Have you gained quality improvement expertise over the years working with many manufacturing, information technology, and service organizations?   Bizmanualz understands your ongoing challenges of building a Quality Management System, implementing Lean Thinking, or the day-to-day struggles to maintain your ISO registration.   ISO 9001 assistance is close at hand.  Bizmanualz can provide quality management support either with onsite or remote assistance.

Policies, procedures, and forms documentation.  Now you can develop a simple ISO system in as little as 12 pages that requires less overhead using Lean ISO 9001:2008 conforming policies, procedures, and forms documents.  Each document is easily editable in MS-Word to customize to your situation.

Procedure management software. Once your documents are drafted you can simplify your document version control and management tasks using online software that ensures document reviews and approvals are completed prior to release.  Deliver relevant documents to every point-of-use or to your auditors via the internet.  Improved document access control, search and retrieval ensure your users have what they need.  Using an online procedure management software means no more back-up, retention, and document control findings too.

1^st and 2^nd Party audit support.  You don’t need to have a full-time internal or supplier audit staff.  Just contract experienced auditors to oversee the internal audit process, schedules, and audit plans, as needed.  You will receive timely audit reports for your supplier audits, pre-assessment audits, internal audits or full system audits.

Quality Management Support. Obtain fast answers to your quality management system questions from experienced, certified quality managers that can lead management reviews with complete records of results, follow-up on management review action items, and oversee nonconformance, corrective and preventive action processes.  Technical advise on quality policy, quality objectives, and overall QMS performance is readily available.

Continuous Improvement Support. Trained and experienced Lean / Six Sigma facilitators are available to organize, lead and document Lean / Six Sigma improvement events (like 5S, Preventive Maintenance, Set-up reduction, line balancing, etc).  Contract for a only the ISO quality, lean, and six sigma training you need.  Having problems with SPC, calibration, FMEA, control plans, customer feedback processes?  Training programs, advise, and guidance can be yours.

Using Bizmanualz provides competent and cost effective resources that reduce common audit findings and management stress related to the quality management system.  Now you can quickly resolve common audit findings related to:

• Qualified personnel and training
• Working document and record control
• Timely internal audits and management reviews
• Viable Nonconformance, Corrective and Preventive Action system

Bizmanualz maintains competent, qualified (ASQ Certified) personnel available as Lean / Six Sigma facilitators, part-time quality managers, and part-time lead auditors.  Now you have a cost effective solution using less than a full time quality staff that are available as need demands and you pay only for what you use.

Bizmanualz quality system services offer less stress for management using a working QMS to retain your ISO Certification.  Your management just reviews and approves actions on a scheduled basis.  Now that’s easy.

The Five Areas Bizmanualz can Help with Your Quality Management System

1. Policies, Procedures, and Forms Documentation Examples
2. Document Version Control and Management Software
3. 1^st and 2^nd Party Audit Support
4. Quality System Management Support
5. Continuous Improvement Support

Call us to find out how Bizmanualz can help you with your Quality Management System today.

Now look at quality in light of behavior change.  What do you design and develop that causes behavior changes.  Certainly that would include teaching methods, but also the curriculum, course length, how the day is structured, homework, grading, extracurricular activities, grade levels, meals served, etc.

Consider a factory that makes a product.  The factory worker uses work instructions, methods, and tools to create the product.  The system the worker uses consists of these very same work instructions, methods, and tools.  Problems or defects with the product produced, as a result of these work instructions, methods, and tools, require changes to the system.  The product is not the work instructions, methods, or tools.  Seems obvious but, how would this work in education?

Let’s take a look at the teacher in a school.  The teacher uses work instructions, methods, and tools to create the product we call learning, just like a factory worker.  If the product produced (learning) has problems or defects (i.e. learning is not occurring as expected) then the teacher must change their work instructions, methods, or tools in order to decrease the defect rate and increase the quality of the product.  Teaching is to a school as working is to a factory.

There was a European study done in 1997 regarding the Application of ISO 9000 Standards to Education and Training.  Although it references the old ISO 9000:1994 standard instead of the current ISO 9001:2008 standard, it is still a worthy interpretation of ISO 9000 for education.

