10.     Prevent Nuclear Meltdown

Competence is not usually the reason for poor performance. Emotional reactions and emotional intelligence often are. Most of us handle the expected well, but go into fight-flight mode when a crisis occurs.

How do you prepare employees for a worst case scenario?  If you are in a nuclear plant, such as the one I visited years ago in Connecticut, you do it by preparation, repetition, preparation, repetition, preparation, repetition.  Employees spend a year in an exact replica of the work site for which they are preparing and encounter all kinds of emergencies.  They have been trained to deal coolly and efficiently with every problem and disaster that planners can imagine.  Yet one of the biggest complaints of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is that plants don’t train enough.

The training manager leading the tour there noted that nearly every worker was an ISTJ on the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator:  Introvert, Sensing (not thrilled with ambiguity), Thinking, and Judging (quick to decide).  I asked if he was an ISTJ. He said, “No.  That’s why I switched from that job to training.”

So, with all this preparation, what could conceivably go wrong?”  Something unanticipated.  ISTJs are great at dealing with what they know.  They are less likely to be ready for a creative challenge or the emotional difficulties of others.

What are your worst case scenarios?  They may be safety or ethical dilemmas or they may be people issues.  Often people do not do the right thing due to distrust and emotional conflicts.  Just knowing how we should handle breakdowns in communication and cooperation is not enough.  We need discipline to choose the best options under pressure.

9.       Ensure Good Nutrition

Critics of training often ask proof that training has greater benefits than costs.  While that is a legitimate issue, we tend to see what we want to see.  As a study reported in Training a few years back showed, those organizations which collect the most data evaluating training are the ones who are most likely to cut the budget. 

Typically, data only identifies a fraction of the impact of training. The reality is that most  measures are too unsophisticated or under-funded to generate solid data on training’s  impact.  Certainly reaction sheets tell us more about superficial feelings than substance.  Tests of learning are rarely repeated to see how long knowledge and skills last.  Observations on behavior change are more often subjective impressions than true measures of pre- and post-training performance.  Bottom line calculations can’t be fairly attributed to training.  The fact is that training is one variable among many, and without systematic support, training is like swimming upstream. With sufficient skill and motivation, we can fight against the flow for a while, but the current is more powerful than any swimmer.

So doesn’t that mean training isn’t of much value?  Not at all!  A good training system is like a good accounting system; a good budgeting system; a good information system.  Systems don’t guarantee results.  Management does.  But without good systems, management will fail.  Without support for learning, organizations lose their edge.  Without good training, individuals and teams will not know what is best to do and the best ways to accomplish objectives.  Training also often generates energy to do our best.

As the founder of Common Cause, John Gardner, wrote in his book, Self Renewal,

“A society which does not value both its educators and its plumbers will be a society where neither its theories nor its pipes hold water.” 

8.       Make People Feel You Care (even if you don’t...)

Scrooge just wanted bottom line results.  He was successful in a very narrow sense, but his approach to management shriveled himself and those around him.  He was a prune that took the juice out of the plums around him, but until the spirits captured his imagination, the juice leaked out the hole in his soul. 

When employees know their employer cares, it makes all the difference in their motivation.  As Jack Stack, the President of RMC, explains, his company frequently surveys employee attitudes, but one question seems to be the trend setter for all the rest:  “Does my supervisor treat me as a person?”  If the answer is yes, other indicators go up accordingly.

In his pioneering summary of organizational research, The Human Organization (published nearly 40 years ago), Rensis Likert explained that there are four kinds of management systems: Dictatorial, Parental, Consultative and Participative. 

·        Dictators give priority to their personal agendas and ignore the needs of others.  Their strengths are providing decisive direction and dealing with emergencies.  Most important communication is top down.  Dictators look for loyalty and may punish bearers of bad news as well as those who think and behave outside the box.

·        Parental types care about their people, but make most important decisions, as if  employees were children.  They are more likely than dictators to use “management by walking around” and to give recognition for outstanding performance throughout the organization.  They expect loyalty and conformity, but prefer to avoid punishment.

