Welcome, or welcome back, to my series on Deming's 14 points. As an exercise to illustrate the foundations of my Start. Somewhere. systems I decided to write a blog about each of Deming's points every day for 14 days. I am trying to keep these relatively short and I hope you enjoy my perspective. Enjoy!
Training is the highest value addition action you can do for your company. As previously noted, your people are the most valuable assets in your organization. Investing in their ability to perform should not be up for discussion. Let us note training needs to be implemented for all levels of the organization.
Recall in the discussion about leadership's responsibilities, we determined enabling personnel to output quality work was in there. Training, particularly th type which improves problem solving and system understanding, must be top priorities. A related leadership fundamental is to delegate authority as far down the line as possible. Facilitate people owning the processes they perform. Training is a key element of accomplishing this end.
Managers must be trained on how to help people. To ensure output meets quality standards, leading people in the correct direction with effective motivational techniques cannot be overlooked. We have already gone through the constancy of purpose. Purpose built into leadership training and then applied to your people will yield amazing results. Consider the US military. Most of the budget is spent on consumable materials which facilitates training. While I was in the Navy, if we weren't fixing the ship, we were training on how to fix it, or training on how to operate it. When we were operating the ship at sea, we were training to operate it better or save it from fires, flooding, or battle scenarios.
Training structures build trust between levels of the organization. Employees who are provided with relevant professional training become capable problem solvers. Leaders who allow these personnel to stretch their legs and grow create something unique. Organizations that get to this level eliminate low-order discrepancies. They become capable of self-correction for minor issues and the entire organization moves up a step in competency. It is a desirable goal to have higher-order problems to solve than such things as "incorrect lot counts". A better problem to solve is time wasted from subassemblies waiting for the next process. Though not exactly state by Deming, this is the end result for organizations where they up their problem solving game with good training structures.
BottleWorks Training
What does a good trading system have then? Structure. New employees have a plan, a path, and a deadline. They have competency requirements. They are part of a team that also trains together. They are given opportunities to train outside their immediate scope of work, to gain critical perspective of the other systems the company relies on to function. Professional development of each person should occur. Push people to get better.
I believe so strongly that training is a huge component to organizational success, I built a training program. My clients involved in 60 day or longer projects receive this training program and all the related templates and systems. What is in there? A planning matrix, a periodicity template, an orientation through final training structure. Everything you need to deploy effective training relevant to your organization.
Training. It cannot be overstated how important this is to your company. If you're NOT training, something is going to go south. Fix it. If you need help, reach out. I love to help people.
