Getting Managers Scripted Training Days

8-3-07

Leader: Hugh

The call-in number for this morning's conference call is 877.336.1286.  The access code is 4496693.  If you have difficulty logging in, call me at 949.689.5475.

Host - Hugh Lander - Miller Brewing Co.

Wes Stockmann - Nicholas and Co.

Mirella Addante - Intellidyne

Denise Middleton - Tenet Healthcare

Jim Anderson - bebe

 Introductions

Wes - started as an IT manager 9 years ago - got frustrated that people couldn't use the software, so he "took charge"  Company makes a big investment in their people, looking to grow new leaders.

Mirella - Professional Dev mgr at Intellidyne - only in role for 9 mos.  Building department from scratch.  Trying to ID what training is needed and to prioritize it.  Big changes in executive management - hoping to get direction on where to go.

Denise - (sitting in for Cathy Perkins).  Been a trainer for only about 18 months.  Prior to that in operations for 6 years.  She has learned a lot; has a lot of personal development to do as well.  (Tenet is Hospital Mgt company - Cathy and Denise support the national programs).  New hire and specialty training.

Jim - has been at Bebe for 2 years.  Director of training and OD.  Over 5000 employees; vertical company with their own distribution and design.  Sole training person for the company.  280 retail locations.  Working on annual store manager's conference.  Coming up with 4 days of content and has only nailed down one day only 3 1/2 weeks away.

Hugh -

Program Overview

Jim - was there any push-back from field?  

Jay Naumann  (added after the meeting) -  I am sorry, I miss this meeting; this is a topic I am very passionate about.  At Autoliv we moved most of the Safety Training and Lean Manufacturing Training (Toyota Production System) from the training department to the production line supervisors.  They were responsible for teaching two classes a month to their employees. These were classes that had been taught by the six plant trainers up to this point. To push it out to the supervisors we had to do some re-writing ofthe classes, to make sure each key point was taught. Now I now that PowerPoint gets a lot of “bad press” from the training community, but it is a cheap and effective way to create scripted training. Our catch line was, “if you want it said…it will have to be read.”  Meaning that every point you wanted discussed had to be on the slides.  We had to create a few training rooms throughout the facility so that the classes could be taught anytime a production line went down.  The classes were stored on a central server and pulled up on a computer in the training room when the class was to be taught.  By also including a post-test for each class we could verify knowledge and attendance – also satisfied OSHA requirements for the safety training.

At RC Willey, my current employer, I have started having my Sales Managers do training every other week. This time I am using audio messages recorded on CD and then an outline for small group discussions after they listen to the audio message. The audio messages serves the same propose as the PowerPoint at Autoliv. I know everyone is getting a consistent message across the whole company. The project I am currently working on will use a DVD instead of a cd audio message.

The important thing to me is that all of my managers are teachers and that a consistent message is spread throughout my whole organization.  This is a very effective way for a training department of one to reach over 3000 people.