Training opportunities—Part two

Editor's note: This is the second article in a two-part series devoted to the importance of training within a roofing business. "Training opportunities—Part one" appeared in the August issue, page 42.

No one accurately can predict how a business will fare in the long term. But if you are determined to maintain a fiscally fit business, committing to a well-planned training program can be critical to your company's long-term success. A comprehensive training program can improve employees' commitments to craftsmanship, safety, customer service and winning sales strategies. Proactive training also can reduce unforeseen risks.

Once a commitment to training is made, there are five principal steps you should follow to develop a successful training program: assess training needs, design a training strategy, develop training, implement training and evaluate the training's effectiveness. This article will explain these necessary steps to help you implement a successful training program that can increase your employees' commitment to your business' success.

Assess needs

When developing a training program, most of your time will be spent assessing employees' training needs. The more thorough you are during this stage, the more likely your training efforts will succeed.

Your training program should focus on correcting performance gaps, which occur when employees' performances fail to meet expectations; discovering their causes; and establishing training goals.

To identify performance gaps, list the specific areas of your business you believe do not meet expectations. For example, one crew may be unusually slow at installing perimeter edge details.

The next step is to identify a performance gap's cause. There are five causes for performance gaps: expectations are not clearly communicated; a company has inadequate resources; employees lack motivation; workers are not suited for their jobs; and workers do not know how to perform their jobs. More than one cause sometimes contributes to a performance gap.

To identify a performance gap's cause, separately interview all personnel involved with a performance gap, including foremen, journeymen, apprentices, helpers and office staff if necessary. Ask each employee to describe how he is involved with the questionable task. It also is important to ask each employee how he believes he is performing the task. His answer may reveal a lack of motivation is the performance gap's cause.

For example, if the foreman of the slow crew is asked about edge detail work, he may mention his crew members install most of the edge details the same way on every job. He also may reveal workers install edge details as they were taught when installing a proprietary roof system. After separately interviewing the workers, you may discover improper installation of the edge detail is the performance gap's cause.

Once you have ascertained performance gaps' causes, determine your expectations for proper performance. But keep your expectations realistic. If expectations are too high, you unknowingly could lower employees' morale. In addition, employees will perform consistently if expectations are clearly communicated during each job.

When you are ready to implement your training procedures, you will need to explain your performance objectives to your management staff. An objective clearly should state how you expect employees to perform. When writing an objective, include an action, condition and criteria.

Using the edge detail example, you might write the following performance objective: "As a result of training, the crew will safely [condition] strip in [action] perimeter edge details at an average rate of 500 feet (152 m) per day [criteria]."

Design a strategy

Now that you have identified performance gaps and their causes, as well as determined realistic outcomes, you can begin designing a training strategy, which simply identifies your approach to preventing and overcoming performance gaps. Your strategy should include compliance with regulatory training requirements, such as Occupational Safety and Health Administration or Environmental Protection Agency training and documentation procedures.

After you have completed a thorough assessment of all performance gaps, list the performance gaps by categories, such as roof system installation issues, office operations issues, sales and marketing issues, safety issues and others. By categorizing performance gaps, patterns may emerge that indicate a specific problem area. For example, you might realize poor equipment maintenance procedures were causing a performance gap instead of crew members' performances, which you had suspected.

To help employees overcome performance gaps, review all information collected in the assessment phase; contrast it with the performance objectives; and determine what type of training could help achieve the objectives.

For example, say the slow crew installs 300 feet (91 m) of edge details per day. By contrasting this with your 500-foot- (152-m-) per-day performance objective, you determine there is a performance gap of about 200 feet (61 m) per day. You also know the crew is using an installation technique that requires more time. The appropriate training in this situation would be a hands-on training session about properly installing edge details.

You also should review tasks in which performance gaps exist and evaluate how the tasks serve your company's mission and vision. If a task does not serve your company's mission or vision, you may have identified a task you should eliminate from your operations.

Develop training

After you identify what training techniques are required to overcome a performance gap, you must select the appropriate training materials and training media likely to have the greatest effect on employees. Appropriate training media may include a classroom lecture combined with a procedural video, hands-on practice, a mentoring program or technical software training. More than one training tool may be appropriate.

You may discover your employees are particularly receptive to certain training media. For example, Hamlin Roofing Co. Inc., Garner, N.C., uses video-based training modules to train its workers.

"We always look for training information modules," says Michele Baker, human resources manager for Hamlin Roofing. "Toolbox talks are great, and we use them a lot. We also use NRCA training videos and U.S. Department of Labor training videos."

Once you have identified appropriate training materials and training media, develop a consistent training schedule—not a program only used during days with inclement weather. Only holding training sessions during inclement weather will not likely generate the same results as a consistent training schedule.

