Training

Workplace Violence: The D.A.R.T. Program (De-Escalation And Response Techniques)

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Workplace Violence

Photo Credit: D.A.R.T. Program

Workplace violence can happen anywhere at any time.  It can involve a single victim, such as the apartment manager stabbed to death in Cleveland, Ohio in July 2010, or multiple victims as in the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School when Adam Lanza (gunman) shot and killed 20 children and 6 adults in December 2012.

Nationally, non-fatal acts of violence in the workplace are numerous.  In 2013, approximately 572,000 non-fatal violent crimes (rape/sexual assault, robbery, and aggravated and simple assault) occurred against workers, according to data from the National Crime Victimization Survey.

Kyle E. Weygandt MS, LSP, MSA, Jus the F.A.C.T.S. Educator/Facilitator, and AEC Safety Partner.

Kyle E. Weygandt MS, LSP, MSA, Just the F.A.C.T.S. Educator/Facilitator, and AEC Safety Partner.

News media accounts of shootings, assaults, and other acts of violence at the workplace have heightened awareness of this problem.  Workers in some industries, such as health care or retail establishments, are more likely than others to experience violence on the job.  For that reason, Ohio has laws that require workplace violence prevention programs in health care settings, psychiatric hospitals and late night retail establishments, like convenience stores. If we’re to be proactive against this type of risk, every business should consider establishing a workplace violence prevention plan.

What Can We Do?

Such a plan does not have to be complicated, time consuming or expensive. Ask yourself, “What kind of workplace violence could happen at my work?” Then use this guide and the tips included to plan ways to reduce the possibility of violence at work.

  • A (JHA) “Job Hazard Analysis” must be performed by a competent  person to ensure that the plan is appropriate for the location.
  • D.A.R.T. Training (De-Escalation and Response Training) to educate all employees about workplace violence.
  • A procedure for reporting workplace violence.
  • Ways of preventing or diffusing volatile situations or aggressive behavior.
  • Communication Skills Training.
  • Mediation and conflict resolution.
  • Stress management.
  • Employee relations training.
  • Building & Employee Security procedures.
  • Personal security measures & “Active Shooter Training.”
  • Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) – which includes counseling for mental health, drug & alcohol issues, and protection for domestic violence victims.

It is not enough to just have an Anti-Violence policy on the wall and an employee manual on the shelf that allegedly addresses the problem.  A well-defined program starts with a firm policy statement from the company clearly stipulating how it promotes its safe work environment.  This statement is backed up by a commitment from senior management and provides detail about:

  • The prohibition of violence, threats, harassment, intimidation, and other disruptive behavior.
  • An affirmation that ALL incidents will be investigated.
  • The importance of employee involvement and does not minimize their importance in reporting.
  • Adding “Active Shooter Drills” into your “Emergency Action Plan.”
  • Evaluation and planning with your local Police Department.

Training is the Key.

Violence prevention awareness needs to be an integral part of new employee orientation as well as giving refresher classes on an annual basis to all employees of the company.  However, concentrated training should be given to the managers and first line supervisors.  These people are the eyes and ears of every organization.  They see every person within their area of responsibility every single day and are more likely than anyone else to observe a potentially violent situation in its earliest stages.

For more information about the D.A.R.T. Program and/or to have an “Active Shooter Drill” provided at your location, contact us at 740-725-6325.

Kyle E. Weygandt is a licensed safety professional, educator, active police officer and an AEC Safety Partner.  Kyle’s expertise has impacted employers to apply proactive concepts in their work environment which results in greater workplace relationships.

 

 

 

 

Learning that Lasts: The Three Secrets to High ROI Training

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You believe in developing your employees.  You know that investment in annual training is the right thing to do. But you’re not seeing the change you want.  The vision of a healthy, high performing company still seems far off.

Jim Franks, Strategic Advisor/Coach for Alber Enterprise Center

Jim Franks, Strategic Advisor/Coach for Alber Enterprise Center

We’ve all experienced this.  “The workshop was great.”  “The speaker was engaging.”  You leave with a feeling of exhilaration that things are really going to change this time.  But after a few weeks you realize that things are back to the way they were before the workshop.

To address this very common problem, let’s discuss two things: 1) Why it happens and 2) What to do about it.  

Why training doesn’t stick

We are creatures of habit.  Our habits are engrained with years (sometimes decades) of repeated behaviors that have worked for us.  The conventional wisdom is that it takes three months to change a good habit and six months to change a bad one.  Change is not automatic.  Here’s the good news.  We all have the potential to change – even radical change.

