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  • Podcast
  • Blog
    • Recent Posts
    • Chirping with ABA Owls
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Training Staff series

Season 2, Episode 10 – Training Staff: New Staff Member

July 4, 2022 //  by ABA Owls//  Leave a Comment

Welcome!

On the ABA Owls podcast episode for July, we revisit our Training Staff Series and go through some ABA guidance on training new staff members. In case you’d like to listen, you can go to our podcast page or use your preferred podcast app and search “Chirping with ABA Owls” – we’re on iTunes, Podbean and other platforms.

If you prefer to read rather than listen, carry on with this post.


Where do you start?

When a new employee joins, they will need more attention – which means that your focus will have to shift from other tasks (e.g., supporting other staff members). We understand every job is different, but we can use the same measures across different settings.  

Planning your time can make a massive difference in your day, but the biggest difficulty people seem to have has been to keep it simple. Truth be told, we are guilty of striving for doing as much as possible in one day – we advise you to think of the quote “Less is More”. The first written recording of this quote is from an 1855 poem, but it’s still the best approach you can have. 

This doesn’t mean we are advising you to do less things, but to make your tasks achievable. It is quite punishing or disheartening to have a to-do list for a day and not be able to complete it. And you are less likely to even want to write a list and attempt to complete it if you have been unsuccessful previously.

What do we mean by “Planning”? Planning can be having a checklist of the behaviours the new employee needs to learn. Planning can be discussing a backup plan with your superior in case you are not available to train. Planning can be setting aside time for that new employee and stick to it as much as possible. 

Checklists are actually much more powerful than what people believe. They can be a great source of support in helping you remember all the steps you have to follow or what you need to do to achieve a task. They can also track where you are and where you are going.

We discuss more practical examples on the podcast episode. 


Start training.

This brings us to training. You’ve done all this planning and now you have to train someone. 

Keep these four questions in mind:
1) WHAT do they need training on?
2) WHAT is the priority?
3) HOW should we train?
4) HOW do we consider the skill learned?

1) WHAT do they need training on? This is something that the aforementioned checklist would help with. Every job has different work behaviours. 

2) WHAT is the priority? It’s important to prioritise, this can also be done at the planning level. However, exercise FLEXIBILITY and realistic aims. New needs might come up, there might be an unexpected new project, or there might be a new pupil joining the class or you might get a new client, etc etc. So, the level of importance of each work behaviour might shift based on day-to-day events. 

3) How should we train? In our Training staff introduction episode (season 2 episode 5), we mentioned an article that discussed different training methods.

In our field, there is something called BST (stands for Behavioural Skills Training) – this training procedure uses both verbal training and role playing. Verbal (or Vocal) instruction is given to the trainee, which can be in the form of a lecture, videos for around 15/20 minutes, followed by role playing where the work behaviour is demonstrated to the trainee.
During role play, it is also important for the staff to try and execute the work behaviour – there are various studies that have shown the efficiency of role play. But if you don’t believe us, just think about yourself when you start a new job. When did you learn a skill properly? When someone said “you do this and that” or when you actually had to do it? Understanding what works for each person could also help in training someone more effectively. 

4) How do we consider the skill mastered? Or when is someone competent at performing the target skill? The time spent in role playing is when you can assess if the skill is learned or if it needs more practice. To be clear, when we say role play, we don’t mean that you spend HOURS doing it but rather how skilled is the staff member at completing this skill correctly and with satisfaction.  


Fading in demands and Maintaining skill repertoire.

Fade in demands – If an employee is displaying the work behaviours necessary to master that part of training, progress with training, slowly adding more responsibilities.
This will help the new employee with being more successful in mastering each step.  They will also start feeling more confident as you systematically and slowly add more steps, so that each skill is well developed and fluently demonstrated. 

Maintenance – This is an important part of any work-based skill or any skill. If you don’t practice the target behaviours you will either lose the skill or forget how to do it. If you practise it or maintain it by performing it regularly, you are less likely to forget it.
Once in a while you can (and potentially should) check if the work skill is being performed correctly, but be mindful not to come across as condescending or overbearing. People can react negatively when they feel their superiors don’t trust them.
An approach we can recommend is to explain to the staff member that it is part of the company’s policy to do these checks, and that everyone goes through them, even managers. This is to ensure people are keeping their work skills.


End Thoughts

Training is a topic that is quite exciting for us, as we enjoy seeing people understand and apply skills to their work and personal life.

