Training Won't Fix Your Problem, Part 2

Last time I spoke about this, I tossed out the main reason training why fails: the inability to correctly identify the problem. At some level, we know this to be true as I’m guessing you've sat in a meeting within the last two weeks where people pontificated and you played "corporate jargon bingo." At some point, you thought, “we’re not discussing the right problem” or something similar. The meeting ends, nothing gets done, and the problem continues to grow.

But, let’s say you didn’t do that. Rather, your team got uncomfortable, asked some good and pointed questions, and had the humility to admit maybe you were wrong. (Side note, if you think what I just described only exists in a fantasy world, it doesn’t. That’s what a high trusting, high-performance team does. Something I’ll explore in a future article because that’s a fun place to work.) So now what?

Our next step is to identify possible solutions (how are we going to solve it or analyze/treat risks.) And here’s where our friend, Training, will show up as an option. And despite the title of this series, it might be your option. But, it should not be the only word that shows up on the whiteboard. So, what are some other options? That’s where the handy hierarchy of controls shows up to help with potential solutions.

(Before we get into the hierarchy of controls, I’m going off the assumption that a control doesn’t exist. If a control does exist, your team will need to look at how effective that control was. If the problem is ongoing, your current control isn’t effective. A new or additional control will be needed. And yes, I need to spend more time with my drawing instead of waiting until the last minute to find my kid's colored pencils.)

For our purposes, I’ve condensed this into three groups; elimination/subtraction, engineering controls, and administrative controls (I'm dropping PPE for this article.) I've also made the base elimination/subtraction (the NIOSH version goes the other way) as it made sense to start at the foundation.

Elimination and subtraction can be hard to implement but are more effective. For example, getting rid of your auto fleet by having a third-party do deliveries for you. You don’t have to do driver training or anything dealing with having drivers on your payroll, but you’ll also be getting rid of employees and possibly forgoing important interactions with your customers."What if we stopped doing xyz?" is a great question to ask here.

An engineering control for our driving example might be the type of vehicle you purchase with features such as automatic braking, which (in theory) stops the car should the driver not being able to react (or is distracted). Another possibility is when you try to enter information on a website and you can only enter numbers in a specific part of a form (instead of letters), or maybe being prevented from using copy and paste in your work email app on your phone. Asking "What can we do to engineer xyz to prevent a human from having to make a decision?" might help guide you to new ideas.

Finally, the administrative controls featuring policies, procedures, and training options can be discussed. It’s easier to implement a new written policy than the engineering control but you’ll need to include the time it takes to develop and edit it, establish new standards, and all the coaching and feedback needed for when those standards aren't being met. It takes a lot of effort to keep these up and running (ask anyone who writes best practices or safety manual).

Again, you’re coming up with a variety of options so don’t be afraid to go through all the categories. And, once you have your list, we can move to the next step; selecting your control or solution to your problem.