Training IS a Best Practice – Not Just a Component

Staying abreast of best practices isn’t enough.  You also need to know how to implement the fundamentals.  

A report by AIIM/IBM on business process management (BPM) took a look at issues experienced by organizations implementing BPM.  Top of the list: underestimating the process and organizational issues (45%); lack of staff knowledge and training (41%), excessive scope creep (29%).  And, this in not confined to BPM.  The take-away, what you don’t know will hurt you.

Many organizations may consider training a high priority.  However, management and employees rarely have the time or understand how to get the proper training.  Simply reading trade books and articles or attending event seminars and college courses is not enough.  Management and employees need hands-on and micro-seminars that focus on building the analytic skills and innovation techniques that bridge the gap between high level ideas and take it to practice.  High-level content needs to be tailored to the company’s issues and environment.

In the three issues listed above, training is core to the pain felt in underestimating process and organization issues, and …

Staying abreast of best practices isn’t enough.  You also need to know how to implement the fundamentals.  

A report by AIIM/IBM on business process management (BPM) took a look at issues experienced by organizations implementing BPM.  Top of the list: underestimating the process and organizational issues (45%); lack of staff knowledge and training (41%), excessive scope creep (29%).  And, this in not confined to BPM.  The take-away, what you don’t know will hurt you.

Many organizations may consider training a high priority.  However, management and employees rarely have the time or understand how to get the proper training.  Simply reading trade books and articles or attending event seminars and college courses is not enough.  Management and employees need hands-on and micro-seminars that focus on building the analytic skills and innovation techniques that bridge the gap between high level ideas and take it to practice.  High-level content needs to be tailored to the company’s issues and environment.

In the three issues listed above, training is core to the pain felt in underestimating process and organization issues, and scope creep.  Pain is felt because most learning is being done on the job after business requirements and requests come in.  Instead, project leaders and subject matter experts need to educate themselves on process, tools and the implementation scenarios within their environment to focus on the right inquiries during the business analysis phase prior to project launch.  

Training is also necessary for successful implementation.   In many cases, training is an afterthought of the project and inadequate.   Change in processes or the implementation of new tools can be difficult for end-users and can take 6 month of more for people to be proficient and effective.  Comprehensive training along with appropriate documentation and reference tools will make the transition faster and smoother helping you realize improvement and ROI sooner.

How to Leverage Training

Analysis Proficiency:  People should understand scenario based analysis and how to use tools, data, and inquiry techniques to align best practices to internal business environments.  Examine processes and pain-points with possible next steps accounting for various methods that fit your business, goals, and capabilities.

Right-sourcing:  Training resources need to be tailored to closing gaps between generic concepts and internal practice.  Micro-seminars and peer-reviews focusing on specifics within like organizations with similar problems will help develop and refine road-maps.

Future-casting:  Once abreast of new practices and solutions that align to your business, start training.  You’ll most likely have an idea of business requirements and hurdles that lead you to finding value in a concept.  Get smart before you begin the project.

Hire an Expert:  If you are truly re-engineering, have an expert(s) on the project to represent the business and technical aspects to be the go-to for in project training.  They can help with scenarios, alignment, analysis, and solution decisions that streamline a project and position for success.