Develop Workplace Learning Environment

Develop Workplace Learning Environment BSBFLM511B WEEK 3

Quiz re Learning styles

How does this week’s info relate to assessment? • formal and or informal learning activities • how to enhance the value of training • All information should be noted for final quiz

Topics for week 2: Assessment criteria: • 1.6 Effective liaison occurs with training and development specialists and contributes to learning opportunities which enhance individual, team and organisational performance 2. Facilitate and promote learning • 2.1 Strategies are developed to ensure that workplace learning opportunities are used and team members are encouraged to share their skills and knowledge to encourage a learning culture within the team

Who are training & development specialists? Training and development specialists Teams can call on outside supplementary resources in order to meet their objectives. Team members can work with non-members without weakening the teams themselves.

2. Facilitate and promote learning 2.1 Strategies are developed to ensure that workplace learning opportunities are used and team members are encouraged to share their skills and knowledge to encourage a learning culture within the team

Culture of learning ‘Developing a culture of learning—The ability to develop innovative capacity depends not only on the skills of the workforce, but on the internal environment of the enterprise and hence the culture of the workplace. While there is a diversity of ways these cultures can be implemented, an open communication style is an important feature of learning cultures.’ (Australian National Training Authority, 2003)

What strategies can be used to develop and enhance a learning environment in the work place? Start with the team!

The work team is the main focus in… determining workplace behaviour . Teams perform better than individuals acting in isolation when the work is complex (rather than standardised) and the tasks interdependent.

Hence…………….. a successful team must have members who are competent in the technical aspects of the work and who are also suited to the role they play in the team.

Consider a surgical team. The tasks are highly interdependent. It would be almost impossible to imagine the work being done by individuals acting in isolation. It is a team job. Because this team consists mostly of specialists, the skills required must be accurately predicted and the complementary roles carefully assigned. Failure to do this would compromise the team’s performance.

Multiskilling: One way of increasing a team’s technical competence is multiskilling From the team’s viewpoint, the benefits of multiskilling are: • better cooperation, because people better understand others’ tasks and the team’s goals; and • smoother and more reliable output, because people can readily substitute for one another.

From a team member’s viewpoint, multiskilling: • enables a greater contribution to the team; • stimulates more interest in the team’s work; and • increases that person’s versatility so they are more able to adapt to new job requirements. However, too much emphasis on multiskilling can weaken members’ specialised skills, thereby diluting the level of skill available to the team.

Activity 1 Consider the case of the surgical team mentioned earlier. How do you rate multiskilling as a way of increasing a team’s technical competence?

Activity 2 Consider the surgical team again. How would bringing in outside skills affect the team? More than technical skills A successful team must have members who are competent in the technical aspects of the project, however that is achieved. However, a team’s technical competence involves more than a mere aggregation of skills. It needs teamwork skills.

Activity 3:Case Study Read the case study ‘People skills aren’t important, are they?’ Complete the activity.

Activity 3 continued The bank client service team appears to have a high level of technical skills and experience. Team members had been selected specifically for their ability to interact well with the bank’s clients, and continued to provide a professional level of service even though their hearts were not in it. Sandy has detailed financial knowledge and experience, and excellent knowledge of the bank’s operations. The team had been operating very effectively for some time.

Activity 3 continued In a limited sense, the team’s level of technical competence is satisfactory, even though the team lacked cohesion, and morale was low. Sandy’s manager won’t deal with the problems, and probably doesn’t believe that they are real problems anyway. Nor would he like to admit that a mistake had been made in appointing Sandy on the wrong basis. The team members may well be disillusioned because the organisation which selected them with such care evidently believes that, when it comes to team leadership, ‘people skills aren’t important, are they?’

Activity 3 continued In the short term the low morale may be unpleasant, but need not markedly affect the team’s performance. However, in the longer term team members may stop striving for excellence and may ultimately leave. In order to forestall this situation, Sandy must be replaced by someone with leadership and people skills. So ‘technical competence’ means much more than a mere aggregation of skills. It can often be the case of it not being what you know, but how you get along with others .

First-time team members People unused to teamwork may need new skills so that they can function effectively in a work team. This may include help to develop the confidence to handle problems that once could have been passed to managers.

Skills required by team members are how to: • communicate • resolve conflict • analyse and solve problems • set objectives • plan • measure results • take initiative • work unsupervised • adapt to change • be committed to continual improvement • relate effectively to other team members.

First-time team members continued Also, people who have worked for many years under close supervision may have difficulty accepting responsibility for outcomes. Such people will need help in coping with change and developing their potential. Allocating adequate time and resources to equip people to make the proposed changes, and training them to feel confident and perform competently during and after the changes are vital. Recognising and rewarding people who take up the challenge of change and promoting people who perform well in the new circumstances are two useful strategies.

Team building Remember that you and your staff can develop new competencies through both formal and informal development strategies, including: • reading books, magazines, newspaper articles and journals • attending staff development courses • watching television and videos • undertaking refresher courses run by professional associations • completing employer training courses • working with trained employees.

Team building continued Team building is easier when people at all levels are involved in the process. Participation should not be forced on anyone. Where possible people should be allowed to move into the change process at a pace with which they are comfortable. There are many ways in which people can be eased into teamwork and the participation that it entails.

Team building ten point plan for training Complete activity 4 As we’ve discussed, people may need new skills so that they can function effectively in a work team. A variety of activities could be used to ease people into teamwork, depending on the area of improvement. Complete activity 5

Focus on the individual The most successful learning occurs when people think about their own needs and take charge of their own learning. So if you are to provide the best learning opportunities, you need to know why and how peoplelearn.

What motivates us to learn? Learning occurs when individuals acquire new skills, habits, knowledge or attitudes. It involves change which usually means some effort and discomfort. If learning entails effort and discomfort, why do adults do it?

