Avoiding Information Overload

It’s best not to overwhelm technicians with too many facts and figures when educating them about the biology and behavior of German cockroaches.

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When most anyone thinks of pest control and the primary pest we control, cockroaches come to mind. “Nobody loves a cockroach” is an oft-used phrase spoken of this ubiquitous and usually noxious pest. The most prominent species, of course, is the German cockroach.

Each new professional entering the pest control industry needs a good understanding of German cockroach biology and behavior. A vast amount of information is available regarding this cockroach. Trainers often try to impart too many facts regarding the German cockroach that are not relevant to the ultimate success in controlling it. I have attended far too many “training” sessions where the instructor was attempting to make entomologists out of his trainees.

One does not need to be an entomologist to be successful in this business. But how much does one need to know? How best can the appropriate information be conveyed so a person can understand and apply the knowledge successfully in real world situations? This article will present, using the German cockroach as an example, a simple way to teach the important, relevant facts regarding a pest’s biology and habits.

KEEP IT SIMPLE. When teaching, you will have two basic types of students — those who are new to the industry and know relatively little and those with some training to long-time experience. Obviously, new students are going to require more personalized and detailed instruction. The exercise outlined here is designed for a classroom situation where the participants are all experienced or one with a mixture of new students.

It is important when teaching adult learners to devise group activities that involve everyone. Groups should be small, three to four people being the most effective size. Experienced people should be mixed with new or inexperienced participants. In large companies where different branches are involved, assign people from different branches to the same groups. This step affords them the opportunity to get to know their “mates” from the other parts of your organization. Remember, as the facilitator, you need to control the atmosphere of the training experience to promote learning.

To teach German cockroach biology and habits, use the following exercise:

Have each group work together for five to 10 minutes to list three or four specific aspects of German cockroach biology and explain how each aspect would affect the control program. Provide the class with an example, such as the fact German cockroaches spend most of their time resting in cracks and voids. How does this fact affect our control program? Because cockroaches spend most of their time in cracks and voids, it stands to reason most of our treatments need to be directed into cracks and voids.

It is important when using group activities to assign a group leader who will serve as the spokesperson for the group for that exercise. Each exercise should have a different group leader. Such leaders should be selected randomly.

Once the groups have completed gathering their three or four aspects of German cockroach biology, have each group leader provide one aspect of German cockroach biology and explain its relevance to their control programs. Discuss each aspect in detail so everyone understands its importance. Invite the class to ask questions. Go from group to group until all of their suggestions have been listed and discussed. (Fill in any they have overlooked using the information in the chart HERE.)

SUMMING UP DISCUSSIONS. Once you have completed reviewing and discussing other key biological facts — and others you have added — ask the class to prioritize the five most important aspects of this cockroach’s biology. Discuss why these are critical to successfully eliminating an infestation of this pest. You might try having the class summarize successful German cockroach control in one or two sentences, such as, “In order to eliminate a German cockroach infestation, every POTENTIAL harborage must be inspected in order to find and treat every ACTIVE harborage. Therefore, at least 98% to 100% of the existing population must be killed in order to be able to eliminate a German cockroach infestation. Achieving this requires treatment of every active harborage.”

We often make teaching the science of pest management more difficult than it needs to be. Always remember the goal of training is not to impart information from an instructor to one or more people. Training is a process that will affect a change in the behavior of the trainees. The trainer sells his or her ideas to the trainee in such a way that the trainee believes in them and will begin to use them in accomplishing his or her duties.

The author is a board certified entomologist and manager of technical services for Terminix International, Memphis, Tenn.