SVENSON & WALLACE, INC.

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MANAGEMENT UPDATEVolume 5, No.1 SPRING 1991

LETTER FROM THE VICE PRESIDENT

Dear Clients and Friends:

The 1990s will clearly be a decade of continuing change. We are and will be seeing newcountries, new governments, new companies, new technologies, new products and newways of managing our businesses and organizations.

In this issue we address new ways of supporting some of these changes with training andhuman performance support for new products and for a new wave of labor relationsmanagement.

As always, we welcome your comments and feedback. We hope we get to see you atNSPIin Los Angeles in April.

TIPS FOR HUMAN PERFORMANCE LABOR RELATIONS TRAINING FOR MANAGING IN THE 90s~ SUPPORT OF NEW PRODUCTS

Peter R. Hybert

As simple as a new product may seem to itscreators, it can present difficulties to a fieldworkforce that is unfamiliar with it. Amajor new product can introduce a numberof changes:

Guy W. Wallace and Peter R. Hybert

It's an understatement to say that the labor-management relationship has changeddrastically over the last decade. Flatterorganization structures, down sizing, empowerment,self-managing teams, etc., have shifted authority (and responsibility) from managementlevels to individual contributor levels in the organizations trying to improve quality andcost competitiveness. Dealing with these changes is a challenge to managers of whitecollar professionals-the difficulty is even greater for managers of unionized workforces.

• New technologies_ ~ew markets and/or strategiq, While laborJelayons training might help solve the problems above, it is difficult to put

direction together a program on this issue beCause: -• New/changed applications• New/changed jobs, job tasks,

and tools.

How well your field organization absorbsthese changes depends on the effectivenessof your training, documentation, and othersupport elements (such as ordering andbilling systems, etc.). Following are sometips on how to manage these humanperformance support elements to improve

~ the introduction of new product changesinto the field organization.

(continued page 2 L

• You can only train the managers (union representatives would be distrustedif they attended or helped develop a company sponsored training program).

• There are (intentionally) gray areas in labor agreements-rules andgeneralizations are often outweighed by exceptions.

• Labor agreements are typically complex.

• There may be several different agreements covering multiple unions (orlocals within a single union).

Recently, we consulted with a major telecommunications firm, which administers sixseparate labor agreements covering two labor unions (with several locals each) to developa training course on labor relations for first level and mid-level managers. The pilot

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TIPS FOR HUMAN PERFORMANCE SUPPORT OFNEW PRODUCTS (continued/rom page 1)

Tips for Effective New ProductIntroduction Support

Use a product team approach

Involve everyone as early as possible, ifnot sooner

Work together when you need to andseparately when you can

Train everybody on criticalneed-to-know items

Develop standard deliverables

Push for early deliverables

Test early, test often

Conduct project postmortems

1. Use a Product Team Approach

Cross-functional product teams, using regular meetings chairedby product management to coordinate the organizationsinvolved in the new product introduction, improvecommunication and decision-making regarding deliverables,deadlines, and changes.

Even if your company now uses product teams, increasedmanagement attention, experienced team leaders, and trainingfor the team (on group process management, problem-solving,or even the business financials) can help get them workingmore effectively.

2. Involve Everyone as Early as Possible, if Not Sooner

Even with a team approach, you can miss the boat if trainingand other support groups aren't on board early enough in theprocess. These groups represent an end user point of view(either the customer or the field) which is helpful to the rest ofthe team, even in early design discussions. If they come into

the project late, all they will be able to do is crunch out theirmaterials, not make any proactive contributions.

For example, in the early design of a networked controls <:>system product, engineers planned on using field-mountedtransformers. Though it seemed like a minor issue to theproduct engineers, to the field it meant a number of changesto the job, such as sizing the transformers, determiningquantities, locating them on the network, finding a localsupplier, installation, etc. Mistakes would mean projectdelays, cost overruns, or even system damage.

Instead of training the field on how to do the above, theproduct design was modified slightly to allow standardizationon two transformer alternatives. Field tasks became greatlysimplified. Since there were only two choices, the companycould bulk purchase and stock them in the central warehouseinstead of local sourcing. The ordering system was evenrigged to catch orders where the transformerwas forgotten. Atraining program on transformers would have been less initialeffort but more costly and less "fail-safe" in the long run.

