Turn managers into trainers

Last June, more than 60 managers of Konka Group had a new title: Internal Lecturer. Earlier this year, that number had reached 100. Feng Yunfei, director of human resources of Konka Group, said that at Konka, managers should assume the responsibility of cultivating subordinates, teach and advise others, and absorb suggestions from others at any time.

Konka Group has ranked 4th among China's top 100 electronics companies for 4 consecutive years, and was selected as the best domestic employer in the minds of the first Chinese college students. Konka is committed to the common development of the company and its employees, helping employees make progress in the company and not wasting time.

Managers are also trainers
What is the most distinctive part of Konka's human resource management?

Training is the more systematic part. Konka has been looking for a balance between the long-term and the short-term. The short-term is the implementation of various training projects, and the long-term is the establishment of its own training system and training resources. The main idea is to ask managers to be trainers. As the company's training organization, we mainly train trainers, not business personnel, and then train their colleagues and subordinates through these trainers. This creates a system.

This system focuses on the managers above the company's business director, about 400 people, and more energy is spent on the deputy department and above. They are required to have employee service and team building skills, at least in order to be a competent manager. On the one hand, this method solidifies the knowledge within the enterprise, which is actually knowledge management. On the other hand, by letting managers play their roles, their own skills become more tangible.

What steps is Konka taking to make these managers trainers?

We put forward a slogan that we use marketing ideas for training and marketing ideas for human resources. Konka provides managers with some training on the basic skills and techniques of instructors, called TTT (train the trainer) training. In addition to providing coaching for training, there will also be budget support that will send them out for training.

Then there is someone dedicated to developing the curriculum with these managers, developing a curriculum that they are good at and focused on. After the course has been developed, there must be a recording of the lecture. After his course development quality and lecturing skills passed the test, he was awarded an internal certified lecturer after review.

This is the beginning of Konka's TTT. This step focuses on the skills that a lecturer should have, including teaching skills, communication skills, grasping the classroom atmosphere, handling embarrassing problems, and simple curriculum development skills.

In the second step, in the next year or so, we will pay attention to the certified lecturers and send people to follow the lectures to improve their teaching skills. At the same time, they are required to be promoted to course developers, and more emphasis is placed on the structuring of course content and the connection with business, which is equivalent to intermediate TTT.

The third step is to make them mentors and complete the advanced TTT course. They will provide personalized and differentiated training for different "students", and the relationship between superiors and subordinates gradually evolves into a teacher-student relationship.

After such a cycle, the knowledge management and training capabilities of the enterprise have been improved. Cycles and cycles, the ability of managers to become more and more mature. This is a long process. It is impossible to wait for everyone to develop the course perfectly before starting to teach. Konka also has short-term training. The strategy is to balance the long-term and short-term, and pay equal attention to system construction and training project implementation.

Most importantly, Konka has done some work on incentives. Internal lecturers earn an income of 40-80 yuan per hour at the beginning, and 100 yuan after passing the primary internal certification. After reaching the intermediate level, they are called senior lecturers. The class fee is 200 yuan, and the advanced level is 300 yuan. Including their development courses have royalties, but the intellectual property is Konka.

What is more successful is that training was originally a difficult thing, because on the one hand, the competition in this industry is too fierce, we can't use working time, we can only use spare time such as evenings and holidays for training. On the other hand, many people regard it as an expense item, and its output and return on investment are not obvious. The system construction and the implementation of project training have revealed many training needs, and managers have paid more and more attention to training. When I was doing the internal lecturer certification, everyone felt it was a kind of pressure, but after the first time, everyone felt it was an honor, and people began to ask me when I could pass the internal lecturer certification.

How many people are now certified as internal instructors? In what ways do these measures help managers personally?

By the end of 2004, 100 instructors were certified and 99 internal courses were developed. These 99 courses cover Konka's main business areas. Among the 100 internal lecturers, there are not only group leaders, but also managers and business backbones of various business units.

