The Catalyst for Organizations' Success (Second Cut)
Training as an Avenue for Dialogue between Employers & Their People
According to the published work of John Hutton, John Denham, Brendan Barber and Richard Lambert entitled, “It’s Time to Talk Training : How to Develop a Dialogue On Skills at the Workplace” which was published last July 2008, workplace dialogue is a two-way process linked to action. They further explained that, “It is vitally important that employers and the workforce are fully committed to this process and ensure that structures and resources are in place to act on what is agreed.” An example of this is the daily feedback system of a superior to his subordinate, performance appraisals, union negotiation & bargaining, staff surveys, team briefings, management’s open door policy, workforce group discussion and the likes. The research group was able to collect ten relative case studies about successful organizations that were able to establish this workplace dialogue. I have lifted from their research the keynotes of their findings from the two of these organizations. They are as follows:
Company
| Escrick Park Estate
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Location
| Yorkshire & Humberside
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Challenge
| Growing cynicism and dissatisfaction among workers
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Training Strategy
| Staff are encouraged to voice their opinions, make suggestions and raise their concerns on a continuous basis.
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Formal & Informal Structures
| Twice-yearly appraisals, Weekly team strategy meetings, Monthly-organisation-wide meetings
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Results
| The company has been able to reduce its reliance on external contractors for specialist task, staff turnover is very low and the credibility of key areas of the business has improved.
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Contributing Factors to the Success
| The company managed to provide a culture that is open, frank and genuine throughout the whole dialogue and most importantly brought out tangible deliverables to the organisation.
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The growing cynicism and dissatisfaction of workers from Escrick Park Estate really showed a threat to the company’s operation. It is truly impressive that instead of opting to ignore these increasing doubtful workforce, they managed to come up with a genuine dialogue to discuss every little issue each one of them has and deal with it accordingly. The company made an extra effort not just to gather them and hear what each one has to say but also come up with visible outputs. This proved that the dialogue or group discussions occurred were not just lip service but rather a commitment that they continue to materialize on.
Company
| Hydrasun Manufacturing Company
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Location
| Aberdeen
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Challenge
| The company aims to be a market leader and an employer of choice but there are staffs that are not totally focused with their job roles and service solutions.
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Training Strategy
| All managers and team leaders have been trained in the delivery of performance reviews and individuals complete learning logs that provide evidence of learning and competency that meet the PDP (Performance Development Plans) objectives.
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Formal & Informal Structures Used
| Managers briefings, team briefings, daily briefings, performance management reviews using PDPs or Personal Development Plans
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Results
| This leads to the development of a more highly-skilled staff that offer a more flexible service which in turn has brought more business. Employees feel more confident in their job roles and know that they are working to be accepted in the industry standards.
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Contributing Factors to the Success
| They used a training strategy that engages the learner to be aware of the deliverables that motivate them: external accreditation, scope of progression and transparency of grades and rewards.
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Hydrasun’s employees were able to undergo a self-directed learning where they always make it a point to achieve their development targets using their PDPs (Personal Development Programs). This gives them a nudge to keep doing their best because their career growth is precisely in their hands. The company can just support their whole work-learning experiences and promote them as reward for a satisfactory work done.