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Learning Culture and Training at Sahali Professional Hearing Services
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Abstract
Discovering Learning Assignment for HRMN 4840_01

Table of Contents

Introduction p.3
Learning Style p.3
Learning Organization p.5
Motivation p.7
Training Needs Analysis p.8
Recommendations p.10
Conclusion p.11
References p.12

Introduction
The CEO of Sahali Professional Hearing Services (SPHS), located in Kamloops, British Columbia has hired me to work with their company as a learning consultant and a trainer. Their business is a hearing practice with the purpose of providing the highest standard of care and most innovative technology to their patients as they guide their patients through the process from hearing loss to hearing (Sahali Professional Hearing Services, 2013). I am personally interested in the hearing practice industry because of a close friend who has profound hearing loss and has always found it difficult to find an audiologist trained well enough to understand his needs and wants, and program a hearing aid to a satisfactory level. I am interested in SPHS because their website shows they understand the important roll training plays in being able to uniquely help and understand their clients.

Learning Style
Based on the Kolb model, my learning style is converging (McLeod, 2010), and the Vark model shows my learning style to be kinesthetic with an almost equally strong preference to read and write (Fleming, 2011). These models show that I have a strong preference of learning through the use of experience, technical practice, and hands on applications. This means that the most effective way for me to learn something is to simply dive in and experience it for myself. I value my own background experiences, and less so the experiences of others and will solve problems by using what I have gained from the past to find solutions to practical issues.
For my role as learning consultant and trainer at SPHS it means I will have a strong preference to implement new practices and train staff by trying to get them to immediately try the task, rather than provide a lengthy lecture filled with details and reading material. An example that would be used in the clinic would be to get them to play with a new hearing aid and the different ways it can be programed to learn what that means for the customer and how it will affect what they hear, rather than get them to read the full manual for the hearing aid and wait until they get a customer interested in the model to learn how to physically program the settings. Another example would be teaching all the staff how to use the scheduling software and insurance billing software by changing the computers to a training mode and performing role play scenarios of complex scheduling requests and insurance claims to learn the basics of the program and how to troubleshoot when problems arise. This training method in theory is effective because when a staff member is helping a real customer, the staff member ideally has already experienced and learned from most of the problems that could happen with any of services provided by the clinic. Some biases that can occur however are that not everyone will learn best from experiences alone, so I will have to include instructional material and group discussions that go further into detail on why certain practices in the clinic work better and how to go about making little changes that ultimately lead to better customer service and a stronger business. It will be important to keep in mind that my preferred way of learning does not mean it is the best way of learning for all subjects and for everyone else, so to be successful in getting the highest information retention and behaviour changes in the organization I will have to combine a number of teaching methods to allow everyone an equal chance at understanding.

Learning Organization
Table 1. Learning Culture Index – Rated using a 5-point scale: 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree) Criteria | Score | Explanation | Learning is a top priority in the organization. | 5 | SPHS’s head audiologist Carolyn Palaga, places emphasis on the need for learning by attending educational seminars in both Canada and the United States each year to ensure she can provide the highest standard of care and most innovative technology to her patients. | Senior management clearly communicates that learning is critical to organizational success. | 3 | Senior management demonstrates that learning is critical to organizational success by placing emphasis on the link between good product knowledge and increased customer satisfaction. However improvements can be made on how frequently the need for continued education is communicated amongst staff. | Senior management demonstrates support for learning by serving as role models for the organization. | 3 | Senior management demonstrates support for continued education by allowing time away from work for educational seminars and reimbursing seminar fees and travelling expenses. However improvements can be made by management posting suggested seminars that would benefit the organization instead of leaving continued education fully in the hands of staff. | The organization supports knowledge in concrete ways. | 5 | SPHS’s website clearly demonstrates they support knowledge amongst staff and customers. The website goes into depth on the different types of hearing loss, the process in regaining hearing with what to expect during rehabilitation, and the different hearing aid options available so the customer is able to gain comfort on the topics and terminology before visiting the clinic. | Employees are encouraged to continuously upgrade and increase their knowledge and education level. | 4 | Employees are encouraged to attend seminars that they are interested in by being given the time off required to attend and having travel expenses reimbursed. It would benefit the organization if senior management chose the seminars instead because they would be able to ensure staff are receiving education on a wide variety of topics. | The organization monitors outside trends by looking at what others do. | 1 | The organization does not monitor outside trends as they feel they are busy enough on a daily basis. |

Based on the learning culture index, it is evident SPHS understands the need for continued education, but they have not fully developed the practices necessary to have a strong learning culture present in the business. Because the employees have not had any training over the last two years the learning culture has regressed to a state where they know they need training and are open to receiving it, but need help getting everyone on board to becoming a learning culture environment once again that other businesses will look to positively. Since SPHS already understands how important continued learning is to the success of an organization, my job as a learning consultant and trainer will be made a bit easier as much of the staff are already open to learning new processes and changing behaviours to remain up to date on new products and procedures. My goal will be to create a stronger foundation for learning and give the company tools on how to maintain their new learning culture.