We find that using ABA can make people’s lives easier – the measures you put in place now will support you in the future.
Think about where you are now and where you want to be – ABA will help you prepare the steps between those two stages (the now and the future).


We hope you’ve enjoyed this post (and the podcast episode, if you’ve listened to it).
We are having a break and will be back in September!

You can also follow us on Instagram (@ABA_owls), send us an email on aba.owls.uk@gmail.com or leave us a comment below.

Thank you for reading,

Carla and Lauren

Category: Chirping with ABA Owls, Recent Posts, Season 2, Training Staff series

Season 2, Episode 7 – Training Staff: Reinforcement and MO

April 11, 2022 //  by ABA Owls//  Leave a Comment

Welcome!

For our April podcast episode, we discussed staff reinforcement and motivation (MO). In case you’d like to listen, you can go to our podcast page or use your preferred podcast app and search “Chirping with ABA Owls” – we’re on iTunes, Podbean and other platforms.

If you prefer to read rather than listen, carry on with this post.


What is Reinforcement and MO?

We do love a definition, here are some that we found helpful:

1 – “Reinforcement involves consequences that strengthen behaviour. To strengthen a behaviour means to increase the likelihood that it will occur again in the future”. From Beam ABA services

2- “Reinforcement is the backbone of the entire field of applied behavior analysis (ABA)”. From www.appliedbehavioranalysisedu.org

In terms of ABA and working with our clients, we strive to assess exactly what reinforces their behaviour, therefore reinforcement is personalised and depends on the individual. 

Not everyone is good at telling you what they like or what they are motivated for. Even if they have excellent communication skills and are able to clearly tell you their preferences, it doesn’t mean they will.

It is important to bear in mind that just because someone prefers something, doesn’t mean that will reinforce their behaviour. Something becomes a reinforcer when it increases the target behaviour. 


For example, imagine that a staff member prefers to have a longer lunch break, but that the target behaviour is getting the staff member to arrive on time for meetings. Giving them a longer lunch break, won’t necessarily increase the behaviour of arriving on time for meetings. What if the meeting is after lunch? 

You need to make sure if what you are supplying is appropriate for the behaviour you want to increase and if it actually reinforces people’s behaviour – that is, it increases the behaviour. 

Now onto motivation and how it works with reinforcement – we need to know what people are motivated for in order to reinforce them appropriately. 

Here’s another definition: “Motivation is the process that initiates, guides, and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. Motivation involves the biological, emotional, social, and cognitive forces that activate behavior. In everyday usage, the term “motivation” is frequently used to describe why a person does something”- www.verywellmind.com

We need to fully understand what motivates people and how we can use that to reinforce the behaviours we want to increase.


Where and When to Reinforce

Time and place can be hard to choose.
We used to work in an organisation that would praise staff with a certificate during the weekly meeting but even with the best intentions, this might not be the ideal scenario for everyone.
Some people feel uncomfortable having attention thrown towards them, so they might not find the “reinforcer” actually reinforcing. The certificate worked as a tangible and social reinforcer, and would highlight a particular behaviour the staff member had engaged in.
Another facet of this weekly “reinforcer” is that it became expected –  every week there had to be one staff member selected from each team. This causes the “reinforcer” to lose its value and strength, as staff can become satiated.
We also didn’t take any data on whether giving the certificate would increase a particular work behaviour – we can’t really call it a reinforcer if we don’t know its effects.

Assessing Preferences
First off, assessment of what staff members prefer should be done regularly. Motivation fluctuates and changes all the time, sometimes we want to do something, other times we want to do something else and we are influenced by our experiences. Assuming that your staff will always want the same reinforcer is a mistake and it might lead to a drop in performance. 

A study done by Byron, Gilroy and Hantula suggests that you should assess preference every couple of weeks or even more frequently. This is easier said than done but we believe that human resources are incredibly important, and if they aren’t valued or reinforced appropriately staff won’t perform their best work behaviour possible.  

Reinforcing

There are many variables to consider when you should reinforce behaviour: What is the target behaviour? Do they need constant reinforcement for it? Can it be spaced out?
The most crucial aspect is that the reinforcement should be delivered contingent on the target behaviour occurring. Even though there are procedures for non-contingent reinforcement, these need to be done appropriately, and most companies or employers won’t have the time and resources to do this – which can cause unwanted results.

