BTSR guidebook ~ Training & skills self-evaluation

What provision at this level looks like and feels like

For the organisation

In 2008, 40% of broadcasters evaluated at this level. None were lower and 60% were higher.

Senior management are aware that some learning occurs on the job, and are quite content to stand back and let it happen. On-job learning happens despite management, not because of it.

If an organisation has survived on this basis for more than a year or two then there must be a wonderful team spirit. And some loyal, dedicated and probably undervalued senior practitioners. Who could scupper the operation in a heartbeat if they were so minded.

Such an organisation teeters on a knife-edge. Though management might not know it.

For the training function

This is a tough environment for a trainer. Your input ends before the real work begins. (It’s a bit like trying to teach saxophone without actually being able to use a saxophone.)

If things go right, credit will go to the people who do the job. If things go wrong, blame might attach to the trainer.

Benefits & risks of provision at this level

Benefits

Other than senior management giving themselves one less thing to consider, there are no benefits of being at this level.

Risks

Training ahead of need can never cater for every eventuality, and often cannot exactly reproduce “battlefield conditions”. That alone guarantees that on-job training has a job to do. The organisation that leaves on-job training to chance guarantees that it can only occur in one of two ways:

• The employee makes a mistake and learns from it
• The people around the employee are skilled enough and collegiate enough to provide coaching and mentoring… at the same time as they are preventing the mistake.

In other words, the risk of mistakes is huge.

For backroom jobs the risk might be acceptable… well, it only costs time and money. But in other contexts – live broadcasts and location shoots in particular – muddling through is no more acceptable than it would be with heart surgery or flying a plane.

Processes & benchmarks for evaluating provision at this level

Distinguishing from »medium» provision

Provision at this level is, for all practical purposes, the same as no provision. The only difference is that senior management are at least aware that on-job learning occurs. So if there is a non-trivial, managed approach to on-job training, the organisation is probably at a higher level.

Processes

Here are some diagnostic questions:

• Is it possible for an employee to receive no on-job training?
• Is the budget for on-job training close or equal to zero? If greater than zero, is it unclear what it might legitimately be spent on?
• Does management take a hands-off approach to on-job training?
• Do trainers take a hands-off approach to on-job training?
• Do the people who deliver on-job training do so on the basis of their experience and native wit (rather than in response to direction and training & development activities planned for them by the organisation)?
• Do records of training provided omit on-job training?
• Do any evaluations of training provided omit on-job training?
• Do any training needs analyses conducted omit on-job training?

If the answers are mostly Yes, that’s a fairly strong indication that the organisation is providing at this level (or below).

Reference material relevant to this strand and level

Need it meets	Title	Words	Link
Time to train remains a challenge. One technique that has been sucessfully applied in many organisations is Accelerated Learning. Colin Rose champions this approach in the UK. Often used to ‘speed up’ or make more efficient internal formal learning, his book is worth reading.			www.acceleratedlearning.com

Further suggestions? Please leave a comment below

Examples of provision at this level

Here are some examples of evidence used by broadcasters, in previous years, to demonstrate provision at this level:

• Workshop materials: audio systems documents, camera and lighting documents and video systems documents
• EMS [employee management system] records of training needs and achievements, records of group training sessions, training materials

(There is typically very little tangible evidence of provision at this level.)

The wording is broadcasters’ own, and does not necessarily follow our usage preferences

What it takes to get to the next level

Escape to the next level is highly advisable.

Here are some ways to plan your move up:

• Legitimise on-job training. The first of the following is mandatory, and all of the others should be considered:
  • obtain senior management’s active and public support (including committing time and money)
  • recognise the contribution of those who are delivering it already
  • set an expectation that other experienced practitioners will start delivering it
  • raise the profile of on-job training throughout the organisation
• Make the strengthening of on-job training somebody’s main responsibility (possibly on a project basis). Consider bringing in external help
• Identify a handful of departments and/or roles where workplace performance needs to improve and on-job training can make a strong contribution. Use them to pilot on-job training interventions. Monitor the results
• Consider the portfolio of on-job training interventions and techniques, and expand it if necessary. The more common options include:
  • in-workplace guidance materials & checklists
  • self-training/self-study materials
  • shadowing and/or buddy schemes
  • secondments to other departments or roles
  • bulletin boards, wikis and other information-sharing systems
• Encourage employees to identify opportunities for on-job training
• Expand on-job training provision out to departments, employees and groups of employees that it hasn’t reached before
• Set up systems for recording on-job training delivered and for judging its effectiveness. Documentation is a difference that makes a difference: training that takes place at the time and place of need is powerful, but invisible if it isn’t recorded (see below)
• Identify success stories and publicise them.

Documentation

Some broadcasters express the view that there isn’t time to write down all the on-job training that takes place, and that it therefore can’t be managed or evaluated. The secret here is to sneak up on it from a different angle – its impact over time:

• In what ways am I a better member of staff than a year ago?
• How has this helped the organisation and its customers?
• How has training, including on-job training, contributed?
• Which training interventions have had the most impact?
• What training would move me further forward in the year ahead?

In other words, the performance review process (Strand 3) can have a big impact on on-job training. It’s therefore a good idea to plan to move them forward together.