42 WORK FORCE / Training Effectiveness
Two points of caution before you pro- ceed further: • Training cannot always fix people or processes. While an effective training program is a primary tool for strategic success, other methods such as enhanced procedures, staff changes and more effective management may be necessary to produce the desired outcomes of your strategic plan. Third-party suppliers may offer you training at no cost or at a low cost. While implementing training offered by outside suppliers may be in your hospital’s best interest, their offerings may be aligned with their marketing goals, but may not be aligned with your strategic plan. Nothing is completely free, and time that your team spends away from their job is taking away from production. Select training offerings from third-party providers wisely.
• Staff training must be methodical, well thought through and have a clear objective.
Follow the five steps below to ensure
that your strategic plan benefits from time spent training team members. 1. Take the time to carefully determine what your people need to perform the processes necessary for implementing a successful strategic plan. Determine the KPIs you are going to use to monitor the success of the plan.
2. Select the assets that you currently use to support team members’ performance on the job. These include procedure manuals, Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), and the myriad other materials and resources that your practice has developed or has received from third parties.
3. Begin thinking about the tools that you need to support each process. Compare these tools with the assets you identified in Step 2 to determine the additional
Trends magazine, April 2013
tools, resources or management changes you will need to purchase or implement.
4. Consider the cost of acquiring these tools. Training development and implementation comes at a price. You do not want to be wasting time, resources or profits—either from unnecessary activities or from neglected necessities.
Example 1
• Full schedule of appointments • High percentage of client compliance with clinician recommendations
KPIs
• All telephone calls for progress exams completed • High percentage of telephone shoppers converted to clients • Number of incoming and outgoing calls performed • Percentage of expenses spent on labor
Personnel • Current personnel who wish to work from home • New hires who will work from home
Processes
Resources (e.g., equip- ment, documentation, job aids)
• Confirm upcoming appointments • Recall to check on patient status • Compliance calls for past due reminders
• Computers at off-site (home) locations • Secure log-in and link to practice’s software • Documentation of tasks completed and the time involved
• How to access the Practice Management Software System (PMIS) from off-site locations
Training and other job tools
• Telephone procedures for confirmation, recalls, and compliance calls
• Client service techniques when calling from off-site • Method for documenting calls
• Equipment to provide to off-site location (e.g., security programs, internet service, etc.)
Expense (Labor and Materials)
• Training hours for current personnel • Training hours for new hires • Procedure manual • Documentation resources
Return on Investment
5. Set aside time to note the return you have realized on your investment.
How it works Let us look at a couple of examples of
the alignment of KPIs with training and other hospital resources. Example 1: Moving telephone tasks to an outside service Strategic plan:
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