Is It Possible To Improve Worker Performance Without Documented Task Mastery?
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
W. Edwards Deming said, “We are being ruined by the best efforts of people who are doing the wrong thing.” The inefficiencies, discrepancies, affects on morale and potential for adverse incidents would seem to make preventing this a priority. To make improvements given this condition seems to be, at most times, futile.
Often we are lulled into believing this phenomena doesn’t exist when products get produced and shipped, and services are provided. That is where the metrics are pointed – output. But how much is known about the effort, sometime struggle, to get there? Was the effort efficient, accurate and consistent? If we do not have definitive answers to these questions, how to improve performance will likely be as illusive and resources used in the attempt a waste.
click here to expand“To assume a new worker with no background in the tasks or skills a job requires can acquire them by osmosis is decision that will come back to haunt one day.”
For many organizations, the only way to know the road was bumpy is through negative events; product scrap or rework, lost customers, operator injury or an outcome requiring legal intervention. Perhaps the oversight has been lacking due to a lean or “green” supervisory staff, or a lack of budget for the extra hours or equipment needed to monitor the process, or processes are unsettled and changing rapidly without those individuals performing them being immediately notified.
For any reason, relying on a negative event to prompt scrutiny can be very costly – much more than the investment needed to prevent this. Worse yet, an investigation too narrowly focused that result in remedies that overlook the obvious reasons for the discrepancy may inject new uncontrolled variables. Many remedies become more disciplinary (e.g. reprimanding or firing the person(s) thought responsible, a complete audit involving all departments and staff, reassigning the process to another department, or delegating the process to one person who knows how to get around the systemic errors and barriers to produce the output expected…until that one person moves to another job or company and that “wisdom” is lost).
To determine to what degree this is an issue with your operation, you need only: Read More
“Realistic Job Previews” Can Be a Useful Tool for Measuring a Prospective Employee’s Transferable Task-based Skills
by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.
The hiring process can be difficult for both the employer and the prospective employee. A wrong decision can cost each party a lot of time, money and opportunity. An unwanted outcome based on the employer not providing an accurate picture of the job, work environment and work expected to be performed can be avoided with a “Realistic Job Preview.” (“RJP”).
Wikipedia points out that “Empirical research suggests a fairly small effect size, even for properly designed RJPs (d = .12), with estimates that they can improve job survival rates ranging from 3-10%. For large organizations in retail or transportation that do mass hiring and experience new hire turnover above 200% in a large population, a 3-10% difference can translate to significant monetary savings. Some experts (e.g., Roth; Martin, 1996) estimate that RJPs screen out between 15% and 36% of applicants.
When RJPs are less effective, “According to researchers there are four issues that challenge RJP:
- Recruiters do not share RJPs during interviews. (Rynes, 1991)
- The nature of “realistic” information shared (in lab research or in the field) is unclear (Breaugh & Billings, 1988)
- Not asking the right questions.
- Applicants consistently report desiring more specific, job-relevant information than they commonly receive (Barber & Roehling, 1993; Maurer, Howe, & Lee,1992)
In addition to this there is a chance for realistic job preview to become more effective in order to eliminate turnovers. The presentation format and timing of the RJP can be improved whether the real information is provided early on or later in the recruitment factor. Consequently, more specific topic should be addressed and information sources used (e.g. job incumbent versus human resource staff person).” Read More
Proactive Technologies Discount Program Ends, But…”Low-Risk” Pilot Approach Option Remains in Effect
by Proactive Technologies, Inc. Staff
The Proactive Technologies, Inc.’s Fall Discount Offer expired November 30th. However, discounts are still offered for “economies of scale” (the larger the project, the larger the savings due to coordinated travel, production costs and labor). PLUS, Proactive Technologies has continued the “low-risk” project pilot approach offer for those employers who need to make the case to management before rolling out a larger project.
This accelerated transfer of expertise™ approach is a tremendous offer without the discount. This approach can help any employer quickly and completely train the skilled workers they need AND realize an increase in worker capacity, work quantity/quality and compliance (ISO9001:2015/ TS16949/AS9100D), engineering specifications and safety) while reducing the internal costs of training. New-hires and incumbent workersare driven to full job mastery and higher levels of return on worker investment (ROWI). The task-based, structured on-the-job training infrastructure is perfect for apprenticeships (registered or not); instead of marking the calendar for “time-in-job,” job-relevant tasks are mastered and documented. AND, unlike classroom or online training, the cost per trainee decreases with each added trainee once set up.
click here to expandThis approach makes a worker’s mastery of the job the focus, incorporating the company’s existing systems, documents and standards by building structure around the loosely arranged worker development activities already in place – structuring the unstructured worker training to make it work effectively and efficiently.
Proactive Technologies offers two ways to help prospective clients be absolutely certain that this strategic approach to worker development is right for them. First, Proactive Technologies is offering a free, no obligation, up-to-three-hours session offsite by videoconference, or onsite (by appointment), to develop a Job Hierarchy (detailed task listing) of the prospective client’s targeted job classification. This involves the prospective client’s designated incumbent “subject matter expert” and will illustrate for the prospective management the direction and detail of this approach’s methodology. It will, also, reveal whether the subject matter expert’s coworkers have mastered all of the tasks required of the job for which they were hired. Read More
Confusion Over What Constitutes “Training” is Stumbling Block to Effective Worker Development Strategies
by Dean Prigelmeier, President of Proactive Technologies, Inc.
For the anyone searching for information to help them choose a worker development strategy, a web search of “on-the-job training methods” might produce thirty or forty informative, but confusing, charts. The search result is a mixture of domains, methods, philosophies – one seemingly in conflict with the other. A non-practitioner of workforce development strategies can gather from this search result alone why there is a perpetual state of confusion between even “experts,” marked by decades of employer and trainee disappointmentin the lack of recognizable strategies and outcomes, which are often devoid of meaningful results.
Over the years, approaches and methods have evolved out of their ineffectiveness, many diverging from the basic principals of workforce development. Markets for products to address these approaches grew and well-funded marketing began to find unaware customers. The notion of “training” morphed into branded versions of “learning,” selected not so much on their basis in logic, but more on the lack of “smart” choices and how well the marketing effort worked.
click here to expand“A great first step is to clearly differentiate between “learning” and “training.” The strategies, methods of delivery and outcomes for each are very different. Without such clarity, one might mistakenly invest heavily in a strategy to accomplish worker development objectives that, instead, uses up vital resources and scare opportunity, and sours the organization’s attitude toward training for years to come.”
The acceleration started around 40 years ago. Prior to that, job classifications did not change much and were relatively simple in structure. Then panic set in over the approaching “skills gaps,” as computers were introduced into every aspect of our lives. Fear of baby boomers nearing retirement, taking their technical expertise with them, added to the challenge. Solutions started to appear out of academia, based on the world they knew and not as much on the world they were trying to improve, as they would have liked to think. Did these methods address the workforce development challenges of their time? In 2018, employers are still concerned with the “skills gap” phenomenon. Read More
Read the full December, 2018 Proactive Technologies Report newsletter, including linked industry articles and online presentation schedules.
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