During the short sessions to determine this (with the teams) I heard myself repeat some prior learnings I have had at other organisations. The first was the introduction of the cycle of struggle and firefighting. The below depicts what happens with ineffective training.
To break the ‘red’ cycle and establish a much more positive and desirable (green) cycle, effective training is required which starts with effective planning of training, an element often overlooked.
Once introduced what then quickly came into the conversation was the question “but where do we start?” When I heard this question I thought bingo, they’ve got this!
I then introduced the teams to two simple statements both taken from Toyota Talent.
If people are not shown the proper method, and they are expected to ‘get the job done’, they will find a way to get the work done … somehow.
If you master the tiniest item of the highest importance, you will achieve greater results.
All three teams left the sessions with a plan of who to train in which work. At this stage it is a ‘draft’. It is still very raw, but the thinking and planning is there.
The next steps (for all three teams) are to review their plan (in 2 weeks), amend the plan (add items forgotten) then establish the by when and ‘who’ will provide the instructing and follow up. One of the biggest learnings (in my eyes) was the fact that ‘others’ in the team may need some additional skill development. The teams had set out to establish what knowledge and skills the ‘new’ staff required. However, in 2 of the 3 groups what they realised was with the existing staff leaving (maternity leave), to reduce the business risk, others in the department would need to be instructed to fulfil some of the duties before the ‘new’ staff, specifically the more technical duties. This was only realised by these planning sessions and the ability to ‘see’ who to train, for which work and by when. The conversation was made very easy by making this planned capability development ‘seeable’.
Planning to build people capability, you’ve got to love it!
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