People Don’t Create Defects. Systems Do.

People use the system (made up of work instructions, methods, and tools) to create products.  Neither teaching nor working is the product.  They represent the system used to create the product.  The consumers consist of the students, parents, and society whom all consume or benefit from the learning.

The effectiveness of any system is a function of product flow.  Variations and defects obstruct the product flow causing rework, delays, and unsatisfied customers.  The work instructions, methods, and tools need to be aligned to deliver maximum learning at a maximal product flow (progression through the grade levels).  Effectiveness occurs when the two are aligned to produce the highest composite result.

Education Quality Basics

Purchasing – Think about art supplies, books, equipment, meals, sporting goods, or furniture.  If there are purchasing specifications that are important to learning than those items need to be controlled.  Do you have an obligation to provide safe and healthy meals?  What about sufficient supplies, equipment or furniture for learning?

Production & Service Provisions – Think about the work instructions or teaching procedures to ensure some type of consistency or uniformity.  How are these controlled, revised, distributed, and validated (how do you know they worked?).  Can you trace or track learning (or the lack there of) to a specific teaching method or event?

Customer Property – Think about what kids bring to school: coats, notebooks, books, supplies, etc.  Do you have an obligation to care for their property, provide lockers, or control access?  What do you do if an item is damaged or misplaced?

Control of Non-Conforming Product – A non conformance can be in the teaching methods, student behavior or performance, or purchased items needed for learning.  What do you do with broken furniture, equipment, or lockers?  What is your process for removing it from the learning process so that it does not hinder other students from learning?

Corrective Action – What is the process for monitoring, reviewing, and adjusting the learning system as a result of complaints, comments, or audit findings?  Each incident should be tracked, investigated and resolved.  A good complaint handling process is the best ways to instill a culture of continuous improvement in your organization.

Preventive Action – Do you review your methods and make changes BEFORE you receive complaints?  If you get a complaint your action is corrective, if you fix it before you get a complaint than its preventive.  So what are you doing to prevent complaints?

A class is like a manufacturing cell in a factory.  The batch size is the number of students.  But one class does not make a graduate.  A student must pass through numerous classes or manufacturing cells in order to come out an educated student.  How your students progress through the cells in your facility determines the learning effectiveness of your quality system.

St. Louis, MO – February 27, 2009 – Bizmanualz, Inc., a business publications, training and consulting company based in St. Louis, MO, today announced the launch of a completely redesigned version of its ISO 9001 QMS Internal Auditor Training course.  This ISO training course demonstrates requisite auditing skills to beginning auditors, and is also valuable to experienced auditors and quality managers looking for a refresher course or the opportunity to discuss innovative approaches.

The redesigned two-day ISO auditor class focuses on helping participants understand the criteria, the skills, and the activities required to be an effective internal auditor as part of an ISO 9001 Quality Management System.  The class is offered regularly at the Bizmanualz Learning Center in St. Louis. It can also be conducted privately on-site for organizations that would like to hold group internal auditor or quality auditor training sessions in-house.

“We had been using the previous design for several years now, and we have continually improved and updated it,” said Don Reed, Technical Writing Director at Bizmanualz and the primary designer/instructor for the class. “We have learned so much, however, through our experience teaching the course and through carefully listening to student feedback, that we felt it was time to start from scratch and use everything we have learned to completely rework the course.” 

The ISO 9001 Internal Auditing course is currently the most popular training class offered by Bizmanualz.  The totally redesigned Internal Auditor class was conducted for the first time on February 9 & 10 at the Bizmanualz to a great success. The participants responded very positively to the new approach and the reworked materials.

“The newly redesigned ISO 9001 Internal Audit Class focuses on giving the participants exactly what they want and need from an ISO 9001 Internal Auditor class: an interactive, seminar-style discussion along with real world examples and exercises,”  said Chris Anderson, Managing Director of Bizmanualz. “For example, we no longer use PowerPoint because we just don’t feel it creates the interactive environment that participants expect and deserve.”