There are many studies that show that reinforcement is the most effective when delivered immediately after the behaviour occurred, but with neurotypical adults in the work environment it’s not always possible to reinforce immediately. This is why it is important to know what you are reinforcing, what you will use as a reinforcer and then decide on a schedule (when to reinforce).


How to Assess Preferences? How to Reinforce?

Assessing reinforcers and motivation can be difficult and time consuming. Even when people are asked to complete a survey about what they prefer, they aren’t always honest. A survey can also be seen as another task to do. Even if you interview your staff on a 1:1 basis, they might not want to tell you (their employer or manager) exactly what they would like. This can be because there’s a lack of trust, they feel embarrassed, or any other reason you are not aware of. 

This being said, it’s still important to ask staff what they want, even if it’s difficult and time consuming.
You can use a mixture of interview and survey – but whether you choose one method or to combine them, try to make it as less demanding as possible.
A mixture of open questions, array of options and “would you rather” can prove to be more effective than just using open-ended questions.

Consider reinforcers that you can actually offer in a sustainable manner, there are different kinds but we will briefly discuss two different types.
Tangibles can vary from objects to activities. For example, tickets for the cinema are a tangible item to gain access to an activity. Different people like different things, some staff might like learning, so having access to workshops or training can be valuable for them.
Social reinforcement can be a manager complimenting you on your work – sometimes in private, sometimes in front of others.
Research on this topic has shown that a mix of social and tangible reinforcement seems to be the most effective. 

You can also observe staff on the kind of leisure activities they discuss, what tasks they work on first and which ones they avoid – be mindful that being observed can make people feel uncomfortable, don’t be over imposing.

Define a behaviour and test a reinforcement. Here’s an example: “Finishing a big assignment within the deadline”. This can be a bit of a vague target, you might have to define what qualifies as “big” or even define which behaviours are necessary to finish assignments on time – such as organising their time, scheduling catch up meetings, etc.
If the staff member loves going to the cinema, and you give them movie tickets for “finishing a big assignment within the deadline”, notice if their behaviour improves in future assignments. 

It’s complicated to reinforce staff for every little behaviour – it might also be complicated to find the resources to provide reinforcement. In the end, it’s all about balance: Applying a reinforcement interval that keeps staff motivated to perform certain work behaviour and using preferred items/activities that will increase or maintain behaviour.


Why Should Staff be Reinforced?

People might ask: why do I need to add more reinforcement when they already get paid a salary? That should be motivating enough for them to work. 

If a salary was enough of a reinforcement, then people would not change jobs.
Let’s look into what a salary actually reinforces. A staff member receives a salary for attending work for a certain amount of hours, they receive their wages on a weekly or monthly basis. If they are late performing tasks, they do not get the salary deducted – nor should they! Therefore, the salary is not reinforcing their productivity, it’s reinforcing them showing up for work consistently. People who work on commission, for example in sales, have to engage in certain behaviours in order to earn their commission – in this situation the commission is working as motivation for the behaviour of selling more, but it will only be a reinforcer if the behaviour is maintained or improved.

If you need staff to display more specific behaviours within the work day, then you’ll have to reinforce them for those behaviours. You can listen to more examples about this topic on our podcast episode.


End Thoughts and Resources

We’ve been on both ends, as the employee and as the manager, and we find it vital to understand reinforcement and what people are motivated by.

It can really make a difference on your staff’s productivity and the overall turnover in the workplace. 

If you’d like to learn more on this topic, there is an excellent course about OBM (Organisational Behaviour Management) run by Chief Motivating Officers –  www.chiefmotivatingofficers.com 

Here is the source for the article we referenced regarding reinforcement frequency: Byron, W., Gilroy, S. & Hantula, D. A. (2012). Temporal (in)stability of employee preferences for rewards. Journal of Organizational Behavior Management, 32, 58-64. https://doi.org/10.1080/01608061.2012.646854


We hope you’ve enjoyed this post (and the podcast episode, if you’ve listened to it).

You can also follow us on Instagram (@ABA_owls), send us an email on aba.owls.uk@gmail.com or leave us a comment below.

Thank you for reading,

Carla and Lauren

Category: Recent Posts, Season 2, Training Staff series

Season 2, Episode 6 – The GROW Model

March 15, 2022 //  by ABA Owls//  Leave a Comment

Welcome!

This month (March 2022) we released an episode podcast called “The GROW Model”, if you’d like to listen, you can go to our podcast page or use your preferred podcast app and search “Chirping with ABA Owls” – we’re on iTunes, Podbean and other platforms.

