Getting training out of the black box - Part 2

Now that you know what training is wanted/needed, it's time to share the news.

In chatting with other HR pros, and even through my own observation, I hear a lot about training being available only to a select few.

Excuse me??

We are talking about something that will create a better informed, more productive, more motivated, and more committed workforce, and you are keeping it a secret from most of your employees?

All I can say is you are nuts! (headwag and finger shaking to be imagined here!)

You have someone working on the factory floor who has aspirations of becoming a supervisor and wants to be able to do it well from Day 1 when the opportunity arises, and you are only letting people who are already supervisors in the door to that class?

You have a clerical employee who writes code on the side at home and you are NOT going to tell her about the database application class because it is not in her job description -- yet! Are you kidding me?

Stop thinking of training as a limited resource!

I will say it again! Training increases productivity, improves morale, and boost employee commitment. It is a tool like almost none other you have in your HR toolbox. So open up the box, and take it out!

How?

Publish a training schedule and let people pick the classes they want to attend. If there are a few people who NEED to attend a given class, put their names down first. Then let ANYONE sign up for the rest of the slots. ANYONE!

Send out in-house e-mails about upcoming training. Post signs on walls. PUBLICIZE IT! Think school dance -- the more signs, the more excitement, the more people attend. Same principle here, except your company benefits from all the people showing up and getting training! Pretty cool, huh? And you don't even need someone to watch the punchbowl!

Reward people for attending, reward improvement in areas that had been lacking, reward new ideas that came from the training. Pay attention to the after-affects of the training. When people do good things because of it, reward them. Chocolate bars, gift certificates, plaques, whatever you choose. Just follow through.

Tomorrow...your objections to this idea. Yeah, I can see those hands waving out there. And the "But...but..." excuse pouring out. Share yours. I'll share the ones I've heard. And tomorrow, we'll deal with them all.

Taking training and rewards out of the black box -Part 1

In my previous post, I talked about making training into a reward. One of the biggest obstacles to doing that is getting the word out about:

1) Training needed/wanted
2) Training available

Without opening up these two things, your training program -- along with all the good it could do your company -- will remain in a black box. And we all know that the only time someone actually looks into the black box is after a disaster.

Here are some tips to open that box, and get training out where it belongs:

1) Find out what kind of training your employees want.

Oh, this sounds sooooo simple. Starting with the employees. Asking questions. But in reality, it is almost never done!

Training is fed to people, top down. With a "We who sit off in our offices and never do the daily work..." directive behind the training choices, is it any wonder that most training has little or no impact on learning, and is in fact dreaded by employees? Where did we forget that employees are grown-ups, and are perfectly capable of knowing what interests them, what would make their jobs easier and what questions they need answered!

2) When in doubt, ask why.

OK, let's say you asked what kind of training people want and you got the following list:

• Chinese language (from a salesperson)
• How to be a good manager (from a machine operator on the factory floor)
• Microsoft Office skills (from the Art Director)

Wondering why a machine operator wants a management class? Or the Art Director wants training in office? And the Chinese language training? You have no idea!

Traditional black box thinking would be to say no to all of them.

But if you ask, you may discover that the machine operator is taking night classes, and hopes to become a manager or supervisor some day, the Art Director needs help setting up spreadsheets to track projects, and that salesperson just noticed a growing demand for products like yours from Chinese buyers, and wants to be able to open that market.

3) Take away the stigma of asking for training

In tooooo many companies, asking for training in anything directly related to your job is seen as an admission of incompetence. So even employees who really need the information, and who would benefit from the training are afraid to ask for it.

Letting employees know it's a strength to ASK for training in your field will open the door to a better trained, better performing, and (incidentally), more committed workforce. And what employer wouldn't want that!

Tomorrow, I'll talk about getting the word out about training.

Training and rewards, Santa style

The connection between behavior and rewards is simple, if you're talking about Santa. You behave, you get toys. You misbehave? You can look forward to a stocking full of coal. Nasty.

The really cool thing about that plan is that it is clear and up front. No mysterious stockings full of coal because some bean counter said there where too many good children. The terms are clear...clean your room, help out mom and dad around the house, brush your teeth, and you're pretty much guaranteed that old Saint Nick won't leave you lumps of fossil fuel instead of a candy cane and toys.

