A guide is someone or something that shows you the way when you are lost or need help. On a holiday, you might have a tour guide and a GPS in the car. For us at InfoCaption and our users, the word guide means "something that helps you move forward in your work".
What is a guide?
Timetables guide you to the correct gate or platform at airports and train stations. When you buy new appliances, for example, it often comes with a manual that guides you to get started. Most of us regularly take help from YouTube, where guides in video format work around the clock. You can learn to play an instrument or get step-by-step help building a computer at home in the living room while the creator of the video is sleeping on the other side of the world. Today, it is possible to get help quickly with basically anything, and it is not without asking yourself: "How did you manage in the past?"
Learning on the job
In working life, however, finding information and learning something new is not always easy. Information about systems, routines, and working methods is often scattered across different systems, and even though we have been using search engines in everyday life for many years, many have not yet implemented this in their organizations. With the help of search engines, we can indeed find a lot about a lot, but not routines and working methods for a specific workplace.
"A constantly available support at work that helps you overcome knowledge and information-based obstacles." This is how you can describe Performance Support, and such a system can be the key to adapting the business to the times we live in. It can be an internal Google or YouTube with content designed according to the business's way of working.
Photo by Daniil Silantev on Unsplash
Back to guides. When InfoCaption was founded in 2002, the product was described as: “step-by-step instruction in the form of a screen-recorded movie showing how to do something in a computer system”. These guides have since evolved to include text instruction, webinars, and process diagrams, among other things. Many of our customers use InfoCaption as a supplement to support or customer service. By primarily offering guides, the simpler questions can be answered without burdening the support staff.
Quantity before quality
Our philosophy is that the material created for the guides does not have to be perfect; "good enough" is fine. It is better to create a handful of guides that are okay than a single guide that is visually appealing and has the perfect sound. We advocate quantity over quality; the most important thing is that the user understands how to perform the task.
Getting started
So, how do you get your very own guide at work who is always available to help and teach? Our tip is to invest in a system for Performance Support. It is a long-term investment that favors the efficiency of the business, raises the general level of knowledge, and reduces the percentage of knowledge-related stress - which is more common than you might think.
Implementing a new system can feel like a big challenge, but the longer you wait, the more work it will be once you get to it. And it may be that it is easier than you thought!
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