Skill Builders

The Hard Facts on Soft Skills: Workforce training can improve management and operational performance

By Mary Louise Ray

Bob is the best metal bender on the manufacturing floor. He has been with the company since it started – more than 10 years on the job. When a new employee is added to the manufacturing line, Bob always trains them because there is no one else in the company who knows more about the job than Bob.

Therefore, senior management has decided to reward Bob for his years of service by promoting him to a supervisory position.

But is promoting Bob the right move for the company? Is it the right move for Bob? Will his experience in his current position be useful to him in his new role as a leader? If the people he manages have a conflict – will he have the skills to help them work through the problem? Is team building in his skill set?

The fact is that Bob's lack of leadership experience may ultimately cause him to fail in his supervisory position.

"You frequently see the Peter Principle in action," says Lee Kraus, Workforce Catalyst at the Catalyst Connection Industrial Resource Center (IRC) in Pittsburgh. He refers to the theory advanced by Laurence Peter that posits that employees within an organization will advance to their highest level of competence and then be promoted to and remain at a level at which they are incompetent.

Linda Weaver, Manufacturing Business Advisor of the Industrial Modernization Center (IMC) IRC in Williamsport agrees: "It is very traditional to elevate a person to a supervisory position to reward them for their performance. But then we don't train them to do the job."

For that reason, Pennsylvania's Industrial Resource Centers have developed a variety of workforce training services to help small- and medium-sized manufacturers give their employees the skills necessary for successful leadership.

Defining Workforce Training
"Workforce training" is an umbrella term that encompasses a wide variety of educational programs for incumbent workers. Traditional workforce training is often focused on teaching employees new "hard skills," such as training them in a new technology. It can also include the introduction of new production or workflow methods, such as Lean manufacturing principles and the Six Sigma methodology.

While mastering hard skills is mandatory for success (both for the employee and the company), hard skills are just a part of building a successful business. Management personnel must also master the "soft skills" necessary for managing and growing the business.

What are soft skills? Soft skills are business skills such as communication, leadership, project and time management, conflict resolution and team building. Soft skills training is not limited to management personnel, however. For example, improved communication skills among all employees would benefit a company. And in the case of "open-book" companies, where all employees are given access to the company's financial records, soft skills training in financial literacy would improve the employees' ability to understand a balance sheet and thus, may increase their personal investment in the success of the company.

While mastering soft skills may contribute to the personal development of any individual, small- and medium-sized manufacturers are particularly in need of soft skills training for the professional development of their management personnel. "We have a lot of [client companies] that really need soft skills training," adjudges Weaver.

Overcoming Old Management Styles
A dictatorial, authoritarian management style used to be a common approach in the manufacturing sector. The person in charge barked orders to subordinates, who were expected to fall in line. The result of this management style is typically unhappy employees who are not invested in the success of the company, are resistant to change, and are more likely to quit their jobs.

Competitive, successful manufactures have left the authoritarian approach behind and have embraced management styles that promote a team-oriented approach. According to Tony Girifalco, Executive Vice President of the Delaware Valley Industrial Resource Center (DVIRC) in Philadelphia, "The most successful companies have their people working in teams."

In fact, research in organizational structures and manufacturing methodologies has determined that a team-oriented approach yields superior results in many areas, including reduced employee turnover. As manufacturing production methods become more complicated, which causes the cost of training an employee to rise – reducing employee turnover has become an imperative. Therefore, teamwork training is one of the courses offered through the DVIRC's Institute for World Class Manufacturing, which delivers workforce training to more than 1,000 people per year.

However, building a team cannot be accomplished by simply reshuffling the organizational chart. A successful manager must bring together a disparate group of people and motivate them to work toward a common goal. When problems arise, as they inevitably will, a manager must be adroit at conflict resolution and problem solving.

In short, a successful manager is a good leader. Unfortunately, leadership is not a quality innate in all people. Nevertheless, leadership skills can be taught, and workforce training is the vehicle.

Designing a Soft Skills Training Program
For those companies that need help with soft skills development for their management personnel, IRCs’ workforce training programs can provide the solution. "Manufacturers have problems that we can help solve," assures Kraus.

