Originally Posted by
Bart
I'm not talking about those who didn't make it through the basic course. I, too, have had to deliver the bad news to someone who didn't meet standards.
What I'm talking about are the ones you trained who met all the standards, perhaps even exceeded them, but later deviated from that standard AFTER they left the course and your tutelage. How much of that is really your responsibility? You hope you've given them all the right tools to address any situation, but in the end, it's all down to whether or not they stick to what they were taught or decide to come up with some shortcut.
Seems that you're determined to make this all a training issue. I'm used to it. I get that at work, too. The question I ask is what are the supervisors doing to maintain the standard I taught to the new hire. What actions do they take when they see an officer deviate from standard?
It's a team effort between the trainers and the floor supervisors, and it doesn't always work as well as it should.
I've been honest with you but feel you've been disingenuous just so that you can take a stab at TSA. Shame. You have a potential for some truly enlightening discussion.
I have been a trainer as well. I have even done Train the Trainer training.
I have trained people in processes that if they do not do them correctly, they could be injured or maimed. If they made even minor mistakes, one the first questions in the investigation was who trained them and I was held responsible for the mistakes of those I trained. Unfair? Maybe. But, no one got signed off as trained until they knew what to do and did it in a proper manner over a long period of time.
In the program in which I trained people, the trainees had to be developed over five years to reach competency. Only after they graduated were they held personally responsible for their performance. Up until that time, each and every one of us that had contributed to that person's training had shared responsibility.
The result was that all training was done intensely. The trainees were checked and double checked. They were watched while they worked. If they made even a minor mistake, they were called to task and the training was redone.
Ironically, the things I trained people to do were not nearly as important as the protection of air travel from terrorist attack. It was skilled factory work. Yet we took it much more seriously than your organization seems to take its training.
Your "Oh, well, I tried but they did it wrong anyway, so it is not my fault" approach may someday get someone killed. That is, if the job is really as important and integral to air travel safety as we are led to believe.