Training as High-Leverage Activity
Training is the boss's job because only two things improve performance: motivation and training
There are only two ways a manager can improve a subordinate's output: motivation and training. If you are not training, you are neglecting half the job. Training is one of the highest-leverage activities a manager can perform: twelve hours spent preparing and delivering four lectures to ten people can yield the equivalent of 200 hours of improved work if it produces just a 1% improvement. The manager must be the one who trains because effective training must be closely tied to how things are actually done in the organization, and the instructor must be a credible, practicing authority and role model.
- A manager can only improve subordinate performance through motivation and training—there is nothing else
- The manager, not an outside consultant, should do the training because it must reflect actual practice
- Training should be a process, not an event—consistent and scheduled, not a rescue effort
- The instructor must be a credible, practicing role model—proxies cannot fill this role
- Twelve hours of training preparation can yield the equivalent of 200 hours of improved work
- You will learn more from preparing and teaching the course than your students will from taking it
- Inventory Training NeedsMake a list of what your subordinates or department members should be trained in, ranging from simple operational procedures to organizational values and objectives. Ask your people what they feel they need—they will surprise you.
- Take Inventory of Available ResourcesIdentify manager-teachers and instructional materials already available. Assign priorities among the training needs you identified.WarningExternal consultants often teach approaches that differ from your actual organizational practices, which can demoralize participants rather than help them.
- Start Small: One Short Course on the Most Urgent TopicDevelop a three to four lecture course. Set a schedule with deadlines and commit to it. Create an outline for the whole course, develop just the first lecture, and go. Develop the second lecture after delivering the first.Pro tipAccept that the first version will be unsatisfactory—consider it a throwaway. Teach the first version to your most knowledgeable subordinates who can provide feedback without being confused.WarningDo not try to create the perfect course before starting. The preparation can become an excuse for never teaching.
- Deliver and IterateTeach the course, then collect anonymous critiques using a form with numerical ratings and open-ended questions. Expect feedback that the course was simultaneously too detailed, too superficial, and just right in roughly equal measure.Pro tipYour ultimate aim is to satisfy yourself that you are accomplishing what you set out to do, not to please every student.
- Scale Through Train-the-TrainerIf your organization is large enough to require many repetitions, train a few instructors with your first set of lectures. Have your subordinates teach their subordinates, creating a cascade of manager-teachers throughout the organization.
An Intel ion implanter machine drifted out of tune. The operator, relatively new, was trained in basic operation but not in recognizing out-of-tune conditions. She continued operating the machine for nearly a day.
Grove calculated: four lectures, three hours preparation each (12 hours total), taught to 10 students who will work 20,000 hours next year. Even a 1% improvement yields the equivalent of 200 hours of work.
Grove was prompted by everyday experiences: a restaurant reservation agent who was not told about the liquor license situation, and an Intel machine operator whose insufficient training led to scrapping over a million dollars of silicon wafers. These incidents illustrated that insufficiently trained employees, despite their best intentions, produce inefficiencies, excess costs, and unhappy customers. He concluded that training, like motivation, is too important to delegate.