We Need Some Wins, and We Need Them NOW!
There are lots of ways the current economic crisis is affecting our work life. One of the ways I most clearly see is the panic in the eyes of business and training leaders. While everyone knows that recovery from our current situation will take a good deal of time, there is pressure to at least see hope in the immediate future. Business leaders are staying up nights trying to come up with ideas that will plug the dike or stop the spiral down of revenue and loyal customers. As I have written before, we can be part of their answer.
First of all, we need to be communicating with our business leaders – our stakeholders – to whatever degree we can. We need to find out what their challenges are, and what they would like to accomplish in the next six months. Focus on that time period, and let them know that you would like to help. Point out to them that training events alone will not help much, but a concentrated, coordinated effort on the part of you or your staff and a few key business leaders will.
Below are four suggestions when, undertaken together, can bring significant positive impact to the business in a relatively short time (which is what they want and perhaps need!)
| 1. | Help them convert their needs, wants, opportunities – their expectations – to more tangible language. Specifically, ask them “What will success look like to you?” They may know, and they may not. Be prepared to help them put shape to their ideas, and to offer suggestions of your own. Make sure that what you end up with are observable, measurable outcomes. |
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| 2. | Next, work with business leaders (managers, supervisors) at relevant levels to come up with the answer to the question, “What are the critical behaviors that will bring about those outcomes?” Make sure to limit it to 4 or 5, or the process will become unmanageable. |
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| 3. | Third, identify key organizational drivers that will, if applied consistently after training events, will serve to reinforce the knowledge and skills learned by participants during training to be transferred into the on-the-job critical behaviors that were identified above. |
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| 4. | Finally, monitor the behaviors and drivers to make sure they happen. This will be done through Level 3 evaluation, and other methods of accountability and support. |
Below are some of the steps that a clothing distributor in the US is using so you can see how they fit together:
| Success Indicators: | |
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Decrease injuries to workers in the dock area of our warehouses. |
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Show no decrease in the efficiency of the loading and unloading processes. |
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Decrease shipping costs by reducing injuries and time lost. |
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| Critical Participant Behaviors: | |
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Workers use three points of contact when climbing. |
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Workers use proper set-up and use of ladders. |
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Workers follow proper procedures with wearing safety equipment. |
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Workers and supervisors document safety violations. |
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| Key Organizational Drivers: | |
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Supervisors monitoring compliance using observation, feedback, and coaching. |
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Consequences for safety violations. |
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Positive reinforcement and support for proper behaviors. |
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Regular checking of safety equipment. |
Now, I challenge you to try this. I only ask that you email me at jim.kirkpatrick@smr-usa.com to tell me how it is going.
SMR USA's Public Sessions, 2009
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This 2-day program has been officially sanctioned by the International Society for Process Improvement (ISPI) and is worth 12 ISPI credits toward re-certification.
Please click here for more details on SMR USA's Public Sessions.
