Despite training, employees don’t do what they’ve been trained to do
“What am I supposed to do when employees don’t follow the training they have received? We’ve invested in lift assist equipment to minimize physical lifting of heavy products. All of our employees have received training on how and when to use the lift assist equipment and we continue to train on safe lifting techniques for instances when the use of lift equipment isn’t possible but employees still choose to physically lift nearly everything and still use poor lifting techniques.”
This is a question I received from a client recently.
Training employees on how to do something does not always translate into doing that something. So, what do you do when employees don’t “listen”?
Basically you have three choices:
1. Use the “stick” approach and punish for lack of policy compliance
2. Try other strategies to get them to follow through on what they were trained to do
3. Seek to understand the reasons behind the lack of doing following the training
The first option is strictly abiding by performance expectations and enforcing your rules.
The second option is dealing with symptoms.
The third option is dealing with the cause.
Fixing a problem can only be attained by knowing the cause. Therefore, if this lack of following through after training, is a problem (and indeed it definitely is), which of the three options above would you choose?
There is a cost and benefit to each:
Option 1 costs include:
-Potentially demoting or firing the employee leaving staff shortage
-Eroding the relationship between you and the employees and making it worse
Option 1 benefits:
-It can be implemented quickly
-You may get short term compliance by others when they see punishment being carried out
Option 2 costs include:
- Wasting time on strategies that will exacerbate the problem
-Continuing to erode the relationship between you and the employees, making it worse
Option 2 benefits:
-It can be implemented quickly
-You may get short term compliance to move something forward
Option 3 costs include:
-Investment of time and energy to drill down to the root cause and understand the employees’ position
-Having a difficult conversation about other’s behavior comes with uncertainty and fear, and it, too may make the relationship worse if not done properly
-Having to face the potential difficult reality that your training techniques/practices are contributing to the problem
Option 3 benefits:
-Fixing the problem so you won’t have to deal with it any longer
-Builds more positive, productive working relationships and safe work environment
As always, the choice you take is yours.
Which would you choose?