Mr. Reed agrees. “Professionals prefer to learn in smaller classes with an atmosphere that encourages discussions and questions; where participants share their experiences and challenges. This produces a better learning experience for everyone.”

In this auditor training course, students will learn the basics of an ISO Quality Management System, as well as how it can drive organizational improvement.  Students will become familiar with using the ISO 9001 Standard as criteria for auditing, the importance of an audit program, along with basic auditing principles.  Most importantly, however, students will learn the step by step methods of conducting an audit, and participate in an audit of a QMS process. ISO 19011 – Guidelines for Quality and Environmental Auditing is used for fundamental guidance on auditing principles and methods. Plus, all participants receive a free copy of the ISO 9001:2008 Quality Management System Requirements.

Bizmanualz schedules the Internal Auditor Training Course at least once every  three months.  Please visit the Bizmanualz website at Bizmanualz.com to register for the class or to see a detailed course description and a upcoming training schedule

Bizmanualz also offers strategic process improvement services for growing businesses as well as a range of quality training classes. In addition, standard operating procedures manuals from Bizmanualz have helped thousands of companies develop policies and procedures to standardize their core business processes and implement best practices.

In July, the focus of our articles was on learning and how it benefits the organization. Learning is often perceived as expensive, time consuming, and even disruptive. While this perception may be fairly accurate for the immediate short term, the long term benefits of learning is well established and cannot be ignored. The question, then, is not “how can we afford quality training?” but, rather “how can we afford not to invest in quality training?”

Are You Building a Learning Organization?

Businesses are willing to invest in buildings, infrastructure, and equipment, while ignoring their most valuable asset, the people that make products, interact with customers, and run the internal processes that are vital to success. Instead, it is too common to find companies slashing training and education budgets.

Read more about learning organizations;

Make the Most of Organizational Learning

While there are abundant educational avenues that should be open for employees and managers to pursue, learning and education should not be done haphazardly. The path should be carefully selected and focused on meeting the needs of the company and the needs of the employees. While all learning does not have to come with a huge fee, a commitment to learning should be reflected in an organization’s budget, as well.

Read more about organizational learning;

Get the Most out of Training Transfer

There are three basic elements to consider in order to receive the most benefit from a learning plan; the learner, the learning provider/event, and the environment the learner returns to after the learning event. Organizations and managers should be active in making the most of their investment by ensuring that they are promoting effective training.

Read more about the benefits of training transfer;

If there is any single message from this series of articles, it is the value of learning, that effective training can make a big difference in the organization, both directly and indirectly. A culture of learning and improvement is key to long term success.

On That Note

Answer to this month’s question:
The environment the trainee returns to after a learning event has a lot to do with how much of the learning is practiced and retained. Complex cultural attributes are what guide the associate. For example, how is learning valued, how much control do employees feel over their own work, and how much supervisory and peer support do they receive?

Even in organizations where the culture makes training transfer difficult, managers can use some approaches to improve learning transfer. As the learner’s manager or supervisor, showing that you are interested and willing to apply what they learned is extremely important. The idea is to have fertile soil that will allow the seed to grow, not a dry, hostile atmosphere, where the seed will wither away.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments. Our policies, procedures and processes articles site has tons of useful information. Also, please let us know if you’d like any specific topic addressed in our future articles.

Regards,
Chris
Bizmanualz

Since only a small amount of training and learning is directly applied, there is plenty of room for improvement.  Organizations and managers should be active in making the most of their investment by ensuring that they are promoting effective training.  There are three basic elements to consider in order to receive the most benefit from a learning plan; the learner, the learning provider/event, and the environment the learner returns to after the learning event.

The Learner

In relation to the learner, consider how each individual might benefit and apply learning by taking into account their ability, personality and motivation.  Ability doesn’t refer to how intelligent they are, but overall background, experience and skills.  Why send an accountant, no matter how intelligent, to an advanced web programming class?  They probably wouldn’t understand the jargon or grasp the concepts of an advanced class.

It is important to distinguish, however, that at a learning organization accountants should be allowed to take a web design class (especially as we move to paperless systems), but it is important to find one appropriate to their ability. After all, different people learn differently.

