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

All Managers Are Trainers

Above: Conducting in-house sales training with ClarkMorgan Corporate Training. Suzhou 2008.

In my last post I discussed the importance of implementing training from the top, to improve managerial behavior, and allowing the improvements to filter down from senior management to the middle management and beyond.

Before I continue my analysis of "Why (Most) Training Is Useless: Start Developing Skills; Stop WASTING Time." By David H. Maister, I’d like to expand upon my previous article. I’d like to extend the idea that a company should use managers to spread the word on best practice within the workplace by stating that ALL managers ARE trainers:

All Managers Are Trainers

If you manage other people within your organization, then you are a trainer. Whether you are an effective trainer or not is another question. Effective managers put people into a position to succeed and provide them with the skills and knowledge base to do so. Ineffective managers set people up for failure by failing to provide the necessary training, and then complain that they can’t find effective employees. The success or failure of any business depends on the skill, confidence, and motivation of the employees. However, the skill, confidence, and motivation of these same people depends on how well their manager trains them.

Improve consistency with trained employees

Even though tasks are completed using varying techniques from organization to organization, it is important that tasks are completed in a consistent manner in each individual company. Consistency improves labor efficiency and can improve company performance.

Consistent efficiency is achieved by establishing a standardized routine and then training should be used to ensure that all employees actually perform the routine in the same way every time. If a standardized routine and an effective training program are not in place, it is almost certain that working practices will vary from one person to the next. This variation means that with some employees, resources are being used less efficiently.

Training increases confidence

Employees need to clearly understand their work and how they can do a good job. Training is an effective tool for managers to orient new staff and to help current employees adopt new practices or technology. Training activities should always give trainees skills that they can use immediately within their job. Effective training will help workers to recognize when a job is completed to a high enough standard and make them feel confident in their ability to produce good results.

Training is an effective motivational tool

Managers need to make sure that they and their staff have the right attitude towards training. The right attitude can only exist in a company that believes improved performance benefits everyone, including the employees. An employee can then understand that training to enhance performance will ultimately benefit him or her personally. This creates an environment where employees will feel motivated to take advantage of opportunities to improve performance.

Managers should train their team to have a feeling of ownership in their work. The best way to do this is to ask employees to constantly look for ways to improve work processes. In-house training is critical to successfully incorporating new practices, but there is no way to determine if a new practice is working without unless the practice is consistently used. Managers need to help employees understand this concept.

Employees will then appreciate that training is not only as a means for improving skills, but also as a means for implementing the ideas and decisions that they helped to make.

So, there it is; my full argument as to the importance of implementing training from the top down. Please forgive my digression from my original topic for today, “Training is a waste of time and money if what is taught is never put into practice.” I will cover this topic in my next article.

Until then, happy training!

Emma

If you would like to discuss anything within this article or previous posts, please contact me on eharradine@hotmail.co.uk or leave your comments for me here.

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.