If you prefer to read rather than listen, this post will summarise the episode. 

The first episode and blog post on the “Training staff” series was an introduction to this topic area, and even though the GROW model is not ABA, we feel that it is a very useful tool that can be combined with ABA procedures.

Disclaimer: Both this post and the podcast episode are in no way meant to be seen as training on the GROW model – we are gathering the resources available online and putting them together in one place.


What is the GROW model?

It was developed in the 1980s in the UK by business coaches Graham Alexander, Alan Fine, and Sir John Whitmore. Have a look at their official website for more details into the history of GROW: https://www.performanceconsultants.com/grow-model 

It is important to note that the GROW model is copyrighted, but based on what we’ve read on the official website, we think it applies to businesses that want to use it. We’re not sure how that applies to individuals at home. There is an email or contact form provided if you want to seek permission to use GROW in your business or organisation.

GROW stands for:  Goal, Reality, Options (or Obstacles) and Will. 

Goal – something that you aim for, that’s inspiring. It doesn’t have to be measurable nor detailed. Some people have the goal of being happy, others want to be artists, or become carpenters. Goals are different for everyone. 

Reality – what is the current situation? E.g. Little time for x,y,z tasks.

Options or Obstacles – When we were trained, we were taught this section is about the Obstacles standing in your way. However, the official website mentions “Options”. There have been other places where the term “Obstacles” is used.  On the performance consultant’s website it is written “Explore the options moving forward” and an example of a question you could ask yourself in this section is  “How would you tackle this if time wasn’t an option?”.

Will – What achievable and measurable steps will you take towards your goal? These steps should be something you will commit to. Don’t worry about setting up loads of targets, it’s better to do a few but achievable. 


How to use it?

The official website describes the GROW steps, along with examples,  and they provide training for people who want to be coaches and for those who want to use GROW themselves. 

There are various videos on Youtube about the GROW model, here’s the link for one that we found helpful: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fbooiSh_bA


Why should you use GROW?

We find that GROW is a really good tool to create clear and achievable steps towards an end goal. This method makes end goals feel less daunting and its format reminds us of ABA type ways of breaking down goals into small, achievable steps. 

Feeling overwhelmed is something we have all experienced at one time or another – goal can seem out of reach and it’s difficult to know where to start.  

GROW founders also advise on their website that this model should be used in conjunction with other tools. They mention “fundamental coaching skills” but since we’re not business coaches, we rely on ABA.


GROW and ABA

To end this post, we will discuss the similarities and differences between GROW and ABA.

Similarities:

1- They both look at the current situation (GROW calls it reality and ABA calls it Baseline)

2- They both use achievable and measurable steps towards an end goal (GROW calls it Will. In ABA it can be called “intervention”).

Differences

1- ABA doesn’t use vague goals. In GROW, a person can set up a goal such as “being happy”, but in ABA it’s harder to use a goal like this. It’s not impossible, but we would look at how that person describes “happy” and give it a clear and measurable definition. Happiness means different things to different people, so we would ALWAYS tailor that main goal in terms that are clear and specific for that person. 

2- Whilst GROW separates Options (or obstacles) and Will into separate parts, ABA will more likely combine the two. For example, on their website, GROW founders gave the following question as an example for Options: “how would you tackle this if time wasn’t a factor?”.
In ABA, we would use the information given from Options and convert it into targets. Whilst GROW has people separating these into two separate categories, in ABA we are more likely to do this in one go. 

As an ABA practitioner you can separate these two, of course – this is especially helpful when you are new to setting targets. Once you become more fluent, you’ll find that you might not need to set up all those questions, options, etc. before deciding targets.


At the end of the day, this is a very good tool to use, whether you are ABA trained or not. We discuss our opinions on this model in more length on our podcast episode – just search “Chirping with ABA Owls” or go to the podcast page on our website.

You can also follow us on Instagram (@ABA_owls), send us an email on aba.owls.uk@gmail.com or leave us a comment below.

Thank you for reading,

Carla and Lauren

Category: Chirping with ABA Owls, Recent Posts, Season 2, Training Staff series

Season 2, Episode 5 – Training Staff: Introduction

January 10, 2022 //  by ABA Owls//  Leave a Comment

Welcome!

In November we released a new podcast episode called “Training Staff: Introduction” to get you through your Monday. If you’d like to listen, you can go to our podcast page or use your preferred podcast app and search “Chirping with ABA Owls”, we’re on iTunes, Podbean and other platforms.

