Tag: Training

PURCHASING

March 31, 2026

I have been purchasing for almost 40 years. My first job as a purchasing agent was in 1978 with General Petco in Springfield, MO. I was promoted from assistant livestock manager to purchasing agent on the recommendation of two men whom I had worked under in that company. When these two managers were asked who in the company might be able to handle purchasing, my name was given. 

I was told that we would try it for six months. Purchasing and I were such a good fit that in 1979, I took another purchasing position with a company I worked at for twenty-five years. I began as a purchasing agent and was promoted to inside sales, office manager, outside sales, back to office manager, and then operations manager.  There was no job that I had not done. I trained people in purchasing, warehouse, sales, and clerical positions.  I helped write the procedures manual while I was there.

While my title and job description varied over the years, I maintained purchasing responsibilities for the twenty-five years I was there. When I left there, I went to a manufacturer as the maintenance and repair buyer. MRO and OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturing) buyers vary in the products and quantities they purchase. 

I retired as the purchasing manager at a manufacturer.  Most people with average intelligence can be trained to do what I did.  I was there for years and had a good handle on the position. The training process was not well thought out and implemented when I started. 

This company is not unusual. Experienced people are hired and expected to do their work with minimal training. Few and far between are the positions where training is a priority. If you get two days with the last person to do the job, you are lucky.

I’ve trained everyone from truck drivers to salesmen. I know how to show anyone how to do any of the jobs I have performed over the last fifty years. I always gave new employees a steno pad to make notes. No one has as good a memory as they think they do. I encourage newer employees to broaden their horizons and learn as much as they can.

When I was a high school student, my first position was as a fry cook, and I learned how to do everything there and was put in charge of closing the drive-in from time to time. My first job out of college was as a food service management trainee. Every time I took a new job, I did my best to learn where I could go next.

I study anything I can to train myself, whether it is reading books or articles, or stepping into other roles to learn what they do. I told the president of a company I was interviewing with that on my first day, I would start training to take my boss’s job. Believe it or not, that was the reason they gave me the job.

©Copyright 2026 by Charles Kensinger

My boys and girls

March 26, 2026

I have often written about my eighteen years of teaching youth at Hamlin Church. Before that, I taught fifth and sixth-grade boys there, as well. I have been a children’s church director on two different occasions while at Hamlin. It has been my church home for over forty years.

My reason for this column is to thank all the men and women that I have had the pleasure of serving over the past fifty or more years as a leader in churches. I spent one summer in Pennsylvania and eighteen months in Joplin, MO, and the balance of this time here in Springfield, MO.

I can cite the names of some of the hundreds of kids and young people that I worked with as a leader, teacher, and minister. You are all my kids. I see some of you frequently, and some I have not visited in person for over fifty years. I’ll tell you about the recent ones.

There was Jason, Ryan, Mendy, Jody, Matt, Michael, Kara, Herschell, Kevin, Brandon, Gina, Cara, Stephanie, and others. I am so proud of all these individuals, as well as the ones that I have not seen for too many years. Some of them are doctors, nurses, teachers, ministers, businessmen and women, and in practically every profession you can imagine.

I cannot count the number of men and women that I have had the privilege of serving. I’ve been a teacher, friend, mentor, and supporter as they learned and grew. I’ve worked with their parents, grandparents, and families to encourage them to become the wonderful parents and grandparents they are today.

To say that I am proud of them is an understatement. My part was very minimal in their lives. They were under my tutelage for only a couple of years, but I have followed them as they have grown, been educated, married, and had children. Some are better known to me than others. All of them have made me proud to know them.

We have three daughters, three sons-in-law, and twelve grandchildren that I am also extremely proud of. My love for them is unbounded. My ministry is not over, and it will continue until my health restricts me or Jesus calls me home.

©Copyright 2026 by Charles Kensinger

NO ONE CAN TEACH YOU WHAT YOU DO NOT WISH TO LEARN

July 1, 2025

It seems like an easily determined idea, doesn’t it?  Parents, teachers, and employers all fail to recognize this one fact. A father or mother attempts to teach a child how to use a spoon, a fork, or the potty chair before they want to. And it is always a struggle. I know. We tried that with Heather.

