When training costs too much money and you can’t afford the time for people to go on the courses anyway
Syncrony is a small bespoke software development company. Started by Howard Rybko in the late 1990s, the company has weathered every ICT storm and trend by remaining small, creative and adaptable. Always receptive to changes in trends and technologies, the company has re-invented itself multiple times and continues to do so.
Howard himself started his professional career as a medical doctor who dabbled in software for the medical profession on the side. This dalliance resulted in Howard letting his medical career go and becoming a bona fide software solutions provider. He credits the discipline that it takes to get through medical school as the reason why he is able to stay focused on the company and the company’s mission. “A medical practitioner that is not adaptable to changing trends and technologies will soon find themselves devoid of patients.” Howard deadpans.
Syncyrony’s hiring policy cannot be described as being conventional. He looks for those people who have experience in software development, people with strong analytical skills and creative bent to tie it altogether. He also wants those people who are somewhat unconventional. In exchange he provides an environment that allows those people to thrive. The quirkiness of the individual is not only encouraged, it’s desired.
Howard is the first to observe that small businesses are the training ground for larger companies. He might be able to provide a stable work environment for is staff but he cannot compete with larger companies poaching his staff for more money.
The company trades on the fact that it delivers a service that rivals the best in the world at the most competitive prices. The reason behind this is that he needs his staff to be productive at all times. Training and development is a core aspect of the company but it’s not what you would call usual training. Being a niche software development company, relevant training courses are hard to find. When they are found they tend to cost a lot of money and will take people away from their tasks for more time than the company can afford. And then there is the hope that what they have learned they’ll be able to implement in a short time.
Learning and development takes place but in an unregulated environment where people ask each other for help. This help is typically forthcoming if the other person is able to do it at that time.
Howard’s solution was to create a peer-learning programme on Friday afternoons. Understanding that you are dealing with very different skills levels and personalities, he decided to start the sessions with a project he was working on. He presented his current project and asked those in the room what they thought and where they felt he could improve on what he had done. After fending off silly comments like “have you checked the router?”. He found that some of the junior people observed things that he had completely missed. He incorporated those suggestions into the software project. This was liberating for him because he himself often found himself so lost in what he was doing that he might be missing something that ultimately affects the functionality of the final product.
He did this for a month just to settle things down. There was a lot of laughter and joking but the staff soon saw that they were contributing to something greater. He then selected someone to present at the next sessions. By then people had settled into the training and learned that their opinions mattered. They also learned to hear constructive input and to deal with fair criticism.
This process is a classic INTRATERNSHIP programme. It’s a formalised informal learning process that not only upskills people in a small company but gives them something that large companies struggle to provide, validation and acceptance.