First, curiosity….. • Learning something new is intrinsically interesting. We are inquisitive creatures. We want to know how, when, where and why things happen. Though we may lose some of this inquisitiveness as we grow out of childhood, it is still a strong motivating force.

Secondly, power….. • The power of knowledge is not power over people but power over technology and the power to get things done. We all feel good when we can accomplish something and when we can speak with authority. Knowledge gives status. The reverse is also true in that we feel powerless if we can’t do what we want to do or what is expected of us: ‘I hate having to ask people to show me how to do things all the time; it makes me feel so stupid.’

Thirdly, rewards….. • Many of us undertake training to further our career prospects. We are motivated to learn for a wide variety of reasons including better credentials, missed earlier opportunities, promotion, entry to a new career, more money, change, remedying a perceived deficiency, and re-entry to the workforce.

Direct benefits • As adults we don’t blindly accept that what we are learning will be good for us. We need to see very clearly the connections between what we are learning and its usefulness or benefits. We need to see direct benefits to our work, our lifestyle or our career.

Acquiring resources • What is the relationship between the organisation’s objectives and a learning plan for a particular work area? It is to ensure that staff are correctly trained to meet the objectives of the organisation. • Ideally, training needs should grow out of organisational strategic objectives.

If such needs are to be met,….. • considerable resources are required—direct cost, staff time, trainer time, and facilities. So organisation objectives and individual and team objectives may conflict in the short term. For example, imagine that: • A new customer service system is being installed in three months’ time. It must be fully operational from the first day, otherwise customer service will get worse rather than better. So now is the right time to start training for the new system. Yet the training budget has already been used up.

In these circumstances,…. • organisational objectives would dictate that money be found for the training. • How you rank the importance of demands for training will largely depend upon your interpretation of the organisation’s wishes. The outcome of the prioritising should be a ‘meshing’ of the team training plan and the organisational strategic plan. In practice a training proposal is, like most other management activity, the outcome of a juggling act between short and long term considerations, resource constraints, and the organisation’s objectives.

So the question of acquiring resources… to implement a team learning strategy depends on many factors. We will now discuss them under the headings: • attitudes to training • benefits and costs • session resources.

Attitudes to training • Where there’s a will, there’s a way. It’s not quite as simple as that of course. But if attitudes to training are positive, resources will be much easier to find. • You are aware of the significant benefits that can be derived from training, and yet training does not appear high on the agenda for many Australian companies. So we need to promote training to overcome the barriers we encounter in the workplace towards it. In some organisations there has been resistance to training because it is seen as yet another organisational change.

Resistance to change • All organisations are undergoing change, often brought about by external forces and at an increasing rate. There has been considerable change in Australian workplaces, and along with that change there has been resistance. Change often upsets power hierarchies, it threatens established positions, and it creates uncertainty.

Activity 6: Barriers to training

Direct cost. • Training can be expensive, particularly if employees are taken off the job and outside trainers are employed. Such costs should be seen as legitimate investments which will eventually produce a return.

Time pressure • With targets to be met, work piling up, and no replacement for employees on leave, we are reluctant to undertake any additional activities, including training. Even though training may be the very thing we need to enable us to cope with this increasing workload, we are reluctant to take time out to train. This dilemma can only be overcome by all parties being convinced of the value of the training, and by it being provided in the most time-efficient manner.

Time lag before benefits of training are evident • Some training will have immediate benefits, such as that associated with the introduction of a new piece of equipment. Other training, such as that focusing on generic skills such as literacy and numeracy or teamwork, may take a much longer time to produce obvious benefits. So the benefits of training may be medium to long term. Yet many managers want quick results and are reluctant to invest in something which might not show short-term benefits. You may be able to counter any resistance on this basis by keeping good records and by conducting periodic evaluations of training.

A change in workplace culture…. • ….that is really what training is trying to achieve—often takes between five and ten years to accomplish. This means that a lot of patience and perseverance is required, especially by senior managers and directors who are often expected to respond to every short-term whim of the share markets.

Benefits and costs • We noted earlier that training needs should grow out of organisational strategic objectives. Therefore the perceived benefits and costs should be evaluated on the same basis. In other words, if, in the light of organisational objectives, the benefits of training are perceived to be much greater than the costs, training is a good investment. Under these circumstances, resources can usually be found. • As we have seen, there are some costs to training, and some resistance to it, But before weighing the benefits and costs, let’s look a little more closely at the overall benefits.

Activity 7 Local council Case Study • Participation in such a training program probably has enormous potential to boost morale of the works supervisors. • What effect, if any, would the fact that the supervisors instigated the course themselves have on the outcomes? • Can trainers subtly use intangible outcomes as an incentive to both support and undertake training?

Other than improving supervisory skills, other outcomes might include: • the establishment of networks between works supervisors from various authorities • an increase in the status of the role of supervisor • a sense amongst the candidates of being valued • an increase in self-esteem of the candidates • more people wanting to become works supervisors • some candidates going on to further education and training.

Activity 8 • The positive points that you could have promoted would include: • strong likelihood of increased workgroup productivity • better interpersonal work relationships • continuous improvement process implemented, giving increased quality • likelihood of improved customer service and customer relations • personal benefits for staff by up-skilling, which should increase morale • possibility of flexibility of training delivery to reduce downtime.

Activity 8 continued • Show your management team how the training you want to offer will help to achieve the organisational goals in an appropriate period of time. Show the positive outcomes of the proposed training. Explain to management why you need to provide training, how you can offer it with minimum disruption to production or service.

Australian National Training Authority, 2003 Refer to article: ‘What makes for good workplace learning?’ NCVER (National Centre for Vocational Education Research) Summarise the article for next week.

Develop Workplace Learning Environment