Applying The 85 — 15 Rule To Training - [960 words]
Before attempting to use training to fix a problem, make sure it’s a problem training can fix. You could save up to eight-five percent of your training dollars, while reducing staff frustration and cynicism.
The 85/15 Rule is that eighty-five percent of organizational problems are caused by system failures, fifteen percent by human factors. Training can be effective when it addresses specific human skill deficiencies — the fifteen percent category. However, training falters when used to correct system problems.
Last month I asked the readers of my Common Sense Managing TIPS newsletter: If you could fix one thing about your organization what would it be?
The overwhelming response was communication, communication, and communication. Their primary focus was on internal customer communication — between departments and within the service department. Customer communications was also identified quite often.
A typical well intended management response to such comments is to immediately commission a communications training course to ‘fix’ the problem. This is a mistake because this ‘fix’ has less than a fifteen percent chance of success.
The 85/15 Rule applies to this situation. Eighty-five percent of organizational problems are caused by system failures. Systems failures include poor or nonexistent plans, procedures, measurable performance criteria, and work processes. People are responsible for the remaining fifteen percent of organizational problems.
Eighty-five percent of the time communication failures are not the problem; they are symptoms of the problem. Organization structure weaknesses create eight-five percent of the communications symptoms. Chasing communication failures with communications training will not fix these problems. Such training is likely to only produce additional frustration. The training, while well intended, will become just another failed P.O.T.Y. [Program Of The Year]. The net result, frustration and cynicism. Trying to solve organizational problems with training solutions is like trying to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and it annoys the pig.
The place for the service executive to look for ‘communication’ solutions is within the organizational structure. The self auditing question to ask is: Do we have a solid organizational base in place that has the following four critical elements?
- Living Vision that everyone knows, understands, and accepts
- Plan to implement the vision — goals, measurable objectives, supporting action plans that everyone knows, understands, accepts, and are congruent with the vision
- Controls to determine in real time how you’re doing with your implementation
- Accountability for accomplishing the action plans, objectives, and goals of the organization
Organizational structure is the first place we look when we assist a client. Eighty-five percent of the time communications problems are a result of a malfunction in one or more of these four organizational elements.
Recently we were asked to assist with a communications problem between a client’s Sales and Production functions. Initially, the client wanted us to design and implement effective interpersonal relations, communications, and conflict resolution training. While conducting needs analysis for the potential training, we learned that several fixes had already been attempted and failed. These included communications training, on and off site meetings, facilitated confrontations, and one firing.
Within three days we discovered the cause of the problem. The reward systems for Sales and Production were in direct conflict. Each had a plan that, when implemented successfully, would cause the other’s plan to fail. The Sales and Production people were communicating quite well within their own department. They just were not communicating with the ‘enemy’ whose success came at the expense of their own.
The organization had a structure problem, not a people/communications problem. The organization’s Vision, Plan, and Accountability were alive and well. The Controls were in conflict. Consequently their people were in conflict and not "communicating."
Once the organizational problem was uncovered, it took the President, VP of Sales, and VP of Production less than four hours to fix the problem. They redesigned the reward system so that it was complementary between the two departments. The problem had been nagging them for two years because they kept fixing the symptoms.
Before you start aiming your training gun, check your organizational structure to be sure you have a problem that training can fix. Good customer communication relies on a solid organization. An organization that is designed to produce seamless service will produce good customer communication eight-five percent of the time.
Most problems manifest themselves through people and therefore appear to be people problems. It is very seductive to attempt to fix these "people problems" with training. Examine your structure first and you’ll be headed in the right direction eight-five percent of the time.
But, who wants to settle for only eight-five percent success when one-hundred is possible? This is where training can play a significant role. Communications training can be effective in closing the gap between merely good and incomparable customer communications.
When you launch customer communications from a solid organizational base you can design very effective training that is productive. Your solid organizational foundation provides you with internal and end user customer feedback, performance against standard, and internal staff survey data. Using this information, you can commission training that focuses directly on situations that have been:
- Identified by your customers as critical to their satisfaction.
- Identified by your internal customers as critical to their success in working with your staff.
- Identified by your staff as critical to their success.
Ultimate customer communication may be accomplished when your seamless delivery system is topped off with focused customer communication training.
The issue becomes: Would you rather be right fifteen percent of the time or eighty-five percent? The ideal answer is neither. By doing the right things in the right order you can strive for one-hundred percent. It’s all about starting in the right place and never stopping until you retire or expire.