The fact that learners will mostly take their cues for the organizational culture, however, cannot be avoided.  Learning plans, nevertheless, still center around individuals, and individual considerations such as ability, personality and motivation are key factors when putting together learning plans

The Learning Event

It is vital to have formal training programs that teach key job skills, organizational processes, procedures that implement best practices, and organization-wide mission and goals.  For most internal learning events, attendees should be removed as much as possible from their daily work to avoid interruptions and distractions.  The key is to make the event seem fun, yet practical and useful.  A simple thing like providing treats can make the event seem livelier.

Using diverse media that incorporates music and video can also make events lively, aid learning and increase training performance. Perhaps even a clip from a TV show or movie that sets a useful scenario or asks an important question can be used as a learning springboard.

Consider how you can get the most out of external training as well.  For example, rate external learning programs in order to understand their effectiveness.  Make a survey questionnaire for associates to complete upon the return from external training.  Select dimensions that are important for good training results, and then ask several questions about each dimension and attempt to make a quantitative measurement about them.  After you collect data about different training venues and resources, you will have a better idea of which ones to utilize and which ones to avoid.  Of course, don’t turn sour on a training program just because you receive one bad report.  Multiple opinions are required to get a clear picture.

Work Environment

While all three factors are important to consider in getting benefit from training, there is nothing as important as the environment the associate returns to after a learning event.  Is there fertile soil that will allow a seed to grow, or will it whither in a dry, hostile atmosphere?  Once again complex cultural attributes are what guide the associate.  For example, how is learning valued, how much control do employees feel over their work, and how much supervisory and peer support do they receive?

Even in organizations where the culture makes training transfer difficult, managers can use some approaches to improve learning transfer.  One way is to conduct pre and post interviews with the learner.  Before they attend training talk to them about expectations and strategies for learning.  When they return talk to them about specific results and what was learned.  Ask what tangible things they feel they can bring to their job as a result.  Discuss sharing what they have learned with co-workers through an informal discussion or presentation.  As their manager or supervisor, showing that you are interested and willing to apply what they learned is extremely important.

The key message in this series of articles is that effective training can make a difference in the organization, both directly and indirectly.   Having clear and consistent methodologies based on best practices is one way to improve an organization, but a culture of learning and improvement is a key to long term success.

To learn more about using process improvement programs for your organization, attend the next Implementing Lean Thinking  or How to Align a System of People and Processes for Results class.  If you are eager to learn more about creating more order out of the chaos you are feeling at work, then the How to Create Well-Defined Processes class is right for you.

While there are abundant educational avenues that should be open for employees and managers to pursue, learning and education should not be done haphazardly. The path should be carefully selected and focused on meeting the needs of the company and the needs of the employees. While all learning does not have to come with a huge fee, a commitment to learning should be reflected in an organization’s budget, as well.

Create a Learning Plan

The first step is to create a learning plan for each member of the organization, from the top executive to the cleaning staff. The learning plan should address direct job-related learning as well as professional development and general education goals. In order to set job-related training goals, access the employee skills and competencies needs. While a variety of education and training should be encouraged and made available, the most important aspect of learning should be making sure the employee has, and is expanding, the skills and knowledge they need to do their job effectively and to pursue continuous improvement.

The learning plan should address in detail what kind of training is needed in order to improve or develop particular job skills and knowledge, and that includes where and how it can be achieved and what time frame. In other words, create a set of clear objectives. Sometimes a competency matrix is used to describe the skill needs of a position and the current skill levels of an associate in order to do a gap assessment. It is important, however, to frame this exercise properly. Associates should never be made to feel that they are deficient or lacking; the focus should be on improvement and getting better. Once again the organizational culture plays an important role. If learning and improvement are valued across the organization, then associates will be more likely to view their assessment and learning plan in a positive light.

Competence and Confidence

The manager should review the learning plan with an associate at least once a year. During this review it should be made clear what training the associate is responsible for finding and attending themselves, as well as what budget is available, and what will be scheduled for them. Other education and training goals, such as professional development and general education, should be discussed and documented as well. Consider whether particular goals can be accomplished formally or informally in-house, or if external classes are appropriate. This is also a great opportunity to encourage associates to set and work toward educational goals, and to make sure they are fully aware of company programs that encourage education like tuition re-imbursement.

