In previous posts we discussed some of the issues involved in preparing and holding your first TWI workshops. In Part 6, we will discuss the actions most helpful for following up and reinforcing the skills learned in the workshops. We will focus on three main areas in this post:
1. Picking the tasks to train – the Training Timetable
2. Self-Efficacy and Coaching
3. Practice, Practice, Practice

One of the most critical keys to a successful TWI implementation, especially if you start with JI, is to target the tasks that will give the most impact on your project’s objectives. During the workshop, you or the leader of the target area should have completed a Training Timetable. That timetable should focus on the tasks that are currently causing you your quality, productivity, cost or safety issues. If you haven’t made a timetable for the target area, do so. Do it before you start practicing making breakdowns or using the 4-Step Method. The timetable is critical to success – it focuses your efforts and drives progress by forcing you to plan who should be trained on which tasks by what dates. The training timetable becomes your implementation roadmap. Using the training timetable also models for the rest of the organization use of one of the three main tools of the JI program.

The next critical task is to develop self-efficacy in the two to four people you designated as the primary trainers for target area. Self-efficacy is just a fancy word used to describe the confidence one has in their ability to accomplish a task. After a 10-hour workshop the participants have been exposed to the tools and techniques of the program, have seen over ten examples of the 4-step method and even demonstrated the techniques once themselves. However, to learn a skill takes practice and one workshop is usually not enough practice for someone to become confident in their abilities to perform the task, especially in using it to teach their peers who may be skeptical or resistant to the approach. Don’t expect everyone to train with JI just because they’ve attended a workshop and you’ve told them to use it. You will have to coach and mentor them. Once they develop the confidence in their own skills they will then be more willing to independently use the techniques to train their team members.

The third key to successful implementation is practice, practice, practice. In Matthew Syed’s book, Bounce, he states that it takes about 10,000 hours to master a complex skill. We’re not saying you need to practice 10,000 hours to become an expert JI trainer, but we do think it takes a lot of practice. Syed also cautions that it must be “purposeful” practice. Purposeful practice requires a strategy that focuses the efforts on the task at hand. To gain this focus it should have a strong feedback component. And lastly, the trainer must have a desire to learn and apply the method (see Part 3 – Who Should Be In the Training?)

Your purposeful practice should start with your training timetable. Determine the most important tasks required for you to achieve the improvement objectives for the target area. Have your two to four designated trainers do job breakdowns on them. Before making another breakdown, have them teach each other the tasks using the breakdowns, the get ready points and the JI 4-step method. Encourage them to give each other feedback. Was the instructor prepared? Was the work area prepared with the necessary items for training? Were the important steps clear and in logical order? Did you hit all the key points to do the job? Were the reasons for key points clear? How did the learner do in step 3? Did they miss anything? Use that feedback to improve the preparation and the breakdown. Think about how delivery of the instruction and use of the 4-steps can be improved. After some reflection and making the necessary improvements, practice on someone in the target area. Again, this person should be identified on the training timetable. Have the instructors observe each other’s training and offer suggestions for improvement. In less than a week of this purposeful training, I have seen people gain the confidence in their skills to proactively use the JI program in their training. I have also seen it result in tangible improvements in the performance results of the area and progress toward achieving the project goals.

In summary, application of the Job Instruction program will not happen just because you ran everyone though a 10-hour workshop. You need to develop a training timetable that drives purposeful practice in making breakdowns, preparing for the training and then using the 4-step method to train the learner. Only through practice will your trainers become confident in their skills and begin to proactively and autonomously use the JI tools and techniques for improving the performance of your organization.

In our next post, we will discuss what the leader can do to coach, mentor and motivate his team to use the JI techniques for train and improve the performance of the team.