QTD User Conference

U n o f f i c i a l lessons to be
l e a r n e d from an auditor
One of this year’s most
anticipated guest speakers
was Mike Wells, Auditor
from the WECC region.
Mike graciously offered
to share his unofficial
perspectives on what
auditors are looking for
when conducting a PER-005
audit. The following are
some key lessons the QTS Staffers learned from Mike’s
presentation:
Lesson 1. Don’t underestimate the importance of
the annual review – do NOT take the approach of “if
it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. Things change all the time
and you should ensure your training is staying current
with the times.
Lesson 2. If all the auditors see when they conduct
an audit on your information is reliability-related
tasks, it gives the impression that all you’re doing
is the bare minimum, and you’re not working on
developing a culture of compliance (you’re developing
a culture of doing the bare minimum to get by).
Lesson 3. IDPs – individual plans don’t need to be
unique to each individual person, but they should
be matched to close the developmental gaps of
individuals (i.e. several individuals might have similar
skill or knowledge gaps that need to be closed – the
plans should match these).
Lesson 4. No training records or training process
records = no compliance.
Lesson 5. Internal controls will be a focus of 2018
audits for the WECC region. If auditors see you have
good internal controls, they may decide to audit you
less frequently in the future.
Lesson 6. The state of PER-005 evidence today:
Auditors see good documentation of performing
training, but information is lacking is how control
centers decide what to train on. There is not much
evidence to document the development and practice
of training processes.
Knowledge tidbit: While NERC has been levying
lower fines now, you can still easily see fines of
up to $100K. Additional update: the “compliance
exception” category has now been added, which does
not carry a fine.
www.QualityTrainingSystems.com Office: 443.755.0790
WHY DID YOU PLACE
A TOY BY MY SEAT?
This year’s user conference participants
found a “fiddle toy” at their seat. While
some participants pushed the toy aside,
other participants made friends with the
toy and used it to twirl, pull, snap, and
twist these new companions throughout
the conference. The mystery of the toys
was solved in the 2017 Training Trends
breakout session where we learned that
counter to traditional beliefs, fidgeting and
fiddling helps us learn. Accepting fidgeting
and providing something to fiddle with is
becoming common practice in schools
– and we all know that the process of
learning is the same for children and
adults, so feel free to provide some fidget
toys for your adult learners. In case you
are wondering, yes, more than half of the
conference participants were spotted at
one point in time fiddling.
Conference Participant
“Aha”: Fidgeting can be
distracting to the trainer,
but we need to make a
mindset shift to allow for
this, as the student might
be learning while doing it.
2