WHAT'S NEW

Confiance Learning has developed a unique way of improving heavy equipment operator skills and to retain the wealth of information that experienced operators bring to their role. Whether it’s the dragline, heavy mobile mine equipment or even long-haul or public transport, we have a way to maximise that skill potential.
We have brought together some talented people who have worked in the elite sport industry, and combined their knowledge and skills to bring the same techniques used in elite sport performance to industry skills.
Elite sport has known the benefits of a skill focused approach for years. To take a talented athlete from the national to international level, and then make them a World or Olympic champion, takes a great deal of attention to the way in which they execute their skills in training and competition. The coach, athlete and performance analysts work together to create small changes in skill execution that can often result in significant improvements in performance efficiency and safety.
It’s all about correct skill execution, innovations in movement strategies, accurate and consistent replication of skills, and the immediacy and relevance of the feedback provided. Technology is used to enable the athlete and performance team to work together, in real-time, to analyse, interpret and change the way skills are done. They also use images and information from the best athletes in their field, and compare their own skill execution against that benchmark.
In an operator’s case, the principles are the same. A highly skilled operator will have developed their skill level in many different ways in comparison to a less skilled operator. How long a person has been performing is irrelevant. A short term operator can become highly skilled quickly with the right training and motivation. In the reverse, a long term operator may never have been trained properly in the first place, or they may have developed unwanted bad habits or inappropriate short cuts throughout their career. As result, there is often a great discrepancy between the level of skill execution that provides the best operator outcomes, and that which is actually achieved.
There is also the problem of the loss of training and expertise that occurs when a senior and highly skilled operator leaves an organisation, either through retirement or job movement.  An elite sporting team or Institute of Sport will endeavour to retain that information in some way to ensure that it can be passed on to up and coming athletes. They do this through techniques that performance analysts provide to their organisations. We believe that the same process would benefit industry greatly. Finding a way to retain that skill execution information, and being able to use it and improve on it over time, is one of the most effective methods of ensuring a continued growth towards achieving skill and productivity excellence.
We can’t all be world champion athletes, but we would all like the opportunity to be the best of the best in something!