Wouldn't it be great if corporate training worked that way? Or heck, corporate life in general.

Imagine this:

You come into work every day, you work hard. You do your reports and track your products. So when training opportunities come around, you can pretty much count on a sweet opportunity to learn something new, improve your skills, maybe get set for a promotion when a position opens up.

Sorry. The reality is far from the Santa-based system. We treat employee training like some secret formula we need to protect from the masses.

First, we limit the number of people who hear about the training being offered. It becomes something more like an invitation to a secret society than a chance to create a better educated workforce.

Then, we have an approval process for people who "heard" about the training and want to go. We screen them to make sure we only allow in those who already have jobs related to the training. The idea that others in the organization might benefit from diverse training is about as accepted as the idea of little green men -- we all know about the stories, but no one in their right mind would admit to believing them.

Finally, we make it hard to people to attend the training. In many organizations, salaried employees attending training are expected to do their normal job on their own time, outside of the training time. Now there's a big incentive, right?

There are literally millions of pages of research showing that a better trained and cross trained workforce is more productive, more committed and more successful. And yet, and yet...the stocking full of coal continue.

Can we take a page from Santa in 2010? If your employees are on the nice list, make training one of their rewards? At the very least, it beats vacuuming up all that coal dust.

New Year, New Training Goals, Part Deux

It's almost the new year, you're all excited about getting going on the training schedule for 2010, you have your topics all lined up and...

STOP!

You did read my blog post from yesterday, right? You took the time to look over last year's training and pinpoint the shining stars and the absolute flops, didn't you?

No? Okay, I'll wait here while you go and check it out...(twiddling thumbs...) Take your time. (humming to self...playing with a pencil...)

You're back!!

Okay, now you're ready to move on and get that schedule down, right? Er, umm, just one more thing...you did check to make sure that you were up to date on any changes in labor laws or any court decisions that might affect your training choices, right?

Yeah, I'll wait....(...making a string of paper clips, drawing on my hand...)

Finally! Ready?

Okay, take that list from last year, the one with the successes and failures. Look at what bombed. Now, no matter how simple those things might be for you to do, DO NOT DO THEM!!!

The lectures that put half the group to sleep? No more of those.

The audio/video program that was rated a zero by 90% of participants (there are always those few brown-nosers who think you'll recognize their handwriting...) -- that goes, too.

The bad instructors, meaningless fill and generally ineffective lessons? All verboten this year.

Define your stuff!

To paraphrase Dr. Seuss, "A training's not a training if no one learns the stuff."

1) Make a list of the things you must teach.
2) Add the stuff you think you should teach.
3) Add the things you want to teach.

See what's changed

Look at those new labor laws and court cases. Which items on your list are affected by those. Make a note next to each, so you'll include the new information.

Look at your materials, if any, you plan to reuse. Is the new stuff in there? Or even more important, is there old stuff in there that is contrary to the new stuff? If so, throw 'em away. Not worth the risk.

Look at what worked and do a WHOLE LOT more of it!

Whatever got the most results, best training impact and most participant appreciation last year is how you are going to plan your training this year.

No whining about it being harder or more time-consuming. The whole point of training is training! Not putting on training classes or using materials. It's about making a difference and making people safer/more productive/happier/more effective, etc, etc.

Leave gaps in your calendar and spaces in your training

During this calendar year, something will change. A new or revised labor law or two. A company policy. An industry practice. Make sure your training schedule has room for a few ad-hoc sessions, and that your training classes/events have room for new information.

Happy 2010 Training!

FORTIFY YOUR OASIS: Walkin' in a winter wonderland ... It's the HR Carnival

Check out our mention on the most recent HR Carnival! Thanks for including us! FORTIFY YOUR OASIS: Walkin' in a winter wonderland ... It's the HR Carnival

New year, new training goals PART 1

News FLASH!

New Year's goals aren't just for losing those 15 pounds you put on during the holidays.

It's also a great time for reviewing last year's training program, and planning next the next year. Before you set your 2010 company training schedule, consider these questions and planning ideas.

LAST YEAR'S TRAINING

Start with a list of all training from last year. It's time to look at what worked and what did not. Consider:

Which two training classes or programs got the highest ratings from participants? Which two or three garnered the lowest participant ratings?

