Benefits of Defining Your Skills Matrix
Understanding the Learning Continuum I don’t believe that any parent would allow a teenager to drive on a freeway without practice to develop the required skills. Learning to drive needs to be introduced in steps: first, a large parking lot, then maybe some side...
Don’t Be Like Me: Overcoming Obstacles to Effective Training
A number of years ago when I was a "wee little chick", I was called into a room full of managers and told that I had been selected to attend a training. I wasn’t given any of the reasons behind the training, the goals for attending the training or the duration of the...
Data: Another “Sense” for Quantifying Process Improvements
A lot of people claim to have a “6th Sense” when assessing a situation. But, when it comes to making a business investment, having a benchmark and being able to quantify improvements is essential. Making process improvements in your process may require an investment...
It All Starts with One Step: Improving Your Operator Training Program
Most manufacturers will admit that they don’t do a good job training their employees. It isn’t that they don’t see the value, it is rather that the task feels overwhelming and they don’t know where to start. But, like any other journey worth taking, it starts with a...
Effective Training to Affect the Desired Outcome
The task of operator training is typically delegated to the department supervisor or lead. Rarely, if ever, is the supervisor or lead given the proper tools to be an effective trainer. And since the supervisor is also evaluating the operator’s performance, the...
Operators or Training? Assessing the Why Behind Process Deviations
It is my belief and experience that operators don't want to do a bad job. They want to do what is asked of them and do it to the best of their ability. But, we still see instances where operators aren’t following the established procedures. And when that happens,...