Overview and Benefits of Plant Competence Training
What is plant competence or competency training?
First, let’s answer the simple part. What is a plant?
This is basically a site where production or manufacturing takes place. This is usually characterized by buildings where workers are found operating different kinds of machines to produce or manufacture things.
Now to the second part:
What is Competency Training?
Competency training or skill-based training is a kind of developmental course that focuses mainly on improving specific skills or competencies in individuals.
This program is usually broken down into smaller segments in order to focus on developing a major skill in the learner. After the learner has mastered that segment, such an individual can then be introduced to the next segment of the program until all the skills are mastered. Based on their performance at the end of the training, they may receive certification.
So, Plant competency is the training given to workers operating on a production or manufacturing site that helps them master the art of working more effectively and also efficiently.
How Do You Go about Competence Training?
As an employer, making efforts to train and enrich your workers or employees with skills they need can go a long way in improving productivity and the growth of your organization. Therefore, ensure that you go out to employ proactive learners because the worker has to first be willing to learn or else your effort will end up being a wasted one.
The steps below will guide you through the process:
- Ascertain that the situation is such that requires a training to achieve. It might just be that all that are needed are just some managerial actions.
- Determine in specific terms the areas you want to fix, the outcome you hope to get, what it will require to achieve this outcome and the number of employees you will need for this program.
- Consider the conditions and environment where what was learnt will be implemented. There should be a real-life situation to implement what they have learnt. This is very important because it can go a long way in determining the success of the training.
- Find out what those who will be going through the program already know through an interview process. This will save cost.
- Gather your most productive employees and find out what they all have in common. Include this in the program.
- Determine the parameters you want to use in measuring progress.
- Identify the qualities and results which you expect to see in and from workers at the end of program.
- Create procedure instructional guides to teach.
- Decide how you intend to measure results at the completion of the training.
Need more information on how to go about it? Get it here.
Why Bother about Competency Training as a Professional?
What we are looking at in this segment are the benefits to be derived from a process such as this. Its benefits are numerous but we will divide them into two sections here: The employer’s benefits and the employee’s benefits.
The Employer’s Benefits
- Increase in productivity
Productivity generally improves when employees become competent in their work since they know exactly what is expected of them. Also, since they have been trained, they have insight into the overall target of the employer.
Furthermore, communication between the employer and the employee is improved with training. This also imparts productivity positively.
- Cost Effective
Since training is focused on areas that require improved performance, money and time are channeled to such areas after assessment thereby cutting down cost. For instance, employees will not be trained again in areas they are already good in. Employees are usually motivated when they understand the benefits that come with performance improvement.
Also, since the focus is on improved performance, cost overruns caused by poor performance are reduced.
- Profitability
Organizations can make available information needed by the employees as they do the job. This works to the advantage of the organization in two ways; employees can solve problems using their skills and knowledge while the organization reduces the number of errors they encounter. These could impart profit positively in a significant way.
- Efficiency
Time between training and work on the job is reduced since employees are trained on the job they are doing. They become more competent in the areas they are required to in less time.
- Customer satisfaction
Well trained and assessed employees are able to carry out their required tasks efficiently and in good time. They are able to provide high-quality services to customers in service-related industries. This increases customer satisfaction. You may want to see the importance of customer satisfaction here: https://medium.com/@wishdesk.com/6-reasons-why-customer-satisfaction-is-important-69900307b9ed.
- Risk Reduction
An employer can create groups of people with corresponding skills. In order to do this, a record of employees’ knowledge, skill acquisition, safety procedures and other procedures as well will be taken by the employer and used in identifying areas where the employees need training, development and assessment.
This process helps employees build growth, developmental paths and also become competent in other areas that are not their specified roles. This eventually provides the organization with the ability to expand adequately reducing the risks they face.
Employee’s Benefits
While the benefits the employer stands to gain are quite clear, why would you, an employee, make the investment in plant competency training like that offered by EM Training solutions? Well, here are some great reasons to do so…
- Time management
Mastery of skills is attained in shorter times since the trainings are broken down into smaller segments. This helps employees acquire skills without leaving the tasks they have to do for too long.
- Flexibility
Trainings can be self-paced. This means that the speed of learning and completing a training is entirely dependent on the individual. Individuals can also skip when they already know what is taught in a segment. This way, those who are fast do not need to wait for those who are not.
- Retention
Since training is at the pace and time that suits the individual, individuals can be more focused on a particular segment. This ensures better retention. For more tips on how to retain information, you can check this article.
- Better work place Integration
Since these types of trainings are objective in nature, as employees are assessed, they have a path to growth in their carrier and this can result in pay raise as well.
In conclusion, plant competence training can cause substantial growth of an organization if given the required time.