3. Work Together When You Need to and Separately WhenYou Can

When each internal organization goes its own way indeveloping support programs, the most common result isoverlapping, contradictory, or missing information. On the~other hand, working with a group is less efficient, more costly,and can be frustrating (especially if the task is detailed orrequires a great deal of time). The way to get the benefits ofboth group and individual effort is to structure the process fordeveloping support deliverables into two parts.

The first part is planning, identifying the changes or new tasksbrought about by the new product, deciding what informationis needed to support them, and defining the deliverables (e.g.,training courses, manuals, reference guides, etc.). This part ismost effectively done in a group. The second part of theprocess is developing the deliverables-best done-individuallyusing materials reviews and periodic status meetings forcoordination.

4. Train Everybody on Critical ''Need-to-Know'' Items

With a new product it is easy to miss an audience group. It isalso easy to focus on publishing product information ratherthan on providing performance support-skills andinformation that support what each audience segment has todo with the product. Back at the home office, it can also beeasy to spend too much time covering the non-controversialand easily available information, while agreeing to "look theother way" on more difficult topics. ~

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TIPS FOR HUMAN PERFORMANCE SUPPORT OFNEW PRODUCTS (continuedfrompage 2)

A good way to make sure all audiences are covered and thatthe true performance needs are surfaced and dealt with is toconduct a "walk-through" of the existing processes withrepresentatives of the existing field audiences (and the productteam) to identify what the field resources will need to do withthe new product, how it differs from the existing product line,and what information, tools, or training is needed to supportthis. This should be a major part of the planning processdescribed in number 3 above.

5. Develop "Standard" Deliverables

It will be easier to get your existing field people up to speed__ _~ _and_updatuxis!in~progr3ms (to provide this.information.to

new hires) if you use a standard approach for packaginginformation. Used consistently over time, standarddeliverables will help the field to know where to look forinformation they need. On the surface it may seem that thisperpetuates "it's the way we've always done it" thinking. Inreality, it simply provides an established starting point thatcan be modified as field needs change.

1\6. Push for Early Deliverablel

In the early stages of a new pr uct project, the unknowns canstifle action. Early delivera les almost always mean somerework later due to changes, but the chance to get feedbacksooner is worth it.

If you know the product applications, you can create trainingexercises well before you have a prototype. For example, ifyour sales people need to be able to quantify product benefitsto each specific customer, you can develop example cases andhave your marketing and engineering resources help figure

__ out what the answers should be (based on their plans for theproduct. Let some ield people review these to screen out - --~"ivory toweritus." These exercises then become part of thetraining for sales people--no prototype required and you'vemade progress early in the process.

7. Test Early, Test Often

The main reason for pushing for early deliverables is to getyour support deliverables into the "real world" as soon aspossible. At the tail end of a long process, testing is often thefirst thing to collapse under time pressure. Yet, as Tom Peterspoints out in "Thriving on Chaos," testing probably yieldsmore benefit than any other single step in the process. If youwait to do your testing at the customer site in the public eyeof the marketplace, you are running a real risk, even with areasonably good initial attempt.

Like any product, performance support deliverables requireseveral levels of testing.

• Actually complete the training exercises usingdocumentation drafts-it is not enough to simplymill the materials.

• Conduct a controlled pilot test with target audiencemembers to check effectiveness for the realaudience.

• Incorporate the support deliverables into beta sitesor other early applications to check effectiveness inthe real environment.

8. Conduct Project "Postmortems"

- After the project is over, identify what worked and whatdidn't. Make changes to your system to incorporate what youlearned. This step is often omitted-people are moving on tothe next assignment and the conclusions seem obviousanyway.Unfortunately, unless the things that worked (or didn't) aredissected and action items taken to make changes, the sameproblems will continue to crop up in future projects.

Conclusion

As with anything, success requires discipline in the small things.Human performance support systems and deliverables such astraining and documentation, may be of secondary importance tosuch things as marketing strategy, manufacturing quality, salestechniques, or cost control. But human performance support mayalso make the difference in how your field people implement yourproduct in the marketplace. They are closely tied to customersatisfaction.

Editor's Note: Peter Hybert will be doing apresentation on this, topic at the June 21.Chapter>Meeting of the Chicago Ch£lpter ofNSP!. . .