Unless we constantly reinforce new skills over 3-6 months it is unlikely that the change will stick.  There needs to be a way to reinforce the desired change on a regular basis.

We are surrounded by others who are also creatures of habit.  When we come back from a workshop, ready to change, others around us are used to the old way of doing things.  They naturally resist change and impact you by virtue of their close proximity.  They will act in ways that reinforce the old habits.

These influences (your own habits and others), make up the culture of your organization.  Changing that culture begins with you.  You must intentionally persevere against this inertia until the change becomes permanent.

So how do you do this?  What follows are the three secrets to permanent change and finally getting a high ROI on your training investment.

How to drive permanent change

Start at the top.  The first key to getting a high ROI on your training is to get the buy-in and application by your senior executive team.  Otherwise the initiative will go into the category of the latest workshop of the month.  Here are some tips for executive involvement:

  • Have them kick it off with a strong statement of its importance.
  • Actions are more powerful than words. If it truly is important then they will take the time to attend.
  • There is nothing more powerful than a senior executive admitting how they are learning and growing based on the new approach learned from the workshop.

Follow-up coaching.  Visibility and examples from the top are key, but not the whole story of a successful implementation.  Each employee must have someone to remind him or her of the need to apply the new approach regularly.  This is where coaching comes in. This is the secret sauce that makes it really stick.

Over the past decade, professional coaching has quietly become the state-of-the-art method to develop professionals.  It works because it syncs up with how we are designed to change – with repetition and over time.

Here’s how it works.  A coach comes alongside the employee on a regular basis to remind them of the new skills and hold them accountable for putting them into practice.  Each attendee will inevitably face challenges applying the material and will need someone outside the organization to help them overcome these challenges.  The coach is not subject to the inertia of the old habits, but will remain steadfast and hold each employee accountable for change.

As a professional coach I’ve seen this work at organizations large and small and across many industries.  Training + Coaching works.

Peer Accountability.  Have each team member give account to their peers for their new behavior.  Do quarterly assessments that measure the new behavior to show progress – or lack of it.  Many think they are making progress only to find that others don’t agree.  Change doesn’t count unless others see it too.  The only way to know is to commit to it and measure progress.  Then act on the feedback until others agree.

There it is.  This works.  Guaranteed.  If you do these three things, the desired change will happen.  If it doesn’t, one of these three steps wasn’t done.

To learn more about this, watch for a White Paper on the OSU Alber site!

Jim Franks is a Strategic Advisor/Coach for the OSU Alber Enterprise Center (AEC).  He is passionate about helping leaders build healthy, high performing companies.  For more information about how the AEC can help your organization implement the solutions you want leading to the success you need, please call (740)725-6325 for a no-cost, no-obligation needs analysis.

Three techniques in boosting your organization’s capacity

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Continuous Process Improvement Graphic

Environmental and Quality Management Systems Consulting-Continuous Improvement Process (ISO-14001-2004 EMS & ISO 9001-2008 QMS)

When starting a continuous improvement (CI) project, the simplest and the most important thing to do is to communicate to your organization and clients that you want to continually improve the services provided.  State this intention through strategy reviews and team briefings.  This is the most effective way to get the CI culture moving.

Environmental & Quality Management Systems Consultant for Certified Environmental, Inc and JAS & Associates of Ohio, LLC

Larry W. Sheppard, Environmental & Quality Management Systems Consultant for The Ohio State University’s Alber Enterprise Center, Certified Environmental, Inc. and JAS & Associates of Ohio, LLC

To help us improve faster than the competition we should aim to empower the team to make improvement directly.  This has the advantage of boosting your improvement capacity; it also allows for far more hidden improvement opportunities to be realized.  Some organizations may tend to channel improvement activity through dedicated improvement teams or individuals.  This approach can be limited due to the lack of improvement capacity.  All team members can be encouraged to engage in improvement activity, maximizing the volume of change and improvement that can be achieved.  To achieve total team empowerment, a robust but simple change process should be introduced that allows all team members to make changes.

The focus should be on allowing all team members to make controlled changes by following a well-designed change process.  Improvement culture can be measured by the number of improvements identified and actioned by the organization.  It’s good practice to routinely report on CI progress back to the team and clients; this can underpin the organization’s commitment to continual improvement activity.

