- Define, agree, and get executive commitment to what you want your people to do differently after the training, even before you design your first class. Too many organizations get halfway through their first session only to discover that their business really needs something different.
- When you sign up for OpusWorks Institute delivered classes, sign up also for OpusWorks Institute project related mentoring support services. Too often, when mentoring is done by internal experts who are unfamiliar with the ASQ-aligned OpusWorks curriculum, students receive guidance that does not reinforce or even conflicts with their learning. Unfortunately, new students cannot yet embrace the nuances of Lean Six Sigma. Consistency of training and mentoring is especially important for emerging practitioners.
- Get the OpusWorks Institute involved early in your relationship with OpusWorks so we can help you avoid pitfalls, not repeat mistakes, and prevent rework as you embark on the new approach. Also, if Vickie and her team can understand your vision, they can help you plot the course.
- Start small and when you’re ready, scale simply and rapidly!
- Make a detailed schedule for completing pre-work, on time, so you are fully prepared for class. Review specifics with your boss so they commit to support you.
- Take the training and do your project, simultaneously. For instance, after you do a Charter in class, do it with your Project.
- Commit to continuous learning. To enhance your hard and soft skills, these readings should be on your shortlist:
- The Goal (Goldratt, E.M., Cox, J.)
- How to Make Friends and Influence People (Carnegie, D.)
- Affirm the rigor of the course. Review your student's detailed schedule. Help them stay on track.
- Query your students about project specifics. Clarify as appropriate.
- Assure students of their project's importance to the organization. Promptly respond to questions and requests for support.
- Students, use the sequenced layout of e-Learning, class sessions and activities in the learning portal as your roadmap toward becoming a proficient problem solver and practitioner. Remember, the 'Search' capability enables you to quickly find impactful learning points, just-in-time.
- Instructors, allow discussion time for drilling down into key and relevant topics for your class. Avoid zooming through all the material, just because it’s there.
- Clients
- Assure that students — during class — have a problem to solve for immediate benefit and quick win momentum.
- Confirm that students want to be in-class and that they embrace the blended learning model.
- Increase ROI with infrastructure support for practitioners, projects, and the program itself.
- Get more fully engaged in the overall learning process
- Better support student performance
- Promote internal information sharing
- Foster project collaboration
- Design additional exercises to further drive ROI
- Recognize that despite your best efforts, many students will still not be prepared for class. To promote engagement, be ready with trigger questions and push yourself to call on people randomly.
- Don’t rush! Take time to understand the class flow. Practice! There is more time than you think and every word on the slide does not have to be said as students are reading along in the virtual setting. Get to the point.
- Prioritize sending the right students to class, pave the way for them to complete class assignments on time, hold them accountable, and be sure they go to class with a well-defined project.
- Increase your training ROI from OpusWorks by also leveraging their deployment, program management and mentoring services.