"As you
can see, we have tried different supervisory training courses for our supervisors but
we did not get the return we wanted. Is there a way to ensure more positive results for
the money we spend?" L.G.,
FL "As you
can see, we have tried different supervisory training courses for our supervisors but
we did not get the return we wanted. Is there a way to ensure more positive results for
the money we spend?" L.G.,
FL
THE INDUSTRY ADVISOR
ENSURING
SUPERVISORY
TRAINING SUCCESS
By Gene Levine - www.genelevine.com
Proper supervisory training pays off in big bucks. After all, by
training the few people (your supervisors) whose span of influence is over your many
people (workers) everything those supervisors control will improve. I’ve looked at
many company training programs that failed, including yours and notice common denominators
for the failures.
I will unequivocally state that the success and "positive results" you seek requires you give training a whole new paradigm. The objective is not to give your supervisors cheap, "canned" training just because it is fashionable and meets your training budget. I would be very interested in hearing from Internet readers whose experiences with "canned" or generalized school programs are different then mine but, to reverse your failures, you need to choose a more applicable curriculum taught in a completely different way.
The first thing needing correction is how you chose what the supervisors would learn. You vacillated from correspondence courses to local community colleges to retired teachers. The problem with all those approaches was that the topics, teachers and methods of teaching had little applicability and empathy to the real world of the workfloor. For example, there was no way the teachers (with their lack of product knowledge) or the generalized training materials could provide guidance or follow-up on the work floor. Click on this blue hyperlink ----> to review the Table of Contents from our Professional Series Supervisory Training Manual.
Mistake two, and this one always amazes me, like so many other companies you admittedly made price the determining factor and got what you paid for. Considering what is at stake, you would have made a better investment had you hired the best instructors who had motivational skills coupled to an thorough knowledge of the workings of a labor intensive factory (so they gain the confidence of the students).
Mistake three, you didn’t get involved (there is a difference between sending children to church and taking them) in the training sessions or even review the training materials. Your last error was that you didn’t test, test, test.
Let’s compare a consultant-oriented supervisory training program with what you’ve done (so you can apply their techniques for success). Usually, training requirements are established during a consultant’s initial survey. Aside from the opportunities the client may wish to address (based on the findings of the survey), each supervisor is polled using a curriculum questionnaire, such as the one discussed in my Industry Advisor. "Developing Supervisors" article. Then, the company’s goals, the results of the questionnaire and each supervisor’s skill, knowledge, ability and learning capabilities are analyzed and superimposed with the help of the company’s Industrial Psychologist. Then, and only then, are the required training needs and levels of training presented to management – in their survey report.
Once retained, every consultant re-engineering assignment should have continuous and integral supervisory training sessions (or else the project’s results will dissipate after the consultants finish their assignment). With me, the first training session is most important because it sets the tone for all future meetings. I use this session to review the entire course outline, the expected benefits to the supervisors and their company. To ensure that the supervisors understand that mine is a no nonsense approach to teaching I then distribute a blank report card.
A week before each session, provide reading material for the up-coming lesson and source materials (if they want to learn even more). I tell attendees that they will be tested twice on each subject; before (a "pre" test) and after each session (a "post" test). The pre-tests do not get collected. Their only purpose is to determine the level of knowledge the attendees have on the subject matter which is about to be discussed and if they did their homework. This pre test allows an instructor to spend more time on things the students do not know and avoid wasting time on that which they thoroughly understand.
They are told "post" test results will be entered onto the report card they are now holding. Furthermore, . . .
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