There are obvious commercial advantages that can be gained from a healthy and robust CI culture. However, it should also be pointed out that an empowered team will tend to be more productive due to the direct input from the owners into the business’s success.  Team moral can be greatly improved by encouraging their involvement.  Managed correctly, this team member responsibility can further improve an organization’s responsiveness and change of pace.  CI organizations are nice places to be, where team members are more likely to use their full potential.

There are many tools and techniques that can be used to help boost your team’s improvement capacity. Usually these require some training to be effective.  But it should be pointed out that specialized tools are not necessarily required to enable a successful CI culture.

3 Steps in Revamping Your Business Culture:

  • Kaizen:  Kaizen, or Continuous Improvement Teams can be encouraged to evolve to tackle specific improvement opportunities.  Groups can be trained to be more effective, but teams can also evolve organically without specific training.
  • Lean:  This training will help your team to become faster and reduce costs.  Lean training allows staff to identify and reduce wasted effort.  Usually deployed within an organization or group, this is the perfect training to support an established CI culture.
  • Six Sigma:  Six Sigma is best used to improve the standard of products and services by reducing output variation.  Six Sigma should only be used following good Lean and 5S development.

CI can be developed into any organization relatively easily and with little cost.  

Good management and leadership is the key to success.  By following the three simple steps above an improvement culture can flourish in your business.

Most CI projects require little or no cost.  An accumulation of several small improvements are sometime better than one large improvement.

Larry W. Sheppard is an Environmental & Quality Management Systems Consultant for The Ohio State University’s Alber Enterprise Center, JAS & Associates of Ohio, LLC, and Certified Environmental, Inc. His expertise is in implementing Environmental and Quality Management Systems for companies, preparing companies for their ISO Standards third party certification, providing Internal Auditor training and much more.

Visit our Contact Us Page or call 740-725-6325 to find out how our team can assist you or your organization in reaching your optimal success.

Register Now for Lean Six Sigma Executive Belt Training–Deadline: Jan. 8, 2015

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Norma Simons, President of Performance Innovation LLC and AEC Solution Partner

Norma Simons, President of Performance Innovation LLC and AEC Solution Partner

Executive BeltLean Six Sigma (LSS) is a methodology and way of thinking that enhances the performance of an organization.  It first was applied in the manufacturing industry but now it is being applied in healthcare, government, education and several institutions.  LSS provides a template to simultaneously reduce waste, improve the quality of products and services, improve customer satisfaction and increase profitability.

In order to transform the enterprise and leadership as well as develop and sustain a culture to support the news changes, the leaders need to have a basic understanding of the concepts of Lean Six Sigma.  This program is therefore designed for executives, leaders and managers who will lead or deploy the LSS initiative.

The Lean Six Sigma program is offered using a blended approach to learning.

What is a Blended Approach? 

This approach combines the traditional classroom style with online self-paced learning, using technology.  The extent to which this approach is used will vary depending on the type of technology, the organization, and the material that needs to be covered. Because Blended Learning combines several different learning styles, it allows participants to work at their own pace and at their own convenience.  Class time is then designed for discussing applications of concepts to the work environment and clarifying areas that might not have been clear.

LSS Executive Belt Banner

Components of LSS Executive Belt

  • Access to E-learning modules 24/7– Each week participants will be required to cover the assigned material prior to the live webinars.
  • On-line student guides– There are guides that can be downloaded with each video that allows participants to retain their own reference material.
  • Live weekly webinars with the instructor– Handouts that support the weekly webinars will be sent ahead of time to the participants.
  • On-line discussion sessions– Weekly webinars will allow for online discussions pertaining to the application of LSS in each facility.
  • Access to the instructor when needed– Participants will be able to gain access to the instructor at specified times to discuss or clarify issues that might not be clear in applying LSS.

Lean Six Sigma is a comprehensive systems improvement program that assists organizations in executing their strategy and establishing processes that better serves the customers.  Executives will have the opportunity to gain understanding of the concepts and discuss some of the barriers that might occur while applying these ideas in their respective organizations.  They will be able to learn on their own, learn from the instructor as well as from other class participants.

The Lean Six Sigma Executive Belt Blended Learning Program is sponsored by The Ohio State University Alber Enterprise Center and Performance Innovation LLC.

To find out more about the program, visit osutrainingtoyou.com and SIGN UP NOW. For Special Offers and Group Discounts, please contact Annette Shuster at shuster.18@osu.edu. Deadline:  January 8, 2015.

