The Process of Organisational Change - Systems Thinking

“Training should not be used as a first (or stand-alone) step to long-term change, but as part of a process toward organisational change.”

My first supporting argument for the statement above (from David H. Maister’s report, “Why (Most) Training Is Useless: Start Developing Skills; Stop WASTING Time") is based upon Systems Thinking.

One of the greatest advancements in how we understand and direct change in organisations is systems theory and systems thinking. To understand how they are used in organisations, we first must understand a system.

Sytems

Quite simply, a system is an organised collection of parts, also known as subsystems, which are integrated to achieve an overall goal. The system has various inputs, which go through certain processes to produce certain outputs, which together, accomplish the overall goal for the system.

Systems are usually made up of many smaller systems, or subsystems

For example, an organization is made up of many executive, administrative and management functions, groups, individuals, products, and services. If one part of the system is altered, the entire nature of the overall system is often changed, as well. The system is therefore, systemic; it relates to, and/or affects, the entire system.

As we know, systems range from simple to complex

Each subsystem has its own limitations, and includes numerous inputs, processes, outputs and outcomes geared to achieve an overall goal for the subsystem.

A high-functioning system continually exchanges feedback among its various parts to ensure that they remain closely aligned and focused on achieving the goal of the system. If any of the parts or activities in the system seems weakened or misaligned, the system makes necessary adjustments to more effectively achieve its goals.

A pile of sand is not a system

If you remove a sand particle, you have still got a pile of sand. However, a functioning car is a system. Remove the carburetor and you no longer have a working car.

And your organisation is not a pile of sand; it’s a functioning car.

Your organisation includes numerous inputs, processes, and outputs; due to its complex nature it involves continual feedback exchanges; and making a change to one input without the necessary changes to supporting and supported subsystems, will create misalignments and a need for major, labour intensive, adjustments to these subsystems.

In the next article I will apply Systems Thinking to your organization and advise you on how you can use this methodology to improve your training strategy.

More information on Systems Thinking can be found at www.managementhelp.org

Thanks for reading,

Emma

For more information on corporate training and seminars, or to provide feedback, please contact me on eharradine@hotmail.co.uk

Putting Training into Practice

Above: An enthralled crowd at Spark09's Shanghai event earlier this year. This exciting event was presented by thought leaders and covered the topics: Humanity, Environment, Science, and Business. Spark09 will be in Beijing and Hong Kong soon!

Putting Training into Practice

Point number two from "Why (Most) Training Is Useless: Start Developing Skills; Stop WASTING Time" By David H. Maister is that training is a waste of time and money if what is taught is never put into practice.

Maister’s viewpoint is one which I strongly agree with and have, unfortunately, experienced many bad examples of. One experience was within an American multinational company:

The company’s training budget for the last quarter of 2008 was untouched by the economy but the Training Department was, understandably, under pressure to use the budget to full effect. The Training Manager was adamant that the staff required on going Business English in order to improve their communication skills despite the already high level of English within the organization. The problem was clearly the way in which employees communicated, not their level of English, but there was no convincing the Training Manager that a Communication Skills seminar followed by ongoing Core Communications training would be more successful. After Business English had been taken in to account; however, this left unused budget that could be used on soft skill training.

Long discussions and well-funnelled questioning made it clear that both Communication Skills and Time Management seminars would be highly advantageous to all concerned. These are extremely useable skills that can be put into practice instantaneously by trainees to immediately improve workplace efficiency. What more could a company want from their corporate training.

However, the Training Manager decided upon a Powerful Presentations seminar. A great choice of seminar that is not only highly interactive and skill oriented but also a great confidence and motivation builder for employees. It’s a topic I love to deliver and that trainees always enjoy and learn from.

However, during the routine telephone interviews used to customize the training to employees’ needs, it became apparent that not one of the trainees needed Presentation Skills training at this early stage of their career. They were all fresh graduates, very few attended meetings at all, and it was going to be at least a year or so before any of them would actually deliver a presentation to their boss, let alone a larger audience.

I discussed this with the Training Manager who fortunately saw the light when I argued that “Training is a waste of time and money if what is taught is never put into practice” and subsequently booked both of the aforementioned skills seminars instead.

Skills into Practice

Formal training MUST be reinforced through the individual’s application of new skills on-the-job. The trainee must be able to walk away from the training with a clear idea of how they are going to put their new skills into practice. Then the learning process should be enhanced by the support and coaching of performance managers and colleagues. Individuals need to seek out learning opportunities and request feedback as they perform new tasks and projects using their newly acquired skills.

