25th July 2012, 11:51 AM
Martin Locock Wrote:It's easy to assume that training = down time + external courses + cost; as long as the occasions when someone is working and needs advice are seen as an opportunity rather than a distraction then it is possible to upskill the staff over time without a major interruption.
Nicely put, and that's exactly what I was talking about at both FAME Forum and the DF/Prospect conference. The paper is a 'part 2' to my article in The Archaeologist and sets out how to achieve this on site at minimal cost, it will be published later in the year.
Employers do need to give the commitment to include time for mentoring and training, although this needn't be much, and should be able to be mostly done on the job. You need to support those that have to provide training (whether supervisors or site assistants, or 'specialists') and give them the time to develop the skills they will need. They will benefit from giving training/mentoring as well as those being trained. Employers need to explicitly support the 'trainers', in time and resources and in a changed culture on site and in the office, this isn't really being addressed at the moment in many units. What I aimed to do with my handouts, training sessions, toolbox talks, specialist talks and the like was to semi-formally embed learning and discussion within the working week, and to create resources for training so that 'trainers' had more structured resources to use in sessions, and there was an evolving and expanding manual/encyclopaedia for all staff to refer to and add to.
A key use of on-site training can be to allow staff to get an insight into the Big Picture, and into What Happens Next, and to therefore prepare them for any career progression they might choose to pursue. Training people up in advance of any progression so that they have an awareness of where they might want to progress to.
Unit, do you believe in the Peter Principle, or the Dilbert Principle?