Using the Blended Learning Approach in Lean Six Sigma

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Blended Approach

Norma Simons, President of Performance Innovation LLC and AEC Solution Partner

Norma Simons, President of Performance Innovation LLC and AEC Solution Partner

Blended learning can be defined as a mix of e-learning, face-to-face classroom style instruction, coaching and live or recorded sessions designed to reach a large audience and a wide range of employees.

The approach to learning can be customized using more of each component and will depend on the objectives of the training session and the tools and skills that are needed for employees.

Benefits of the Blended Learning Approach in Lean Six Sigma:

  • Reduces Waste– allowing students to learn modules for Lean Six Sigma ahead of time and allows classroom time to be focused primarily on project application.
  • Reduces Cost– using the Blended learning model reduces face-to-face instruction time as well as travel costs and material costs.
  • Increases Capability of Students – because students are able to go through the online learning component, they are able to go at their own pace, using assessment methods to evaluate their understanding with an option to return to review and update information.
  • Provides Coaching– this is done either in person or virtually and helps students to ensure that they are making progress and fulfilling the requirements at each tollgate.
  • Promotes Just-in-time Learning– students are able to learn each tool at the time when they need to be applied, which avoids learning large volumes of material when they are not needed.

The approach to blended learning is innovative and varies depending on companies, students and objectives of the training session.  The traditional methods of learning focus on one-way communication and in some cases do not always allow the type of participation that would encourage effective learning. Blended learning on the other hand delivers a large volume of ideas in a short time, encourages class participants to experiment under the supervision of the instructor and provides the participants with greater skill and a higher level of confidence with the class material when they return to the work environment.

E-learning compliments classroom training rather than replace it.  The approach is innovative and varies depending on companies, students and objectives of the training session.

Lean Six Sigma covers a wider area of content and requires individuals to be ready to implement or apply concepts to company projects in a short time.  The approach to learning allows instructors to focus more on coaching or mentoring rather than lecturing on the basics.

As companies move to implement Lean Six Sigma, it is important that attention is given not only to Lean Six Sigma training to ensure that there is a common language that is clearly understood but also the process of implementation.

Why We Love Lean Six Sigma and You Should Too: Get Started

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Norma Simons, President of Performance Innovation LLC and AEC Solution Partner

Norma Simons, President of Performance Innovation LLC and AEC Solution Partner

In today’s environment it is evident that the survival of organizations rests with their ability to innovate- to do things differently in order to grow.  In general we can consider two forms of innovation – radical innovation and incremental innovation.  Radical innovation can be considered as the ability to produce new products or services to the world that never appeared before – such as digital photography, Internet, Amazon, iPods, etc. Incremental innovation on the other hand can be thought of as new approaches, building on current products or processes to enhance performance.  In the end innovation of products, processes and services must add value to the customer.

Lean Six Sigma can be considered as an incremental innovative model that enables an organization to move beyond its traditional performance to new heights.

The figure below shows the definition of both concepts.

Lean and Six Sigma are complementary and if performed properly, represent a long-term model that can produce unprecedented results.

Lean and Six Sigma are complementary and if performed properly, represent a long-term model that can produce unprecedented results.

We Love Lean Six Sigma because it provides:

  1. Focus on the customer – helping each area of the organization to understand the value of their service.  This concept is fundamental as without an understanding of needs and requirements of internal and external customers, the work provided is non-value added.
  2. Focus on process improvement – this concept is fundamental to Lean Six Sigma, without being able to identify and define processes, conditions cannot improve.
  3. Opportunities for collaboration – applying the concepts opens opportunities for collaboration as individuals now use tools to communicate across departments and encourage problem solving.
  4. Constant and continuous drive for perfection – it creates the mindset of dissatisfaction with the status quo and the need to be dedicated to a culture of continuous improvement.
  5. Standard Training – it provides common tools and language and a structured methodology for problem solving.  There are different levels of training provided to different individuals depending on their role in the organization:  Champion, Green Belt, Black Belt.
  6. Structure for change- it provides a project based approach that allows an organization to identify and instill a discipline for project management with project reviews conducted with process owners, champions and senior management.
  7. A means to provide total employee involvement –  all individuals are involved as they provide input and support problem solving activities.
  8. Demonstrates bottom-line Business Results – the bottom-line impact of every project must be measured, reported and documented.

Overall, we love it because it lays a path from strategy to execution.  Many companies have a vision but are weak on execution.  Through the structure, training, organization of tools Lean Six Sigma provides a path for achieving required results.  In addition, it can be customized to any industry and any organization.

Please contact us to use the Lean Six Sigma assessment to diagnose current weaknesses and establish a strategy for improvement.