Developing the Maintenance and Other Technically Skilled Workers That You Need; To Specification, With Minimal Investment

by Dr. Dave Just, formally Dean of Corporate and Continuing Education at Community Colleges in MA, OH, PA, SC. Currently President of K&D Consulting  

In a previous Proactive Technologies Report article, “Grow Your Own Multi-Craft Maintenance Technicians – Using a ‘Systems Approach’ to Training” I described how Proactive Technologies, Inc. has often joined forces with universities, community colleges (many were schools for which I lead the customized training and workforce development departments) and other related technical instruction providers to setup and implement the “hybrid model” of worker development.  This approach has proven itself highly effective for technical job classifications such as Maintenance, Chemical Operators, Press Operator, Tool & Die, NC Machine Operator, Quality Control, Supervisor and others.

This “systems approach” to worker development is simple in its structure but includes metrics and quality control points to ensure that worker development outcomes are clearly defined, progress measured and reported monthly, and goals reached – no matter if the job changes or people change jobs. Although this approach can be used for any job classification in any setting, together we have applied this approach effectively for Maintenance and many other critical technical positions, as well as often neglected supervisor and first-line management positions, for many clients over the last 2 decades.

The approach is unique in that it sets-up for its clients the task-based structured on-the-job training programs. There is no “cut and paste;” each job/task analysis is specific to that job classification, for that company, and incorporates already established process documents and specifications to ensure compliance with quality programs such as ISO/IATF/AS and safety requirements.  Proactive Technologies provides the technical implementation support and accurately reports progress for each trainee’s individual pursuit of “job mastery” – allowing the business client to focus on its business while we ensure the employer gets the skilled staff they need, when they need them. As a bonus, incumbent workers are base-lined to the structured on-the-job training program requirements and a customized path is established to drive them, along with the new-hires, to full job mastery.

Like most community college or university executives, I felt compelled to promote products and services we already had on the shelf – even if I new from industry experience that the product only resembled the client’s targeted job by name. I began to worry about the cost to my reputation for recommending a solution that wasted everyone’s time and resources, and left the trainee and employer short.

Some schools think that “industry” has the answers. But some of their own organizational development courses teach that “the farther away from the actual work, the less that person knows about the job.” For the last 30 years we collectively built strategies based on “industry input” and yet the skills gap grew larger.

Although uncomfortable for most educators, we listened to each manufacturer that would open up. Even if they seemed to not know precisely what they needed, we listened for what they expected to accomplish, what resources they had that could be used in training workers for their needs, and if they were committed to a different approach if it brought them what they said they were looking for. For example, we heard the frustration they expressed in looking for highly qualified new-hire maintenance candidates when too few technical colleges offer a solid maintenance or maintenance technician program. The ones that either do not have content that is relevant enough or if they do, cannot graduate enough students to meet the demand. Employers realize they have to be, by necessity, a major part of the solution.

“The effects of ineffective training for 1 person can cost your firm more than the training budget for 10 employees for 10 years. Why take the chance with speculative training approaches that may not deliver anything more than cost and disappointment?”

This transition in strategy freed the school and its staff from trying to be all things to all people. We instead focused on our strengths – core and advanced core skill education and learning. We made sure our products and services were relevant to our clients, as Proactive Technologies job/task analysis data showed us. And instead of leading the student to the top of their core skill base and leaving them there, we now could see that student immediately utilize these skills while learning and mastering tasks for the employer through the structured on-the-job training established. We now had the missing link.

Many of our programs are registered as apprenticeships, which cuts the time from the traditional time-based 7-8 years to 3-4 years. Focusing the “hand-on” portion of the apprenticeship on specific tasks the employer needs mastered speeds up the process but maintains the credibility of the certificate. All of the employer’s trainees in the job classification can participate in the structured on-the-job training portion of the apprenticeship at the same time, and those already in the job classification for many years can be “grandfathered” in to the appropriate, and accepted, level.

The secret to success is in the “turn-key” approach Proactive Technologies applies and its PROTECH© system of managed human resource development™ software. This software and systematic approach drastically reduces the costs and time necessary to analyze the job classification, create all of the tools of the implementation process, manage and revise the data for changes and track/report each trainee’s progress –  making it possible to accommodate large-scale projects (e.g. some companies start with a 2-3 job pilot program then scaled it up to all manufacturing jobs/all hourly employees once the approach is proven for them) – the investment affordable for any size firm.

We understand that most small and medium-sized manufacturers have a very limited human resources staff, not to mention a non-existing training department. But they do have the subject matter experts who have mastered the training content, just lacking the training technique, materials and support. By applying the Proactive Technologies’ approach to set-up, implement, support, keep records and report training activity, the time the subject matter expert needs to make available for training new-hires and incumbents is minimized to what they are used to delivering and the effects maximized. The investment needed is low, but the impact and return on worker investment is substantial. The client can see worker capacity build before their eyes – unlike class-heavy strategies that have a history of underwhelming the client.

To learn and master the tasks of a technical position such as maintenance, both structured on-the-job training and related technical instruction is needed. A patchwork of classes and informal, ad hoc task learning does not always work the way you wish or believe. The effects of ineffective training for 1 person can cost your firm more than the training budget for 10 employees for 10 years. Why take the chance with speculative training approaches that may not deliver anything more than cost and disappointment?

With the Proactive Technologies-RTI partner(s) approach your training infrastructure will be designed and built to your specification, one critical task of the job at your facility at a time. Related technical instruction (online and instructor lead) is selected based on sound evidence found in the job/task analysis performed to setup the structured on-the-job training. Instead of having to become training developers and human resource development managers, your program will be managed for you so your workers can focus on the work that needs to be done. And if you wish, your training program will be registered as an apprenticeship – like many of our clients have – to provide workers with an important incentive to learn and master their job.

Contact Proactive Technologies Inc. to either attend a live online presentation or schedule a teleconference to start the discussion of how this approach can save your organization money, minimize the frustration and optimize the return on your worker investment. Or schedule an onsite presentation when our representative is in your area.

The shortest, most economical, path between two points is a straight line. Nothing of importance, where time and cost is concerned, was ever accomplished by trial and error. Why not request a proposal on how the Proactive Technologies hybrid model for maintenance and other technical position can get you to where you want to be?