Training 2009 Conference

Training 2009 Conference & ExpoBreakout Session # 615

What Performance Gaps Can Training Fill?

Wednesday • February 11 • 20098:30 to 9:30 am

Session Objectives

This session will show you how you can use process maps to:

Identify and clarify the need for training.

assist in analyzing processes by illustrating and linking their critical steps to gaps in performance.

determine where to apply measures.

Presenter

Mildred Brooks, ConsultantInnovation Technology, Inc.

Performance Management Training and Development Process Quality Monitoring

email: [email protected] site: www.InnovationTechnologyInc.com

Presenter Biography

Mildred Brooks is a Consultant with the consulting firm, Innovation Technology Associate Inc. She brings a unique blend of experience in instructor-led training, as well as interactive, practical, and soft-skills training. She brings a synergistic approach to the field of training and development using a philosophy based on sound management practices, her 25 years of experience, and an array of performance management methods, training development and design methods, and quality monitoring tools to develop the customized training solutions her clients need. She developed and implemented performance management, training and development, and process quality monitoring solutions for Equifax Card Services, Certegy Card Services, and Fidelity National Information Services’ Integrated Financial Solutions Division.

Her career focus has been on human performance enhancement and developing human capital. Her


intimate understanding of human nature and the dynamics that drive productivity in the work place gives her a holistic approach to her work, which is always based on sound management practices.

2 Mildred Brooks Training 2008 Handout 8 January 2008


Introduction

In this session, I will introduce you to new ways of using process maps. We will explore methods for identifying performance gaps and measuring the performance of your training solution. We will work with process mapping methods that can help you identify process breakdowns and the critical steps within a process that are vital to maintaining process consistency and capability.

Gaps in performance prevent a business unit or department from meeting or exceeding their customers’ requirements. We will discuss how you will use process maps as your primary tool to evaluate:

how well your training solution is working, and

if it is filling the gaps in performance as intended.

To help you get a working understanding of this method, please place yourself in the role of Senior Trainer or Instructional Designer/Developer. Now let’s discuss and work through the steps you will take to identify what performance gaps training can fill.

Let’s begin by examining what your client/decision-makers should have done to identify what is causing their performance gap and what led them to request a training solution.

Hopefully, they conducted root cause analysis as their primary tool to help them analyze their current situation and determine if training is the solution to their gap in performance.

Let’s assume your client/decision-makers have determined that:

the root cause of the performance gap is staff’s apparent lack of knowledge and/or inconsistent process execution. (However, if they have not done root cause analysis, strongly urge them to do that before taking other actions.)

delivering additional training will help close their gap in performance.

With that knowledge, you can now initiate the development of a training solution whose purpose will be two-fold:

1 to eliminate staff’s apparent lack of knowledge, and

2 to reinforce the need for consistent process execution with additional on-the-job training (OJT).

Sometimes a root cause analysis will uncover business reasons for gaps in performance. Sometimes it uncovers human reasons. The business reasons for gaps in performance can be:

poor process management.

management is not rewarding and/or reinforcing the behaviors staff must exhibit in order to accomplish the required tasks.

8 January 2008 Mildred Brooks Training 2008 Handout 3


management is not making the required tools and support available to staff.

management is unaware that staff are receiving inaccurate information and/or instructions from coworkers or other sources that they should be countering.

If you have a situation in which staff have completed training and have begun their work in production, but the gap in performance isn’t closing the way your customer/decision-makers expect it to, the following may be contributing to this issue: Coworkers or others could be telling them to ignore what they learned in training and “do it the way we’ve always done it.” This is why it is so important to build a monitoring/performance agreement to reinforce the importance of having staff execute the process as they were taught. Such an agreement gives your customer/decision-makers a way of monitoring the consistency of the trainees’ performance.

The human reasons for gaps in performance can be:

Staff who are not interested in and don’t feel they have the need to improve the knowledge and skills they need to do their jobs.

staff who do not have a positive attitude toward their work.

staff who are not committed to carrying out the department’s goals and initiatives.

Training does not work in every situation. It works best when staff are interested in learning and believe they can benefit from mastering the skills they need to exhibit in order to succeed.

