Training is not optional!

Training is not optional. It’s not something we do just when we have the time or the “spare” cash to do it. It is a critically important business function, just as important as sales and marketing, manufacturing, service provision, maintenance, or anything else that we do to provide a service or product to the marketplace.

Training is something that must be done to ensure that we can survive, let alone thrive, in a volatile marketplace. In times of downturn, such as the one we are all experiencing now, the temptation is to cut back on non-essentials. Sure, trim back a little, but trim back too far and you will inevitably find yourself in trouble. Too little resources put into sales and marketing will see sales and even customers fall off. Too little spent on maintenance will see the plant fail and customers let down. All too often cutting costs to save money, without thinking about what those cost really are, will leave your business in an even more vulnerable position. If what seem to be ‘costs’ are actually important investments, then cuts can have disastrous downstream consequences.

Sure we need to be careful what we spend and where we spend it, but isn’t that always the case? The interesting thing is that what we can safely trim back on in a downturn, without adversely affecting the business, are the things that could, and should, have been trimmed back, in the good times. In other words, they’re a form of waste that the business should have been trying to reduce anyway (see some of our blogs on lean production).

Training is like preventative maintenance for our people. The right training for the right people at the right time will ensure that these valuable resources (perhaps our most valuable resources) are kept finely tuned. Effective training ensures they’re able to respond to the demands that every business faces and that they are ready and capable of responding to the inevitable upswing in demand when it arrives. And it will.

The right training for the right people at the right time is all about using training strategically to equip and position your business for both the present and the future. Training is about much more than skills. As a strategic tool, it can be just as much about changing attitudes as developing skills, business processes and other systems within a business.

What I’m suggesting is that rather than treating training as it has been treated historically—that is, something that is done to individuals, and that happens to them in a classroom; try thinking of it as something that happens to your organisation, something that happens in the workplace, even while doing the work. That’s right, it’s a strategic change management tool, one that can be integrated into the workplace and even the work itself.

If you had problems with rework, errors or something else before the downturn, and the problems were hurting you then, they must be hurting now. Manage the downturn, and your response to the upturn, by taking a strategic approach to training.

Did you know that there is government funding available to support strategic training initiatives? So even if you don’t have the money to make the improvements you want, support from the government could make the impossible, possible.

Talk about workplace learning :)

How has the downturn affected your business? How can a strategic, integrated approach to training improve your business and position it to take full advantage of the economic recovery? How can training in your organisation become an investment rather than an expense? We look forward to hearing from you.

Peter Hancock
http://www.wli.com.au/


Related Articles:

• Why focus on workplace learning?
• Curing a sick workplace: Coffee and cake, or onions?
• What is Lean Manufacturing?

What is Lean Manufacturing?

At the heart of ‘lean’ is the customer, and a focus on the customer’s definition of quality. Lean production involves being able to deliver a product or service to the customer on time, in full, every time. You might be asking; what’s that got to do with lean? The simple answer is 'everything'.

Put yourself in the customer’s shoes for a moment. I know you can do it; you’re probably somebody’s customer several times a day, whether it’s in the supermarket, the petrol station, the news agent or even at work.

So what is it you really want? Could it be value for money? Would you be just a little bit upset if you found out that you were paying for somebody’s poor work practices? What if you found out that a loaf of bread, costs ten cents more than it should, because the baker always made more dough than he used, and made you pay for it? And what if you found out that, that same baker, always baked more loaves than he could sell, and added another five cents to the cost of each loaf to cover that as well?

Lean philosophy tells us that the customer shouldn’t be paying for anything that doesn’t add value to the product, or service that is being provided. So, do you know what lean manufacturing is now?

If you answered with something like: eliminating waste, or only doing those things that add value for the customer, you’d be on the right track. Lean manufacturing is about both. If you are going to do only those things that add value for the customer, you have to eliminate waste. So let’s go back to our baker for a moment.

We know two things about his baking practices, he always makes too much dough (and throws out the excess) and he always bakes too many loaves, and throws out what he doesn’t sell. What do you think the baker would say if you asked him why he made you pay for his waste? He’d probably say that if he didn’t he’d go broke. By not covering all of his production costs, including his waste, he wouldn’t make enough money to stay in business. And if you asked him why he made too much, he’d probably say because that’s they way he’s always done it. It was probably the way he was taught. Remember the old truism “you can never have too much of anything”? Still think that it’s true?

Our baker friend could reduce his waste, and his costs (and perhaps his prices), if he were able to eliminate or reduce the extra dough and bread he threw out. By measuring his excess dough every night (bakers usually bake at night) and working out what the average quantity was, he could reduce the amount he threw out significantly, simply by reducing the amount of dough he made by the average amount of waste. If he did the same thing with the loaves he threw out, he’d be able to further reduce his waste, and his costs.

This is a simple lesson in lean manufacturing, but there is still one thing to learn. It doesn’t stop! You keep trying to reduce or eliminate waste. And the thing is, you not only get less waste, but you get better at what you do, all the time, because you’re always learning, and improving on what you do.

Talk about workplace learning :)

What lean practices are being used in your workplace? How has 'lean' reduced waste and costs where you work? Do you have lean stories do can share with us? We look forward to hearing from you.

Peter Hancock

Work Doctor at Workplace Learning Initiatives Pty Ltd


Free 'LEAN' learning resources:

 

Download free learning resources from Workplace Learning Initiatives Pty Ltd








Related Article:

• Why focus on workplace learning?