The Power of On-the-Job Training: Deming’s Sixth Point for Management Transformation

Dr. W. Edwards Deming made very clear the importance of training in his 14 points for management transformation. No. 6 states: Institute training on the job. Still, the management guru provided no elaboration on that five-word statement, which is the shortest of his 14 points.

In this episode of Behind the Curtain: Adventures in Continuous Improvement, podcast hosts Dr. Mohamed Saleh and John Dyer provide their perspectives on Deming’s sixth point for management as they continue their exploration of his teachings.

Both podcast hosts emphasize the idea that lack of training, not lack of effort, is at the root of operational issues. 

Says Dyer: “Too often, we tell people to work a little harder; try harder to make good quality parts. But we haven't developed them. We haven't given them the proper training in order to be successful.”

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The proper training includes teaching “why” things need to be done a certain way, or how a process works, not simply, “Push this button.”

“If I understand the ‘why’ I'm doing it, I'm probably more apt to do it correctly,” Saleh says.

The hosts discuss the symbiotic relationship that exists between training and continuous improvement (Deming’s fifth point of management), and Dyer shares a conversation he had with a Toyota executive about how Toyota Production System knowledge is transferred among employees. Hint: It’s not in the classroom.

The hosts point out the role of failure in learning. “Even root cause analysis is a learning muscle,” Saleh adds.

Dyer and Saleh outline the importance of daily habits or rituals for training, and the two provide a host of actions that encourage continuous learning and improvement. They include:

• Standard work observations to ensure standard work is being followed and to uncover training opportunities.
• One-on-one coaching to provide a training platform.
• Job rotation opportunities to broaden employees’ overall knowledge. Within a work cell, job rotation also shows how one operation affects the next, building awareness of the customer-supplier relationship.

“We need to keep that in mind that when we talk about on-the-job training, it's more than just one specific task. It's how do we branch their knowledge out to make them more well- rounded employees,” Dyer notes.