THE REAL REASON FOR TRAINING - IT’S NOT WHAT YOU THINK…
Training is not a departmental activity. It is not an employee benefit. Nor is it something to be left to the ambition of individual employees. Rather it is a management tooI whereby specific people are given help in acquiring definite skill in overcoming underlying causes of problems that currently exist or that are anticipated by management.
Training is not something that is done once to new employees. It is used continuously in every well-run organisation. Every time you get someone to do work the way you want it done, you are training. Every time you give directions or discuss a procedure, you are training.
Therefore, training is not something which, though desperately needed in times of expanding order books, can be forgotten when demand is shrinking. In many cases, especially where a change in products or in processes is involved, it will continue to be essential to successful operations. Every organisation must use training continuously if they are going to survive in competitive situations and if they are going to keep on providing jobs to people.
“Training is problem solving.
It is a tool management uses to develop people’s skill in overcoming the causes of problems that affect operations.”
Start with the problem…
We must find out what serious problems management, supervisors and workers face, and what failures occur in specific departments. Many problems are uncovered by reviewing records - performance, cost, turnover, rejects, accidents. Some coming problems can be foreseen by considering the effect of future changes in product, in organisation, or in policies.
Serious problems exist in any plant: variation comes in the number and degree. Some plants are perpetually trying to get up to a standard, to stop losing money; others are trying to improve their own standards and to increase their profits. In any of these circumstances, production, office or sales problems exist - perhaps all three.
Production problems are not discovered by someone who sits at a desk. The person responsible for training has to get out in the plant and work with operating supervisors to find the problems which are solvable through training.
When the underlying causes, of a problem have been discovered, the contributing factors towards failure can be ascertained, and appropriate training given where it is necessary. A realistic plan of training can thus be drawn up.
“Serious problems exist in any organisation. They are not discovered by sitting at a desk , but by being with the people doing the work.”
GO-SEE FOR YOURSELF…
Many organisations have dedicated staff for analysing production problems, and supplying technical help in methods of instruction. Often there is a disconnect between the needs of operations supervisors and the activities of these support services.
Responsibility for training cannot be shunted off on the training department with a direction to go ahead or do what he pleases as long as he does not bother line supervision. Training, to be effective, must be accepted by the management as an integral part of production procedure, and the line supervision must be responsible for training the people they supervise.
The line organisation itself must name its problems, must dig into the reasons why they exist, must help to work out what would bring about an improvement and specify the needed knowledge or skill, must actively take part in the operation of the training, and must evaluate the results.
“Supervisors must take the lead in solving their problems and training their people.”
This article is based on the teachings of C.R.Dooley, the Director of the Training within Industry Service during WWII. When we first came across his 1946 report on Training within Industry (TWI) to the ILO, we were struck by the clarity of thinking and continued relevance of his guidance to 21st century organisations. The vision of the creators of TWI was well ahead of their time. Perhaps this is why the Training within Industry programs continue to be so relevant over seven decades on, and not just to manufacturing organisations.
Many Lean Manufacturing and Service practitioners do not realise quite how much of the thinking behind the Toyota Production System or Lean can actually be traced back to the Training within Industry programs taught to the Japanese after the war. 75 Years ago Dooley taught some of the fundamental behavioural principles underpinning lean practice today. But how many organisations consistently act accordingly?