TRAINING OR SUPERVISION: Determining the Root Cause of Performance Compliance Issues

1. TRAINING OR SUPERVISION:Determining the Root Cause of Performance Compliance Issues Sandra Ray, CIRS 2-1-1 Texas/United Way Helpline United Way of Greater Houston

2. Workshop Objectives Assess the training needs of employees Review learning styles for adults Determine how learning styles affect retention of information Evaluation employee training retention Apply appropriate supervisory intervention

3. Assess Training Needs of Employees • Organizational Assessment measures effectiveness of organization • Where training is needed • Conditions it is conducted (laws, economy, costs, technology, changes in the organization, etc.) • Occupational Assessment measures the task or the job • What does the job description say? • What are the KPI’s?

4. What’s In Your Toolbox?

5. Assessing Training Needs of Employees (cont.) • Individual Assessment measures performance within the job role • Performance appraisal • Performance issues • Methods include observation, silent monitoring, questionnaires, checklist, etc. • U.S. Office of Personnel Management – sample tool where you can go through an assessment for ideas • www.csc.noaa.gov/needs/

6. Is it the Job/Task or the Individual? • Organization has developed goals/expectations & employees are informed of this direction. • If there is a change in the organization, this is company-wide. • If it’s a change in how to perform a task, it’s training the group of employees expected to perform the task. • If the assessments indicate that most of the employees are responding, then it’s an individual issue. • More training? • Supervision/Discipline issue • Areas that can’t be addressed through training or discipline

7. Brief Review of Adult Learning Styles • Visual Learner • Images, pictures, color and other visual media help learn • Use color, layout and spatial organization (visual words) • Auditory Learner • Use sound, rhyme and music in learning • Use sound recordings to provide background to help visualize • Kinesthetic Learner • Physical style • Use touch, action, movement & hands-on work

8. Learning Style Assessment

9. Do Learning Styles Affect Memory Retention? • Sometimes motivation adults have for learning is more important than learning style: • Goal Oriented – my boss told me to be here • Activity Oriented – I’ll go to any training that gets me “off the phone” • Learning Oriented – I just like to learn

10. How Do People Learn • Two channels to process information • Visual • Auditory • Memory is limited • Learning occurs by active processing in the memory system • New knowledge & skills retrieved from long-term memory to transfer to demonstrated skills on the job Clark, Ruth Colvin and Mayer, Richard E. e-Learning and the Science of Instruction. Jossey-Bass/Pfeiffer, 2003, 35-42.

11. How Memory is Formed

12. 12 Principles for Effective Adult Learning Needs Assessment: Participation of the learner in naming what is to be learned. Safety in the environment between teacher and learner for learning and development. A sound relationship between teacher and learner for learning and development. Careful attention to sequence of content and reinforcement. Praxis: Action with reflection or learning by doing.

13. 12 Principles for Effective Adult Learning (cont.) • Respect for learners as subjects of their own learning. • Cognitive, affective, and psychomotor aspects: ideas, feelings, actions. • Immediacy of the learning. • Clear roles and role development. • Teamwork: Using small groups. • Engagement of the learners in what they are learning. • Accountability: How do they know they know? Vella, J. Learning to Listen, Learning to Teach. San Francisco: Jossey – Bass, 3-22.

14. Measuring Training Retention in Employees • Two elements to consider: • Perceived Learning – what the learner thinks they’ve learned • Demonstrated Learning – how the learner performs the elements included in the training

15. Perceived Learning Post-training surveys/questionnaires Quizzes given at the time of the training Class/Learner discussions

16. Demonstrated Learning Observations Reports Follow-Up Survey to test knowledge retention and possibly cultural sensitivity of how the information is received Call Monitoring

17. They Know It…BUT… • Before developing a new training or re-training an employee, test for knowledge retention and demonstration • Survey • Group Discussion • Reports

18. Do They REALLY Know It? Perception ISreality – I&R Rule #1 when working with callers applies to employees too. The employee’s perception of the material is incorrect or not correctly processed Follow-up surveys demonstrate only partial learning of material Perhaps the key concept was retained, but the components that are needed to demonstrate knowledge are missing.

19. How Can I Decide When and/or How to Retrain? • Larger Group demonstrates wide discrepancy between training and demonstration of the skill • Follow-up with Small Groups after large group training • Not everyone will ask questions in a large group. • Can assess who is struggling with concepts. • Offers opportunities for role-plays where group members can help one another • One-On-One – anyone who appears to struggle with the concepts in large or small group trainings & may need additional attention.

20. If It’s Not Training…It’s Time for Supervision After all the training & retraining, it may be time for a supervision discussion with the employee.

21. Supervision Example #1 • Funding requirement – ask every caller a specific question & record response. • Training takes place in large groups, small groups, and one-on-one. Surveys indicate 100% of specialists understand the requirement. • Call monitoring/coaching sessions reveal an employee is not complying – and tells coach he does not plan to comply. • Employee believes callers are asked too many required questions. • Believes it is up to caller to self-disclose.

22. Supervision Example #2 • High performing bilingual employee begins to exhibit issues shortly after learning new program requirements. • Retraining and coaching are provided. During retraining and coaching, employee is able to perform all tasks with low error rate. Issues remain when employee answers calls. • When questioned, employee admits to high level of verbal abuse by English speakers due to his Spanish accent. • Employee did not experience until working for short period of time on overnight shifts. • Even though has returned to day shift and issue is not continuing, high level of anxiety remains. • Employee admits he did not share with employer – he was not sure if anything could be done to solve issue.

23. Example 1 vs. Example 2 • Example 1: Supervisor intervention needed: • Performance Improvement Plan • Employee’s personal beliefs interfere with compliance. • I&R program is in jeopardy of losing funding as a result of non-compliance. • Employee was reminded he could share with supervisors if he disagreed with a procedure as a means of venting frustration. • Example 2, Supervisor intervention needed: • No amount of training can change the employee’s accent • Organization is at risk if issue is not addressed (hostile workplace, harassment, etc.) • Supervisor moves employee to answering Spanish only calls • Supervisor provides approved off-phone work for times when employee is feeling high amount of anxiety.

24. Performance Improvement Plans (PIP) • When issues are related to supervision, develop a performance improvement plan. • Consider your agency’s personnel policies/procedures • PIP needs (at minimum) to include following elements: • State precisely why performance is inadequate/unacceptable • State exactly how employee can comply with expected performance • Specify time period for expected improvement • Specify that continued poor performance has adverse consequences.

25. After PIP: Can an Employee Turn Around Performance? • Absolutely! • Employee may be testing “boundaries” of the supervisor or organization • Employee may not grasp fully reasoning behind a decisions or why personal decisions are not allowed to influence judgment (example 1) • Some employees need more structure in work environment • I&R by nature is a creative profession • Employees who need more structure can rely on information in PIP to make decisions about future performance.

26. Questions/Comments? Sandra Ray, CIRS Manager, Information & Referral 2-1-1 Texas/United Way Helpline United Way of Greater Houston sray@unitedwayhouston.org 713-685-2469