I interviewed Jeff Wright who worked for GoalZero in Salt
Lake City, Utah and now currently works at Honeywell in Columbia, Maryland in
their Human Resources and Training Department.
Jeff received his MBA and MHHR from the Jon M. Huntsman School of Business at
Utah State University in 2012.
Introduction:
- What are the purposes and overall objectives in your job description?
To help new employees and current employees receive the
training they need to be successful with our Company. Often this includes a standard new employee
training program and follow up with the areas that the company felt is lacking
from their employees.
- What experiences and skill sets best prepared you for your job?
Grad school is what best-prepared Jeff for his current
position. He had to learn to present to
a number of different people and work with individuals from all over. In
training you need to have good communication skills and be ready to work with
all kinds of people.
- What training and skill sets do you think are most important for individuals to have working in your field?
Jeff thought that being a great listener, good presenter, ability
to help others interact in groups and classroom settings are important skills
to have. These skills can be learned, though it seems that most of the trainers
he has worked with were born with these skills and have more of a training
personality.
Job Duties:
- What do your daily work activities include?
Creating trainings, monitoring and observing different
departments to see what employees need to learn or better understand about the
company and its purposes was a huge part of Jeff’s job description. He also
deals a lot with Onboarding new employees and welcoming them to the company.
- How do you create and cultivate relationships with your company and the people that you train?
Jeff thinks the most important part is to take time for an
introduction and get to know the employees in your class, but also providing
them opportunities to interact with other departments and individuals not on
their team. Starting out with “ice breakers” or a team building exercise is a
great way to get people talking and building relationships. It also helps them
gain interested in the trainings.
- What is your favorite part of your job?
Jeff enjoys the interaction with the different departments
and learning and presenting new trainings every couple of months.
- What is the most challenging part of your job?
Finding ways to keep employees involved and interactive. In
training you’ll find some people are born with high levels of motivation, while
others have no motivation. You have to find a way to reach both of these level
and keep everyone working hard and happy, and most importantly as a team.
Training:
- What tools/programs/systems do you use for your trainings?
- What kinds of trainings do you create?
At GoalZero Jeff mainly work doing the Onboarding for all
new employees; which included going over benefits, time off, different policies
and procedures. Training on new policies
within human resources (PTO changes, Harassment training, Communication
Training, etc.). Not at Honeywell everything is created online and he maintains
and tracks that employees are receiving and participating in assigned training
programs.
- How do you balance work and play within your trainings?
Jeff thinks you have to evaluate each group you work with
and how they respond to your trainings. You have to be willing to adapt as the group responds to your trainings.
He thinks that you need 15%-20% play and 80-85% training. As employees become
more comfortable they are more inclined to participate and be involved. Anytime some takes an active part in training
they are more likely to remember and abide by the things they have been trained
on.
- How do you continue to motivated learners post trainings?
At GoalZero we sent out follow up trainings that they are
required to take online and hold contests in our monthly newsletter where we
ask employees to answer key questions from previous trainings. Those who
answered the questions correctly had the chance of winning different gift
certificate or prizes (which also increased motivation for training and
implementing what is taught).
At Honeywell everything is done through training systems
with deadlines. If you miss your required trainings you are put on a list and
your supervisor gets after you for not taking the trainings. At the corporate
level it feels like follow up trainings are performed more out of fear and not
as much out of motivation.
When ever trainings offer free things, even if it is free
food from a luncheon people are more likely to come, and are more likely to be
happy about it. Having people work in groups is also a great way to get
motivation going and building team unity.
- How do you track the success of the trainings and make sure the training was implemented?
We use an online training system that employees can track
trainings done in person or online. We
are able to send them updates and new trainings throughout the year. It also
allows the employees to sign up for trainings that they may find beneficial and
take them on their own.
Often after giving trainings Jeff will ask employees how they enjoyed the
training and if they found it useful and worth their time. Often changes to
training are based of these comments.