The benefits of direct job-related training are really too obvious and too numerous to go into with great detail here, but one aspect of a well-trained worker is often over looked. Knowledgeable, well-trained employees do their job with a sense of confidence. We can all draw upon personal experience in order to relate to the difference between working or dealing with someone who displays confidence in taking on a task and achieving a positive result, as opposed to someone who seems hesitant and doubtful. Confident workers are also much more likely to realize, and experiment with, better methods and new technologies.

Use Your Internal Resources

Learning does not have to be expensive. Learning opportunities exist in-house and can be done for little expense. There are several key facets to consider with internal training. The first, as discussed above, must deal with developing key skills and competencies needed for top notch job performance.

Cross-training is a great way to disperse organizational knowledge as well as create informal networks. Plus, it provides trained back-ups for key positions in the organization. Understanding your internal customer needs or the capabilities of your internal supplier can be a key factor in successfully aligning processes. What better way to understand suppliers and customers than to wear their shoes for a while? If the order-entry group knows exactly what the shipping department does, and vice versa, the result can be improved interdepartmental cooperation and understanding. If possible, you may want to set up similar exercises with external customers and suppliers.

There are numerous ways to make use of internal expertise and knowledge. Two great examples include::

• Mentoring: Let experienced employees show new hires the lay of the land
• Brown Bag Luncheons: Have internal experts give informal presentations on topics of broad interest

Of course, mentors and presenters might require training to prepare them for their tasks.

Another important learning consideration is communicating the organizations vision, mission, strategy, and objectives. Employees at all levels should be encouraged to create their own mission and objectives that align with the over-arching goals of the organization. How can they align their own objectives and tasks to the overall organizational strategies if they don’t even know what they are? Awareness and understanding the organization’s goals by every member should be a top priority of an organization’s leaders.

Find and Use Good Learning Providers

Whether it is communication skills, process improvement, or using technology, there are plenty of external sources for learning. Besides Bizmanualz, a great place to look is the local community college or university. Most offer a wide variety of relevant business classes during the day and evening. For example, employees can learn database or programming skills, or they can enhance their presentation skills. Allowing them to attend classes during working hours shouldn’t automatically be excluded (as is usually the case). Perhaps they could attend an early morning class and still be at work at a reasonable time. Find innovative learning incentives, such as an automatic raise for degree or certificate completion, or a day off for successfully completing an evening class.

While it is most important to first create a culture of learning, the next important step is to make the most of the time and money you invest into learning. That involves creating thoughtful plans and strategies that combine direct training with more general education, and from a mix of internal or external sources. A learning plan should set goals and identify priorities. Everything, however, cannot be accomplished at once. It may be a multi-year process to achieve all the learning goals identified, let alone new requirements identified along the way. The most important thing is to get started on the learning path and nurturing a learning culture.

For the last part of our learning organization article series, we will cover a topic that is sometimes the most difficult aspect of training and learning in an organization;how to effectively put to use what you have learned.

Investing in Your Human Resources

This oversight, however, seems to be all too common. Businesses are willing to invest in buildings, infrastructure, and equipment, while ignoring their most valuable asset, the people that make products, interact with customers, and run the internal processes that are vital to success. Instead, it is too common to find companies slashing training and education budgets.

Business experts who understand the keys to long term success usually take the opposite approach. They ask, “How can you afford NOT to invest in your employees?” A litany of research backs up this position. Studies show that there is a clear relationship between the investment into education, learning, and long term success.

The Relationship between Learning and Success

The importance of investing in knowledge is also found in the canon of business literature. Kaplan and Norton’s Balanced Scorecard give Learning and Growth a high degree of emphasis. They describe investment into employees as being required to achieve breakthrough results, and a key to success in a modern, competitive environment. Also, in “Building a Learning Organization,” a seminal article published in the Harvard Business Review, Professor David Garvin states plainly, “Continuous improvement requires a commitment to learning.”

