Recently, DeWalt Corporation enlisted the services of a GPS survey equipment expert to train DeWalt surveyors on the nuance of new equipment and software purchased. All three of DeWalt Corp’s Crew Chiefs have many, many hours of survey time under their belts operating GPS equipment, but all of us, staff, supervisors and leadership, thought the training was warranted. A new operating system for the downloading and uploading of surveyed data had been issued by the manufacturer, so getting our guys up to speed as soon as possible was in everyone’s best interest. GPS survey equipment, electronic data collectors, and survey software, like most technologies, have more capabilities than are humanly possible to comprehend. I hoped that our training would not only get our surveyors up to speed on the new software, but also lead them to mastery of a few more data collector coordinate geometry functions.

As I watched and listened to the presentation given by the expert and questions by survey staff and answers by the expert, I began to realize and consider the value of training exercises and staff development. It did not take long for the light bulb to go off and lead me to the clear understanding that the benefits of training exercises and staff development reach so much further than the obvious.

The obvious by-products of training are things like increased productivity, improvement of the quality of work and the quality of the work process, efficiency brought about by mastery of the technology and ultimately the profitability that the corporation will realize by this productivity, quality and efficiency.

The not so obvious by-products of our very informal training session, and I would suspect any staff development exercise, are both tangible and intangible.

The intangible benefits are found in the confidence and spirit I witnessed in my survey staff as they learned and became more knowledgeable about the equipment capabilities. Questions and answers led to more questions and more answers which led to discussion about processes and debate about practices. All of this interaction was spirited and united. The increase in morale and in “team” character was evident and grew as the training progressed. Collaboration between survey staff during this half day of training did much to improve their image of themselves as a professional team of knowledgeable technicians. I do not know if I could accomplish this kind of confidence building if I planned it. It has to come from the incidental side effect of a shared exercise like the training we were engaged in that day.

The tangible but not so obvious benefits of the training were found in the organizational and process improvements that were documented and that have been implemented since training day. A culture and climate of positivity about DeWalt Corporation and our commitment to investing in our employees is now evident and palpable. A culture of learning can only ever improve the success and reliability of our survey department. I sense in our survey staff the confidence that is born of a healthily supported work environment.

DeWalt Corporation’s benefits from this training are many and multipliable. The improved self image of the survey staff creates a better corporate image for DeWalt Corporation. I expect increases in efficiency, accuracy and quality of work which will be reflected in a healthier work environment and in corporate profitability.

I find myself now looking forward to the next training!

Jeffrey A. Gutierrez, P.L.S.
President/CEO