A consistent training schedule will demonstrate your training commitment to employees and provide direct use of learned skills and increased retention.

And your commitment will help employees respond more positively to a regular, dependable structure of workshops, seminars, etc. You will notice higher levels of participation from employees when they know you are committed to improving their success.

For example, Mark South, service division manager of Ephrata, Pa.-based Gooding, Simpson & Mackes Inc., says his company's apprenticeship program helps his workers.

South states: "We've had about eight people go through our apprenticeship program in the past two years. The safety director selects trainees for the program, which runs from September through April, two nights per week, two hours per night. Once the guys are done with the training, they are much more confident."

If you have a job with extraordinary technical challenges pending, a series of training sessions should be implemented before starting the project to help workers better meet the challenges. Training significantly will increase productivity compared with relying on trial and error during projects.

Once you have determined how you want training to proceed, consider the design and development costs of a training session, as well as material and administration costs. Direct costs include purchasing training materials, a training instructor's salary, training room and audiovisual rental fees, mock construction costs, food and beverages, utilities costs and possible trainee stipends, as well as others. An example of an indirect cost is lost production time.

Although formal employee training may seem cost-prohibitive, many prudent business owners now understand the old adage "you have to spend money to make money." After all, a comprehensive training strategy has the potential to save considerable time and money because it addresses predictable performance gaps, such as a lack of skills, before they occur.

"When we budget, we sort out what kind of training we want to do with the various groups in the company," says Barbara Dalsin, president of M & S Roofing Inc., Blaine, Minn., and vice president of John A. Dalsin & Son Inc., Minneapolis. "We know we will spend more some years than others depending on employees' needs."

When budgeting, you also will need to determine a suitable location for the type of training you will be conducting. Locations may include mock roof systems in a warehouse or yard, a classroom in your facility, or a rented room at a local community college or hotel. Consider the learning activities that will occur during the training before deciding on a location for conducting training sessions.

A training session facilitator should practice leading a training session and ensure materials are properly prepared and audiovisual equipment is working. If a session is disrupted because audiovisual equipment isn't working or an instructor doesn't understand a teaching guide, employees quickly may lose interest in the training session.

Implement training

When you are ready to implement your training program, you should meet with your management staff to explain performance objectives and how the program will work, including management's roles.

Management also should know how employees will be encouraged to participate. Incentives can motivate staff—incentives can be especially effective when changing employees' attitudes and behaviors.

John Gooding, chairman of the board for Gooding, Simpson & Mackes, explains: "When our employees arrive for night training, we provide a meal. And at the end of their training period, employees get an automatic dollar-per-hour wage increase. But the employees have to make the commitment."

Evaluate effectiveness

After a training session is complete, you should ask students involved with the training whether they understood and liked the training and ask supervisors whether changes in behaviors relating to students' jobs have occurred.

You also should monitor productivity results and compare them with the training objectives you established. By comparing the value of increased productivity with the amount spent on training, you can determine whether your company receives a return on its training investment.

A less tangible benefit of a good training program is increased employee morale.

After training is implemented, take notes when you observe changes in employees' behaviors and attitudes toward their jobs no matter how insignificant the changes may seem. Review these notes after six months and one year of training and evaluate the effect training has had on company morale.

Also, collect data from the past three years regarding tasks that have performance gaps to compare with data collected after training. Continuously monitor your training efforts so worker training can be modified to more effectively meet the performance objectives.

Start your strategy

Performance gaps are preventable if you provide a consistent training effort that allows employees' skills in safety, installation techniques, sales or marketing, and general operating procedures to be kept current and well-honed.

Training also commits employees to your company because you are investing in their futures. Well-trained, efficient employees who believe they have stakes in a company are far more likely to succeed and remain in your employ. When it comes to building fiscal fitness, the real muscle is your employees. And more often than not, employees will take their cues from your commitment level.

Peter Greenbaum is NRCA's manager of education programs, and John Schehl is NRCA's director of training.

Training resources

If you do not have the staff to provide in-house training, you should consider outsourcing your company's training programs and materials. There are many training consultants available for general organizational and human-resource development.

You should interview several consultants to get a sense of their understanding of the roofing industry and performance issues. Performance issues in the roofing industry are unique and require a level of expertise typically not found in general business consulting.

There are professional organizations that provide referrals for performance and organizational development consulting specialists, including the American Society of Training and Development (ASTD) and International Society for Performance Improvement (ISPI). ASTD and ISPI have local chapters that can provide references. To contact ASTD, call (703) 683-8100 or visit its Web site, www.astd.org. To contact ISPI, call (301) 587-8570 or visit its Web site, www.ispi.org. In addition, NRCA provides consulting services that specifically focus on the roofing industry.