....

However.....if you are working with people who have no desire to learn and no desire to better themselves, the Instructor is in trouble.
You cannot motivate people that are only willing to plod on and earn the same money they have earned for years. And too old to change now.

To put something in perspective: In my very first post on this thread, I spoke about starting out as mere driver who had a passion for learning. And then was appointed manager and was successful and made loads of money for my company...but more importantly...our Branch.

I as manager naturally had a driver too whose job it was to collect service contract sets and bring them back to the workshop for repair. These sets were HEAVY to carry on your own. I said to him one day" I can make your life easier Jonno..if you will listen to me and try and fix them on site, I will help you every step of the way. You game???". The answer was YES. So began the magic.

He went from a driver knowing ziltch about electronics to being a competent field Technician in around three Months. If he got stuck on a set, and I could not help him on the phone, I would simply say bring it in.

And while I was fixing it, he would sit next to me and learn. So that next time he will be able to fix that fault on site. And not have to carry the damn thing down stairs etc.

I will never forget our branch making target the first time. Target meaning little or no customer complaints, branch income budget met or exceeded, growing customer contract base, clean and neat shop and all good things.

So Jonno (driver) gets his paycheck from Head Office. He opens the thing and says" They made a mistake. They paid me too much money". I ask to see it.

I look at the paycheck and say "no Jonno....we as a Branch have made Bonus. Because you listened we are flying. You are fixing sets in the field and keeping our contract customers happy".

That teamwork between myself and my receptionist and my "driver" made Monthly budget for a long time.

And then I was transferred to other branches all over SA to try and fix them. Sadly, too late for the company. They needed an overnight fix...and as we all know, training does not happen overnight. No matter how eager the recipient is.

Thanks for reading,
tvtech

Well said Mike, I couldn't agree more. Problem is in the real world right now the pass/fail rate doesn't mean jack as far as college graduates go for MANY degrees! A sizable portion of college graduates are going into the world without any job prospects, they honestly think that piece of paper means they're guaranteed a fat pay check the day they get it.

Somehow someway, the terms 'hard work' or 'results' were not ingrained into these people either through their parents, culture, or educational upbringing. A common college student nowdays for even advanced degrees is barely able to do anything more than regurgitate the facts they've been taught without systematic understanding, and most of that is gone after the first year without practical application.