Structured On-The-Job Training Programs for Salaried Personnel

by Stacey Lett, Director of Operations – Eastern U.S. – Proactive Technologies, Inc.

It is not just the hourly workers that, once hired, run into the “Bob, this is Sally. Why don’t you show her around” form of “training.” In environments where no structure exists to deliberately train hourly workers, supervisors and managers are similarly shown their desk and wished “good luck.”  Yes, the company may offer a series of management courses that explain contemporary management theories, but often the most overlooked training is for the tasks against which performance is ultimately measured.

We frequently hear anecdotal stories about supervisors who are “thrown into the mix” of not only having to lead their workers to measured levels of performance, but concurrently learn their own job from their surroundings as best they can. Other supervisors and managers may be under the same pressure to focus on output, so they may be rarely available to mentor a new manager. Most likely, nothing was ever written down. Even worse, supervisors or managers who are new to the entire operation may have to learn what it is their employees do by observation before they can attempt to lead them to better performance.

Sounds familiar? It seems to run contrary to all the other business improvement initiatives, such as Six-Sigma, LEAN, Continuous Improvement, Total Quality Management, etc. Do companies have to settle for a “seat-of-the-pants” learning experience for their hourly and salary workers? And could this be a major contributing factor in reduced organizational competitiveness?

Proactive Technologies has extensive experience in establishing accelerated workforce development infrastructures used to develop hourly workers. More and more clients are seeing the logic in moving up the chain by developing the infrastructure for the rapid development and deployment of supervisors, managers and any other critical salary position. The benefits of Synchronous Organization Development^© are many:

• It conveys to the hourly workers that management is committed to the structured on-the-job training approach and emphasizes its value when supervisors and managers are required to participate, as well;
• Supervisors and managers who lead the hourly worker’s structured on-the-job training now do so from a full understanding of the purpose and value to the organization;
• Career paths are established with structured on-the-job training programs and experienced internal talent can be cultivated for leadership;
• Vacancies in supervisor or manager positions can be easily and quickly filled internally with skilled and experienced hourly workers, whose vacancies can also be quickly filled.

In order to set up this structure, the effort and investment must be made. But management makes investments in other programs and equipment when an expectation of a high return on investment exists.

Our clients, who have witnessed the benefits of structuring the unstructured, informal, haphazard and ad hoc one-on-one training process predominant in developing new hourly workers, look next to applying what has been learned to the next level of management positions. This applies to any critical salary position for which a disruption to operations would occur if the one, or a few, employee(s) in the position should leave unexpectedly. Bringing the development of the entire operation under one infrastructure can lead to enhanced savings, economies of scale, increased capacity and overall competitiveness.

For more information, click here and/or contact us. A representative would be happy to discuss your organizations needs and offer a strategy.