As a manager, his natural duty is to train, coach and manage personnel. Konka has streamlined the accumulation and improvement of their skills in this way, and they feel very good about themselves. He dared to talk about things he didn't dare to talk about before, given him this kind of platform. On the other hand, if he wants to explain something thoroughly, it may take ten times as much energy to understand it, which is very beneficial to the improvement of his ability. Now they teach, not ten minutes or half an hour, but a day or two, and they have high requirements for their ability to think systematically. Listening to yourself, doing it yourself, and speaking it yourself are different. This kind of training is very obvious. Moreover, the presentation skills and communication skills of managers have been greatly improved.

Does Konka expect internal managers to undertake the training tasks of the company?

Managers above the deputy position of the department should all pass the system certification in 2006.

At that time, training will go back to the basics, and a lot of training will go into the job. The last stage of this system construction is actually on-the-job coaching work, which is combined with other forms of training to complete team building, including seminars, communication and other methods. The training center focuses on new employee training and training planning.

There will also be external training. At present, the company has accumulated relatively basic and intermediate knowledge. More intermediate and advanced training, our current ability is not able to do. It is impossible for internal lecturers to develop financial management courses for senior non-financial personnel at once. It requires a process. Before the process is completed, 80% of the budget is spent on purchasing external courses, and experts are invited.

Are there requirements for the president?

The President does not develop courses. Ask him to do the introductory reading, he will designate a book by himself or we will provide a book to do the introductory reading for the middle and senior management. He will ask questions, and he will have some conversations. He is also the dean of Konka College.

Let employees appreciate here
What does the role of Konka College focus on?

Konka College was established in 2000. At that time, the focus was on academic education, because Konka was an OEM company, and many managers were promoted from the production line, including the general managers of many branches in the marketing team. more integrated. These people have relatively simple knowledge and skills, and they did some academic education work at that time. Later, this problem was greatly improved, and a group of highly educated and high-quality people accounted for a larger proportion in the team. Since 2002, the training of the college has shifted to on-the-job training. Its training is aimed at front-line marketing personnel, business personnel, the backbone of the grassroots, as well as production personnel and functional personnel. All staff are covered by this system.

Konka Group's entire business areas are divided into four training sections, namely product chain, supply chain, marketing and management. Each section has a dedicated training administrator to track and take charge of training programs throughout the process. The whole process, including needs analysis, curriculum planning, project implementation, and effect evaluation. The training in these areas has never been interrupted, and the training budget has been rising continuously.

For the development of employees, Konka has a simple quality model, including three dimensions of professional skills, management skills and leadership, which are supported by the company's core concepts and core values.

Professional skills are the necessary professional skills for practitioners in each position. The more grassroots employees receive, the more professional skills training they receive. The main audience of management skills is managers, and management training is divided into professional ability training and management skills training. It is mainly for the training of middle and senior leaders of the group, including strategy, decision-making, incentives, etc. Values and mentality include corporate culture, core values, mentality, professional ethics, behavior patterns, and ways of thinking.

For different audiences, the three dimensions have different emphasis. The more you go to the middle and high level, the more leadership content will be, and the lower the position, the more knowledge and skill training will be. For middle and high-level managers, guidance from the inside out is more important, and through the adjustment of their mentality, they can promote their self-learning. For grass-roots employees, it is usually the pressure from the outside to the inside. First, they have learned their knowledge and skills through lectures, exams, and defenses.

Some projects have been implemented for more than a year, such as the reserve cadre plan, which is prepared by Konka for potential managers, focusing on the improvement of management skills.

How are these reserve officers determined?

Selected through strict internal recommendation and evaluation. In the specific plan, there are training from mentality and values, as well as some team training, and more importantly, management skills, including planning, communication, coordination, etc., as well as professional skills, such as backup cadres from the supply chain system, It is necessary to understand the expertise of supply chain. At the same time they are also trained in TTT. These are crossed together.

One year after the reserve cadre program was implemented, the improvement rate reached 55%.

Sounds like a combination of training and talent growth? Talent training is one aspect, Konka pays attention to individuals, and each position personnel has a quality model for the position. Some new recruits can use these models. Of course, different levels have different requirements. We know what training employees should receive at each stage and continuously improve their abilities.

