The more important on-the-job training (the informal transfer of task best practice and expertise) is squeezed in if and when time allows (which is in short supply) by whoever is available – this in an age of Lean and continuous improvement. If employers are waiting for someone else to train their workers to 100% mastery of their unique tasks, on their unique equipment for their unique processes, well that is just wishful thinking.

The contradictions are alarming, and many times middle managers and upper management of corporate-run or private equity managed enterprises are caught in the middle. They know the risks of neglecting training and they see the results first-hand, but have little say in the matter or are afraid of getting caught up in a “cost v. benefit” discussion with people that seem to live in a different world and have made up their mind before the discussion begins. When capacity deteriorates or the siren’s call of cheaper labor markets prevails, someone makes the decision to move the entire operation to a location where training is even more difficult but can be absorbed due to offsetting wage discounts – that is until wages rise and total cost of ownership is understood. Read More

In an efficiently run organization, every department has detailed, documented best practices and training materials that are always maintained, and training tracking systems to ensure cross-training occurs quickly and to the necessary level of performance and capacity. In an organization that does not have these systems, any gains and efficiency expected from Lean efforts may be unnoticeable or, worse yet, non-existent or negative. Read More

For most organizations, the general notion is that training is going on in every corner of the organization, for every worker at any time of the day or night. One person is showing another person how to perform a process, operate a piece of equipment or software, fill out a form or, yes, make a copy using the new copy machine just installed. How effective is that informal form of training? Have you ever walked by a copy machine and seen someone standing in front of it, staring at the control panel...then the sky, as if seeking divine intervention. Now, think of the more complex tasks!

Same, too, are the more critical and complex tasks of the job, requiring compliance with so many factors such as engineering specifications, quality control requirements, safety requirements and company policies. Without a deliberate task-based training infrastructure in place, training might be ad hoc, informal, unstructured and rarely documented. Add to this the periodic worker cross-training that allows workers to train in, and master, tasks in multiple job areas and the amount of critical, but undocumented, training can be tremendous. Read More

The world has been through a lot in the last few decades. Employers finding themselves making decisions and changing their mind for the most unexpected reasons. Proactive Technologies, Inc.^® wants to accommodate and support those workforce development decisions in the best way it knows how. This introduction for new and returning clients of its turnkey worker development package is one example.

Every employer conducts a massive amount of informal, unstructured and undocumented on-the-job, task-based training every year. The significant cost(especially if you have a lot of retiring experts, revolving new-hires and marginally trained residents), as well as the effectiveness, usually goes unmeasured. If you doubt this point, ask yourself one question; Do I know which tasks each of my employees have mastered, and which they have not? If you draw a blank, you are not alone, but it doesn't have to be that way.

Whether you had to cut your training budget, or never had one in the first place, this structured on-the-job training system makes it possible for you to train every worker to "full job mastery, full capacity" quickly, efficiently, effectively and credibly. So much so that all projects have been eligible for training grant funds that offset - in large part or in whole - the employer's investment to set-up the SOJT infrastructure and implement training!

Now, for a limited time, on top of that opportunity PTI is offering a 10 - 30% discount on projects (depending on number of job classifications targeted and scope) until October 15, 2023! 

If you are interested and would be willing to schedule a brief, 45-minute live online briefing on the PROTECH^® approach to worker development and how PTI would make establishing and implementing a training system easy, efficient and with low-to-no investment for your organization, PTI is willing to schedule a free follow-up session to dig deeper into what it would look like considering a job classification of importance to your firm. Simply put: Read More

In business, the aftermath of any transformational event such as the Dot.com Crash of 2000, the Crash of 2008, the Covid-19 Pandemic of 2019 - to name only a few of the recent upheavals – makes it often difficult to get one’s bearings let alone see through the fog clouding the path to the future. It makes one question one's judgement, sometimes being too afraid to make critical decisions and sometimes too quick to hop on the next bandwagon seeking safety in numbers. How long the fog lasts depends on the depth and scope of trauma incurred. How long it takes to emerge from it is determined by how transparent the fog has become and if any discernable patterns are forming upon which to build a strategy forward.

This applies to all workers, as well. Any disruption to employment is followed by a uncontrollable backward slide erasing any gains made to that point. Then the dreaded wait while the economy finds bottom before any future plans can be contemplated. Will the prior job still be available, what changes were made by the employer that may require additional training or education that has a substantial lead time before employability? And can education and training for these changes be accessed by someone who has depleted their funds trying to survive?

In troubled times, it is not enough to provide optimistic notions to terrified workers. Read More

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