Outward Bound staff have been known to say, "I need to be trained on that!" They exclaim this for good reason. They deserve to be developed and have a chance at being excellent at their role. Program leadership pushes for everyone to attend training, also for sound reason. Staff who attend training are more up-to-date, get to know co-workers and are generally easier to work with. They develop more and contribute more in line with school vision and current student needs.
What if training is, at worst, not the answer. What if training is at best only a part of the answer? The question is, how do we change the behavior of our staff? Why does it need to change? Because everyone can grow, and everyone is confronted with change. A year ago no one had instructed a physically distanced Outward Bound course. In the fall of 2020, COBS and VOBS committed to doing just that, and their staff had to change the way they do things--at least in part. This is an example, and on a smaller scale it happens all the time. People want to learn, to grow, to get better at what they do, to change their own behavior. This takes more than training. This is where performance support comes in.
What is performance support? To begin, formal training is best used for new knowledge and skill acquisition. It is not as effective for changing our confidence, our commitment, our behavior on the job. In short, training doesn't help us change that much. Performance support is the next step.
If you need to apply knowledge or skills, solve a problem, work with change that is thrust upon you, or alter the way you use a skill, then training isn't going to help you that much. Performance support is what you want. Performance support changes they way we get our work done, reach our goals.
Performance support is what I use when I'm not in a formal training and I want to do something that I'm not sure about. Usually I check my notes and ask someone, or I google it, I read about it; I look to apply a principle. We all have our preferred methods.
Performance support is what we use to keep the learning going, to solidify, to apply, to really get confident and committed to a new way. Because performance support is mostly used while we're on the job, we it has to be convenient, user-friendly and relevant.
Ideally, training and performance support are congruent with each other. Performance support is working to achieve the same goal as the training.With that in mind, the Lab has created performance support for the Domains of Thriving, so that people can take an introductory training and go further with it.
The Domains of Thriving Performance Support focus on the practices of the DoT, the interactions between staff and students. These are the methods Outward Bound uses to provide the best Outward Bound to every student, all the time. They are simple, versatile and accessible to anyone.
Each set of four supports focuses on one practice. They are meant to be used together. Access them on our e-learning platform, Thinkific. They are called the Mini Mastery Sessions.
Performance Support for the Domains of Thriving:
Practice Video: about ten minutes long, give or take. Serves as an introduction and overview. Accessible and to the point.
Practice Quick Guide: summarizes the content of the video, adds some important pieces, and is the core of the support for any practice.
Practice Worksheet: this is a reflection tool meant to help people connect with, consider and even change the way they think about and use the practice.
Practice Check: a quiz. Often, but not always, there are right and wrong answers. You won't get a score but you will solidify your understanding and have better questions.
Outward Bound staff have really identified with the DoT Practices; they are how we do what we do. They are recognizable and relevant. They shine a light on our excellence and offer ways to introduce and cement those practices so that staff can be really effective with all students.
The DoT supports can be used in a variety of ways depending on your role as a learner, on what your needs are, and on how much time you have. Regardless of the order in which they are linked together, the intent is that they are used together to create a series of follow-ups on the specific knowledge and skills that are a DoT practice. The beauty of them is that all they require is an interested and invested learner. Anything beyond that is optional and encouraged. If course directors use them, it will improve the developmental interactions. If co-workers use them, it will improve the social learning opportunities.
Imagine a world where a new or experienced field staff can access a progression of activities to help them be an excellent Outward Bound field staff without needing to do a certain course, work with a specific person or attend a one-time training. Our objective in creating these resources is to help field staff independently access the practices of the Domains of Thriving so that they can be more ready to do their job.
We wish you all the best Outward Bound with all of your students this season.
This project is one of experimentation. You will help us learn what field staff need to most easily learn and change their practice, and how Outward Bound can help. There is a link to performance support input on the Lab Website Performance Support page.