(By Ceferino “Jun” Dulay, Jr.)

Past Business Situation

In the past years, businesses had focused on improving their operation, market position and profitability as part of their business strategy. This emphasis was exemplified in management training such as that of AIM’s Management Development Program where a key area of training was called SAPADAPPA, an acronym for Situation Analysis, Problem Analysis, Decision Analysis and Potential Problem Analysis. Business planning involved analyzing recent company performance and market situation and projecting the situation of the next few years. This focus has also resulted into process and quality analysis, giving rise to such programs as Quality Circles, 5S, Total Quality Management, Six Sigma, Process Improvement, Time and Motion Studies and the like. As a result, performance-related training was focused on various process and quality improvement techniques to improve individual and group competencies. Management and behavioral training were also aligned to such focus.

Training Situation

Training took the same approach to performance improvement – focused on identifying problem areas and developing or sourcing remedial training. The sources of learning were training programs developed for specific purposes which gave rise to canned programs conducted by professional trainers. These trainers, therefore, developed specific skills, notably platform skills, in delivering the programs. Training units also developed their skills in conducting surveys as a means for determining training needs and training effectiveness. The basic assumption here is that the individual, or his superior, knows best his areas of improvement. The survey can take the form of respondents selecting among various canned programs or topics at its simplest form or a questionnaire on various performance or problem areas to gather more detailed data. The training unit then analyzes the collected data from which available training programs are selected or new training programs are designed or searched.

Toward the end of a training session, the participants are usually asked to prepare a list of commitments to be accomplished when they return to their workplaces. They are also asked to rate the program and the trainer. Practically, therefore, learning was a one-time session and training effectiveness was measured based on the number of training programs and participants involved and on the ratings given by the participants on the training session and the trainer.

The developments in computer and information technology allowed a faster, individualized, and wider distribution of information. The training units took advantage of this new capability in conducting their training programs. Training can now be done at any time, with any number of participants and at any site. Training units were able to source or conduct off-site training. What remained the same is that the trainer maintained control of the training session and materials. This new capability has reached the workplace where even manufacturing equipment have built-in data sources and problem-solving information which operators can access. And even here, the trainer maintains control of content.

Trainer Competencies

In this kind of situation where learning occurs in actual or virtual classrooms, delivering the training sessions would probably be the most-utilized competency. This involves trainer platform skills and management of classroom facilities, materials, schedules, participants and resource persons. For off-site training, the ability to conduct a virtual class would be important.

Another important trainer competency would be developing the learning intervention. This involves data gathering and assessment of individual and organizational training needs and then designing the learning session in-house or selecting an outside training provider. It also involves identifying required individual and organizational knowledge and how this can be taught, stored and hopefully, used.

A relationship competency would be important for trainers since the training function interacts with a lot of people at various levels within and outside the organization.

To summarize, most learning interventions occurred in the classroom or other controlled environment such as those involving physical activities in team building, were one-time events and application of what was learned was left to the individual and his superior.

Projecting the Business Situation

With the rapid developments in business and technology, managers have found that the age-old management process is no longer appropriate. Before, business planning involved looking at current business situation and corporate performance and then projecting them a year or more later based on perceived developments in technology and market. However, managers found this thinking to be too limited and so embarked on what is now commonly called strategic planning. This new thinking has given rise to companies and organizations defining their individual corporate vision and mission. This vision looks far into the future on what the company or organization wants to become. This vision becomes the reference point for business planning companies prepare a road map on how to get there. There are various tools for doing this and Appreciative Inquiry is a good example.

Appreciative Inquiry (AI) is an organizational development process or philosophy that engages individuals within an organizational system in its renewal, change and focused performance. AI is based on the assumption that organizations change in the way they inquire and the claim that an organization that inquires into problems or difficult situations will keep finding more of the same, but an organization that tries to appreciate what is best in itself will find/discover more and more of what is good. (Quoted from Wikipedia)

It is no longer enough that people contribute to corporate goals by simply following procedures and solving problems. The power to innovate needs to be developed from within oneself and within the organization. To perform and innovate effectively, people need to understand the underlying concepts of the business and its technology (I define “technology” here as the know-how in consistently producing a product or service). Such understanding enables people at all levels to improve work and its result and, thus, contribute to corporate goals and achieve personal satisfaction. Looking at possibilities may bring the company into a situation where new systems are developed and these may make present problems irrelevant. And if the organization is able to continuously recreate itself, it will be more difficult for others to copy and compete with.

Challenges for Training

Training units need to re-invent themselves and their own concepts of training to be aligned with the new management thinking. They have to take a more active stance in improving individual and group performance. In fact, the new thinking opens a lot of opportunity for training units to be more proactive, relevant and strategic. For example, in determining training needs, it is no longer enough to just gather opinions and analyze them. Trainers need to be aware of corporate goals and, in fact, they can contribute to shaping those goals and developing programs to achieve them. By developing strategies for people and competency development, trainers not only define their strategies based on corporate directions but they can also influence those corporate directions through directed improvements in individual and group competencies. Isn’t this the trainers’ dream of being in the boardroom? Isn’t this a more forward-looking and more hands-on stance for trainers?

