What Kind of Employee Do You Want?
Last month I spent over two weeks in some of my favorite countries in the world – Brunei, Malaysia, and Indonesia. I had the honor of speaking at a number of events including the Asia HRD Congress 2008. I also worked with several business and training groups who were interested in learning how to increase the effectiveness of their training initiatives, and how to demonstrate that impact to the bottom line.
While in Asia, I learned at least as much as I taught. I am a lifelong learner, and am always looking for new and innovative ways to weave our Kirkpatrick Four Levels of Evaluation into ways of benefitting the business. Those of you who have read some of my prior work, will know that both training and evaluation are of little value unless they positively affect the business of our true stakeholders – our key business partners. While this is most often reflected in key business and human capital metrics, it is also evident in more subtle ways.
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Case in point. While I was staying in Asia, I had the privilege of staying in some very nice hotels. At one very nice place in Kuala Lumpur, I noticed a young man washing windows in the front of the hotel. I was waiting for a cab and had little to do but watch the traffic, so I went over to him and struck up a conversation. After some initial pleasantries, I asked him, “So, what is your job here at this hotel?” He shrugged his shoulders and rather shyly said, “Well, right now I am only a window washer.” My taxi came shortly after that, ending our little chat. Notice his picture which I happened to have captured. |
I did not give it much thought until a few days later when I was staying at an equally nice resort in Brunei. As luck would have it, I noticed another young man, about the same age as the man in K.L., perched on top of a very narrow platform, and he was being mechanically raised to terrifying heights (to me, but apparently not to him) in order to, you guessed it, wash windows. Instead of a short tool, he had a long pole with some sort of squeegee at the end of it. When he was done and was lowered back down to earth, and I uncovered my eyes, I felt compelled to talk with him in much the same way I talked to the other window washer.
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After an exchange of “hellos”, I asked him, “So, what is your job here at this resort?” He responded in quite a different manner than his K.L. counterpart, “Why, I am part of a team here that creates extraordinary experiences for our esteemed guests.” After picking up my jaw, I wished him well. Note his picture, which I also took. I then pondered why there was such a difference in the way the two window washers answered my very simple, basic question. I also then considered the implications of their responses. |
Here is what I came up with. The difference had a lot to do with training, and a lot to do with coaching. Most likely, the first worker was shown how to wash windows and demonstrated to the trainer that he could do the job. There are probably times where his work is either formally or informally checked to see if the windows are squeaky clean, and if not, he is probably offered some suggestions as to how to improve in the quality of his work. For the second worker – the Brunei window washer – my guess is that he received much more than that. Somehow, he has a totally different outlook on his job. Instead of being trained simply in how to wash windows, someone along the way told him of the importance of what he was doing. And that was to help create a positive experience for ‘his’ guests.
I am quite certain that this message started prior to training, was included in his training, and was reinforced after training. Please understand what I am saying here. It is not enough to teach someone the knowledge and skills to do their jobs properly. They must be told and shown over and over how what they are doing – no matter how insignificant their work seems to be – that what they are doing is just as important as the employees that actually work face-to-face with clients or guests. Most likely, his supervisor told him that prior to training. Also, it is highly probable that the people training him told him that he was being trained in order to learn new knowledge, skills, and attitudes (Level 2), in order to perform effectively on the job (Level 3), in order to make a positive contribution to the resort guests (Level 4). Finally, I would bet that his supervisor followed up with praise, encouragement, coaching, and reinforcement of the skills and the message of his importance.
I pondered this, and now I am asking you to do the same. Look at your employees – in all work aspects of your organization. Do they see themselves as part of a team that makes an ultimate contribution to your mission, vision, and strategy? If so, you are doing a fantastic job of training. If they aren’t, you could stand some improvement. If you have specific questions as to how, feel free to contact me.
SMR USA's Public Sessions, 2008
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