Keeping BPR Proj on track LO10063

Rol Fessenden (76234.3636@CompuServe.COM)
18 Sep 96 21:58:28 EDT

Replying to LO10020 --

Gordon,

You wanted the source for my 3-day figure for the organization to show
that it is serious about digesting the training into their way of doing
business. I actually hve heard it from trainers, and furthermore, it
matches my own experience. There is surely nothing magic about the 3
days, it is simply that management needs to very quickly show proof that
the training is important to them.

If we send someone to training, before they go we want a plan in place
involving their supervisor and perhaps others to use the new tools
beginning on the Monday after they return from the training. We are by no
means perfect on this, but where we do this, it works.

We are testing a JIT training process that my 1-person training staff
hates, but I think it works very well. Training occurs Monday morning for
1.5 - 3 hours, and practice begins Monday afternoon. The training is
actually preceded by training or guidance for the supervisors on how to
ensure it is built in.

I hear what you are saying about how difficult it is to get buy-in from
management, and I know your experience is nearly universal in the US. I
am in the luxurious position of _being_ management, and it is _my_
training program. However, because of the way we have approached it, it is
also owned by the managers in my department.

The methods you described sound worthy and effective. Just keep at it,
and don't give up. It may be that you might have to reluctantly offer to
bow out of leading a training if you can't get what you know you need. It
is pretty effective to say to senior management that their money will be
wasted unless...and you don't want your reputation to be sullied by being
associated with a plan that cannot work. If they realize it didn't work,
they will blame you. Delicately and diplomatically, of course...

Good luck.

-- 

Rol Fessenden LL Bean, Inc. 76234.3636@compuserve.com

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>