The benefits of direct job-related training are, at times, easy to see and justify. Recently I attended a statistical process control seminar, and the attendees participated in an exercise that demonstrated the value of even the most basic internal training. Just a few moments of training reduced variance in the exercise by more than 80%. As this example illustrates, operator training in a process can improve first pass yields, cut waste and rework, and improve overall quality

A Learning Culture Pays Dividends

In a larger sense, however, training shouldn’t always be just about job skills. In a true learning organization, all types of learning are valued. In recent articles we have covered why it is important for organizations to be willing to embrace change, and we have discussed what innovative leaders can mean to an organization. The concept of learning and knowledge goes hand in hand with these important concepts.

Organizations that value learning and knowledge are much more likely to be flexible and adaptable, and its members are more willing to embrace change. For example, in a learning organization the use of innovative methods and technologies will be more readily adopted and then will spread more quickly. It also gives associates a great opportunity to step outside the organization to learn and share with people from all types of businesses and fields. Sometimes the best innovations are not really new, but proven techniques applied in completely new ways. A line worker may learn something he or she can usefully apply from a personal finance class, and an accountant may devise an innovative accounting process from a seed sown while attending a cooking class.

Plus, many companies have found investing in employee education pays dividends in areas like retention. Recently, a manager at a rapidly growing accounting firm told an accounting trade journal that “It is very hard to get good employees, but if they feel like you’re willing to invest in them you have very little turnover.”

Learning Should be Built into Strategy

For a true learning organization, education and training cannot be an afterthought. As Balanced Scorecard describes, emphasis on learning and education have to be formed at the vision and strategy level. Then it can be built into objectives, budgets, and schedules without managers and supervisors feeling that education and training is taking someone “away” from their job. It is communicated and understood throughout the organization that learning is part of their job.

What are you doing to build a learning organization? Do you project a negative attitude about education and learning on the company’s time and dime? If that is the case, then your peers and subordinates might just have a negative attitude toward trying anything new or different. In today’s competitive climate, are inflexible and non-adapting workers really the human resource asset you need to succeed?

Once you realize why you need to promote learning in your organization, the next question is what kind of classes, seminars, or training can mutually benefit the company and the employee. We will discuss what types of learning to pursue in our next article.

The email articles in August talked about workplace training programs. Highly trained and competent employees are great assets to any company. These employees grow and change as the business changes. Training, therefore, is integral to overall employee effectiveness which, in turn, positively impacts company performance.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Training Programs

The arguments against training, often, is that they cannot afford to have direct labor employees taken away from their normal work and put into training sessions. Training is viewed as a loss of productivity and is considered an expense. However, there is always time and means to rework bad products or to accept high scrap rates.

Read more about how training is perceived;

How to Provide Good Training

Training activities, whether classroom or on-the-job, must have willing participants and enthusiastic instructors. Along with the enthusiasm, the instructor must be a subject matter expert or at least have subject knowledge a couple of levels beyond the trainee.

Read more about good training practices;

Results of Good Training

The purpose of a training program is to change behavior, regardless of the level of training. Everyone wants positive behavior or positive behavior changes. By encouraging continuous improvement, good training programs lead to positive behaviors and changes.

Read the more about results of good training;

Organizations get better with well developed training programs. After all training is supposed to induce a positive behavior change. An organization that is improving or getting better reduces waste, increases sales, gets better at beating out the competition and becomes more profitable.

Readers’ Feedback

Many of you have mentioned that our articles page is getting a bit unwieldy. With so many articles in there, we agree that it has become a bit cumbersome to navigate. To ease this problem we are currently working on implementing a blog-type of interface to manage our articles on our website. Not only will it make it easier for you to find what you are looking for, but it will also allow you to comment on the articles for others to see.

We plan to make this feature available by the end of this month. Be on the lookout for related announcements.

On That Note

Answer to this month’s question:

According to management expert Tom Peters, “if your company is doing well, double your training budget; if your company is not doing well, quadruple it!” Training is an investment in employees. Effective training programs lead to positive behavior change, which will surely help the organization in good times and in bad.

