Two Powerful Ways to Boost Employee Proficiency
by Adele Sommers
 Is there a standard cure for every "performance gap"? When your organization detects areas it wants to improve, it’s critical to prescribe the right remedy for each situation. Otherwise, it's very tempting to view every symptom as a nail because you just happen to have a hammer handy!
This article explores two ways of many to close achievement gaps using training and organizational tune-ups to remove "burning hassles" and obstacles that hinder productivity. It also includes case studies to illustrate possible applications of both.
Training: A Powerful Solution When Appropriate
Training is the "how-to" information people need to perform effectively on the job. (This presumes that their natural talents are a good fit for their job responsibilities. If not, a job reassignment might be in order.) People usually need training when they:
- Are brand new on the job
- Need to develop proficiency on new or more advanced procedures
- Require a brush-up on industry changes, or
- Need to refresh forgotten skills
How do you know whether people already possess the job knowledge they need? Dr. Robert Mager suggests that if people could perform the tasks if their lives depended on it, they already have the knowledge to do the job. They might, however, need more practice, other kinds of information, or resources, such as:
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 A clearer understanding of what is expected of them. For example, they might need better access to, or more knowledge of, standards that would tell them exactly how well to perform the work in each case. This is critical in industries where several levels of rules and regulations govern quality requirements for various processes.
- Electronic support systems that can provide many procedural details, data entry tools, calculations, or even expert advice -- especially crucial for complex, rapidly changing industries.
- Supervised practice and feedback. Supervised practice can significantly enhance the proficiency and effectiveness of your personnel when it includes timely, constructive feedback.
- Just-in-time facilitated workshops. This approach combines training and live practice, using the participants' job-related projects as case studies. The workshops reinforce what participants are learning by helping them apply the new skills directly to their jobs.
Training Case Study -- A Just-in-Time Workshop Example
A highly successful and well-respected California nutritional supplements company boasts an ambitious vision for the future. In preparation for expanding its range of product offerings, operations, and marketing directions, its CEO opted to commission a project management training course for employees who would be carrying out these essential projects. Most were new to the discipline of project management.
 To help meet the company's training goals, I worked closely with its Human Resources Manager to plan an approach.
Together, we weighed the pros and cons of using training alone (such as in a single, all-day event) vs. just-in-time facilitated workshops.
We ultimately decided on customized workshops to extend the learning experience over several sessions. The flexibility of this approach paid off, as it:
- Enabled us to "chunk" the material for just-in-time, topic-focused delivery.
- Allowed time for participants to read, apply, and reflect between sessions.
- Permitted "front loading" of case study examples with real project data.
- Helped us make several important course corrections along the way.
Some of the "best practices" we identified from using this approach include:
 Ensuring that participants receive their project assignments early so they could begin applying the material right away.
- Incorporating a Project Workbook (a step-by-step "road map" of the entire process) for participants to use to track every stage of their projects.
- Developing an initial training plan, but modifying it frequently to accommodate participant feedback from each session.
Organizational Tune-ups: Removing Obstacles to Success
If people already know how to do their jobs and yet aren't producing as desired, look for obstacles that are impeding their progress. Involve everyone in identifying them, and prioritize them for correction (see a related article here). These issues could account for about 85% of poor organizational performance:
1. Troubleshoot any clogged communications that delay or distort important broadcasts. These could be dragging down both productivity and morale. When you communicate via meetings, use agendas and summaries to avoid meeting hassles.
2. Identify missing information, such as nonexistent, incomplete, outdated, or inaccurate meeting summaries, procedures, standards, schedules, facts, or data needed to do a job. Supply the information as soon as possible, and be sure to maintain it regularly.
 3. Be alert for poor cooperation from managers, peers, or suppliers. And by all means, please don't "shoot the messenger" when people report these problems!
4. Investigate any absent or inadequate tools, equipment, resources, space, lighting, supplies, or any inherent constraints in the workflow that would naturally limit the rate of throughput. Such conditions can seriously reduce the ability to do one's job.
5. Flag uncalibrated machines or uncontrolled processes that may be causing unnecessary variability in product quality. These issues are often beyond the individual worker's control.
6. Uncover overly complex procedures that can be simplified, automated, or even eliminated. The simpler you can make your processes, the better!
7. Correct any work environments or conditions that are problematic or unsafe. Do everything possible to avoid accidents and liability concerns.
8. Recognize where task support ought to be coming from supervision, job aids, quick reference guides, or online assistance. If it's missing, supply it!
9. Look for and reduce extreme work pressure due to unattainable deadlines or workloads. People can't sustain their productivity under these conditions.
10. Be sure people have regular, complete feedback on work-related quality, including timely access to data about customer desires and concerns.
11. Sort out any conflicting priorities or directions from management, especially when people work on multiple projects. Also be sure people have the authority as well as the responsibility to do what's expected of them.
12. Align consequences in the organization. This includes ensuring that no one discourages people from doing what needs to be done, while also encouraging the behaviors, actions, attitudes, and results that you do want to see.
Tune-up Case Study -- An Example of Removing Organizational Obstacles
A public service agency in one of California's most beautiful coastal regions recently recognized the need for a cohesive and effective approach to achieving several departmental goals, including:
- Expanding communication and trust between staff members and management
- Improving morale related to difficult projects with many diverse stakeholders
- Better defining and embracing a set of customer service values
 During my consultations with the principals, it became clear that traditional training was not the primary answer to their expressed concerns, although it might represent a smaller component. The experienced staff members were already quite expert at performing their work, so they didn't lack job knowledge.
Therefore, we looked for indications of a need for an organizational tune-up -- and found certain obstacles on the list above that might indeed be impeding the agency's progress.
We then worked together on designing a customized approach to uncovering and removing obstacles in the organization.
In conclusion, if people have true skill deficiencies or not enough job practice, you would remedy those through training and/or more task repetition. But if people already know how to do their jobs and are facing roadblocks, you would perform an organizational tune-up to get rid of the headaches!
Copyright 2010 Adele Sommers
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While we continue to watch our global economies "rock and roll," a frequent topic of conversation in my consulting circles is whether organizations are still seeking help with their technical, business, marketing, and personnel needs. 
