Operational excellence is how an organization continuously improves its business processes and practices. It’s a methodology to help organizations reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction. Businesses and professionals apply it to streamline a business process, optimize a process to reduce waste, or implement a new system to get an organization’s employees on the same page.
This practice is also known as Lean Six Sigma, Continuous Improvement, and Operational Transformation. OpEx Learning platforms are excellent for organizations willing to make their operational processes best in class, efficient and effective by changing their current business processes and developing their people.
The training is the stepping stone to developing new practices and processes that embed data-driven decision-making into an organization’s culture.
1. Training Objective
What OpEx Learning goals are you trying to accomplish by the training? Are you looking for support in driving improvement projects?
Do you need customer-centricity skills to align the organization with what customers value most? Or do you want help in developing a culture of innovation?
2. Target Audience
The next step is to determine who needs to attend the training and their current roles in the organization. Are you trying to build a sense of shared responsibility?
Do you want employees at all levels to ensure day-to-day operations are efficient and effective? Or do you need specific help with continuous improvement or problem-solving?
3. Training Delivery Method
Once you have determined the training objectives and the target audience, the next step is to choose a training delivery method. Here are some options:
In-Person
If in-person training works best, your choices for platforms include face-to-face workshops or on-site training. Suppose you are trying to develop shared responsibility across the organization for lean practices.
In that case, you may want to host training events or encourage employees to attend workshops that teach concepts, skills, and procedures required for success in their role.
If your target audience is at different levels within an organization, consider running training sessions with actual content but encouraging Q&A.
Online
A virtual training platform will be most effective if your target audience is across multiple locations or time zones. You can deliver content through pre-recorded modules or live webinars available on demand.
With an online training system, employees can log in at any time to view content or participate in live training sessions. You can also distribute self-directed modules or videos so that all employees can access the same information at their own pace.
Self-paced and asynchronous options provide more flexibility and convenience than live delivery systems through webinars or in-person workshops.
4. Training Approach
Once you establish the training delivery method, you need to choose an approach. Here are some options:
Skill Building
An OpEx Learning platform can help employees learn new skills required for operational excellence. The system allows companies to track competency development and measure employee progress over time.
The training resources available on a learning management system can include self-paced modules, live webinars, and on-demand videos.
Team Learning
Another option is team learning, where employees participate in collaborative courses or projects. This approach to training helps build a culture of innovation and gives all employees the chance to enable change together with support from their peers.
Team learning approaches range from casual discussion forums to facilitated project sessions.
Achievement Tracking
Once your employees complete training, you will need to track the results and measure success. You can determine which employees have completed a course by checking their competency profiles on an OpEx Learning platform.
Once you establish that certain employees have completed a specific training course, they can earn certificates or badges that recognize their skills. By rewarding employees with achievement badges, you can also encourage further learning.
5. Administrator Controls
Consider administrator controls once you have established the training delivery method and approach. Here are some options:
Pre-Work
An operational excellence learning platform can help you determine which employees should participate in a specific course. For example, managers may want to assess their employees’ readiness before sending them to a facilitated workshop or virtual classroom.
Course Availability
After you have set up courses, employees can access them on demand. Scheduling should be flexible to accommodate various levels in the organization and time zone differences.
Administrator controls can enable you to open or close available courses according to your scheduling preferences. You may want to keep some courses closed when course materials are updated while making other courses available on-demand.
Quotas
Administrator controls can also enable you to track the number of users or limit course access if you have limited resources. For example, quotas can help companies avoid spending too much money on new training initiatives without tangible results.
If employees are not actively engaged in online learning or taking advantage of the available courses, you may want to re-evaluate your training approach.
Wrapping Up
When training employees, you want to provide a range of options and focus on the right approach for your organization.