Financial justification for training should not be based on treating training as an expense. It is an investment and any decision should be made based on this distinction.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions or comments that you may have about our products, services or articles. Also, please let us know if you’d like any specific topic addressed in our future articles.

Regards,
Chris
Bizmanualz, Inc.

Training is an Investment

In Part I (Some Strengths and Weaknesses of Training Programs) we developed the premise that training and knowledge are an investment in employees, rather than an expense. Since it is an investment, it only follows that good training and training programs are a good investment. Using the logic of Tom Peters training is needed regardless of the current performance of your organization. Training is an investment in your company’s future and can be a factor in the future success or your company.

We’ve also established that the purpose of training is to change behavior, regardless of the level of training. Everyone wants positive behavior or positive behavior changes, and good training can only lead to positive behaviors and changes. This is also known as continuous improvement.

Positive Behavior Change

I hope that we can agree that training programs are an investment leading to a positive behavior change. Does anyone or any organization want to intentionally make a bad investment or to facilitate a negative behavior change? Of course not! But yet, many, if not most companies do not support strong, comprehensive and effective training programs. Those that do support training programs may only do so within the confines of their budget and only if there are budgetary funds available. That is, the company must be making sufficient profit. Again following the logic of Tom Peters, if your company is doing poorly, doesn’t it follow to make an investment that will influence a positive outcome for the future?

Rather than making an investment in the company, whether training, equipment, new customers & markets, or eliminating waste, the typical response is to eliminate people. So rather than investing in their people and processes, the company has the people disappear (and sometimes the processes)! How can this possibly result in a long-term positive outcome? Additionally, most companies do not budget sufficient funds or time for training programs, even if the funds are available. Also, what happens if a training opportunity or need comes up in the middle of the fiscal year? Answer: “Sorry, that’s not in the budget.”

Use What You Learn

Another concept to understand is that if people do not use the information provided in training, regardless of the quality of the training, they will lose the information and knowledge as time goes by. The more time that passes before the training is utilized, the less of the training will be retained. Sometimes, however, it is difficult to put the training into use right away;I understand this.

An example is Internal Audit training as required by the ISO 9000 Quality Standard. Typically, or at least those organizations that understand Internal Auditing and its benefits, the training is in a classroom setting with several attendees. Let’s say there are six people in the Internal Audit class and the company does an Internal Audit every other month. Further, let’s assume that newly trained Internal Auditors are paired with experienced Internal Auditors.

Internal Auditor Training

Another factor to consider is that Internal Auditors must be independent of the area being audited. When all of these factors are taken into consideration, it may be a period of several months or longer before all newly trained Internal Auditors have had a chance to be involved in their first Audit.

However, all is not lost. The Internal Auditor training, as cited in this example, is an investment and those employees completing the training (at least if it is an IRCA level Internal Auditor class of two days), gain a much better understanding of the Quality Management System requirements than they had prior to the training. Some companies put many employees through Internal Audit training for this reason, even though many of these employees will never actually perform an Internal Audit.

Many companies use the same logic for sending employees to ISO 9000 Lead Auditor training. They become QMS “experts”, but do not actually function as a Lead Auditor. As one can see there are benefits to a good training program beyond the initial scope of the training.

Training Program Improvement

Once an organization has implemented a training program it will hopefully strive to improve it. The first important tool to consider is the training feedback or evaluation survey. These tools should have enough information so as to be relevant and should be filled out anonymously by the training attendees. Use this information. If there is criticism, turn that criticism into a positive and put forth the effort to eliminate the cause of the criticism.

A second improvement tool that works well in training is the Deming Wheel or Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA). PDCA, as a continuous improvement tool will help an organization to enhance their training, with a focus that it is never acceptable to stop striving to make improvements.

Organizations get better with well developed training programs. An organization that is getting better, that is improving, reduces waste, increases sales, beats out the competition, and becomes more profitable.

Formal Classroom Training

Since what most companies struggling with training are lacking is formal classroom training, let’s focus on this aspect as we discuss “how.”

