ASTD's Archive Image of the Day: We've Come a Long Way! Circa 1957

This photo was published in the September-October 1957 issue of the Journal of the American Society of Training Directors.

The Communimeter, created to demonstrate the basic problems of communication, contained a series of electronically-connected knobs that can be manipulated successfully only as a result of the most accurate and painstaking communication between an instructor and operator.

A student "instructor" is selected from the class and given a sheet of detailed instructions and illustrations which ex-plain what should be done in order to operate the machine. He is told to communicate these instructions in his own words to a student "operator" selected from the class, who will attempt to operate the machine on the basis of this instruction. The instructor is faced with the problem of describing the dial symbols in such a way that the operator may distinguish between them and select the proper one. He also must inform the operator as to what degree to turn or manipulate the dials. If the correct dials are turned to proper positions, a green light turns on; if not, a red light shows and a bell rings.

The innocent-appearing instrument at first impresses the student "instructor" as being almost elementary in nature, and he launches into the project with a confidence approaching smugness. But he and the operator soon run into trouble. They learn very fast that words can't be trusted. No team has yet been able to operate the "Communimeter" on the basis of one-way verbal instruction alone.

 What tools do you use in training to demonstrate communication skills?

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