Written from TWI Institute Blog – I was looking through a catalogue of training for business professionals and saw a number of classes on leadership skills and conflict resolution for supervisors and new managers. The courses are known to be very good and all the trainers are outstanding. The costs are what you would expect for this quality of program. The reason I bring this up is: I wondered if these classes, in spite of their inherent value to the individuals taking them, have any probability whatsoever of transforming the organizations that participate in them? Participants almost always enjoy these training programs and come back raving about how wonderful the content was. But how often have you seen a person return from one of these classes and make a big difference in the way? I’ll let you answer that.
It seems to me that if an organization really wants to affect their supervisors’ leadership skills and improve conflict resolution they would be better served by training supervisors and floor managers in Job Relations.
When we talk to companies they usually tell us that their folks are all getting along just fine, thank you, and that they don’t need Job Relations. But then when we actually deliver JR to an organization, the line supervisors almost always rate this program as the one they need the most. The simple fact that there are scores of classes in conflict resolution, leadership skills, and dealing with change proves the need supervisors have for these skills.
You know, as I looked at the course outlines I was struck by the similarities between the content of many of these courses and Job Relations (JR).
The difference is JR operationalizes the content taught in many of these courses.
1. JR teaches the supervisor how to see a problem, make a decision on whether to seek help or handle it on their own, and take action.
2. JR teaches the supervisor how to first determine the objective and to evaluate the results of their actions based on the degree to which they achieved the objective.
3. JR teaches the supervisor how to get the facts, weigh and decide what to do based on those facts, and to take action.
The class not only teaches the skill of how to do these things, but lets the participant practice the skills on relevant problems in their own experience and workplace. In that way, they go back to their jobs not just with a head full of fancy ideas but with the ability to put into effect what they have learned and make a real change in how they fulfill their responsibilities. So, let’s take a fresh look at JR. Instead of sending a few people out for a few days, why not bring those skills into the organization, for all the supervisors, and thereby transform them and the organization.
Steve G.
About SCMEP TWI Training:
TWI is a dynamic program that uses hands-on learning and practice to educate supervisors and leaders of all industries. It teaches lean manufacturing and frontline skills that are essential for success. TWI provides the missing link for lean manufacturing and Kaizen, the foundation of the Toyota production system. The essential skills include: job improvement, method improvement and leadership.
These skills are taught in an easy to learn format in a ”learn by doing” environment. The program is taught in five, two hour sessions by SCMEP TWI Institute Certified instructors that use proven TWI methodology.The program consists of Job Relations (JR), how to build and maintain positive employee relations. Followed by Job Instruction (JI), how to quickly train your employees to work correctly and safely, resulting in less scrap and rework, fewer accidents and less equipment damage. And finally, Job Methods (JM), where supervisors will learn how to improve the way in which their jobs are done, resulting in a greater amount of services and goods in less time. TWI shows leaders how to identify opportunity in their jobs, propose new ideas and put them into practice. TWI provides an immediate return on investment in workforce training.
TWI allows manufacturers to quickly and effectively tackle situations where the status quo is no longer acceptable and:
- There is a prevailing attitude of “because that’s the way we’ve always done it”
- Change is resisted; old habits prevail & there is a lot of tribal knowledge
- Associates are not involved
- Improvements only happened during Kaizen events and gains are not sustained
- The roles of front line supervisors and shop floor team leaders are changing or need to change
- Standard Work is not standardized
