Why Smart Training Principles & Behaviors?

Better training outcomes are guaranteed.

In my adventures around the U.S. visiting shops in pain over implementing an OJT program, there’s a common thread I see – many shops have their training plan outline out of order. Right away they want to jump into listing the tasks, developing the training content, and getting a move on this whole endeavor because, well, they are desperate to get their employees up to speed. I understand that desperation. I see it literally all the time. However, I’m here to relay how to go about getting the best training outcomes, which are people well trained in knowing and doing the duties their employers need them to know and do. And of course, this is different for every company, and we covered that necessity for flexibility in a previous blog on Smart Training Solutions.

So now we’re at the point of developing our training program. The first thing to do is identify the Smart Training Principles. These include ideal behaviors that hold true to the principles. My next several blogs will explain the various training principles and behaviors, including:

• Training From the End
• Stakeholder Environment
• Separate Trainers and Evaluators
• Dual Training Environments
• True Competency-Based Content
• True Performance Validation
• Win-Win

You’ll have a greater understanding when we delve into exactly what the optimal principles and behaviors are for a successful OJT program. Meantime, here’s the main takeaway from this blog message: There are considerations BEFORE listing tasks and developing training content. Many companies start and end there, too! And what do they get? A portfolio of employees that were checked off as trained. Sure, they may have passed the checklist, but has their training been validated? By whom? If it was validated by the trainer, that person may not be the best judge. Trust me, you’ll be glad you took the time to write out the principles and behaviors, and guess what? It will save you time because a lot of the principles I lay out, you will likely come to the same conclusions, but through a painful learning process, after-the-fact, or during it and wish you had done things in a different order. So, we identify those first.

For example, one of the principles might be “Separate Trainers and Evaluators.” Wouldn’t you be surprised if you had an employee that was signed off as trained but scrapped work because they could not independently do the tasks they were trained to do? How will you determine the root cause of deviation from performance standards set by the organization for the trainer and employee? All this needs to be figured out and planned out well in advance of listing tasks and developing training content. And, as promised, we will unwrap the key principles and behaviors in the next 7 blogs!

The best way to understand this new way of approaching training for today’s manufacturers is to see the entire Smart Training Solutions framework and how it can apply to your staffing needs. If you would like to book time with me and jump start your OJT program, please call the NIMS office at (703) 352-4971.

Thanks for following me and staying tuned!

Always learning,

Montez