History has the potential to teach many invaluable lessons. The problem is that sometimes these lessons are lost in time or fail to be apparent; sometimes we must read between the lines to find the lesson. I’d like to shed light on some forgotten information surrounding one of the most successful companies in history – Ford Motor Company – related to some reasons for their success and how these successes are directly correlated to such things as competency analysis in competency-based training.
Henry Ford started the Ford Motor Company in 1903. He entered a previously unknown market and had the vision to make the automobile accessible to the common person. Ford was a very observant man and noticed that two things (amongst many others) in particular must happen for his company to achieve this:
- The cost of an automobile must be to scale with average wages.
- He would have to streamline his entire operation, from creating an assembly line to obtaining and maintaining the best workers.
Back to the first point – in today’s economy (and to an extent every economy) for a company to sell its goods or services, they must understand their target market and price thresholds. This is simple supply and demand economics. Addressing the second point – the goal of streamlining production and human resources – this is where the first bullet is made possible and bolsters a company’s success in their market. What Ford was then using in manufacturing language is what is known as competency analysis and competency based training in human resources language. These HR strategies ensure that your workforce knows exactly what their job tasks are and exactly how to execute them properly the first time. By reducing waste, improving production and taking the guesswork out of training, the result is the Ford assembly line.
Reading between the lines, it is obvious that Ford was onto something, and if his measure of success is a good indicator, it’s fair to say he was an innovator and changed the world with his ideas. By borrowing his approach to manufacturing and applying it to human resources training, you can also achieve the greatness of Ford by innovating and implicating both competency analysis and competency-based training strategies in your HR training regimen.
We would love you to read our free whitepaper on competency-based training and you can get it here:
