6
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March - April 2015
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www.machinerylubrication.com
From the Field
Jerem y Wrigh t
|
Nori a Corpor at ioN
n teaching lubrication and oil anal-
ysis for more than a decade at
Noria, I've seen many things remain
constant over the years. Friction and wear
along with keeping oil as clean, cool and
dry as possible (contamination control)
have always been at the core of the curric-
ulum. I've taught these things with such
repetition that more than once I've found
myself on autopilot, as the words and
concepts seem to just flow as I tell the story
of machinery lubrication.
There is an old Latin principle called
"docendo discimus," which means the best
way to learn is to teach. This certainly holds
true for the material you are trying to
convey, but little did I
know that it applies to
other things as well. After
mastering the content, I
started to notice other
things that were
happening in the room. I
picked up on body
language, eye movements
and attention spans. As I
focused on each of these
elements and perfected
my skills, the feedback I
received from participants
improved. However, what
truly made me a better
speaker was having a
greater understanding of
my audience and how
they learn.
Andragogy is the term
that Malcolm Knowles
used to explain his six
assumptions about adult
learning. Knowles was
considered an influential
figure in adult education
for much of the last
century. His six principles
have helped me become a much better
instructor. These principles work to convey
almost any type of information. I merely
had to adapt them to my audience.
Motivation
My audience is internally motivated and
self-directed. Most of them are listening to
me because they want to improve. They
desire to learn as much as possible so they
can add value to their roles at their
company. They will resist learning if they
feel I am imposing information, ideas or
actions on them, so I must present the
information to make it seem as if the end
goal is their original idea. No matter what
you are conveying, you must foster this
internal motivation to learn. In order to
l u b r i c a t i o n P r o g r a m s
re-evAlUAtIng your
training
methods
I
40
P E R C E N T
of lubrication professionals say training
is the most important factor for con-
tinuous improvement of a lubrication
program, based on a recent poll at
MachineryLubrication.com
