Team Mbr Program
Team Training
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There are a number of general
principles or guidelines that should be considered when you develop and
implement training for self-directed work teams. Among them are two important principles:
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A core set of skills must be provided to all
associates while they are being organized into teams.
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Ongoing training must be provided at the
teachable moment.
Most training for teams can be organized into three categories:
job skills, team/interactive skills, and quality/action skills.
Job skills encompass
all the technical knowledge and skills team members need for success on the
job. These may include operating
a press, loading software, troubleshooting equipment, processing claims, and
interpreting statistical process control charts.
Multi-skilling and skill-based pay systems make extensive job skills
training critical for successful individual and team performance.
Team/interactive skills
include all the interpersonal and communication skills team members need to be
effective in their new roles. The
team structure demands that these skills be considerably more sophisticated
than in traditional operations. Some
of the interactive skills required for team effectiveness include handling
conflict, meeting leadership, negotiating requirements with suppliers and
customers, and influencing others, particularly those in support functions.
Quality/action skills
involve identifying problems and making improvements. In most teams, members are expected to take the initiative to
make continuous improvements, whether this means suggesting ways to reduce
cycle times or diagramming the causes of a particular nonconformance.
Each member is a build-in team quality control expert (Welling et al.
1991, p. 164).
Willings, et al. (1991) identified a core set of skills
that can be categorized into job skills, quality/action skills, and
team/interaction skills. Examples
of these core skills:
Team/Interaction Skills
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Listening and feedback. Summarizing, checking for understanding, and giving and
receiving constructive feedback.
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One-to-one communication. Communicating with team members, customers, suppliers, and
leaders.
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Handling conflict. Identifying
and resolving conflicts and disagreements within a team, with another team, or
with a supplier or client.
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Influencing others.
Gaining the commitment or agreement of others.
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Training job skills.
Cross-training and coaching
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Team skills (participating in meetings). Developing roles
and responsibilities, especially group process skills, of all participants in
meetings.
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Working in teams. Understanding
the stages of team development and the factors needed for successful team
performance.
Quality/action skills
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Clarifying customer requests. Recognizing and defining customer (internal and external)
needs.
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Identifying improvement opportunities. Analyzing
the root cause of any gap in meeting customer requirements.
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Developing and selecting solutions.
Creatively generating and sorting alternative solutions to problems.
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Planning the improvement. Planning, monitoring, and measuring quality projects.
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Ensuring ongoing quality. Standardizing improvements and identifying ongoing
opportunities.
Job Skills (highly job dependent)
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Equipment operation.
Acquiring specific training in the operation of equipment production
methods that are directly related to performing team jobs.
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Safety practices. Following
safety procedures and policies.
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Maintenance basics.
Learning basic machine preventive and total maintenance.
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Production processes.
Developing Just-In-Time systems and material requirements planning (Welling et al.
1991, p. 168-171).
Welling et al. (1991) have found these skills to be
the requirements for operating in an empowered team and for implementing
constant improvement actions. Training
in these core skills does not have to be delivered all at once; it can spread
out over months. Its timing depends
on the speed of the planned team empowerment.
Go to the Marconi Natural Work Team
Development Program |