Training is an investment made by an enterprise in employees. When an employee comes to Konka, while paying for the enterprise, they are eager to receive training from the enterprise, hoping to grow and help their career. A responsible company should meet the needs of its employees and should continue to invest in employee training. In this way, it is very helpful for employees to understand and identify with the corporate culture, establish a sense of ownership, and enhance cohesion and sense of belonging. In this sense, training can reduce the rate of employee turnover.

The second aspect is that an important way for an organization to acquire some capabilities is through training. The business format changes, the organization's capabilities must change, and the most important thing in the organization is the process. The implementation of the process depends on people. Finally, the change of the organization and the people in the organization must be implemented. Training is an important driving force.

The third aspect, system construction, is an important way to build a learning organization. After this process is completed, Konka can at least be called a learning organization. It can solidify its knowledge, communicate, upgrade, and adjust according to strategic needs.

For employees, the relationship between the company and the employee is a contractual relationship. The employee may not stay in Konka for a lifetime, but the result of Konka's requirement is that the employee will not feel that time is wasted because he has stayed in Konka for a few years, and his own manpower Capital has been considerably accumulated and promoted. It's also a way Konka uses to attract and retain talent. First, employees can grow with the development of Konka. Second, even if some people feel that Konka is not suitable, they can find a good platform outside. Many people who leave Konka are also working well outside.

We hope that the talents trained by Konka can stay, but wishful thinking is not enough. Konka will not regret having trained him. In the words of our president, Konka is also creating value for the society and creating talents for China. I just mentioned that Konka College can also give lectures if it has done a good job. This is also an aspect of Konka's contribution to the society.

What other good practices does Konka have in attracting and retaining people?

In short, Konka is more humane in management, not so rigid. There was a saying in the industry that China's corporate culture is in Guangdong, and Guangdong's corporate culture is in Konka. Konka's culture is more characteristic, with a good relationship between superiors and subordinates and colleagues. The company also sets May 20 every year as the "Manager Service Day", where the company's middle-level and above leaders provide services to employees. On that day last year, middle-level and above leaders provided dining services for employees during lunchtime.

Another aspect is that the career platform is relatively good, and there are many development opportunities for employees. In addition to the training of reserve cadres just mentioned, we also have a lot of training for current cadres, leadership development plans, job rotation, training and so on.

In addition, Konka is at the high end of an industry. This industry itself has great advantages and there is a lot of room for action.

Recruitment is also a form of marketing
What type of people does Konka want most?

Konka likes people with high ambitions and down-to-earth. He must have lofty aspirations, look farther and higher, and have relatively high requirements for himself and the company. Another, to be able to sink and improve oneself step by step, patience and waiting are more important than impulse and passion. Passion is never indelible, but patience and waiting are more demanding of a person. Having both passion and patience shows that you are a very mature person, and it is easy to be impulsive only with passion.

Generally speaking, Konka prefers down-to-earth people, and the Konka culture likes down-to-earth people.

For recruitment, the results of recruitment are only part of the process. In this process, it is more about selling Konka's culture and promoting Konka's brand. Because these people are all potential users of Konka, even if they work in other companies, they may be users of our products, or will become our customers.

How did Konka find such a person?

The first is to send out the recruitment information. Second, through some methods to test and evaluate. More commonly used are psychological testing methods and behavioral testing.

We delegate power to various departments. We never make decisions, but we build platforms and make demands. There are minimum requirements for new recruits, such as the requirements for values, which are manifested in aspects such as integrity and practicality.

For example, in testing the down-to-earth aspect of employees, in 2004 Konka sent more than 100 college graduates to work in the front line, including those from Peking University, Tsinghua University, and Zhejiang University, starting from terminal salespersons. I told them that you will definitely encounter many difficulties when you are on the front line. You can complain, appeal, and communicate, but you must overcome difficulties. Because the mission on you is bigger, the difficulties in the future will get bigger and bigger. Due to their identity issues, they may be under more pressure, which is a good thing, and it means they can take on bigger tasks.

For middle and senior talents, what channels are used to obtain them?

Mainly through job fairs and headhunting. The basic quality of headhunters will be better, because senior talents will not go to the talent market. Konka often faces being hunted and recruited. Competitors hold job fairs in the hotel next to Konka, and we will do the same.

Turn managers into trainers

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