Driving Performance Through Training

How to Sort
Need a little more direction on how to sort items into the categories? The following is a list of questions you might ask about each learning asset to help you categorize it properly. Use these questions to sort the keepers and the sleepers from the losers.

• Is this learning asset mission-critical for the organization? Is the health of the public or employees at risk, or is corporate liability at risk? For example, developing a training program to ensure that all manufacturing staff follow proper electrical bonding procedures during the assembly process could be a critical component in ensuring that your product meets safety standards.
• Is the training program designed to support the company in the achievement of one of its stated goals? For example, if reject rates are a problem and improper electrical bonding is identified as an issue, then developing an electrical bonding course not only helps you meet safety standards, but performing the procedure correctly in the first place improves reject rates and therefore improves productivity.
• Does the training program include the means to measure performance improvement? This is not just test results, but on-the-job, measurable results. You should ensure that each training program is designed to improve job performance and that the information to support this is or can be available. For example, are you tracking reject rates now? Are you also tracking the specific problem that caused the item to be rejected? The training program should not only include pass/fail criteria, but should also state the desired improvement that should be seen on the job and identify the statistic that will be used to measure it.
• Do you have a baseline performance metric that can compare pre- and post- training results? These are important for justifying the training program and tuning the program on an ongoing basis. Just before you launch the training program, be sure to take a snapshot of the statistics so you will have a baseline. If you have not been doing this as a routine part of developing and launching training programs, you must start doing this immediately.
• Does your training program work in concert with other initiatives the company considers important? If the training program is part of a larger initiative that the company has launched to improve performance, roll out a new product or increase sales, the training program should be designed at the same time and support the same objectives. It should also use the same measures as the rest of the program to measure success and make a meaningful contribution to achieving that success. Since your training programs support the success of the company, they should almost always be part of a larger company initiative. If they are not, reconsider the relevance to the organization.
• Does your training program use employee time respectfully? Is the time spent on the learning worth the results? Don’t over-train. Does the target audience need to understand all the science behind how the electrical bond process work? The history of the electrical bonding process and the life story of the inventor of the tools used in this process and the discovery of electricity? Or do they just need to understand the procedures, with perhaps some additional information, for example, about why using a certain type of water is important to eliminate the temptation to use tap water. Use the “just in time, just enough” philosophy when reviewing these programs. Is a three-day class on electrical bonding required, or is a one-hour demonstration going to do the trick?