Simple Language is Better for Training Manuals
Learning to do a new job in today's fast paced production driven workforce can be very stressful and intimidating for most people. Of training manuals are written in simple easy to understand instructions it will help to make the new employee's job easier and less confusing.
One very important reason to simplify training material is to keep the employee's attention long enough to successfully learn their job. Zinsser stated in “Simplicity”
“He is a person with an attention span of about twenty seconds. He is assailed on every side by forces competing for his time: by newspapers and magazines, by television and radio and stereo, by his wife and children and pets, by his house and his yard and all the gadgets that he has bought to keep them spruce, and by that most potent of competitors, sleep. “
In most job environments you will encounter more distractions than Zinsser talks about, so your attention may be pulled in many directions. Being able to read and understand the job instructions quickly will allow the employee to focus on their task and not get lost in a lot of big words and clutter.
When writing training manuals the author needs to look at many different things about who will be using the information and what skill level they have coming into the new job. By understanding what the reader needs to properly learn and succeed at his or her job the author will be able to break the job down so the least skilled employee can understand but still not make it to boring for a more skilled employee. There are many different methods for training someone , Oral instructions, written manuals, visual aids, and hands on, all of these are effective as long as they are used properly and simply enough for the person being trained.
Being a good author of anything requires that you edit your work. Read what you wrote several times. Make sure it makes sense and doesn't have to many overly complicated...