Project: Soft Skills Trainings

Category: INTERNAL COMMUNICATION

Summary

Challenge:

A steadily expanding factory producing sophisticated medical devices in the EU periphery: overcoming internal multi-cultural and multi-lingual challenges in increasing Company efficiency and growth.

Objectives:

Improve factory management’s and team-leaders’ communication and social skills.

Strategy:

Creation and implementation of a specially designed long-term Soft Skills Training Program.

Execution:

In half a year − 40 training seminars on communications, management and leadership, conflict management, team-work, staff-motivation, and creativity and innovations at work.

Outcome:

- 92 percent of participants stated the knowledge acquired during trainings improved the collective atmosphere;

- 64 percent of respondents found the acquired knowledge and skills very useful in everyday working situations and problem-solving.

- 95 percent of respondents expressed the intention to continue trainings and personal development.

- Improved communications contributed to the Factory’s 10 percent growth in 2010.

Situation

Intersurgical is Europe's leading manufacturer and supplier of respiratory support products for use in airway management, anaesthesia, critical care, and oxygen and aerosol therapy. Our client – Intersurgical’s largest factory, established in Lithuania, in a small town of Pabradė near Lithuania‘s border with Belarus.

Pabrade’s population of 6 000 is distinguishable for lingual and cultural diversity: ethnic Lithuanians comprise about half of the inhabitants, the rest are mostly of Polish, Russian, and Belorussian origin.

With 1 200 employees, the factory is the region’s largest employer. Its annual turnover is 50 million Euros, Intersurgical continuously invests in development, automation, and innovation.

Objectives

Innovations and steady production growth require qualified staff, especially managers and team-leaders. Their recruitment is quite a challenging task in a border town.

On the other hand, not only technical skills are required: in a multi-cultural factory environment, good communications, team-work organization, and leadership skills are essential. Indeed, effective communication is one of the key factors in increasing a company‘s efficiency.

Our goal was to contribute to developing the company’s efficiency by improving its management and team-leaders’ abilities to effectively communicate, lead, inspire, motivate, and engage employees. These abilities are generally referred to as ‘soft skills‘.

Strategy

Having evaluated the Company’s current status, needs and expectations, we designed a unique Soft Skills Training Program for top and middle managers and team leaders.

These employees play a crucial role in the creation of organizational culture and psychological climate; they are the driving force of organizational change. Thus it was necessary to focus on developing their social and leadership skills, knowledge, and ability to communicate efficiently.

Our program consisted of five seminars, covering significant topics:

1) ‘Principles of Communication’ (internal communication, active listening and non-verbal communication)

2) ‘Elements of Leadership’ (management and leadership, rhetoric and persuasion)

3) ‘The Art of Tempering the Storm’ (conflict management)

4) ‘Team Spirit’ (team-work and staff motivation)

5) ‘Everyday Einsteins’ (creativity and innovations at work)

The program was pinnacled by a major team building event ‘21st Century Robinsons’, based on Andrey Tarkovsky’s popular movie ‘Stalker’ and the computer game ‘Fallout’.

Execution

135 employees (more than 10 percent of Intersurgical’s staff) took part in the training program. It was implemented in two stages: April – July, and September – November, 2010. Between these two stages, in August, a team building event ‘21st Century Robinsons’ for about 100 participants was organised.

Employees attended the trainings in groups of 10 to 20 persons. During the course of the program, our consultants held 40 workshops on the five topics above, which totalled 280 hours of training.

Trainings included a variety of educational methods:

- Individual tasks – questionnaires, testing, role-creating;

- Work in groups – moderated discussions, workshops, strategic planning;

- Role-playing games, work situations simulation;

- Footage analysis and discussion;

- Individual consultations.

The entire training process was constantly assessed, the progress and performance of participants was evaluated in regular reports, and documented in video footage.

Documented Results

The impact of the Soft Skills Training Program is mainly revealed by participant feedback, provided in nearly 700 evaluation forms. These indicate that:

- Work atmosphere has improved: 92 percent stated that the knowledge acquired during trainings improved the collective atmosphere;

- Foundation for more effective work-conflict solving created: 64 percent of respondents stated that the acquired knowledge and skills were very useful in everyday working situations;

- Principle of a learning organization implemented: 95 percent of respondents expressed intention to continue trainings and personal development.

Interviews with the Company’s authority and program participants reveals that the knowledge and skills acquired during the trainings, are contributing to increasing the Company’s efficiency.

We believe our work contributed to the 10 percent the factory growth experienced in 2010.

Confirming the success of the Soft Skills Training Program, is the Board’s decision to continue the program this year.