As preceptors/FTOs we are usually charged with evaluating a new person’s performance, and we in most cases assign some grade or number to a trainee’s performance based on how well or poorly they did on a flight/call. These are really just arbitrary numbers that fail to capture the essence of the trainee’s performance.
Add to that the fact that there are a ton of “gatekeepers” out there that grill new folks and trainees when they perform poorly in an attempt to assert their dominance and ensure the trainee knows they will never be as good as this “FTO,” and things can get rather frustrating for the trainee. Sometimes to the degree that the trainee decides that they aren’t good enough to be here and they quit.
These FTOs often offer this “expert” opinion after an hour(ish) of observed performance under intense duress (for the trainee). They go to the check sheet and circle the arbitrary numbers and “grade” their performance. The trainee gets the grade and a “do better” speech. Thus endeth the lesson…
Here are the questions that I have pondered over the years when exposed to this type of field training:
– Do you know what a truly inept/incapable person looks like versus a trained professional doing their best in an intense situation with a mountain of external distractions (mostly from being a new person on your team)?
– Is it appropriate or fair to evaluate a person’s performance against a fixed outcome in that situation?
– Does it make more sense to see them where they are and evaluate them within their current capability and capacity for the skills at that given moment?
Check it out:
We are evaluating performance under duress. Just because it is a routine and run of the mill call for you does not mean it is for the trainee. They may be totally hijacked by their limbic system and are just merely trying to survive the encounter.
MOST OF THESE FOLKS HAVE NEVER BEEN GIVEN ANY MEANINGFUL TRAINING IN STRESS MITIGATION STRATEGIES. Yet we “grade” them according to arbitrary and bias prone “standards” that leave the human aspect out of it.
To be fair, I believe that there is a standard for a reason and not everyone gets a pass. Not everyone gets to stay with the organization. Sometimes it is a bad fit. Sometimes it is the wrong time in their lives to make the transition… and it is OK to part ways. The standard is the standard.
But…
Here are 4 different lenses to look through when evaluating a trainee’s performance against that standard.
1.) They’ve never worked in your system before. → teach them how to operate in your system. Explain why the system works the way it does, and refrain from relying on giving a dissertation on why you think you could run it better. Acknowledge the shortcomings, but most importantly teach them how to operate within the system as it is deployed now.
2.) They’ve very possibly never been held to any real measurable standard of performance. → model the way and BE the standard they can measure themselves by. Your time on the job is not a trophy. Your experience is a repository of lessons learned that you have a responsibility to pass on. Teach them the lessons you learned, even if you had to learn them the hard way, but ensure they learn the lessons. You can only bash the trainee over the head with your years of experience for so long before they figure out that the years of service is all of you have acquired over the years and you have little to offer them.
3.) They have unresolved life issues… just like you.
Be human and give them some room to deal with life. Stay away from the “drinking from a firehose” nonsense. It’s not cool to eat the young anymore. Folks are coming to organizations after having moved across the country and are still acclimatizing to the area and their new life…cut them a little slack (I would still draw a hard line at being on time). They may be coming to your organization in the midst of divorce, child custody issues, and a myriad of other LIFE issues.
Be a resource and help or get them to somebody that can help them. The cool thing about this job is that there is almost always someone who has dealt with a serious life issue before and is more than happy to help the new guy navigate those sometimes treacherous waters. A caveat: you do owe it to them as a good human to acknowledge that “life happens,” but consistent poor performance and lack of readiness prompts a response of “maybe this isn’t the right time in your life for this.”
4.) You are evaluating performance under duress -> teach them how YOU do it. Not how you do a skill or an assessment; how you handle the stress and dial everything in. You were there once, in their position, and you found a way to win. NURTURE their WILL TO WIN. Teach them what you know about operating and executing at a high level… THEN evaluate how they apply the skills you’ve given them. Give them tools as you discover they need them. Don’t just hand off a bunch of platitudes from Navy SEALs (who are cool) and say “don’t quit.” They need more than that, they need hard and soft skills to get through those tougher situations. What situations? Stay tuned for the next post…
Close Out
It is easy to watch someone mess up on a call and then in the “debrief” you tell them “you mess this thing up.” Anyone can do that. Get down into the heart of the matter and discover where the mistake comes from. Where are they distracted? What are they scared of? What is inducing the mistake? Evaluating performance through these lenses actually has a chance of improving an individual’s performance… if you are willing to move past the “here is where you messed up” conversations.
