Best Practices in HSI - Performance and Training

The goal of training for a new acquisition is to develop and sustain a skilled member/unit, while giving strong consideration to options that can reduce life-cycle costs such as organic training or utilizing existing Service schools.

Continuous training may not be possible due to lack of resources while deployed.
Training during deployment depends largely on the capability and the deployment location.  While the intent is to deploy fully trained Coast Guard members, this expectation results in a lack of training resources at deployed locations. Continuous training, although not always possible, is ideal during deployment and can be achieved through flexible, organic solutions.  The performance and training domain's goal is to ensure all organic training options are explored and made a priority.

The operational tempo may not be sufficient to maintain skill level.
Skill levels may deteriorate if an individual or team goes for long periods of time without exposure to the types of situations for which they were trained.  These activities may be good candidates for automation (if still in the design phase) or organic supplemental performance supports such as job aids, embedded training functions, or targeted refresher training.

Feedback may be insufficient to provide for efficient training.
Evaluating the true effectiveness of training in a systematic fashion is challenging, and requires involvement at multiple echelons of the CG mission organization and significant time investment. One might ask, for example: Did the diesel engine maintainer course result in a reduced engineering casualty reports and improved operational availability for the engine? This question seems like a simple matter of data analysis but with humans in the performance loop, a host of factors influence the results of training: the operational employment of the engines, maintenance philosophy, parts availability, individual motivation, leadership, state of rest, and team dynamics all play a part in the answer.

There is frequent overreliance on training to overcome poorly designed human interfaces.
Too often, deficiencies in system design are addressed through training workarounds rather than modifying the system design through use of human factors engineering. In many cases, the human is required to perform actions to bridge the gap between poorly integrated hardware/software elements. For example, operation center tasks often require the human to move information between multiple workstations/software applications because the system is not integrated.

Training conditions may not reflect the psychological and environmental conditions experienced while deployed.
Pre-deployment training typically occurs in a traditional classroom setting. However, while deployed, personnel will be required to respond to real-life situations in dangerous and austere environments. Personnel may be unprepared to fulfill the requirements of their position under the stress of these situations and in extreme environments.