Training Industry Quarterly - Spring 2008 - (Page 32)

WHEN PLANNING HOW TO EXECUTE TRAINING FOR YOUR NEXT IMPROVEMENT INITIATIVE, TAKING THESE FIVE KEY DRIVERS TO HEART CAN ONLY STRENGTHEN THE SUPPORT, USAGE AND INTEGRATION OF THE PROGRAM INTO YOUR ORGANIZATION’S CULTURE. As one respondent advised, “Involve the training and organizational development team at the beginning to partner in designing the training with the initiating function.” Another echoed, “Incorporate training and communication into the overall roll-out plan and implementation.” The training function’s involvement in sourcing also registered as being related to senior management satisfaction levels. Of companies with highly satisfied senior management, 56% participate in sourcing the training; of those dissatisfied, only 22% get involved with sourcing the training. The training functions’ involvement in sourcing was also linked with training leaders’ own perceptions of how appropriate the amount and type of CI training their company uses was for ensuring the success of their CI initiative. Of managers who believed their company offered the right amount and type of train- ing, 59% used external vendors; of those who perceived the training to be insufficient, only 25% sought outside assistance. (See Table 2.) For what activities do they use external training suppliers? Results show that they are primarily using training vendors for content development – often in collaboration with internal training staff. As one respondent said, the training “should be customized to our organization, but should have input from some expert in the topic.” The Scope of the Initiative Since continuous improvement initiatives are meant to be longterm, it stands to reason that established, enterprise-wide initiatives may be perceived as more successful than limited-scope initiatives. Survey results confirm this; the broader the scope of the CI initiative, the higher the level of senior management satisfaction with its progress. Among survey respondents, 34% were very satisfied with company-wide initiatives versus only 27% and 20% for functional and business process initiatives, respectively. (See Table 3.) Of the methods used for company-wide initiatives, Lean, Six Sigma, or both Lean and Six Sigma were used most frequently (32%), followed by Total Quality Management (29%). Company Leadership Commitment Respondents attributed high leadership satisfaction with progress on an initiative to the commitment, involvement and consistency of the leadership in actively supporting improvement. Leadership issues, in fact, were cited most often in submitted comments on how training leaders would redesign how their company provides improvement training. Survey respondents specifically suggested leadership “walk the talk” by actively participating in and applying the training, rewarding managers for success leveraging learning across all business units and making results more public. Table 2 Training Leaders’ Agreement with Appropriateness of CI Training by Extent of Training Function Involvement Strongly disagree Sourced the training Conducted the training Coordinated and kept records Developed the content Involved in the roll-out plans Other . None . 0 6% 6% 18% 25% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% Disagree 78% 25% 72% 50% 56% 50% 72% 50% 67% 63% 80% 32 Training Industry Quarterly, Spring 2008 / A Training Industry, Inc. ezine / www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ http://www.trainingindustry.com/TIQ

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Training Industry Quarterly - Spring 2008

Training Industry Quarterly - Spring 2008 At the Editor’s Desk Contents Winning Organizations Through People Before You Buy… Learning Technologies Take Your ROI to Level 6 LCMS: A Critical Link to Learning Success Establishing Best Practices for Learning Governance Training’s Role in Continuous Improvement Meet Jim Mitnick Meet Karen Kocher Meet Christina Cernuch The Personal Side of Personnel Training Closing Arguments

Training Industry Quarterly - Spring 2008

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