Trainers can have the unique position of being in the area where learning, practice and innovation converge. Take the new title for training: Workplace Learning and Performance or WLP. This title can be viewed as a triad: learning happens in the workplace and performance is improved by learning to an improvement in the output and condition of the workplace.

The workplace provides more opportunities for learning compared to the classroom. Although basic ideas can be discussed in the classroom, those ideas are transformed into realities in the workplace and produce desired results which further transform the people and the systems/procedures and thus, the workplace. With learning being a constant iteration happening in the workplace, the company continuously re-invents itself and its goals. This ability to directly transform individual and organizational performance in measurable terms can be developed by trainers by:

1. Learning the business of the company and its business processes and directly linking training to business strategies.

2. Designing learning systems that are self-propagating and self-renewing. For example, training line experts/supervisors to train others will develop experts and supervisors who are performance coaches and who, themselves, become continuous learners. Once this continuous learning process is established, work systems improvement follows resulting to continuously higher employee self-esteem, confidence and competence.

3. Participating actively in the whole people development process together with management such as planning individual and unit competencies, measuring competencies based on actual outputs and developing systems for the recognition and further development of competence.

4. Promoting understanding of the business, technology and organization such as inter-relationships among various roles and areas of expertise, own role and contribution to business and organizational goals as they relate to personal goals.

5. Promoting sharing of expertise and providing an environment for self-development.

 

Taking Action toward WLP

As they say, there are many ways of killing a cat. In our case, there are many approaches toward WLP. Probably, the more effective way is not a total make-over but something that blends and grows without forcing the issue. For example, one approach is to organize a trainers’ training for those in a position of influence: subject matter experts, supervisors and line managers. The concept is to implant training as a natural task of a leader in sharing his expertise and developing people. It is also an opportunity for an in-depth examination of the situation in the workplace, e.g., work processes, roles and interactions, people competencies and sources of knowhow. The trainers’ training program should not follow classroom-style training but should be more workplace-oriented:

1. Start with understanding an activity or procedure before going into details. For example, I noticed that in one-on-one and group meetings, experts and managers assume that people already understands the concepts in operation and just give instructions on what to do. I remember my engineering education where the professor dives into solving problems after a brief introduction of the equation involved. Each lecture dealt with various problem situations but still a big question mark hanged over my head. So, when I taught in the university after my graduate studies, I changed all that. I started by explaining the concepts using storytelling so that there is clear visualization of concepts and situation in a problem. I did the same in other courses such as corrosion engineering which was quite a new area at that time but which used the age-old concepts of electrochemistry. I was surprised how well the students navigated my exams and how much they remembered when they were already working.
I also remember the time when I managed competency development at corporate where we had competency evaluation sessions where an expert panel of subject matter experts and managers from various areas grilled a candidate on his achievements and knowhow. The panel members and candidates would remark afterwards how much they learned from the sessions where the same topic was being examined in-depth from various perspectives. After one particular grueling session, a candidate expressed her feelings on what transpired: I don’t care if I get promoted. The mere fact that you listened to me for more than an hour and we discussed my achievements is enough reward for me.

2. Encourage team work rather than purely individual work and let each team work on a particular main area (say, a section in an operation) with each member handling a particular aspect depending on his area of expertise or experience. In this way, a multiple view of an area is created, each member contributes his own expertise and learn from the other members, and members learn how to consolidate and transfer knowledge and work with others who have different perspectives than his own. It would be good for each group to present not only what they did but also what happened in the discussions so that the other teams can learn and contribute their own perspectives.

3. Remember that the most important end result is not the training material itself but the transformation of perspectives and attitudes of the participants as a result of the training. The training materials can be further improved after the training if needed but the trainer has to actively observe, ask questions that opens up areas of discussions that were missed and make suggestions for improvement during the training itself. This requires that the trainer be very discerning of individual and group activities and discussions.

4. A culminating activity (or series of activities) would be a management presentation which can be designed as an evaluation and sharing opportunity. The evaluation should not be confined to the topic presented but also include an evaluation of perceived team and individual performance. The management panel can also share their individual perspectives on what was presented and how the work was done.

The role of the WLP professional is not as the dispenser of knowledge but as the catalyst of change not only of individual performance but of the whole organization. Having training ingrained into the roles of everyone in the organization, the WLP professional becomes the orchestra conductor who sets how each instrument is played and blended to create of one great music masterpiece.

About the Author:

Jun Dulay was a former engineering professor who joined SMC’s Corporate R&D as a manager before he was transferred to corporate technical services and to operations to start a new business and plant operation and which led to a specialization  in technology management and involvement in technical professional organizations.  Later, he developed a keen interest in competency development which led to his involvement in PSTD, in the International Association of Management of Technology as a founding member and later in the International Society for Performance Improvement (an affiliate organization of ASTD) where he was awarded a Certified Performance Technologist (CPT) title.  He is currently retired but still manages to conduct a technical trainers’ training course which he developed and used in SMC. He has a BSChE from USC , MSChE and MBA from UP and is also a PhD in Engineering candidate at UP.