First it is important to understand that many adults fear going into a classroom setting for training. This can bring back some unpleasant memories for them. It is important to communicate that this is not “high school, tech. school, or college.” Let them know they cannot fail and will not receive a grade. Yes, they may be asked to complete an evaluation following the training. Such an evaluation is to determine not only how much they learned, but how good the instructor was. This information is used by the instructor and the company to continually improve what is being presented.

Now that you have put the attendees at ease, you need a location and a room. After all, learning is not all in your head and the surroundings are very important to training effectiveness. It is usually better to take people off-site. This way there are fewer interruptions. Their boss or co-worker does not interrupt to have them “fix” a problem, they are not being paged, and when you call a break, they do not run to a computer. Also, when a training session is held off-site, it provides a break from the normal routine and makes the day special. Care should be taken to get a room that fits the number of attendees.

You don’t want to be too crowded or too spread out. If there is a choice, avoid classroom style seating. For example, use tables or desks in a “U” shape, with the instructor in the middle. Or use tables with three participants to a table, rather than desks. Ensure the room has the correct accessories; dry erase boards, flip charts, video connections, a screen that drops down and stays down, etc.

Communicate, with sufficient notice, both the dress code and what the participants are to bring to the training. Ensure the participants are comfortable. Most formal training sessions require business-casual attire, but if jeans are acceptable let the attendees know this fact. Request some level of punctuality from the participants. Try to avoid the time clock mentality. Rather, put the attendees on the honor system to be on time, while stressing the importance as to why their attendance and punctuality is important. Instructors should never be late, unless it cannot be avoided.

Session Duration and Breaks

Typically formal training sessions last between three and eight hours. Sufficient breaks are crucial to keeping the participants alert. Different people may learn differently, but they all need breaks. Schedule breaks every 1½ to two hours. Ten to fifteen minutes for break is usually plenty of time. Since the participants are all adults, it is okay if someone excuses themselves for an unscheduled break to use the restroom. Instructors should not be upset if a participant briefly steps out at an unscheduled time. Instructors could also take this as a hint that maybe it is time to take a break.

If possible, have snacks in the training room. Fruits, light pastries, bagels, coffee, tea, water, juice in the morning; fruits, cheeses, water, and soda in the afternoon. Avoid heavy snacks with heavy carbohydrates; jelly donuts, large pastries, cakes, etc. These will cause the participants to become drowsy. If the snacks and beverages are located in the training room, it makes the training more special, fun, and allows the participants to do something else on the scheduled breaks as opposed to going to the soda machine.

Lunch can be either brought into the training room or the participants can go to a nearby restaurant. Boxed lunches are very popular for training sessions. A menu is typically passed around by mid-morning for the participants to pick their choices for lunch. I prefer going out of the training area for lunch. This gives the instructor and participants a chance to really get out and move around. I prefer to walk to a nearby restaurant, rather than drive, whenever possible.

The participants may go to lunch as one large group or split into small groups, with each going to a location of their choice. Regardless of whether the lunch is brought in or if the participants go out, the lunch should be paid for by the sponsoring company or included in the cost of the training.

Instructional Materials

The most effective training sessions provide all materials needed for the participants. Pens, pencils, highlighters, markers, writing paper, and course specific materials should all be provided by the instructor. A multitude of choices should be provided for the participants. Several colors of markers and highlighters allow the participants to customize their notes.

Some form of a handout or instruction manual is necessary for any formal training class. However, the participants’ focus should be on the instructor and whatever the instructor is using for visual presentation; computer presentation, flipchart, or dry erase board. Instructors should also supplement the main handout or text with topical sheets that are handed out to participants as the subject is discussed.

It is also nice for the participants to leave with something extra. A mall booklet or similar item related to the subject matter is usually well received. I like to have prize drawings for all participants that return on time from breaks and lunch. While some of the “prizes” are humorous, some are serious and related to the subject matter or similar topics.

Finally, provide each participant with a certificate of completion signed by the instructor. Before handing these out have all participants complete an anonymous course evaluation. This feedback, while it may at first ruffle a few feathers, can only help the instructor and the class to get better and increase your training performance.