Use It or Lose It

You must remember that if employees take part in a concentrated amount of training and cannot follow up with the ability to apply what they have learned, the skills will be forgotten in a matter of days or weeks. Trainees retain only what they can apply and continue to use.

I’ve often heard of companies that were originally going to spend two weeks and teach employees “everything” but found that they only retained what they put to use within the weeks after training. Instead they have decided to break the training into more manageable segments for a better retention rate and therefore greater ROI.
Companies wanting to gain the greatest ROI from their corporate training strategy need to recognize that a training program is not close-ended, it is something that should continue and be part of the culture.

In my next article I will discuss Maister’s third point: “Training should not be used as a first (or stand-alone) step to long-term change, but as part of a process toward organizational change.”

Many thanks for reading,

Emma

For more information on corporate training and seminars, or to provide feedback, please contact me on eharradine@hotmail.co.uk

Training Cuts

In the first article of my new blog I touched upon my optimism that corporate training within multinational companies is on an upswing. High-level managers are becoming wise to the fact that severe cuts to training might save large amounts of money now but will cost substantially more in the future.

I recently read a report titled, “Knowledge- the New Commodity,” by Cognisco, which makes the case that investment in training is tied to global competitiveness, not just annual survival.

Emerging markets, such as China, are not cutting employee development to the same degree as America and European countries and will therefore be in a better position when the economy recovers, according to the Cognisco report.

However, as a Corporate Training Professional, it has been my role to convey this truth despite the tightening budgets of multinational companies. Training Managers are, understandably, afraid to invest large sums of money when the future is so unclear, and therefore ask the question, “why does training matter?”

Well, this is a simple question with a very simple answer… If you want to do business effectively, training DOES matter.

My experience of corporate training is predominantly within Asian markets and from business meetings and industry research it has become evident that an inadequately trained workforce is the most difficult obstacle for high-level managers doing business in an emerging market. Whether the employees lack presentation skills, engineering knowledge, or communication skills, lack of training can only amplify the effect of these obstacles and lead to an inefficient workforce.

British research analyst IDC, reports that 19 billion pounds (190 billion Chinese Yuan) was lost in 2008 because of employee misunderstanding. With a figure like this, can your company afford to cut training?

Increasing your internal training now might cost less than you imagine (some corporate training companies have very competitive prices right now) and the enhanced efficiency of your employees will ensure your company has the competitive advantage when the recession becomes a distant memory.

Thanks again for reading,

Emma

For further information on corporate training or seminars, please do not hesitate to contact me on eharradine@hotmail.co.uk

Welcome To Corporate Training

I’d like to start the first post of my new blog by welcoming my new readers as well as those following me here from my original blog: Hotel Booking Systems.

As a professional within both the training and hospitality industry, I have focused much of my attention over the past six months on the hospitality element of my business life. This was for a number of reasons:

Firstly, the hospitality industry within Asia has been affected by the economic crisis much later and with less impact than within other industries and other parts of the world.

Secondly, I have been working closely with booking software developers and hoteliers to discover the best hotel booking system on the market. This is an ongoing quest, as systems must be ever-evolving; however, I have seen an enormous improvement in both customer service and product offerings over the last six months. Therefore, I am now able to devote more time to my second passion in life; corporate training.

And thirdly, the demand for corporate training within multinational companies slowed dramatically at the end of 2008 and into 2009. In January of this year, I wrote an article on my Hotel Booking Systems blog titled, “Hospitality Industry Training”, it was here that I applauded the hospitality industry for their ability to see the bigger picture. Hotel owners and GMs had increased the training opportunities for their employees, knowing that business would soon be slowing, employees would soon have more time available to them for training, and that customer service was more important now than ever.

However, I am optimistic that the requirement for training within multinational companies is increasing. I have spoken to a large number of GMs and HR Directors this month that, like the hospitality industry GMs, can now see the bigger picture. These industry leaders can see that without training, when the economic situation improves and business increases, they will be left with unmotivated, poorly trained employees with little time on their hands for improving their skills.

It is for exactly these reasons that now is the perfect time to dedicate more time to the training industry, put new batteries in my PowerPoint controller, and share some training expertise with the world.

And it is on that positive note that I will end the first article for my new 'Corporate Training' blog. I am excited by the prospect of sharing some inside news and information about how to get the most from your corporate training and business skills seminars.

Thanks for reading,

Emma

I’d like to hear any feedback or thoughts you have with regards to corporate training; if you have any insights or questions, please contact me on eharradine@hotmail.co.uk. Thanks.