Developing Your People: The Key to a Successful In-plant Team

Many people are familiar with the "TEAM" acrostic: Together

Everyone

Achieves

More

To make this hold true, it is imperative that we develop the people on our teams. HR experts make a distinction between training (improving people's skills in their current job) and development (improving skills for future roles). Both training and development are essential and can be interrelated. We train and develop our people though a two-step process:

• Education (Learning what to do).

• Application (Doing what you learned).

What follows are 15 specific tools we can use to train and develop our people.

College/University Classes

As a long-time university instructor I can attest to the value of having your people take classes to broaden their knowledge and sharpen their basic skills. Whether a person is degree-oriented or not, taking classes in management, operations, human resources, finance, information technology, etc. provides an educational foundation that enhances a person's ability to excel at doing real work back at the work place. My company (Portland General Electric) understands the value of formal education and offers a tuition reimbursement program for employees.

In-house Classes

Larger companies often have in-house classes available on a variety of useful topics. Work with your HR folks—and don't be bashful about suggesting classes that would be of value to people on your team and throughout the organization.

External Seminars and Webinars

There are a number of companies (e.g. Fred Pryor, CareerTrack, SkillPath, AMA) that offer one- or two-day seminars on useful topics ranging from working with vendors, to time management to dealing with difficult employees. I build in dollars in my budget to cover some classes for employees, and I urge you to do so too.

Conferences

Participating in conferences, like the In-plant Printing and Mailing Association (IPMA) conference, is a great investment and has many benefits. I am actively involved in conferences and get some of my people involved because nothing matches the opportunities at a good conference: the ability to learn best practices from the top leaders and practitioners in the industry; the ability to learn and see in action the latest technology; the ability to network with peers, vendors and industry experts; and the stimulation to go back home and move your operation to a higher level of excellence. Some may say they can't afford to attend a conference—I would say, how can you afford not to?

Here are a few conferences and shows you should check out:

• MailCom: www.mailcom-conference.com

• National Postal Forum: www.NPF.org

• IPMA: www.IPMA.org

• XPLOR: www.XPLOR.org

• On Demand: www.ondemandexpo.com

• Graph Expo: www.gasc.org

• NAPL: www.NAPL.org

Trade Associations

I belong to a number of trade associations like IPMA, XPLOR and my local Postal Customer Council (USPS.com/nationalpcc). I encourage you to do likewise—and have some of your team members join you. Trade associations provide opportunities for learning, networking and professional development. Volunteering to serve in your local chapter further enhances the benefits to you and your organization by deeper networking and leadership development. In addition to those already mentioned, here are some other resources:

• The Association for Work Process 
Improvement: www.TAWPI.org

• Mail Systems Management 
Association: www.msmanational.org

Professional Certification Programs

Pursuing certification programs is a great way to challenge yourself and deepen your understanding of the field. My four supervisors have four certifications among them, and the majority of the Printing & Mail Services department is certified. The key certifications related to the mail industry are:

• Certified Mail Systems Distribution Manager (CMDSM)

• Executive Mail Center Manager (EMCM)

• Certified Mail Manager (CMM)

• Mail Quality Control Specialist (MQCS)

Recurring Team Meetings

Many teams meet on a periodic basis for information-sharing purposes—which is good. However, there is an opportunity to add an education component to some of these recurring meetings. You or team members can report on learning from conferences and local trade association events. You can invite subject matter experts from other parts of your company to do presentations. I have used experts from finance, HR, customer service and various operational areas to help educate us. Training videos are also a great resource for team meetings.

Off-site Training Days

For concentrated learning, taking people away from the work site for a one-half or full-day training session is unbeatable. I have off-site training for entire teams that often focuses on team-building skills in addition to technical training. We have quarterly off-site meetings for my supervisors and leads that focus on leadership and management training.

Trade Journals

Trade journals are a great tool to keep up with current developments in the industry and learn best practices from industry experts. I highly recommend In-Plant Graphics and Mail: The Journal of Communication Distribution. Other publications include Mailing Systems Technology (www.mailingsystemstechnology.com) and USPS's MailPro (www.usps.com/mailpro).

Job Shadowing

Job shadowing involves having a person spend a period of time (often one to eight hours) "shadowing" another to better understand what that person does. I have used job shadowing to allow potential supervisors or managers to shadow myself or one of my supervisors to gain a feel for what is expected. Team members have shadowed others in connecting departments to broaden their understanding of the interfaces between departments.

Mentoring

Serving as a "mentor" or participating as a "mentoree" is educational and valuable. I spent three years as a "mentoree" with a vice president of the company. I learned a lot from the experience and had a good sounding board when facing challenges on my teams. Likewise, I have served as a mentor to a number of employees within the company in recent years, and really have enjoyed the opportunity to help develop people and to support mutual learning.

Special Projects & Assignments

Giving people a chance to work on special projects is a great method to learn new skills and apply book learning. I will intentionally give team members projects to lead or support as opportunities to help them gain hands-on experience and build their practical expertise.

OJT

It's been said that nothing beats OJT (on job training) for skill development. Providing OJT by supervisors or experienced teammates helps people understand and perform the tasks they need to be successful.

Cross Training

Cross training provides people a chance to develop new skills and expertise and gain new experiences that stimulate professional growth.

Non-profit Volunteering

The late management guru Peter Drucker was a big proponent of volunteering in non-profit organizations. Volunteerism is a classic "win-win." The non-profits gain value from the volunteers, and the volunteers also benefit. Benefits to volunteers include the chance to network with people outside the company, the chance to use and sharpen existing skills, and the opportunity to develop leadership abilities by actively working with others to help the non-profit pursue its mission.

We are blessed at Portland General to have a CEO (Jim Piro) who strongly supports and encourages volunteerism. I personally sit on the boards of five non-profits and encourage my team members to serve.

Seeing people personally and professionally grow is very rewarding. Good luck to you as you work to develop your people.IPG

Wes Friesen is the manager of Revenue Collection & Community Offices for Portland General Electric, a utility in Portland, Ore., that serves more than 810,000 customers. Wes teaches university classes and is a featured speaker at national Conferences like IPMA, XPLOR, MailCom and the National Postal Forum. He manages the bill production and payment processing teams with the able assistance of supervisors Eric Houger, Tom Laszlo, Gil Rodriguez and Elyssia Carlblom. Wes can be contacted at:

Wes.Friesen@pgn.com