Which training programs had the fastest participant sign-up rate? Which had the lowest?

Which training resulted in the largest impact on your employees' behavior, performance or productivity?

Which training was a complete flop? This could be people falling asleep, disappearing after breaks, daydreaming, texting under the table, negative behavior not changing or really awful-terrible-miserable evaluations by participants. Be honest. Even if it was your absolute, favorite personal pride and joy session, if it flopped, it flopped.

Which training was the hands-down best for 2009? Again, be honest. Maybe it was one you hated or it was a pain to put together. But it worked and it worked well.

FINDING THE COMMON FACTORS

Now look at your list and find the things your really good training sessions had in common. And the things your really miserable ones had in common. You've heard of 6-Sigma? I call this 6-Tau. Consider:

Technique -- was it a lecture, video, activity, panel discussion or brainstorming session? Define the way information was conveyed.

Topic -- Categorize your training sessions into a few topics. Management skills, productivity, legal issues, etc.

Training Location -- Where was the training presented? In a conference room, on the factory floor, offsite?

Teacher(s) -- Who presented? Was it an individual or a team?

Tools -- What tools were used in the training? Computers? Game show-like elements? Toys? Paper and pencil?

Timing -- When was the training presented? First thing in the morning or right before quitting time? Over lunch or during a busy time of day? And how long did it last? An hour? All day? All week?

As you list these elements of the 6-Tau evaluation, odds are you will see some patterns emerging. Training that is scheduled in the morning may be more effective than in the late afternoon. Shorter may work better than longer (or vice versa.) Certain instructors may be key to effective training. And certain techniques or tools might work better than others.

Once you've identified what works and what doesn't, it's time to build your 2010 training program. Stay tuned tomorrow for more on building a training program that works.

Staying up to date on legal issues critical for trainers

Outdated training could cost your company more than most trainers realize. A word of caution about getting too far ahead or reusing old training materials


Jackson (not his real name, but hey, we have to keep the attorneys happy!) is the training director for a large corporation. Let's call it XYZ, Inc. (Again, not the real name, but those attorneys are still watching, so....)

A bit a perfectionist, he prides himself on having all corporate training planned a year in advance. There are sessions on time management, on job skills, and even on touchy subjects like sexual harassment.

As of January 1st, the materials are ready and the entire year's training for all divisions is planned completely. He's even managed to reuse some old materials left over from a few years ago.

Pretty good, right? Not really.

Odds are Jackson's well-in-advance and recycled training will miss the mark on critical labor law issues. Employees at XYZ may not get the right information on some important legal issues. And that could cost XYZ money. Maybe even big money.

The thing that Jackson, and so many other trainers miss, is the fact that employment law is a moving target. And as a trainer, it's your job to stay on top of new developments and shifting regulations.

A few examples might help illustrate just how critical this is....

- Jackson's training plan included directing employees in the XYZ-owned medical labs in proper recordkeeping. But the class content was written before the new HIPAA Breach Notification rules went into effect in September of 2009. So the information Jackson gathered back in December of 2008, and the old materials he is recycling, are not only incomplete, they may be wrong.

The probable result? Records improperly maintained, with breaches unreported -- and that could lead to fines or lawsuits against XYZ.

- Jackson was very happy with his training plan for interviewing and hiring. He included age, disability and ethnic discrimination. Religious discrimination. Even pay discrimination between male and female applicants. He was certain all the bases were covered.

But during the year, the definition of an ADA disability changed. And legal decisions in a number of courts expanded protection to cover sexual identity, sexual reassignment and gender-based lifestyle issues. But Jackson's training doesn't cover any of that. And that omission could be costly for XYZ.

There are other issues Jackson may have missed during the year -- Changes in the FMLA regarding military families. Shifts in EEOC rules to cover genetic information. State-level changes in employment law. Court decisions that refine or even completely altered existing labor law practices.

If you, like Jackson, like to map out your training year, make sure you stay up to date on changes in labor law, both from legislative and judicial sources. Leave room in your curriculum for "as needed" special training sessions to bring managers and others "into the loop" on new rules and regulations.

And before you re-use older training materials, have your staff attorney or an outside employment law attorney look over the content. That little step could go along way towards keeping your company and all employees in step with today's employment law issues.