No matter your equipment's level of sophistication, your organization's size, or what products or services you
provide, your organization wouldn't be what it is--indeed, likely wouldn't be much of anything--without your employees. As such, their competency and efficiency are worth an
investment: It's far better to entrust your operations to one person who really knows what's going on than three who sort of do. Employees who have the tools to do their jobs efficiently will
find their work more satisfying, and their managers will find their work a little easier.
Smart Management
Managers should receive no less consideration as candidates for competency assessments, training or periodic review than do any of an organization's other personnel. Craig
Cochran, a project manager with Georgia Institute of Technology's Center for International Standards & Quality, identifies the following as critical areas in which a
quality manager should have training: The technical aspects of the product
the organization produces (e.g., materials, tolerances, performance capabilities and applications)
Statistical techniques, such as process capability, control charts,
acceptance sampling, and hypothesis testing, which are part of the American Society for Quality's long-standing Certified Quality Engineer exam and are
also included in most Six Sigma Black Belt training programs Effective communication and interpersonal skills, including conflict resolution Quality management system standard requirements (e.g., ISO 9000,
QS-9000), as applicable
Accounting and finance basics, which will enable the quality manager to communicate effectively with top management in a language they understand Quality management system auditing
techniques, methodologies and protocols
|
|
Who needs training? Even ISO 9001:2000 doesn't specifically mandate
training, requiring only that organizations provide training for quality personnel's identified competency needs. Doesn't this mean that, by being very careful to only hire people who already
possess the very skills needed for their positions, a manager can avoid having to deal with training issues? "This may have been a tougher argument to
address 40 or 50 years ago, when a person would learn a skill that they could very likely perform over and over again for the next 20 years," says Robin McDermott, director of training at
Resource Engineering. "In today's world--due largely to technology advances--the skills needed to perform most jobs are constantly changing, and training is critical to keep the workforce
competitive. Today's skills will become outdated more quickly because the pace of change is much more rapid than it was 20 or even 10 years ago.
"Even if a manager felt that training was unnecessary because she could hire competent workers, those workers are few and far between and demand high salaries. Furthermore, if no
additional training was provided, even the most competent worker's skills would eventually become outdated." But increasingly rare are those employees willing
to work their whole lives for a single company. Faced with such a fluid workforce, what manager would want to invest in costly seminars just to make employees more attractive hires for another
company? "People often confuse training and education," McDermott explains. "Education is focused on the individual, and the objective is to make the individual more
well-rounded. Training, on the other hand, is focused on the job, and the objective is to provide the individual with knowledge, skills and the attitude needed to perform (or
more effectively perform) the specific job." In other words, although it might provide a nice perk to allow your employees to use
organizational resources to broaden their professional scopes and develop their knowledge in areas other than those in which they work, this likely falls into the
category of "personal enrichment," not "training," and isn't strictly what ISO 9001 refers to. Higher productivity should be the primary goal. Further, it's not
necessary--and in fact, makes little sense--to put all of your employees into training at the same time. It's far more effective to train employees using specific, real problems
(meaning, for example, when a deviation is spotted, not when a machine crashes and burns) at the moment of need, because they'll be far more likely to retain and use the information. Identifying training needs Whether in the interest of satisfying an ISO 9001 or other standard or ensuring that
employees are doing their jobs in the most efficient way possible, the starting point for training is identifying which employees are in need of what training. It's crucial that
the training be need-appropriate. Putting your employees through training just to be able to say (or document) that you did so makes little sense financially or
educationally. The first step is to carefully assess where workers' skills presently stand, then compare that to where they should be to maximize productivity now and in the near future.
