Exceptional On-the-Job Training (OJT) Yields Exceptional Performance!

Stan Lee and Steve Ditko’s Spiderman has been through several iterations, with each version staying true to the ‘with great power comes great responsibility’ essence. Each version of Peter Parker was bitten by a radioactive spider, was involved with MJ while dealing with the bullying of Flash and had to go through the excruciating pain of losing Uncle Ben. These incidents served as the backdrop against which they learned to fully utilise their powers and serve New York City by becoming the ‘friendly neighbourhood Spiderman’ and eventually something much bigger. All superheroes tend to learn more about their powers and abilities as they delve further into the saving-the-world business, and this holds especially true for Spiderman since he starts off as a teenager and it takes time for the Avengers to accept him as one of their own. The ‘Spiderman’ series was taken for a spin by 2018’s ‘Spiderman: Into the Spiderverse’. Featuring brand-new Spidermen from different parallel universes (or Spider-people to be more precise!) led by Miles Morales, the movie brought innovation and freshness to a genre that was starting to feel saturated. Apart from the technical flourishes and the brilliant animation, the movie didn’t fail to teach its audience certain lessons without being in-your-face about them. The obvious ‘you can be Spiderman too’ aside, the way the other Spider-people helped Miles fully realise his powers and learn the true extent of his capabilities highlighted how one can learn best while doing what they’re ultimately supposed to do.

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On-the-job training, also known as OJT, is a hands-on method of teaching the skills, knowledge, and competencies needed for employees to perform a specific job within the workplace. Employees learn in the same environment where they will need to practice the knowledge and skills obtained during training. The first time Miles learned how to use his web shooters was while escaping Dr Octopus, being guided along the way by an alternate dimension’s Peter Parker. He found out about his ability to turn invisible right in the thick of the action, and while as such newcomers shouldn’t be subjected to high-pressure situations immediately, they certainly learn more from performing their responsibilities. This type of training has the advantage of giving primary knowledge and experience under actual working conditions. While the trainee learns how to perform a job, they are also a regular worker rendering the services for which they have been selected. The emphasis is put on efficiency in performance rather than simply learning the mechanics of the job. Here is why this method is so effective.

Empowering Managers to Train

Developing the training capabilities of managers leads to tangible advantages for the organization. Internal training becomes more effective as employees react positively when they’re trained by their managers instead of a specific trainer. When managers provide training, they express and focus on what they believe is important and reinforce these ideas in the minds of employees. It also helps managers develop their own skills better or makes managers out of employees who, till that point, might have had very little actual People Management experience . In helping Miles find his powers, Peter Parker was able to get back in touch with his own abilities and improved himself. Miles also responded well to the guidance of Peter and Gwen, who took the time to help him understand the job.

Cost-Effective

OJT removes the disadvantage of having to create artificial classroom situations and then have a latency period in which new employees take time to learn before starting to perform. Under this type of training new employees can start contributing to the organisation immediately, thus increasing efficiency and raising total output. The resources that would have had to be invested in specific training can now be utilised somewhere else. Had they waited for Miles to be full ready, the other heroes wouldn’t have been able to return to their respective dimensions. While Miles did have trouble planting his feet firmly on the ground, he responded well to the pressure and was able to complete all his immediate objectives.

Establishing a Legacy

The employees designated as the trainers can at some future point help train other new employees, and since the entire system of training stays within the company, the company culture is given a boost. Instead of having someone who is not familiar with the company’s policies, culture, way of working, employees training other employees can help foster relationships of trust and loyalty. Spider-Ham, Peni Parker, Spiderman Noir were all rooting for Miles and provided a support system for him to grow into his role as the new Spiderman. Their trust and faith in Miles, being Spider-people themselves, acted as the impetus he needed to rise to the occasion. The employees would want to train other newcomers in the way that they themselves had been trained or would have liked to be trained, either of which would be extremely beneficial for the organisation anyway.