 |
|||||||||
|
|
|||||||||
At Miller Consultants, we have been designing and developing customized training and learning programs for over twenty years. We believe that training is a powerful tool that, when used properly, can make employees more effective and efficient, leading to dramatic improvements in overall organizational performance. However, because training is frequently misused or poorly designed, many companies see little return on the millions of dollars they invest every year in training and education. Miller Consultants’ Training Needs Assessment can help you ensure that your training dollars won’t be wasted. This service helps you determine first whether or not training is the right solution for your organization’s problems. Then, if you decide that training is necessary, we will help you gather the information you’ll need to design programs that provide the most critical skills and knowledge and that support your broader organizational goals and strategies. The following paragraphs describe an example of how, through the Training Needs Assessment process, we helped one company determine whether training was the best solution to their performance needs. A client from a large chemical company approached Miller Consultants a few years ago to request our assistance with a problem that he thought might require the development of a new operator training program. At several of the company’s plants, preventative maintenance was falling through the cracks. Specifically, "non-routine" equipment (machinery that was important but used infrequently) was breaking down unexpectedly and often. In addition, when the machinery broke, operators typically failed to notice it or neglected to follow up on the problem. The client suspected that training these operators on how to maintain the equipment properly might help, but he wasn’t sure. We worked through the Training Needs Assessment process with a group of front-line supervisors, operators, mechanics and managers. We began by determining the exact nature of the performance problem—asking questions such as "What should the operators and mechanics be doing?" and "What is it that they are actually doing now?" We discovered that ideally, operators and mechanics should have checked non-routine equipment on a scheduled basis, performed preventative maintenance, notified the manager when a problem existed, and fixed the equipment when it broke down. Unfortunately, at that time, there were no systems in place for scheduling preventative maintenance or reporting problems. Furthermore, many operators did not appear to notice when there were problems with the machinery, nor did they contact mechanics to fix them. Certainly the performance problem was significant. The cost of equipment down time alone would justify any training expense. But could training solve the problem? Do determine this, we worked with a group of front-line supervisors and managers to investigate the source of the problem and identify the appropriate solutions. We considered a host of issues, such as whether any or all of the operators could perform as required "if their lives depended on it"; whether the proper incentives were in place to support the desired behaviors; whether non-performers had the motivation or ability to learn new knowledge or skills, if necessary; and whether there were ways other than training to address any possible skill deficiencies. The group concluded that most operators and mechanics were able to perform the appropriate tasks involved with preventative maintenance, but did not because there wasn’t a good system for scheduling maintenance or holding people accountable for completing those tasks. In fact, there were few incentives to conduct the maintenance—there were no real rewards for doing it, plus it took time away from other, more "visible" work. On the other hand, many employees did lack the knowledge and skill needed to troubleshoot and fix the equipment when it broke down. Because the equipment was "non-routine," they had little hands-on experience with fixing problems. Eventually, the group decided that the best approach to solving this performance problem was to develop a new on-the-job training program to teach troubleshooting and repair skills to those operators who needed them. As part of the Training Needs Assessment process, we then assisted the group with collecting data on the knowledge and skills that would become the foundation of the training. In addition, the training program was supported by the development of a new system for preventative maintenance on non-routine equipment, including procedures for how to do the maintenance; a scheduling process for triggering monthly, quarterly, and yearly tasks; and a review and feedback process that would help ensure the accountability of managers, operators and mechanics.
|
|||||||||
|
|
 |
||||||||
Home
Kathleen Miller talks Performance Management Please join the discussion and add your comments
|
|||||||||
 |
 |
|
|||||||
|
© Copyright 2007 by Miller Consultants™ |
|||||||||
