Words Matter

Training and Review is the second spoke on the Wheel of Sustainability. The basis for Training and Review is Training Within Industry, which was developed at the onset of World War II to quickly train inexperienced workers to produce all the necessary armaments and supplies in support of the war effort. It’s one of the reasons the US and its allies won the war.

Training Within Industry (TWI) is an extremely disciplined approach to ensure that the person doing a job learns it in the safest and productive way and never forgets the right way to do things. Recently, I had the opportunity to help a team apply TWI to a new laundry detergent line that was being installed in their factory in Ohio. The goal was to use this training approach to ensure the line started up at high-performance rates.

I had limited experience with TWI, so I did research and found a book and other materials to prepare me to deliver a winning experience for the team and the company. After reading the book about a dozen times and practicing the exercises to reinforce TWI, I was ready to facilitate my first TWI Kaizen event. The team leader and I agreed that we would follow TWI exactly as designed and not take any shortcuts.

We had 24 team members, mostly from the production floor, with a few support staff sprinkled in. On the first day, I taught the TWI approach and its key principles, including:

·        Focus must be on the learner to maximize their experience

·        Words matter

·        All training is presented from the perspective of the person doing the work, not the equipment

·        The simpler the instruction, the easier it is to follow

The Value of Different Perspectives

We practiced building standard work by making paper airplanes. This exercise illustrated how much we take for granted when we’re trying to explain what to do. From time to time, I had to correct errors in approach, as team members were getting different elements of TWI confused.

After the team successfully completed the exercise, we took a Gemba walk to identify real-life plant activities to build TWI standard workaround. As the TWI method was time-intensive, the team was directed to pick work elements that took one minute or less to accomplish.

We created six four-person sub-teams. I rotated through and coached them as they built their standard work. Because TWI was brand new to everyone on the team, each team member needed personal attention to properly build the standard work. Some caught on faster than others, and by the end of the first day, I was mentally exhausted from the coaching. I know many of the team members were tired too.

After the standard work was completed on day two, sub-teams were instructed to practice training each other using the TWI method. I planned to rotate through each sub-team to coach them through the training process. With four members on each of the six teams, they were instructed to conduct four rotations, where each team member would be able to participate as one of the four positions:

1.      Trainer – responsible to use the TWI method exactly as designed

2.      Learner – fully focused on the Trainer’s instructions and coaching

3.      Auditor – responsible to ensure the training process was followed properly

4.      Improver – responsible to look for improvements to the standard work

On my first team rotation, it was apparent that TWI wasn’t as natural as it appeared, and it took more than 40 minutes to get through one round of training (for one minute of work content). I had to step in and coach many times, as the Auditor wasn’t catching the nuances of the training process. After I completed my time with the first sub-team, I was then able to coach the second and third sub-teams before the end of the afternoon.

Knowing that I couldn’t complete all rotations before the end of the day, I brought the full team back to the meeting space and gathered their feedback. Many team members noted that it would have been nice to be corrected immediately around the TWI method, rather than waiting for me to rotate to them when available. I apologized and said I hoped that they were learning what “right” and “wrong” felt like, especially from the perspective of the Learner.

Do you really understand?

On the morning of the third day, I met with the fourth sub-team. I was in for a wake-up call, and so were they. Matt was the Trainer and Roy was the Learner. Just like the Trainers on the other three sub-teams, Matt had difficulty with the structure of the TWI. I stepped in and corrected him, and asked him if he understood my instructions. He said he did, but then made the exact same mistake in the next attempt. This went on for forty minutes. I must have corrected Matt half a dozen times. Each time, he said he understood my instructions. But he truly didn’t. I knew I had to do something, but what? Then it dawned on me.

Me: “Time out. Let’s move away from the equipment.”

Matt: “Sure thing, what’s up?”

Me: “Look, you keep telling me that you understand what I’m asking you to do.”

Matt: “Sure, I get it.”

Me: “Clearly you don’t. We need to get this right and we’re going to stay here until we do this right, even if it takes the rest of the day.”

They all looked at me as though a light had turned on – this was serious! Once I gained agreement from all four members to follow the method exactly, we started the training process again.

Focused Practice Makes Perfect

Matt was now focused. He followed the TWI method to the letter, and the training proceeded without any issues. Roy was able to concentrate on the training and demonstrated his knowledge very well. The rest of the team was able to see the value of the approach and why the words mattered. I could finally move on to the fifth and sixth sub-teams.

The rest of the event proceeded without major issues and by the end, we had not only created twenty-four TWI believers, but also developed a strategy for TWI implementation that could be supported and audited by the team and plant leadership.

When it came time to get feedback from all team members, I was pleased to hear that they appreciated the personal coaching that I provided and that my “tough love” wasn’t so tough! More than that, they realized that words really do matter, and by being focused and disciplined, they would be able to efficiently and safely train the rest of the workforce.