According to Weaver of the IMC, tailoring the training program to meet the needs of an individual company often sets the IRCs apart from commercial training providers; "What makes us unique is the customization of the training – it is never a canned presentation."

IRCs are also aware that "training can be difficult for small companies," says Weaver. For example, losing one employee to training for several days can cause problems for a 40-person company. For that reason, Weaver says that the IMC tries to minimize the impact of the training on the company by offering both offsite and onsite training and by being flexible with scheduling. Some IRCs also offer a "menu" of soft skills training services so that client companies can build the specific training program they desire, tailored to their specific needs. For example, Sharon Hoffmann, Program Manager for Workforce Development and Quality Services at IMC, offers more than 40 topics in its supervisor training program alone.

If cost is a consideration, your business may qualify for state grants to pay for specific training programs, according to Carol Morton Tebo, Manager of Incumbent Worker Services at Mantec IRC in York (which specializes in helping client companies apply for state workforce development grants). Tebo says new or expanding businesses and/or new employees within a business may qualify for basic skills training, (including soft skills, such as team building and communication) and information technology training through the state's Guaranteed Free Training (GFT)/WEDnetPA program.

An Example of a Soft Skills Training Program
While each IRC may operate in a slightly different manner and offer a different selection of courses, Catalyst Connection's approach to soft skills training is fairly typical. The first step, according to Kraus, is to assess the current situation at the client company to determine what type of soft skills training may be needed.

According to Kraus, he visits the company and asks questions about how the company goes about hiring employees, as well as how decisions on promotions are made. When it comes to individual managers, Kraus asks, "Have they been properly trained for the leadership role?" Kraus also asks the company if they have identified any management issues that they feel need to be improved.

Based upon the information learned during the assessment, Catalyst Connection builds a training program to meet the needs of the client company and their employees. To maximize the classroom time he spends with employees who will participate in training, Kraus first meets with them and asks them about the challenges they face within the company, tries to understand the company culture and begins to build a relationship with the participants. "A lot of times consultants want to jump right in," cautions Kraus, without taking adequate time to understand the people and the company culture.

The basic leadership training is typically a 12-15 week process, according to Kraus. The actual classroom time consists of four-hour meetings held once a week over a six-week period. Participants leave the classroom portion of the training program with an action plan, which is usually written in conjunction with their supervisor. For the next six to 12 weeks, says Kraus, the participants work on implementing their action plan.

At the end of the 12-week period, Kraus meets with the participants again to evaluate their progress. Kraus then submits a report to the company management detailing the successes achieved by the participants, as well as identifying areas that still need improvement.

"An Eye-Opening Experience"
The Overly Door Company is an advocate of the workforce training services offered by the IRCs. Since the early 1990s, the Greensburg-based manufacturer of custom doors and windows with strict performance criteria (such as blast retardant, sound retardant and bullet proof doors) has turned to the IRCs for consulting services. These projects have included workflow anlaysis, Lean manufacturing and pre-process engineering.

According to Overly Door Company President and COO John Brooks, it was natural to turn to the Catalyst Connection to address Overly's soft skills training needs. Says Brooks, "Most of the managers have come up through the ranks – they have never been exposed to leadership training."

He notes that the older managers frequently worked within an authoritarian leadership structure in their early career, and for some of them, it was their model for how managers should manage. "I don't think a dictatorial style is useful," notes Brooks.

Another problem for Overly was that some of their employees feared change – which can be a considerable problem for any manufacturer committed to continuous quality improvement or that adopts new technologies to be innovative and stay competitive.

Catalyst Connection developed a soft skills training program for Overly managers, which Brooks credits for bringing fundamental change to the Overly organization. The training program "transformed our company," says Brooks, "for many people it was an eye-opening experience."

"The leadership training supported a management style that encourages buy-in and input from the people they are tasked to manage," according to Brooks. "If you can get them to buy-in to the process, you can see changes much more quickly." He concludes, "People were not used to change. But once people get used to change, it no longer frightens them. Now we can make changes and get buy-in more quickly."