·        Consultative leaders respect the knowledge, insights and needs of most employees, and get input from stakeholders before they make decisions.  They know how dependent they are on the advice and commitment of others and often are supportive.

·        Participative leaders emphasize equality over hierarchy, values over structure, and give employees the flexibility to make decisions which they have the experience and information to make sensibly.  Communication across organizational lines is highly encouraged.  The approach’s downside is, in the pursuit of consensus, accountability is fuzzy and decisions are delayed, but there are minimal bureaucratic barriers.  This management system requires more learning since workers take on more responsibilities and may not comply without an acceptable explanation.

7.       Make Work Less Scary

One of Edward Deming’s principles of Total Quality Management was “Drive Fear Out of the Workplace.”  We can’t threaten workers with put-downs or loss of income and expect them to give their best.  We can’t create unsafe environments and not suffer consequences such as accidents, passive aggressive behavior, destructive conflicts, absenteeism, and turnover.  Training helps build security, caring and cultural norms of respect.

6.       Impress Your Future Boss

Innovative leaders are more likely to believe in the value of a Learning Organization.  They want to see people who are pushing the limits, searching for better ways. Organizing and participating in training are signals to alert leaders that you are eager for the new.

5.       Have Fun

Southwest Airlines wants employees to love working there and to help recruit other upbeat people to apply for jobs.  Even though they average ten times as many applicants as openings, employees still are likely to ask that customer service personnel in stores and restaurants who seem to have a special kind of energy to apply at Southwest.  Employees, customers and Southwest’s president all recognize the distinctive value of this airline:  having fun. 

Isn’t that a distraction from the serious side of work?  No, actually people have more serious energy when they have some creative humor along the way.  Southwest leads its industry in safety, retention, on-time performance and customer satisfaction.  Most companies would love to have such a record, but they haven’t learned how to mix play with work.  (Well, maybe Disney and Nike have...)

4.       Save on Phone Bills

Training gets people together to think about what is important and why it is worth stretching beyond normal limits.  How do we build relationships, identity, camaraderie, loyalty, and strong teams?  As wonderful as modern technology is, there is no substitute for face-to-face communication.  Period!

3.       Save on Medical Bills

Ever wonder why people have accidents, are absent a great deal and take unfair advantage of the Workers’ Compensation system?  A central reason is that they are angry and afraid.  If our managers intimidate, if our “teams” scapegoat, and if our systems are inefficient, the natural tendency to feel like a victim gets reinforced.  To do our best work we need to minimize the distractions and focus on the goal.  We need to feel well.

In his book, Happiness is a Serious Problem, Dennis Prager identifies three keys to happiness: 1) meaningful work, 2) close, supportive relationships and 3) gratitude. 

Meaningful Work: It is not enough to give people a job to do.  It is important to clarify how important that job is.  One Oregon Fish and Wildlife maintenance supervisor knew his agency’s mission statement well:  “To preserve fish and wildlife for current and future generations.”  But it didn’t touch him personally.  He said, “I do maintenance work.  It doesn’t matter if I do it here or wherever.  It’s just a job.”  I asked him, “What is the worst thing you could do or not do in your job?”  He thought for a moment and said, “I guess the worst thing would be letting the boiler blow.”  I said, “Well, that really doesn’t amount to much, does it.  The state can afford to replace a boiler.”  “Well,” he explained, “people could get hurt if the boiler blew.”  I suggested, “Okay, then put a big sign in front of the boiler saying, ‘Danger! Could blow at any time’ and put up a barrier to keep them away from it.”  “Listen,” he argued, “we’d lose heat if we didn’t have our boiler.”  Patiently, I countered, “These are Fish and Wildlife folks. Just tell them to put on a jacket.”  Exasperated he intoned, “If the boilers blow, we lose heat to the pond.”  “So?” I questioned.  “If the ponds don’t stay warm, tens of thousands of fish would die!”