Requesting information from subject matter experts (SMEs)

Now you are ready to start creating process maps to capture the process steps you or your instructor will teach. You will use those steps as your foundation for designing and developing your training materials.

Take the following actions to gather your process mapping information. Talk to all those involved in or responsible for the output of the core processes you or your instructor will teach. Those include the immediate managers and supervisors, and the people who execute the processes you will be teaching. Ask:

What their content requirements are.

What outcome they expect.

How they will evaluate the participants completing the training program.



How they will measure the success of the training event or experience.

If you receive different responses, many factors may be the cause. For example:

The decision-makers may have a different understanding from the SMEs of how the current process works.

They may have different understandings of what the appropriate outcome should be.

There may have been changes to the process due to innovation and/or regulatory changes, and the department or employees may have implemented adaptive changes in the field.

Request subject matter information in the form of process maps if the department management or subject matter expert can provide it. If the customer provides you with subject matter information not in the form of process maps, meet with the SME(s), review existing documents, and verbally exchange the information needed to identify the core processes and components that make up the processes you or the training staff will teach.

Creating your process maps, if none exist

We began our preparation for process mapping by soliciting subject matter information from the process owner. This information represents all the information that anyone involved in, or responsible for the process output can provide.

Take the following steps to plan, prepare for, and conduct a process mapping session.

Step 1: Getting Started

Schedule your process mapping meeting(s) with the SMEs and the individuals who supervise or manage the process and its output. These are the same managers and supervisors who measure the performance of the people executing the process, as well as the quality of the product or service they produce.

Make participants aware that they will need to commit at least two hours to this meeting.

Provide each participant with a Process Mapping Pre-Session Worksheet. Ask that each person answer the questions on the worksheet and bring his or her responses to the meeting.

Step 2: Preparing for a Process Mapping Session

Take the following actions with your team or Subject Matter Expert (SME), and actively involve the appropriate department, crew, group, or individual, in creating your process maps:



Step Action

1 Identify the process to be mapped.

2 Determine the purpose and level of process mapping needed to:

support your initiative

create training materials

document team processes

validate quality assurance criteria.

3 Work with the participants using their completed Process Mapping Pre-Session Worksheets.

4 Complete the Process Mapping Template (attached at the end of this document) using information captured on the participants' Process Mapping Pre-Session Worksheets, which should contain the following information:

Process title

Process description

Process beginning: First step taken to start the process

Process ending: Last step taken to end the process

Suppliers: Who provides the inputs?

Inputs: What materials, supplies, requests, orders, schedules, or information (tangible or intangible) does your team need to produce the output?

Process Steps: What steps does a person performing this process take to transform the inputs into outputs? Brainstorm these in no specific order. You will use your notes from this section during the process-mapping meeting to compile the steps in the process.

Software/Hardware: What software and hardware systems, programs, or applications do you need to complete this process?

Outputs: What products, services, or other outcomes result from completing this process?

Customer(s): Who receives or derives value from the outputs?



Remember: The first mapping of a process describes its present, actual operation.

Step 3: Conducting the Process Mapping Session

Before you begin a session, prepare your meeting room by cutting about a five-foot long piece of brown kraft paper from a 36" roll and taping it on the wall. Provide a large supply of Post-it Notes for your team.

When you start the session, take the following steps:

Step Action

1 Write the name of the process on a Post-it Note and place that note on the wall where all can see it.

2 Write the first step in the process on a Post-it Note and place that note on the wall where all can see it. This information is labeled Beginning on the Process Mapping Template.

3 Write the last step in the process on a Post-it Note and place that note on the wall where all can see it. This information is labeled Ending on the Process Mapping Template.

4 Using everyone's notes from the process steps section of the worksheet, brainstorm the steps you need to perform from the Beginning step to the Ending step.

5 Using the notes from the process steps section of the Pre-Session Worksheet, brainstorm the steps performed from the Beginning step to the Ending step. Write the steps in the process on Post-it Notes and place the notes on the wall where all can see them in the order in which the steps should occur. Use a consistent level of detail when documenting each step, but don't go into too much detail the first time through. These notes represent the group's first attempt at documenting the process in its entirety.

6 While you are mapping, have a team member write down any issues and weaknesses that come up. This will be valuable information for process improvement.