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LABOR RELA nONS TRAINING FOR MANAGING INTHE 90s (continued from page 1)

session (a four-day exercise-intensive session) delivered lastDecember was well received by the target audience, the staffmanagement group responsible for labor relations, and the uppermanagement steering committee. The course provided usefulcontent and effectively developed skills. We felt that other clientswith a unionized workforce would be interested in what we did andwhat we learned doing it.

The Project-Process and Roles

With only about three and a half months from project kick-off topilot, we needed dedicated resources from several key areas for theproject committees. The matrix below describes the teams used.

- --The key function these committees played was to provide a"reality check" on the course-we used top performing fieldmanagers to keep the project focussed on actual job requirements.Svenson & Wallace, Inc. provided the process and expertise intraining and performance technology and facilitated the followinggroups who provided their expertise to the process.

Committee/Team Members Role

Steering Committee • Upper management • Provide overall direction• Field· Staff • Identify resources for

analysis and design efforts

Analysis/Design Committee • Top performance field • Define job perfonnancemanagers- Various locals • Identify typical situations- Various worka (for case studies and

environments exercises)

• Staff • Review design• Labor Relations specifications and- Union Consultant preliminary materials- Corporate Education and

Training • Provide content, referencesources, miscellaneoussamples, etc.

• Provide pilot participants

Pilot Participants • New/less experienced field • Test the trainingmanagers effectiveness

<Experienced field • Test the accuracy andmanagers applicability of the course

Development Team • Project Manager • Coordinate logistics• Instructor • Develop course materials• Consultants • Conduct Pilot

Rather than starting by defining the training course topics, ourprocess called for first defining what the management tasks werethat fell under the labor relations umbrella. We then derived thetraining content required to meet these needs, much the wayproduct features are determined by first defining what the customerwould do with the product and then deciding which features tobuild. The steps in this "backward chaining" process are asfollows:

Define what the managers would be doing whenperforming labor relations.

Identify the knowledge and skills needed to performthose tasks.

Define the exercises needed to build skill and fluencyin the right areas.

Identify the necessary information to be taught.

Structure the course (group it into lessons andlearning events).

Designing a course using a group-process can be difficult if thesubject matter experts want to focus on content right away. Theproject committees were willing to trust the logic of our processenough to avoid this type of preliminary discussion and focus firston the job task requirements of the target audiences. When wewere finally ready to talk about content requirements, generalconsensus was relatively easy to arrive at.

The Management Performance Model

Once defined, the "labor relations" process model also became thebasis for the organization of the course. This model included adescription of what labor relations is, the processes that it contains,and how it fits in the overall management role. The overall viewis shown below. Detailed descriptions for each of the four primaryprocesses (including tasks, stimulus, and typical deficiencies)were also developed.

The Course

The next step of our process, after defining the job performance,was to identify the relevant knowledge and skill areas. We cameup with a wide ranging list, for example:

Background on the organizations (e.g., laborrelations, the unions)

Basics of governing documents and policies (e.g.,labor agreements, policy documents, supplementaryinternal publications) (continued page 5)

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LABOR RELATIONS TRAINING FOR MANAGING INTHE 90s (continued from page 4)

• The types of situations that lead into the overallmodel (e.g., management performance issues such asdeveloping a vacation schedule or changing a localwork rule, as well as employee performance issuessuch as poor attendance or work quality)

• The "how tos" of the detailed steps within each of thelabor relations processes

• Decision making guidelines for specific situations

• Skill in "doing labor relations in real time" (forexample, managing a meeting with a disruptive unionsteward or emotional employee).

Since the above is a big order but fits the job needs, we decided ourtask in structuring the course was not to weed out content, but toengineer a solution. Our design for the four-day course is based ona few key principles:

• Learning requires doing

• Skill building requires repetition with coaching andfeedback

• Participants need to be able to evaluate and coachthemselves to be successful long term back on thejob.

The key skill we focused the course on was the conduct of ameeting with the employee and steward present. There aremeetings in each labor relations process.

Traditional lecture format was used to deliver key concepts andinformation. Role plays were used as the primary skill building

. s~~tegy. The role P~J> use small groups of four participants eachworking as a self-managing training team. Each team conducts ameeting in which there are four roles.

