Over the past decade we’ve seen thousands of veterans return to the workplace, some after a handful of years and some after decades of service. They all have some pretty fundamental things in common as far as learners go, they all know task, condition and standard.

Look familiar? Robert Mager objectives have these same three elements. Everything from how to wear their uniform to operating complex weapon systems, and even how to talk are based on these three learning elements. We’ve all written objectives before. Using the simple task, condition, and standard is very straight forward. “In a class room setting (condition), using a 1:50,000 scale map, lensatic compass and protractor, the student will properly orient the map, locate a known point on the map, locate a second point on the map (tasks) and successfully (standard) navigate to that point.” The next part of the class takes them out doors where they have to do it for real. Not just apply it in a class room environment. “In a field situation, using a local 1:50,000 scale map, lensatic compass and protractor, the student will properly orient the map, locate a known point on the map, locate a second point on the map (tasks) and successfully navigate and move (standard) to that point.” After all, we need to apply what was learned in the classroom. Everyone that ever served in the military gets this.

So using Mager, we can write training objectives that are recognizable to the veteran learner. 

But wait, there’s even more. Each class had a lecture portion (the military is getting better and not droning on), question and answer period, and actually preforming the task. So when you are faced with a class with a veteran in it, make sure the task condition and standards are well defined and understand that they need to see the value of the training up front. Put them to work on the task so they can actually perform the hands on task. So whether you have veteran’ in your class or not, you are actually hitting all three types of learners, the Visual – through demonstrating how it’s done (and giving them written instructions), the Audio – by telling them how to do it and answering their question, and the Kinesthetic – actually giving them the items they will use and giving them practice.

Whether you are presenting “soft” skill classes or hard skills, if you stick to the basics – Task Condition Standard, you will develop a class that will not only help folks get the information, but you will be able to measure their performance both during and after the learning event.