Background
Transport for London (TFL) is a large, high profile organisation which faces the considerable challenge of planning, arranging and delivering the bus and underground services which serve the needs of the capital city. London Underground, which is the main focus of this case study, employs 12,000 staff in total of whom some 2,500 are office-based management and administrative staff. In late 2002 TFL recognised that they faced a particularly difficult challenge following the introduction of a new system. Their experience led them to reconsider their approach to training in IT skills.
The skills and knowledge required
As part of a wider business improvement programme, London Underground planned to introduce SAP (an enterprise resource planning system). This would include a number of modules including HR, finance and procurement. Implementation was planned for spring 2003. However, in November 2002 the project team responsible expressed concern that the IT skills of potential users were not of the levels required to permit acceptable use of the new system's functionality. One thousand London Underground staff were involved but the problems experience by one group offers an illustration. Some 120 operational trainers would need to use the SAP system to record their progress on delivering training to drivers and station staff: such training could concern safety issues, and precise recording and early input of results was essential.
Those responsible for IT training in the learning and development team realised that prompt action was required. How could basic IT skill-levels be diagnosed rapidly and appropriate training put in place? The problem was not complex - what was at issue was some straightforward skills and knowledge mainly reporting to the core Microsoft Products - but the timescale was tight and budgets constrained.
According to Tom Harlow, the member of the learning and development team responsible for developing their approach: 'Even at the outset we had doubts about whether the traditional approach of a one or two-day course could deliver what would be required'.
The first step in defining the approach was to send the now 1,100 staff involved a questionnaire, which asked them to assess their current capability. This consisted of some 40 statements covering the main applications. The importance of this questionnaire was indicated by advance e-mails and underlined by support, in the business, from senior management. As a result over 90 per cent of questionnaires were returned within the three-week deadline and it was possible to proceed to the next stage of the training needs analysis - the review of the results.
One obvious way of analysing the data was to consider a number of identified needs or deficiencies. There was a proportion, some 15 per cent of respondents who had no needs. This group required no additional training. There were a range of intermediate needs and some 120 who recorded more than 20 needs; this population clearly needed to advance a great deal if they were to reach required standards.
The solution adopted
For the population as a whole the following options were considered:
First, a training course or workshop. Using the information from the training needs analysis it would be possible to group people with similar needs and these courses could be targeted more effectively.
Secondly, work based coaching, offering individual tailored tuition delivered by WWP trainers, a main supplier of TFL's IT training, at the employees' desk.
Thirdly, for someone with few if any, identified needs, tips e-mailed to them at their PC.
Fourthly, again mainly for those with limited needs, direct personal support through a telephoned helpline manned by WWP staff.
A thorough examination of the training needs analysis by Transport for London and WWP Training led to the derivation of a rough rule of thumb. A single need or deficiency could absorb five minutes of training on a one-to-one basis and 10 minutes in a classroom time. The solution adopted after consideration, was to deliver all the training on a one-to-one basis. This was accomplished over a six-week period in spring 2003.
The other means of delivery were found to be less appropriate. However, all learners received a series of some 40 e-mails each one relating to one of the topics in the original needs analysis e-mailed over the training period. This served to re-emphasise the importance of the training and reinforce its content.
All the monitoring, feedback and evaluation received subsequently has indicated that the approach adopted has been effective in terms of meeting the business objectives. In addition the learners seem to prefer it. A series of mails and informal approaches to the learning and development team have requested more of the same.
See also "Necessary Measures", Learning Centre, People Management, 20 November 2003.