7 Make sure all the SMEs in the mapping session agree that all the appropriate steps are there and in the proper order. Continue moving the process steps around on the brown paper until everyone agrees.



8 Chart the process as it really works, not as it should work. Be sure to define each activity as a separate piece so that you don't combine two activities into one. Be clear about these boundaries.

Be patient. To be useful, a process map must be accurate and commonly understood. It can take some time for your team to do all the brainstorming needed to reach that point.

Confirming process capability

Process capability represents the ability of any process to produce the expected output based on consistent execution of each step. When you and your client/decision-makers test process capability, ask the following questions:

When consistently executed, have the process steps documented on the process map produced the required or expected results?

Based on historical tracking information and data you and your client/decision-makers collected, has the process been proven to produce sustained output results?

Are the decision-makers continuing to collect that data, and using it to confirm that the process has the capability to produce sustained output results?

Creating your training program and identifying measurements

Now that you have created process maps to document the processes you or your instructor will teach to close a gap in performance, let’s examine what brought the gap in performance to your client/decision-makers’ attention.

Generally, management assigns quality standards to evaluate the products or services that staff produce as a result of various processes. Those standards represent the measure-ments they use to determine if the quality and quantity of the products or services staff produce meet the customer’s expectations.

So, your next step is to identify the measurements or standards that are not being met that caused your client/decision-makers to determine there was a need for training. The most critical factor at this point is that you must build your training program based on your process maps that document what staff must do to meet the standards the business set. Meeting those standards will overcome the current gap in performance.

While meeting with the client/decision-makers and SMEs, you should take the following steps:



Step Action

1 Document any qualitative and quantitative information you gathered to help establish parameters and define expectations associated with the training event.

2 Get an understanding and feel for the work environment associated with each process you will teach.

3 Confirm production expectations associated with the execution of each critical process step.

4 If applicable, identify the Quality Assurance indicators you will use to evaluate performance.

5 Identify the indicators of success immediate supervisors or management will use.

Now that you have the subject matter information you need to develop the training event, let’s talk about how you can use existing performance measurements to evaluate and direct performance results.

Using process maps to link performance to training

Process maps are powerful tools and can serve as the cornerstone for building Training and Quality Assurance models. They function to:

provide a basis for common understanding of how processes operate.

map the interrelationships of process steps in a natural flow from inputs through transition to outputs.

assist in defining the boundaries of responsibility. They help identify internal and external supplier and customer interfaces.

assist in analyzing processes by illustrating all the steps in the process, including critical steps that are used when determining where measures should be applied.

set the stage for systematic process analysis, re-engineering, and improvement.

Measuring Results

Reconfirm the process and the steps within the process that are causing the gap in performance. You and your client/decision-makers can feel confident that by developing and implementing the appropriate training solution, you are on your way to closing your performance gap.

But, you must already have established the process capability so that you can truly measure the quality and consistency of how the newly-trained participants execute the process. The



effectiveness of the processes you teach and the participants’ ability to replicate what they have been taught should result in the consistent process execution needed to close the gap in performance and meet performance expectations. The organization directly links the performance expectations the participants need to meet to its ability to achieve its Goals and Objectives. It looks like this:

Now that you know what to use to measure your participants’ success and how their success can positively impact the Goals and Objectives of the organization, you should feel comfortable that you are armed with the tools you need to narrow the gap—or better yet, make the gap in performance go away. You have the right information to stage a formidable attack on closing the gap.

If you and your client/decision makers have done your homework correctly,

you used their root cause analysis to identify the need for training.

you and they agreed training was the solution.

in the process, you used information you gathered to identify the skills and processes the participants developed that give them the working knowledge they need to produce the expected results.

If on-going support mechanisms are not in place to reinforce and nurture staff ‘s continued use of the skills they learned in the training event, they may not retain what they learned and their performance will fluctuate. This may cause your client/decision-makers to misinterpret the impact and the results of the training event. If they do not understand the importance of on-the-job reinforcement, they will not value the training and will not have an accurate understanding of why the training did not have the impact they intended. The main concept they must understand is that the results of a training event depend on the follow-up and on-going support they provide to staff after the training event is over.



