Who Is Responsible for Your On-the-Job Training?

Is This Survival of the Fittest or Suicide?

For approximately three years, many of you have heard me talk about training and its in importance to your business’ future. While I was designing, developing and promoting a particular program at the time, the facts remain the same -- the importance of training is real.

Over the last seven months I have kept in contact with you. Those who have made the commitment to training are experiencing some wonderful payoffs and are very excited.

Structured Training

On-the-job (OJT) training is critical to grow your employees and your business. It doesn’t have to be formal, but it does have to be structured if you want greater success in a shorter period of time.

The person doing the training is, most likely, not an expert in training. He has his own area of expertise. Therefore, he needs to be given some idea about how to do structured training and how to deliver information to a trainee. Management must support him, not just throw him in to sink or swim. Management’s commitment must be visible. This can be done with money spent to train this expert on how to train, a reallocation of some of his duties and either participating in or asking about the progress of the training.

Most of you will readily admit that, although the haphazard method of doing OJT has been the norm, is not the best method. Recently, I heard about someone who thought that sending someone away for a week to learn how to do a machine setup was the answer. (I am not referring to a skilled person who is learning about a new machine) But what happens when that person returns to work? Who will support the person and teach him your system? Nobody in particular. Now you are back to the same old routine.

Root cause and responsibility

To protect yourself from the truth -- the root cause of failure -- you can point a finger at the training and say it or the trainee isn’t very good. This approach doesn’t even address the issues of who and where the training takes place. Also, how can a stand-alone program be maintained with so few trainees? Create an analogy. Could you stay in business if one year you got 12 customers, the next year you had four and so on. ...No? Then how can you expect a stand-alone training program to survive under those circumstances?

Those who have experienced having a trained OJT trainer and structured training will agree that the answer to an effective program is making someone responsible for training. This entails making provisions for the person who is training. Some, regarding support and delegation of duties, were stated earlier. Without special provisions, adding the responsibility of training to someone’s full workload is, most likely, considered a nuisance. Imagine how you would respond if situations were reversed. In the long run, the payoffs are worth the sacrifices.

Think about it, if no one takes ownership for the training, it won’t get done, and it won’t get done right. You need to have a designated OJT trainer with a “support team” -- a group of people who will champion the importance of learning, including you. Under this system, trainees learn to do it right the first time. Without this system, trainees learn things piecemeal and on the run. Then, later, someone has to go back and fix what was wrong or incomplete.

ISO/QS

On another important note: What about standards for ISO/QS certification? In my experience, many companies indicate they are doing training. With a little closer look, it is limited to basic skills. While that is good and important, more is needed to keep a company in a qualified and competitive position.

ISO/QS requires that each position must be defined. This includes the skills, experience and training of the employees. When assigned a job, the employee’s qualifications must match the requirements for the job. This standard relates directly to setting skill standards, identifying performance gaps and closing those gaps through some type of training. That could be in a classroom, OJT or both. Which ever you choose, you must do it. ISO/QS requires it, and the survival of your business depends on it. How many of you will be faced with losing a big contract before you realize this?

Return-on-Investment (ROI)

Experts in the area of OJT and statistics state that structured training is what needs to happen. Studies prove that structured training is five times more effective than the usual haphazard training. Structured means having a trained OJT trainer doing the training, combined with provisions made for support and ownership. The cost is time and money. The return on investment (ROI) is time (a more effective work force) and money (maintaining and gaining business).

Many companies are training with success. The Big Three, Honeywell, the military, Hewlett-Packard, Boeing and GE just to a name a few. Yes, these are big names, but they can’t all be wrong and, like you, they can’t afford to throw money into useless ventures. Besides, they’re not the only ones who think structured training pays off. I can give you names of small businesses, particularly springmakers, who’ve experienced the same rewards.

I realize that “you can’t push a rope.” If you don’t want to make such a commitment, so be it. For those who want to work to make it happen, there will be business success, in terms of a committed and happy work force, and contracts from your customers. Those who wish to play the role of a “rope” will atrophy and die or be bought by some competitor.

If you are looking at how to establish skill standards, identify performance gaps and train an OJT trainer(s) anywhere in your company, the Bresnahan Group can help you.

Call us at 505-922-1973 or e-mail BresGroup @ 4u.net.

Top of Page