Formal vs. informal training
If the idea of your employees wasting days behind desks being lectured to instead of working makes you cringe, or if your first response to the concept of training is "My
employees learn all they need to know from other employees," there's no need to abandon the concept of training. On-the-job instruction still counts as training, and it,
too, should be documented as part of your quality system. "Training doesn't necessarily mean going into a formal classroom setting,"
McDermott attests. "In fact, probably 80 percent to 90 percent of training is provided through informal means. Reading books, using help screens, utilizing performance
support systems, and experimenting by trial and error are all means of informal learning." The question, then, is likely not whether any of your employees require training, but
whether formal training is necessary to fill those employees' knowledge gaps without overstressing the demands on busy workers' time. This determination isn't
black-and-white, but neither is it complicated. If the skills that are lacking can be taught by a co-worker or manager while on the job, arrange for that training to take
place. If nobody possesses the requisite skills, or if the person who does has too many scheduling demands to be able to perform the training, you might need to look into a
more formal training method. "Formal training is most appropriate for the development of new skills or knowledge
that is significantly different than what is already known; or when a large number of people need to learn something and have a consistent understanding of the topic; or
when background information (the 'why' of the training) is important to developing and applying the knowledge; or when drills and exercises to hone the skills or modify
the behaviors are beneficial, more desirable or more accessible than on-the-job training," McDermott continues. "Criticality of the skills is also another factor that will
help determine how the training should be done. However, even the most extensive and thorough training requires practice back on the job."
This last point is crucial: As with any other skill, job know-how fades quickly if it isn't quickly reinforced through regular practice.
Training Resources
American Society for Quality
www.asq.org
(800) 248-1946Through the Education section of its newly remodeled Web site, the ASQ provides conference information, public
courses, e-learning courses, the Foundations in Quality Learning Series, self-directed learning CD-ROMs, in-house training and Six Sigma courses. American Society for
Training and Development
www.astd.org
(800) 628-2783ASTD's Web site links to the ASTD's online e-learning magazine Learning Circuits; provides free subscriptions
to the organization's e-newsletter, "Learning Circuits Express"; and features an online ASTD Buyer's Guide & Consultant Directory, listing more than 500 companies and
consultants serving the human resource development profession. Training Supersite.com
www.trainingsupersite.com This training site has nearly
everything for training: a Products SuperStore offering books, videos, software and audio/video equipment; a training/human relations product and service provider database
containing listings for more than 3,000 companies; a training site request register; and article archives for the sister publications Training Magazine, Online Learning
Magazine, and Presentations Magazine, all of which can be contacted at (800) 707-7749 or reviewed online at their Web sites:
Training Magazine, www.trainingmag.com , offers articles
from the magazine, training news, a monthly survey, and information about upcoming conferences.
Online Learning Magazine, www.onlinelearningmag.com , features
articles, event listings and free subscriptions to qualified U.S. and Canadian subscribers.
Presentations Magazine, www.presentations.com , provides
articles and free subscriptions to qualified U.S. and Canadian subscribers. |
|
Selecting suitable training So how does one go about determining employees' training needs?
"In one case, the manager would review the strategic quality objective the department is responsible for attaining in a given time period," says Peter Teti, advanced quality system manager
of Hamilton Sundstrand. "Those objectives may be quantified as, for example, 'reduce scrap by 50 percent and reduce warranty claims by 35 percent.' Then the quality manager, working with
the area steering committee, will develop improvement projects to pursue, for which the improvement teams may require training to give them specific types of problem-solving skills.
"In another situation, per ISO 9001, a job-skill gap analysis may be conducted to match each employee's skill set to the job description. If the
employee is asked to perform a certain job (for example, measuring shaft outside diameters with a micrometer) and the gap analysis shows that the employee was never taught how to use a
micrometer, the supervisor is required to ensure that the employee is trained to use a micrometer within a reasonable timeframe. "In a third scenario, the quality manager may
work for a corporation that has a strategic quality improvement initiative in the process of being implemented across all divisions within the corporation and possibly its supplier base. The
quality manager may identify training needs for his or her associates and critical suppliers based on a global process improvement initiative set forth by
the corporation. The quality manager would also tie in application projects with this training." Assigning responsibility for training is crucial,
because there's no other way to ensure that someone is monitoring employee needs, responding to them by arranging training, and documenting the process. "It is possible to have
one centralized training administrator for scheduling, logistics and records," says Kathy Roberts, president of Sunrise Consulting Inc., an ISO 9000 training and consulting firm. "Typically,
this is handled by a training coordinator or someone in the human resources department. However, the type and extent of the training to be provided should be determined by the personnel
knowledgeable in the competencies needed for a particular job function. They are usually the best people to identify the training needs and determine how to measure the training's effectiveness."
