When it comes to workforce performance or, more to the point, a lack thereof, it never ceases to amaze me how training departments still seem to take the hit. It’s almost as if organizations have built-in scapegoats whenever “things” related to employee performance don’t go as planned.
Some may or may not be aware of this, but the actual learning and development “product(s)” only account for about 10% – 12% of the contributing factors to an employee’s effectiveness. Now, performance literature varies slightly on this figure depending on whose theory you align yourself with. Still, after all of the slicing and dicing is over, this percentage seems to be an average consensus.
What organizations (OK, I’ll say it…leadership.) need to realize is that the actual process of employee learning is only a tiny part of what is inherently an enterprise-wide system. And like any system, all the parts need to be in place, optimal, and aligned to reap the system’s full benefits.
When workforce performance issues arise, instead of blaming the training department, organizations need to consider the following factors:
- Do employees have access to the right tools and equipment? This includes hardware, software, or other equipment that is properly maintained and calibrated.
- Is the environment (Milieu) conducive for effective and efficient performance? These are things such as lighting, temperature, noise, and the physical layout of the work area. It also includes personal safety, access to resources, and ergonomics.
- Are employees adequately incentivized? Incentives help promote motivation (internal and external). They can include different types of incentives such as financial, material, privileges, symbolic, benefits, or prestige.
- Are employees provided timely, accurate information and cognitive support beyond their initial learning and development? Employees must have the correct information at the right time. This includes up-to-date policies, procedures, and work instructions to ongoing support through job aids such as visual instructions, memory-joggers, and computerized instructions.
- How effectively are your leaders managing the work, people, and resources? Are they providing clear reporting structures, assigning appropriate workloads, and establishing clear performance expectations? Are they attentive to the psychological well-being of their employees, work-life balance, team building, and sense of community?
- Is the right employee assigned to the right job? Employee abilities such as intelligence, emotional capacity, physical attributes, and internal motivation play a vital role in that employee’s performance level and quality.
Many organizations make the mistake of assuming a one-to-one relationship between training and performance, even when there’s no empirical evidence to support this connection. By this, I mean that just because someone has the knowledge to perform a task correctly, it doesn’t mean they will. And when an employee does make a mistake, training alone is rarely the answer. Yet, time and time again, training departments catch all the heat, or training is cited as the cause of a human error incident, with a heavy dose of “retraining” as the cure-all elixir.
Obviously, the list above is a high-level view of some factors that can play a key role in employee performance, which I will expand on in my next few posts. And since in business, “only application matters,” I’ll include a list of key questions you can use to evaluate your organization’s effectiveness in each of those areas.
So until then, next time your organization tries to make the training department the scapegoat for poor workforce performance, just remember the old saying…”Every time you point a finger in scorn, three fingers point right back at you.”
Enjoy, and keep your saws sharp!
Cheers,
Dr. D.