For nearly three weeks, I have been training two new writers who have joined our team. Both are contractors. One is a young man. The other is an older woman.
It's like night and day with these two. The young man is curious and learns quickly. I see him fitting in well and doing a great job in his role.
The older woman has issues. The first is comprehension. I will mention specific details in an e-mail and she will miss reading them. Something as simple as our manager saying to not come into the office did not register at all in her mind.
I had this brief text chat yesterday, for instance:
I noticed going through her work that involved reading a report that she doesn't pay attention to details. She asked me whether we had an answer when we barely read through it. It makes more sense to me that she does not read carefully -- that she jumps from section to section -- almost as if she's in a rush or is impatient.
She didn't read this exercise carefully. I've noticed this issue with the previous three.
Her third exercise was interesting. She missed step 5. She managed to change step 9 when it wasn't called for. She didn't bother doing steps 10 and 11. Yet, she said that she was done and that her output was the same as her male peer in our training session.
Um, no.
I remember asking her, rather politely, why certain steps were omitted or missed. Typically, when you are following a procedure, you do each step sequentially. I asked if there were too many concepts presented to her. She said maybe. Hmm.
I have concerns about her. I don't think that she'll do well because she can't grasp simple concepts expressed in exercises or messages. She jumps all over the place when reading text and almost seems like she can't focus.
It's weird.
I have both new writers on my team. I get to continue to work with them, which is a breath of fresh air with the young man. However, it requires more effort on my part to work with the older woman and her omitting key details in whatever she is working on.
It's be interesting.
It's pretty obvious her brain isn't functioning perfectly. Probably the first thing to determine is whether she wants to fix any of the problems.
ReplyDeletePresuming she does, she might be able to address some of this with specific procedures. For example, she could make a checklist to use and then check off items as she finishes them. This creates some redundancy in her process, but that redundancy might be necessary to reach the goal.
Another thing would be to have the computer read the text out loud while she reads it on the screen. This can overcome some attention deficit.
You or she could probably find other procedures to overcome deficits. But that all depends on her willingness to address the problem.
Good luck!
Thanks for your insight and suggestions, RP. I appreciate them.
DeleteI frankly don't think that she feels there's a problem. The checklist may help her stay focused, but I have a feeling that she would still deviate from following it.
The laptop reading out text to her sounds great. However, he would still have issues absorbing that audible information. I trained her for nearly three weeks and what I said often didn't click with her.
I'm sure that's true. However, seeing it visually while you hear it at the same time can help with concentration. It all goes back to whether she wants to solve the problem.
DeleteIt makes sense to me. However, she doesn't see a problem, so it won't help.
DeleteMy training has had many examples of visually going through a user interface (visual) while I'm talking. She had lapses of understanding afterwards, especially when I repeated myself three times on the same user interface.
The lady isn't suitable for the job, I'm afraid. How long before you express your concerns to your superior?
ReplyDeleteHugs,
Hermione
I totally agree.
DeleteI've already let my boss know a few times. The first was within the first week exchanging messages with her where she missed what I had said. She then didn't show up for a training session, so I asked my boss whether she had called in sick or was experiencing technical issues. I let him know then.
The second time was the following week in yet another message to my boss.
The third time was a summary of training her last week when her training was over. This week, I had a one-on-one meeting with my boss and I also mentioned in.
She is a contractor, so my boss will terminate her contract once we have her replacement. We are going through more resumes.