Training Hindering instead of Helping
The team was “full of piss and vinegar,” as my Grandmother would say. They streamed into the conference room Monday morning; excited and animated. I had to ask them to settle down before we started.
It was the beginning of a 5-day Rapid Improvement Event.?Per company guidelines, it started with introductions, then a day of instruction. Teaching them enough about lean to get them going. There was a section on the history of lean and the company’s journey. Then the Lean philosophy and details about the 8 wastes.
The training filled the first day; the whole 8 hours. This group, however, made me completely change my approach. By five o’clock they’d completely transformed. Instead of being energetic, they were lethargic. Instead of being excited, they were bored. I remember walking out that day depressed over what I’d done to them…I broke them.
These people had gathered to make a difference, to change a busted process. Instead of getting to work, they got lectures, PowerPoints, and bad jokes.
Tuesday saw us getting into refining problem statements and doing root cause analysis. Which got them excited again. But it took the better part of the day to get their excitement back. After the week was over, we’d had a “successful” event, but I knew it could be better. Reflecting on the week, I realized a day and a half had been squandered.
For my next event, I sped up the training. Instead of 8 hours, I got it done in 6. That allowed us to do some real work on day 1. But it still wasn’t enough as I saw the energy being sucked away during the training.
The event after that…I did not do any training on day 1. After introductions I had them jump right into reviewing the problem statement. As we rehashed and reviewed, I would stop occasionally, and talk about a potential waste or give some other insight.
That’s how it went the rest of the week. No prolonged formal training…instead I gave snippets of knowledge and information when it made sense. The results were noticeable.
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The team started with high energy, and it stayed there. We productive time that had been previously lost.
We progressed through the steps of the A3 problem-solving technique more quickly. For one reason, the consistently high energy. Secondly, training on day 1 meant by day 3 they’d forgotten the lesson and needed refresher (overproduction waste!). By giving Just-In-Time Training they were getting the information as they needed it; no forgetting, immediate consumption of knowledge, and I could tailor the information needed for the situation. I could focus on a specific waste they were dealing with, rather than giving a lecture on all eight.
This didn’t happen without challenges. It requires a lot more engagement with the team…you have be on top of what they’re talking about at all times in order to help them.?Training must be condensed: that 1-hour lecture on the philosophy of lean has to be broken up into easy to present nuggets.?Lastly, you have to be ready with all sorts of training to be used at any given time. Bits on all the 8 Wastes, Standard Work, Takt Time, push vs. pull….it’s a lot.
Since then, I’ve worked on creating small packets of training I can keep in my back pocket and pull out as needed. It might be just some words of wisdom. It might be a slide I can throw up on the screen. Or it might be a short hands-on exercise (I absolutely LOVE the “How to Draw a Pig” exercise to illustrate standard work!).?
It’s a continuous project, but isn’t that what Process improvement is all about?
Do you have any tips for training your teams? Please share them in the comments…
Customer Success Manager at Rockwell Automation | Six Sigma Green Belt
3 年This was an excellent article on many levels. I want to say yes we need to train this way. Otherwise we get bits of knowledge and no idea how to apply them. Thanks Craig!!!
Director, Mission Sustainment & Community Partnership
3 年Really helpful! Great insight combined with ways to do it differently.
QSI Consultant VI, National HRO Consultant and Facilitator at Kaiser Permanente
3 年I can echo Mark's and your experience, Craig! We'd get them started with moving from the Problem Statement look and sponsor kick-off, to identifying why they were there and what they wanted to get out of the week. We wrote this down on flip charts, as it would end up being a list of what was wrong with the process and related items. Posted these on the walls and used those initial comments to vector check the step 5 action plan! This discussion was part of the morning activities and by the afternoon, we would do a couple hours of training and then move into the process mapping. We, too, learned to provide the training based on what step we were on. Thanks for sharing your experiences, Craig...good times in the AFSO21 program!!!!
? Global Operations Leader ?University of KY EMBA ? UVA Darden MS Business Analytics ? Continuous Improvement Culture ? Operations & Process Excellence ? Customer / Employee Experience ? Military & Veteran Outreach
3 年Craig, I had the exact same experience, and came to the same realization. At first we tried to drill down initial training to just an hour, which included a charter overview. However, I learned that too had them disengaged and defect waste from forgotten training. Once we went to a JIT training, this went much smoother. Further we removed training that would occur from just doing (i.e. how to build a process map). We could facilitate its build and therefore they'll learn just by doing. Night and day in terms of engagement and sustained enthusiasm. Thanks again for sharing your experience! I love these chronicles posts.
Military Partnerships & Support | Higher Education | Career Coach
3 年Craig, this article provides excellent insight in addressing issues and problems. Your recommendations can be applied to meetings as well. Thank you!