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You're probably familiar with just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing. But just-in-time training? What's that?

As the name suggests, JIT training is information or skill building delivered just when it will actually be used. And compared with traditional classroom training, it is very effective, states Dr. John Sullivan, co-ordinator of the human resource management program at San Francisco State University College of Business. "When your employees can see the immediate value of training in solving the problem at hand, they pay better attention," he stresses. "It's similar to being told you're going to jump off a cliff in five minutes," he explains. "Suddenly you see how parachute training could be quite valuable."

JIT training is gaining popularity in the business world, notes Sullivan. "The world is changing so quickly that we often have to find answers to questions we were not able to anticipate," he says. "For instance, we may have to close a plant suddenly and provide training to the managers on how to let people go," he says. "We couldn't have anticipated the closing, and even if we had, the training we would have provided a year prior wouldn't stick," he adds.

JIT training is useful in almost any area, but especially in anything that has a direct impact on the bottom line, such as total quality management, team-based leadership, and any kind of production-process reengineering.

Sullivan gives some reasons why:

Better retention. Employees retain information better when they feel a sense of urgency and when they see where they need to apply it on the job.

More up-to-date. Information is current. "Knowledge typically loses its value after two years because competition and technology changes so rapidly these days," stresses Sullivan.

Better measure of effectiveness. Because the connection between training and application is so quick, its effectiveness can be more easily measured.

To evaluate if training is effective, you can measure a change in knowledge, a change in skill, or a change in increased efficiency by applying the knowledge, says Sullivan. "If you provide your employees with the right training, they should be able to increase their performance by literally 25 percent within a month," he adds.Taken more seriously. The training is often taken more seriously by team members because their leader is often the one providing JIT training. "Once you get the system down, it is amazing how fast your people will learn to solve problems quickly and efficiently," says Sullivan.

One of your biggest challenges, how-ever, may be to work with your company trainers and team members to look into the future to determine training needs and identify which parts can be done in advance and which are better learned just when they are needed, he says. Dr. John Sullivan can be reached by e-mail at [email protected].

  "fortune favours the prepared mind"