She would sit on the pot and not do anything.  Then she decided she wanted to use the chair because she was tired of diapers. Why do training diapers help so many kids? They don’t want to lose the security of the protection from accidents, but they want freedom in the bathroom. They also wish for Mom and Dad’s approval.

Effective teachers find ways to encourage their students to learn, but may use games, toys or other activities that catch the attention and are interesting. This type of learning must be customized for every student. If you are fortunate, more than one person is captured by the same activity. Others require a different approach.  Learning centers in classrooms take advantage of this principle.

Although I have never carried the title of “trainer” as a supervisor, manager, or an employee hoping to help someone else get ahead, I have trained hundreds of people in dozens of areas. Often, the lessons I taught to others were taught the hard way by trial and error for me. The desire to make learning easier for someone else makes me want to discover how to help them catch what I am throwing at them. This is how it should be done in the workplace.

The truth is that many are afraid to instruct others in what they know. They believe their job security depends on no one else knowing as much about their job.   

On other occasions, we want to pass on knowledge, but do not know how because our school was hard knocks. We learned by doing and believe others will also.  On-the-job training is good, but why shouldn’t those with more experience guide the newbies?  Show them the things you tried first that did not work. Tell them why you do it the way you do and all the other methods that are not as good. These stop wasting time and effort.

If they listen. That leads us back to the title of this article.  No one can teach you what you do not wish to learn. If you are stubborn and will not take instruction, you are doomed to repeat other mistakes and be thought less of. 

When your trainer takes the time to show you their errors, you don’t have to repeat them. Hopefully, you will not be greeted with the worst of all educational philosophies, “Because I said so.”

It is time to take your company to the 21st century. Write a procedures manual that includes every process in your business. This is one of the requirements for all major companies. Certifications that multinational companies must maintain to bid on government contracts require this manual. Start with this item and see where it takes you.

©Copyright 2025 by Charles Kensinger

How do you train?

June 29, 2025

Training is critical to job performance. It is one of those items that is taken into consideration with each new hire. Training is another cost for a new employee. If your company does not calculate this factor, it is still costing them money to train people for positions and functions.

The best way for most of us to learn is to be shown a task and then allowed to perform it until we are comfortable with it. The individual we are training sets such things as the number of repetitions needed, the amount of background knowledge required, and supervisory aspects. No two employees are ever the same, even if they are similar in some characteristics.

Over forty years in business in the office, out in the factory or shop, and everything from a line assembler to the operations manager, I have learned how to train and that many people are not naturally suited to train or be trained.

Three areas need to be looked at to ascertain that a company has adequate training.  Does corporate management provide training guidelines? Do they provide the man (or woman) hours and equipment to allow for excellent education of job functions? Does middle management oversee the process thoroughly? If any of the answers to any of these questions are no, an employee may be lost due to a lack of training.

In some cases, higher-ups assume that the training takes place at the lower levels.  That assumption is often incorrect. Top executives do not train; however, they need to guarantee that each level below them knows their responsibilities for advancement in the job performance of all under their authority. An office manager, branch manager, supervisor or foreperson should be held responsible for all those who are under them. 

Training takes time away from daily responsibilities for both the new employee and the trainer. Other associates need to accept the extra load for those involved in providing proper training. If equipment needs to be used to learn, it should be provided. Often, special training centers can be assembled to give ongoing refresher courses in newly introduced functions. When you want an employee to learn new software, you must give them the time with that program and a trainer to accomplish the task.

Now we are back to the managers and supervisors for the oversight of all functions. A cursory glance at production or other work is not enough to determine if everything is going as planned. Quality inspection of work is required.  Time and money are saved because these tasks are given proper emphasis.

One of the best tools I found at many of the companies I worked with was the procedures manual. This is a book of operations that are required for every employee to accomplish their assigned tasks. I’ve written and used these texts often. They are one more tool for training.

©Copyright 2025 by Charles Kensinger