• Manager: The manager runs the meeting and is the"primary trainee."

• Employee: This person primarily helps instruct theparticipant playing the manager by advocating theposition of the employee-in the real world, theemployee won't always give in and agree with themanager about a performance problem.

• Steward: This participant performs a function similarto that of the employee except from the perspective ofthe union steward.

• Observer: The observer does not participate in themeeting but observes and documents it using aprepared checklist The observer also providesfeedback and coaching to the manager after the roleplay.

After the first role play, the participants discuss the meeting andshare tips. (Teams are set up to mix experienced and inexperiencedmanagers to ensure balance and sufficient guidance.) For thesecond meeting, the roles rotate. After four meetings, everyparticipant has had the opportunity to play the manager role. Ofcourse, it would be too easy to repeat the same case so a new caseis used for each meeting. And there are a total of four "rounds"(sets of four meetings) of role plays, each addressing major areaswithin the labor relations processes. Each case builds on, and ismore difficult than the previous.

By the end of the course, each participant has run four meetings,observed and coached in four different meetings, and participatedin a total of sixteen meetings. This way they get repetition,coaching, tips and ideas from others, and "experience" withsixteen problems typical ofthose that they may actually encounteron the job. The sixteen cases are based on input from fieldmanagers and kept generic enough to apply to virtually anymanagement environment.

In addition to the role plays there are several other exercisescovering contract interpretation, how to change local work rules,and sitting in judgement in actual arbitration cases. In all, 54% ofthe course time is spent in exercises!

Messages

"Do the right thing" was a key message of the content. Doing itright meant being fair and consistent. The Labor Relationsprocesses are in place to improve performance (company viaindividual), not to punish employees. Win/win is the goal, even ifnot always achievable .

Conclusion

The bottom line is that the course participants gained skills and feltthat the three and a half days were well spent. They enjoyed beingself-directed learners and sources of feedback and advice for otherparticipants. New or inexperienced managers felt confident thatthey could work: with their union partners back on the job becausethey had picked up some "condensed experience" handlingunexpected and difficult situations in a safe learning environment.

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QUALITY TOOLS TRAINING

Realizing that valuable resources were being wasted developingtraining programs on the basic quality tools, a number of worldclass organizations have banded together to form the Council forContinuous Improvement. The Council, which includes companieslike Motorola, Texas Instruments, Northern Telecom, Northrop,and many others has developed a series of workshops on the basicquality tools. In fact, these organizations have dropped their owncourses and replaced them with the CCI workshops. Members oftbe Council recei ve free copies of these and other training materials,as well as input into new training modules that are being developedon topics such as benchmarking. Fees for becoming a member ofthe Council for Continuous Improvement vary depending uponthe size of your organization. If you are interested in receivingadditional information on the Council, check the appropriate boxon the enclosed card and return it to us, or you may contact MarkBrown in our California office at (213) 376-2836.

BALDRIGE AWARD BOOK

During 1990, the National Institute for Standards and Technologysent out over 160,000 copies of the application guidelines for theMalcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, yet only 97 companiesactually applied for, the award. Hundreds of large and smallorganizations are using the Baldrige Award criteria as standardsand guidelines for improving the quality of their products andservices.

In March 1991, Quality Resources, Inc. in New York and ASQCQuality Press will jointly publish the first and only book on howto interpret the 1991 Baldrige Award criteria. The book, which isauthored by Mark Graham Brown, a Principal with Svenson &Wallace, will be titled: Baldrige Award Winning Quality. Thebook will sell for $32.95 and will be available in late March 1991.If you are interested in reserving an advance copy, check theappropriate box and return the enclosed reply card or you can call1-800-247-8519 to order the book directly (order # 246-0246).

MANAGEMENT UPDATEPublished by

SVENSON &WALLACE, INC~

Main Office1733 Park Street, Suite 201

Naperville, IL 60563(708) 416-3323

West Coast Office2804 Hermosa Avenue

Hermosa Beach, CA 90254(213) 376-2836

This Management Update is prepared quarterly by the staff of Svenson & Wallace, Inc.Its purpose is to share specific applications of Performance Technology to improve quality and productivity in organizations.

© Copyright 1991. All rights reserved.

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