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CONTINUING ED A SUPPLEMENT OF THE ZWEIG LETTER There’s never ‘more time’ for education Leaders are responsible for making sure that their employees have the training they need to succeed. O P I N I O N M any business leaders automatically assume people in their organization can do anything. You give them a task, and they’ll go back to their desk and perform said task. But things don’t always work out that way, especially in a growing company, where the requisite skills are always changing.
BILL MURPHEY
Some years ago, I taught a course on logistics planning that, among many things, involved entering data into an overly complicated, cloud- based system. I was excited about teaching this particular course, because at the end of the week- long program, my team of instructors and I had engineered a complex, hands-on exercise that required our students to put theory into practice. In my classroom, I had students from several organizations and multiple levels of the corporate ladder. We had everyone from directors to data analysts in the course, which made for an interesting time as an instructor accounting for a wide range of education and skill levels. “Sometimes, the real problem is that as leaders, we fail our people by neglecting to ensure they have the education and training needed to be successful.” The practical exercise was designed to be difficult. As the simulation progressed, we threw many challenges at the students to teach them about flexibility and agility when dealing with clients. A carrier missed a pickup, forcing a reshuffling of already tight schedules. Bad weather forced cancelations and affected future schedules. Painful? Yes, but also realistic. The students were sweating, and tempers began to flare as they feverishly worked to coordinate new schedules with their clients under compressed timelines. And that’s where the first crack appeared. One of the manager-level students began criticizing a data analyst for not doing as he directed. When the young man informed his
supervisor he didn’t understand what was being asked of him, the manager yelled, “Just do what I told you to do!” and stormed out of the room, puzzled why this young analyst couldn’t understand simple direction. That was my cue to chat with the young analyst to better understand the situation. When asked why he didn’t understand the manager’s directions, the young man revealed he had never actually been trained to use that particular computer system, so he truly didn’t know how to complete the task. That’s when I tracked down the manager and learned he had never attended a leadership training course, as evidenced by his ineffective leadership approach, and that neither the manager nor the analyst had been formally trained to do their job. I also learned a few lessons along the way regarding education and training that have stuck with me over the years. Set the conditions for success. Leaders are respon- sible for ensuring their people have everything they need to succeed. It starts with education. We don’t hand a child a bicycle and say “go” without teaching them how to actually ride the bike. So, why do we expect project managers to be successful without first providing them with formal education on the complexities of the position? Manage your employees’ capabilities. I keep a spreadsheet of every qualification my employees hold and every course they have attended. I update it every month and constantly refer to it. I’ve found it to be a handy reference for when I need to assign a new project to someone. By having a firm grasp of my employees’ capabilities – and limitations – I can ensure my next project manager has the training needed before they launch into the next big project.
See BILL MURPHEY, page 8
THE ZWEIG LETTER NOVEMBER 16, 2015, ISSUE 1128
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