Computer-based training
Burgeoning technology has yielded a host of new ways to transfer information, so it's no surprise that computer-based training has become so popular. And the advantages
of CBT are readily apparent. "We no longer have large inventories or padded production schedules that allow for
production line or work cell shutdown for training," explains McDermott. "The concept behind CBT is that it allows individuals to participate in training when and
where it is needed. Seminar-style training, in order to be economically feasible, has to accommodate as many people as can fit in the classroom. If half of the people aren't
going to use what they've learned immediately but attend the training because that is when it's being held, those newly developed skills are essentially put into inventory.
You'll be paying for the training but not getting the return you'd expected. Worse yet, new skills are highly perishable, meaning that when the skills are put into inventory,
they disappear quickly. CBT, on the other hand, is fast, flexible and able to deliver the training that is needed at the moment of need.
"However, probably one of the most important benefits of CBT is that it supports the needs of adult learners in a way that most classroom or traditional training cannot do.
CBT can move at the learner's pace, so the learners are in control of their individual training. This generates more commitment to the learning process, and learners can
skip over topics that they're already comfortable with but take more time reviewing concepts that are new and unfamiliar. To see the real value of CBT, put one operator
at a computer to learn a rather advanced skill, such as SPC, and put another in a classroom to learn the same topic. In practically every case, the operator will prefer
the CBT because it's less intimidating." But Web-based training is the up-and-coming means of training, primarily due to its
flexibility: WBT allows access to the courses from any facility anywhere in the world, or even from home computers.
"Because WBT links right up with learning management systems, large corporations are able to centralize Web-based training and take advantage of quantities of scale, yet
they are still able to keep track of the training people are taking and the results of those training activities," McDermott points out.
Ensuring training quality Once it's been determined what kind of training is necessary, managers may well
determine that the company doesn't have the adequate training materials on hand. In these cases, it will be necessary to find a training provider, be it in the form of a
human trainer or a software company. It's important that managers look into providers' qualifications, which, according to Teti, can be assessed according to three
primary factors: experience, materials quality and the closeness of fit between the provider's materials and the company's strategic quality objectives.
"Experience means not only the types of organizations the providers have served in the past, but also what they've been able to accomplish from both a practitioner's and
an academic viewpoint. Some providers are very much in tune with a particular industry and its associated challenges (for example, the aerospace industry, with its
litany of procedures, audits and tight tolerances on very mature designs; or a leading-edge dotcom company, where the technology changes from day to day). The
training provider must be flexible to match its services to the customer's specific business needs as driven by its strategic business plan."
One particular difficulty in selecting a Web-based training provider is determining a fair price. As Kevin Dobbs reports in his March 2001 Online Learning article "What
Price Is Right?" a host of factors make comparisons of electronic training packages nearly impossible. Among these factors are the method used for pricing (per user,
course or time period), amount of "fluff" in the course content, and steps involved in getting the program set up for your organization's size, technological capabilities, level
of customization desired and more. However, reputable companies that provide training products or services of any kind will often be able to supply you with a list of
satisfied customers whom you can contact if you're unsure about the suitability to your industry or situation or the returns on your training investment. What's a manager to do? Essentially, deciding on appropriate means of training and selecting a training provider
and method requires the same crucial process you would use for any costly decision you make for your company: Take the time to do your homework and thoroughly
assess your company's and employees' needs. Don't pay to remedy gaps that don't exist or to provide blanket training that will prove redundant to half of the potential
learners. Do stop and look at what you're doing right, and document it so you won't have to start from scratch the next time. And finally, don't view training as an end: If
your processes are to be continually improving, the people who make those processes work will need to be improving with them.
About the author Vanessa R. Franco is Quality Digest's managing editor. If you have any comments about this article, e-mail them to vfranco@qualitydigest.com . |
