In many (most?) companies, there's a cycle that runs almost unchanged: a form or process that identifies training needs, a plan, and implementation. Sometimes, training processes arise not from current needs but from future plans, or even from prejudices or assumptions.
What are the results? They aren't always clear. They aren't always visible. Often, there are no improvements or changes. There are also common reactions to this: changing trainers, repeating the course, declaring failure, and never trying again.
There is rarely a review of the process itself, the tools used, or both.
There is another possible world
THE The quintessential tool of the Education & Training Pillar, one of the 8 Pillars of TPM, is the Skills Matrix, understanding skill, and paraphrasing Prof. Suzuki, as the ability of people to apply their knowledge and experience in a reflective manner in any situation that arises in their position, for an extended period of time.
It is also a way of describing the path that leads to what he himself calls “mastery.”
Its advantages over other instruments are clear:
- Its starting point is a deep and detailed understanding of each job position, at any level of the organization, and the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required to perform it with excellence in normal or exceptional situations.
- A method of needs assessment that involves the person holding the position in question.
- The ability to visually monitor the progress (or lack thereof…) of the training
- A direct relationship with the indicators of the 6 key strategies: Pproductivity, Creality, COstos, Delivery (On-Time Deliveries), SSA (Safety, Health and Environment) and Moral or job satisfaction. If the indicators don't improve, the training is ineffective.
And then: why does he break heads?
It's mind-blowing, simply because it breaks paradigms.
Let's see.
- Requires a opening Hyper-exhaustive analysis of the skills identified. This allows us to never miss the necessary training. What is exhaustive? There are positions that have matrices with more than 600 required knowledge, skills, and attitudes.
- It does not arise from a downward diagnosis but from a joint work with those who occupy the same position, their bosses, their clients and suppliers in the process.
- Training activities are not necessarily provided by external parties. The value is placed on internal knowledge capital that the company has. Sometimes they take the form of courses or workshops, other times they take the form of specific activities or One Point Lessons on the job.
- Everyone self-evaluate your starting point and your evolution together with your direct supervisor.
- Finally, the icing on the cake: if carried out properly (methodologically and practically speaking) the results must be reflected in the indicators. Otherwise, we're doing something wrong.
Whether budgeted or not, most companies make training efforts. The use of the Skills Matrix, mandatory in TPM and optional in any other context, ensures that these efforts translate into concrete results for the company and also for individuals who can see their own development every day.
And to the question, what happens if we train them and they leave? We answer, what happens if we don't train them and they stay?
See you next time
