According to the mckinsey.com website, two in three business transformations don’t actually meet their objectives. Furthermore, only one in ten companies sustains cost improvements beyond four years. To be successful, you need to create the new capabilities that are needed. Learning and development must be a firm part of any transformation. Knowledge and experience are tightly connected. Internships and on-the-job training are very effective ways of acquiring new skills.
In a recent article, we introduced the concept of experiential learning. Now let’s see some real examples that resulted in behavioral change in the workplace.
Lean manufacturing
Participants observe a typical workflow in how a certain product is being made. The production line at which the simulation takes place includes a machining center and several work stations along an assembly line. Participants map the entire value stream and try to identify the main sources of waste. During the simulation, everyone can see clearly how significant change can be achieved by lean tools and methods.
Pricing and training
The participants, including heads of business and commercial units and sales representatives, analyze pricing scenarios and study large transactional data sets. The aim is to gain experience and come up with proposals for pricing improvements. Value is then quickly captured. Participants are also taught how to transmit their new capabilities to hundreds of sales representatives in their organization.
Service operations
It is possible to improve the performance of back-office operations and other service departments. Participants go through a non-optimized environment in a realistic environment, a bank. They learn how to observe processes, how to manage performance and to map value stream. They learn how to free up time so customer interactions are shorter and customer satisfaction is better.
-jk-