In the off chance you would rather read than listen, this post will summarise the episode. 

Training staff is an extensive topic, and we will be covering it throughout 2022 – but for now, we are simply introducing it. 


Real Life Scenarios

It’s fair to say that we’ve all had moments when we felt that we didn’t know what we were doing – life is essentially having these moments happening constantly – JOY! And this rings true when starting a new job, we lose track of what is up or down, what we should be doing, etc. 

Being appropriately trained is critical – luckily, ABA can help.

We go into more detail in the podcast episode, but here are two scenarios we’ve gone through.

First Scenario: not trained on how to differentiate stimuli. When working in a jewelry shop and asked to find a particular bracelet, Carla was unable to do it as the drawings in the box were nearly identical even though the bracelets inside were distinct. 

Second Scenario: Not enough training to master skill. Lauren needed 2 weeks to be able to efficiently and accurately book and change patient appointments. She was shown how to use the booking system once, asked to demonstrate if she had understood it, and that was it. Various mistakes were made which were most likely corrected by her superior.


Training

First off, we want to make clear what we mean when we use the term “training”. Training is teaching AND reinforcing responses in order to shape behaviour into various actions that will likely happen in the future.

However, we have to account for the fact that many times, people leave out the reinforcement part of training. Even though sitting in school and being taught math (e.g. multiplication) is considered receiving training, without the skills being reinforced, there’s a high probability of that skill becoming faulty. Other forms of training include being shown how to use a booking system or even being taught how to speak.

When we search “training staff”, there are many resources shown: websites, articles, courses, etc. 

A particular website we visited: edge point learning.com”, contains an article that summarises 10 different types of employee training.
Their 10 types are listed as follows: Instructor-led training; eLearning; Simulation employee training; Hands-on training; Coaching or mentoring; Lectures; Group discussion and activities; Role-playing; Management-specific activities; Case studies or other required reading.

Imagine a circle divided into 10 slices and that each slice represents a different kind of training. What seems to happen quite often, is that only a couple of slices are used. So, trainers, managers, and other people in the “trainer” position, will choose a few ways of training someone, but will neglect other forms of training. The training circle will be incomplete, and so will that person’s ability to perform her job.

Common terms used are “slow learner”, “fast learner”, “natural learner”, etc. These terms can cause certain expectations from people, whether high or low, and these expectations can be detrimental towards training. For example, if someone is labeled a “natural learner” they might not receive needed training as they are expected to be able to learn the skills by themselves. This can lead to a defective skill repertoire, where the employee commits unnecessary mistakes. 

Training is a very rich and vast area and we do want to acknowledge that it is an enormous topic to cover.
People trained in OBM (Organisational Behaviour Management) do cover this area quite extensively and if you are interested, you can always listen to The Behaviour Business podcast or The business of behavior podcast.


Using ABA

We thought we would mention some different types of ways we use prompting in training, what they are and an example of their use. 

Verbal prompts –  verbal prompt involves telling the trainee the answer, giving a verbal cue, such as, the beginning sound of the answer, and/or giving the direction more than once. For example, telling a staff member “tell him to put his hands down” when dealing with challenging behaviour.

Gesture/point prompts – a point, hand gesture, or head nod to encourage participation normally prompted by a natural cue. If we think back to the jewelry shop example, you can point to the drawer where the correct bracelet is.

Visual prompts – is a picture or cue that the trainee sees which provides information about the correct answer. This can involve a visual schedule, video, photograph, drawing, flashing a card with the right answer, etc. When Lauren started her new job, it would’ve probably been helpful to have a sequence of pictures of what steps she should take in order to make patient bookings.

Modeling prompts – this type of prompt involves the teacher/trainer demonstrating the skill first and then asking the trainee to repeat it. Example: showing a new member of staff how to search items in the product inventory system. 

Fading prompts – Prompt fading is the process of systematically reducing and removing prompts that have been paired with an instruction/action, allowing the trainee to independently respond correctly. 


As mentioned at the beginning, this topic is quite extensive, and we will be delving into it slowly.
We hope you join us and find it informative and helpful. 

You can also follow us on Instagram (@ABA_owls), send us an email on aba.owls.uk@gmail.com or leave us a comment below.

Thank you for reading,

Carla and Lauren

Category: Recent Posts, Season 2, Training Staff series

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