Training for Effective Capital Project Management in Three Phases: Plan, Do, and Continuous Improvement - Roundtable Including Facilitated Small Group Work..., 1998 Engineering Conference Proceedings

The TAPPI Training and Development Committee is presenting an interactive roundtable at the 1998 TAPPI Engineering Conference on September 16, 1998. The goal of the roundtable is to involve participants in exploring the use of training and other perhormance improvement strategies to help their organizations meet the ptiormance objectives of a capital project start-up.

Training for Effective Capital Project Management is a three part process that begins well in advance of a traditional classroom event and continues as part of the daily project operations. The three essential components are Plan, Do, and Continuous Improvement. By breaking training into the three phases of Plan, Do, and Continuous Improvement, this session will present concrete actions for successfully implementing each phase to ensure bottom line results.

In the Planning phase, activities focus on setting goals and objectives, preparing contracts, budgeting, and involving the organization (operators, supervisors, project managers) to gain ownership and support. In this phase, a strategy is developed for implementing all three phases of the project.

The Doing phase includes determining effective training methodology, developing training content, and delivering the actual training. In this phase, evaluation is also a key component. Evaluation is used to monitor progress of the project and to make adjustments in strategy, objectives, or training content. Assessments are developed to measure attainment of performance goals. Key strategies focus on retention and learning transfer.

In phase three, Continuous Improvement, activities focus on maintaining and improving upon the skills attained in phase two. During phase three the intervention is in place and a seamless transfer of performance is required. Trainees must be able to use what they learned in phase two to perform day to day operations and to handle novel or unexpected situations. Evaluations of both systems and performance and coaching are essential components of phase three.

By carefully attending to each phase of training for start-up of a capital project, organizations will be able to positively impact their bottom line results. The results will be improved performance, decreases in downtime, increased profits, and quicker returns on a capital project.