Motivation
As with any task, how well you do and learn from it is affected by your attitude and your confidence in your learning abilities. The job attitudes and self-efficacy of the staff at SPHS will impact the learning and retention that will occur to varying degrees. Over the last two years, due to the executive not wanting to spend money on training, the job attitudes of the staff have become more negative. They felt if the company is not willing to spend money on training, which shows that it is important, then why should they go out of their way to learn about new products and procedures. On the other hand, the self-efficacy of the staff is in good shape. Most of the staff at the organization has a healthy level of confidence in his or her ability to learn. The only exception is one of the part-time audiologists who voices that he is confident and “can learn anything”, but when presented with new technology or a customer who he is having a difficult time communicating with, becomes frustrated at the situation and tries to get someone else to take over.

Once I am able to create healthier job attitudes amongst the staff by showing that the new CEO believes that training is a high priority and they are willing to pay for it, and help the part-time audiologist by finding the way he best learns and teaching him how to better deal with frustrating situations, I should be able to help the company increase profits and foster a very healthy learning culture.

Training Needs Analysis
To increase profits by 25% over the next three years there will need to be extensive training performed throughout the organization. Before training can begin, a training needs analysis needs to be conducted. The methods I will use are observation, key consultation, group discussion, and print media. Similar to anything else, these methods both have some areas for concern, but also play an important role in the needs analysis process. During the observation stage it will be important to make sure the staff do not feel they are being spied on as this type of damage will be difficult to repair, but considering the small size of staff at SPHS it will be a useful tool in learning where there are knowledge gaps, who still needs to learn what, and where improvements can be made in procedures. For the key consultation method, I will be speaking with head audiologist Carolyn Palaga, to learn what she feels the needs of the organization are, and to establish a relationship with her. While doing so I will need to be careful of any biases that arise and remember to keep the goals of the organization in mind, and not just the goals Carolyn has as an audiologist. I will also need to consult with senior management to ensure my needs analysis will lead to outcomes that achieve the short-term and long-term goals the management team and stakeholders have set for the organization. To learn what other companies and leaders in the industry are doing, print media will be a useful collection tool as long as I take into consideration how to their information was collected and the implications they drew from it. Finally group discussion will be used to determine how each person feels about the organization and their respective jobs in the organization as I mediate the discussion and ensure no one feels self-conscious during the meeting. Another benefit to the group discussion is it will be helpful to determine if there are any problems with the way the staff work together as a team on a day-to-day basis.

The areas the training needs analysis show that require improvements are: * Building better interpersonal skills so customers receive more empathetic care instead of being made to feel the business can do with out them. * At least one staff member on duty each day should be able to speak sign language (to act as an interpreter) so the customers who primarily sign are more comfortable in the office and feel they will be able to communicate their needs adequately until they find a hearing aid that works well for them. * A streamlined communication method from the receptionists to the audiologists needs improvement. * Procedures need to be implemented on how new information will be distributed, the ways that staff can learn it, and a deadline for when they should know it by. * Some team-building skills will need to take place so everyone is on board with achieving organizational goals.
All jobs and positions at SPHS are being targeted for training. The number of staff is small so it is important to have everyone well trained in all policies, procedures and communication skills to ensure the clinic runs smoothly and customers enjoy visiting them so much they tell their friends and family of the great service they received at Sahali Professional Hearing Services.

Currently there are some gaps between desired and actual performance. Right now there is only one staff member who understands how to use the scheduling software, not everyone has the same knowledge about individual insurance providers, and it has been noted that contradicting information is being given out about different hearing aid choices. The desired performance is that everyone knows how to use the scheduling software incase the receptionist is ill, everyone understands insurance policies and their jargon, and most importantly that all audiologists thoroughly understands the products SPHS are selling so we can always ensure the customer is getting the best and most economical option that suites their unique needs.

Recommendations
Based on the training needs analysis, the learning culture that needs to be created, and the job attitudes and self-efficacy of the employees, the type of training I recommend to achieve this and lead to increased profits is a blended training approach. A blended approach is required because it is all areas of the organization that need to be improved to maximize efficiency, includes all the staff members, and includes a variety of tasks. Active practice will be required to understand how to program hearing aids and use the offices computers. Learning about hearing aids will require preparatory information to be provided so audiologists will have some information to help guide them through learning about new models. Finally active feedback will need to be given on the building of communication and teamwork skills so employees understand how their actions directly affects each situation. My recommendation is that the training starts with building communication skills, interpersonal skills, and teamwork, then advance to product and insurance knowledge. The training needs to include how improving all of this will directly impact customer satisfaction in a positive way and how providing exceptional customer service is the major goal of the organization.

Conclusion
Once training is complete in regards to interpersonal skills, customer service, and current products, the environment at SPHS will be well on its way to fostering a learning culture environment. In this learning culture environment, staff will always be up to date on the latest hearing technology by sharing with other audiologist’s new product knowledge and tips, and the customers will be the ones who benefit from this. With the emphasis on providing great customer service and continued education, the CEO will see an increase in profits by 25% over the next three years. That is a clear return on investment.

References
Fleming, N. (2011). Vark. A guide to learning styles. Retrieved October 2014, from vark-learn.com: http://www.vark-learn.com/english/page.asp?p=categories
McLeod, S. (2010). Kolb - Learning Styles. Retrieved October 2014, from Simply Psychology: http://www.simplypsychology.org/learning-kolb.html
Sahali Professional Hearing Services. (2013). Retrieved October 2014, from sahaliprohearingservices.com: http://sahaliprohearingservices.com/our-expertise