CDLA · Module 1 — Performance consulting and action mapping
Add only what the practice requires. Put the rest in a job aid. Why that is not dumbing down.
About 16 min
Practice in the lesson player
Sorting, matching, quizzes, and the module gate stay behind a free account so scored answers are not public. The teaching notes below are the same cited curriculum.
01
Step 4 of action mapping adds information last, and only to support a practice activity. If a fact is needed on the job but not during the decision in the course, it belongs in a job aid, which is Gilbert's data cell, not in a narrated history module.
02
Use a job aid when. | Train to memory when.
The task is infrequent | The task is frequent and speed matters
The information changes often | Looking something up would cause harm or lose the customer
The steps are many and exact | Physical conditions prevent reading (gloves, darkness, motion)
Errors are costly and checking is possible | The person must recognise the situation before knowing to look
03
The last row of that table is where job aids fail. A checklist for handling a suspicious transaction is useless if the cashier never realises the transaction is suspicious. In those cases, practice is not about the steps (put those in the aid). It is about recognising the cue: many short, varied cases where the learner must decide "is this one of those?" before anything else. Designers who miss this build excellent job aids that nobody opens.
04
For each of your top three actions, list the information the practice needs. For everything else on the client's content list, write one of: job aid, cut, or practice (recognition). Keep the list. Sponsors will ask where their content went.