Growing: Teaching skills
How do we actually teach people to do things? To perform actions, not just know stuff?
Knowledge vs. skills
There’s a huge amount of research on how humans learn, but most of what we commonly use—lectures, presentations, reading, all that stuff you’re all too well familiar with—is designed for transferring knowledge, not skills. If all we want is to move information from one brain to another, then reading, watching, or listening works reasonably well. People pay attention, process what they hear, understand the concepts, and often remember them.
But in the workplace, we’re not usually trying to teach people abstract information.
We’re trying to teach them skills- behaviours, actions, techniques, and habits. And skills are learnt very differently from knowledge.
Different ways of learning
Knowledge is straightforward: we understand something, so we “know” it. Skills, however, are an entirely different phenomenon. We can fully understand what we’re supposed to do while still being unable to execute it.
Think about driving. Or dancing. Dancing is actually one of the clearest examples of skill learning. You can know exactly what you’re meant to do—move this arm here, shift weight there, rotate at this timing—and still find that your body simply won’t cooperate at first- you’ve all tried to learn the floss and been embarrassed by how hard it is to ‘get’. The gap between understanding an action and performing it smoothly can be enormous.
Anatomy oversimplified
This is all because different parts of the brain are involved:
The front brain (cortex) learns conceptual knowledge: facts, ideas, explanations.
The higher brainstem learns procedural knowledge: movement, coordination, physical execution, automatic routines.
Procedural learning is slower and more stubborn. It takes repetition to “grind it in.” But once the skill is learned, it becomes automatic. Driving is a perfect example: after enough practice, we can do it smoothly while carrying on a conversation. Riding a bike is another—once learned, it never really leaves us.
So if the workplace is full of tasks that require doing, not just knowing, we need a teaching method designed specifically for skills.
The TIPS Model: A Practical Way to Teach Skills
That’s where the TIPS model comes in. The TIPS model is a simple, powerful framework for teaching people how to perform an action. It is especially effective in safety, operations, on-boarding, and any context where competence matters.
TIPS stands for:
T — Tell
I — Illustrate
P — Practise
S — Support
T — Tell
Start by explaining what you’re going to teach.
What is the action?
Why is it done this way?
What’s the purpose, context, risk, or outcome?
What does “good” look like?
This step gives the learner a mental model. They understand the steps, the logic behind them, and what they are trying to achieve. Importantly, telling on its own is not enough to build skill—but it prepares the mind to understand what comes next.
I — Illustrate
Next, demonstrate the action.
Show them exactly how it is done, in real time. Walk through the steps, thinking out loud. Let them see the technique, the sequence, and the small details that matter.
As you demonstrate, the learner can:
Watch the physical movements
Compare what they see with what they heard
Ask questions
Spot potential difficulties
Visualise themselves doing it
This is the bridge between theory and action.
P — Practise
This is the most important stage.
Now hand control over to the learner. Let them try the action themselves. They need to feel the movement, experience the physical coordination, and run through the steps with their own hands, body, or tools. This is where real learning begins. Procedural memory only develops through repetition.
S — Support
As they practise, you provide live feedback:
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Good—keep your hands there.”
“Try adjusting this.”
“Pause—that part is risky, so here’s what to do instead.”
You’re guiding, correcting, reinforcing, and encouraging. You’re helping them calibrate their performance against the standard. You keep practising until they’re consistent, confident, and safe.
Why TIPS Works
TIPS mirrors the natural way humans learn physical and procedural skills:
We understand the idea (Tell)
We watch it being done (Illustrate)
We do it ourselves (Practise)
We refine it with feedback (Support)
It allows the learner to transition from “I get it” to “I can do it” to “I can do it automatically.”
This model works for:
Safety behaviours
Machine operation
Customer service scripts
Technical tasks
Clinical procedures
Any high-risk, high-precision, or consistency-dependent action
TIPS is simple, repeatable, and effective—and it transforms skill development from a lecture into a hands-on, confidence-building experience.
