Corporate Quality Standards

Hi Laura!

Thanks for bringing up this interesting topic. It's really got me thinking about what exactly training quality standards are. I love topics that really get me thinking so thanks! :) The topic reminded me of past quality checklists and discussions I've seen shared in the forums:

• E-Learning Development Quality Control Checklist
• Quality Benchmarking to measure course quality
• How to measure the quality of a course?

A few standards I thought of would be that 1) it meets a specific business goal 2) teaches an actual skill or how to "do" something 3) obviously the writing and look and feel should also have some types of standard or QC process around them. 

Hopefully this info all helps you get pointed in the right direction! I'd also love to hear from other members of the community about what processes or standards they use to ensure quality in training. 

I created a course for a client that focused on communicating their quality standards and how their teams actions and work process tied to the standards. For each standard we:

1.       Explained the reason and/or importance of the standard and then tied it to an actual work related task/process. 

2.       Showed a video of a worker doing the actual work and asked what the learner observed

3.       Explained the results of excellent or poor quality they viewed

Example:

Standard - Highest Quality Products from start to finish.

Process - Verifying the documented test results and signing off on the lab test forms.  

Scenario 1 –Worker is documenting test results. The meter reading is at .87, but worker puts down .8 to meet range of .7 -.8 qualification standard to approve sample batch and keep production running.  Result - When readings are off .05 the wear life of the product decreases by 45%.  2000 sensors returned from customers all tied back to that batch.

Office example would continue based on their actions to the returned product.

They took this approach to teach their workers how their actions affect the quality of our products, safety of our customers and workers, and sales.  They only stated how they measured the quality standards and referred the workers to the monthly huddles to review those metrics.  There was concern that if we focused too much on the actual standards and metrics, it would be boring and the workers would not see their part in the big picture.  There were 5 metrics being monitored. Before the training 3 of the 5 were below goals.  2 months after the training, 1 was below goal. The teams started their own brain storming sessions to address quality issues and challenged themselves to ‘keep in the green’.

Hope this helps you.

Thank you both so much for your replies! I'm realizing I should have been more detailed in my original post, though these responses both offer very interesting things to consider for the future! I am essentially being tasked with coming up with the Training Standard as part of our overall Corporate Quality Standards (there will be one for each of 8 or so business areas.) So, rather than being a standard for our training department or individual training activities, it will be a standard that all entities would adhere to, with broad metrics that set them on the right path to providing the best training for each employee. Every entity is unique, so it's hard to come up with something even remotely specific that would apply to everyone.

• I was thinking of starting with something simple along the lines of making sure there is a written and documented job description for each position, detailing both minimum requirements and preferred qualifications, and ensuring every employee has read and signed off on their own. Job descriptions should be reviewed on a regular basis (specify time frame) and affected employees will read and sign off on any revisions.
• Second, a gap assessment of all new hires against the preferred qualifications outlined in their job description - tying each area where there is a gap to a training activity and incorporating those into their training plan.
• And finally, critical quality, compliance and safety training must be identified and documented by the relevant corporate and entity-level departments. These will be due to be completed within 30 days of hire. All other required training must be completed in a "reasonable" amount of time and will be detailed in the individual training plans. Employees will not perform any task requiring training that has not yet been completed. 

It sounds like you work for a regulated industry like me... at least that's my assumption based on your query. I've been tasked with the same thing. A few points I've come up with are:

• Training Plans: Site, Departmental and Individual
• Achievement/Performance Standards: clear curricula structure tied to Job Descriptions and promotional matrices
• Qualified Trainers: Train-the-Trainer
• GMP Training Program (Good Manufacturing Practice regulations): GMP orientation and annual refresher requirements
• Leadership Training

Thanks for sharing your own thoughts! Your very last sentence is something we will incorporate into our own Corporate Quality Standard in bold as it is tied directly with the CFRs (Code of Federal Regulations) we follow.