Appendix A: Case Study: The Call Center Dilemma

A Call Center for the tri-state area employs 1,000 people. They recently experienced a serious increase in their attrition rate from 40% to 60%—a 20 % increase over the past 3 months.

They have been experiencing a continued loss of customer service representatives (CSRs), which is a significant blow and could result in a serious loss of business. Customers are either receiving incorrect information, or no follow-up responses to their inquiries. This is due to the lack of knowledge and inconsistent process execution by both existing and new CSRs. The company needs to decrease the current attrition rate and improve the performance of their current CSR population.

The Call Center management is currently reiterating with staff how important it is that they meet the performance objectives that determine the quality and quantity of their output. The following is an example of the objectives associated with a specific core process:

Core Process = Answer Customer Calls

The following list contains the four objectives within this core process that management wants to emphasize. We use events that occur during the process of answering a customer call to illustrate what constitutes acceptable performance of this core process. Below we list the four performance objectives (OBJ) of this core process and the sequence of events that occurs:

OBJ Event Description

1 Phone rings.

A Customer Service Representative (CSR) answers every call within three rings.

2 Customer asks a question.

3 CSR answers the question if the information is available.

B 4 If the information is not available, the CSR tells the customer he or she will research the question and return the call within 48 hours.

C CSR answers all the client’s questions and is able to complete 80% of the initial calls received with no follow-up needed.

D CSR average talk times for all calls received within a shift are completed satisfactorily within ten minutes.

If each CSR meets all four performance objectives, then the department expects to achieve its goal of improving customer satisfaction.



Your task, as Senior Trainers or Instructional Designer/Developers, is to design a training course that management and supervision can agree will have an impact on the current performance gap being driven by:

Lack of knowledge and inconsistent process execution.

You requested information from subject matter experts, but have found that detailed procedures do not exist. You recommend process mapping as a quick and easy way to capture the process steps needed to create your training program and identify measurements.

You’re in the process of setting up a meeting with the appropriate departments and/or individuals you need to map out the process. Let’s walk through the Process Mapping Pre-Session Worksheet you will distribute to the meeting participants to gather and prepare for a productive process mapping meeting.



Appendix B: Process Mapping Pre-Session Worksheet

To expedite the mapping process, please complete this pre-session worksheet. The thoughts and information you capture while completing this exercise will be used during future process mapping sessions. Your answers are extremely important, so please be prepared to share your responses. This worksheet provides spaces for your answers to various questions.

Step 1: Enter the Process Title

Step 2 Enter the Process Description

Please write one or two sentences describing what the process output is. For example, you could start with: “This process is used to . . .” or, “This process represents. . .”

Step 3: Define the Beginning Step

Based on your current understanding of the process, where does your contribution to creating the process output begin and end. Please write one sentence explaining what task starts your workflow:

Step 4: Define the Ending Step

Please write a sentence explaining what task ends your workflow:



Step 5: Define the Inputs

What input––materials, supplies, requests, orders, schedules, and other information (tangible or intangible)––do you bring to the process?

Step 6: Identify the Suppliers

Identify the suppliers of all input used to initiate the process and create the process output:

Are you a supplier of the input used to create the process output? Yes No

Do you supervise manage or coordinate the creation of the input?

Check those that apply.

Step 7: Identify your Software and Hardware

Please list any computer systems, programs, or applications that complement your process by processing information or providing information.

Step 8: Identify the Outputs

Please list the products, services, or other outcomes that result from your process.



Step 9 Identify your Customers

Please list those who receive or derive value from your output.

Step 10: Identify your Process Activities

Write down the process steps you take, from the beginning to the end of your own contribution to the process.



Appendix C: The Validation Worksheet

Please complete this worksheet using the spaces provided:

What can you recommend your client/decision-makers do to analyze their current situation and gain a strategic understanding of what is driving their performance gap?

What is the best way to document the information gathered from managers, supervisors, subject matter experts, and anyone associated with what you will be teaching?

What parts of the processes you will be teaching will your client/decision-makers use to determine the quality and quantity of the product or service the process will produce?

What key performance indicators will you use to track the trainees’ performance, and then link the impact of their training to the operation’s gaps in performance?



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