team building and leadership expert michael cardus

Recently I was asked during a meeting with a manufacturing client.

Workforce training has become an essential topic in our plant lately. But I’ve seen that not all training delivers on hoped-for results. Any ideas why the training is not getting the results we hoped for?

Manufacturing team building fails for 3 main reasons
  1. The level of employee competence is poorly matched the training curriculum. For example too academic or classroom training for front line employees. Front line employees need hands-on real time concrete process development to improve their work in day to day operations.
  2. Little to no follow through once training is complete, training is seen as a one time thing. A certificate is awarded and placed in the employees file then never visited again. For training to deliver any results it must become revisited and integrated into the processes of work.
  3. Training is used or seen a punitive measure as opposed to improving a persons skilled knowledge. Managers find something wrong (i.e. lack of teamwork, poor communication) and immediately force employees to be punished into a training. The people in the training lack motivation to learn anything new, now that they are being punished and treated like children.

Whether you are in manufacturing or some other line of work, what reasons do you feel lead to less than desired results in training? In what ways can managers, employees, and trainers work to improve the results?