“Oh...” I paused.  “So you don’t see the connection between what you do and ‘preserving fish and wildlife for current and future generations?’”  He looked at me with wide eyes and slowly admitted, “Yeh.  Now I guess I do.”

He came back two weeks later, and said to me privately, “Ya know, it makes such a difference coming to work now.  I look around at everything and everybody, and say to myself, ‘These people are depending on me.  If I don’t do my job well, current and future generations are going to suffer.  It makes a difference, ya know?”  I know.

2.       Confuse the Good People and Drive the Bad People Crazy

When the principles of doing things right are shared, people notice the discrepancies between current practices and the ideal.  That creates dissatisfaction -- which is at the core of motivation.  For people who are locked into ways that are counter-productive, they get the message, “Change or move on.”  That message may need to be reinforced by their managers or teams, but we need to make sure that they understand and are helped with whichever transition they choose.

1.       A Loaf of Bread, a Quart of Wine and Thou

Unless we get to know people, we tend to discount or distrust them.

Sometimes we wonder if we can trust “them.”  Before our imaginations turn “them” into devils, we need to build a relationship, invest in what Covey calls the emotional bank account.  By building constructive relationships, we can make withdrawals without being overdrawn.  If we give constructive feedback or ask people to do something they don’t want to do, we get a much better response if they have already decided that we are “good people” who have demonstrated that we will go the extra mile for them.

There’s nothing like breaking bread together.  It is part of our culture, our traditions, our psyches.  It is hard to be mad at someone during or after a great meal.  If we share our principles and what undermines them along with our spirits and what sours them, people leave with a clearer vision of expectations and possibility, a more concrete plan for making progress.  If we learn together, we rely on those relationships afterward to prevent tensions and tackle the tough issues.

Training is one way of going the extra mile.  If the organization doesn’t take time for learning together, it communicates learning is better done separately, haphazardly.  The implication may be:  “Stay in your box and don’t waste time talking, reading, experimenting.  We don’t need experts or co-workers to help us understand or solve our problems.”  But to do our best work, we do need time -- to reflect, to clarify principles and guidelines, team goals and roles.  And training allows all of those to come together.

We can’t afford to spend half of our time in the classroom.  But we do need food for the mind and the soul.  The question is whether we want workers, managers, customers who have strong minds and spirits.  Some want to have banquets only for the privileged few.

I prefer French bread, cheese and some spirits for everyone.

The New Beginning

Some food for thought, less fear and wasted effort, more fun and recognition, more genuine caring -- most people believe that these would be worthwhile and likely outcomes of training.  But feeling “busy” and “urgent demands” commonly drive out the important work that isn’t so measurable.  It takes effort to plan and train to a strategy.  It takes commitment to encourage participation, feedback and continuous improvement.  It is easier to stay in our ruts.  But energy comes from challenge, and turning the naysayers into fans of training is a goal worthy of our best efforts. 

Now if the above is just too complicated for the people you want to convince, here is a simpler alternative explanation:

Why invest in training and change?  Because providing a clear sense of direction, redirecting those who are off track, learning the best ways and developing a team approach are:

·         More Efficient and Positive than Correcting (Be Proactive)

·         More Rewarding for People (Cultivate Positive Expectations and Interdependence)

·         More Effective Than Unsystematic Change (Develop Alignment)

·         More Fun (Share the Energy)

·         The Right Thing to Do (Show Ethics Can Be Fun)

·         Good for the Bottom Line -- Long-term (Less Waste, Turnover, Unproductive Conflict; More Creativity, Competence and Commitment).

The best companies (e.g., the Ritz, Motorola, Intel, Platt Electric, little up-and-comers) are the best at training.  All of us can keep getting better.

Glen Fahs is Director of Training and Organization Development for Cascade Employers Association in Salem, Oregon.  He has served as the State of Oregon’s top training officer and teaches “Leadership of the Training Function” for Portland State University.  He has been a chapter president, Western States regional officer and National committee chair for the American Society for Training and Development.  He earned his Ph.D. in Adult Education from the University of Michigan.