Dr. Donald Fisher, the executive director of the Mid-South Productivity Center, gives new meaning to the word busy.

He has authored five books, is a director and judge for the Greater Memphis Award for Quality, a member of the board of examiners of the prestigious Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award, and is a consultant to business and government operations including the U.S. Postal Service.

However, he found time in his busy schedule to speak at last week's Brown Bag Luncheon Workshop, which is sponsored by MLGW's Support Staff Advisory Council. The next meeting will take place on Nov. 13.

A consultant on corporate training and productivity improvement, Fisher has spent more than 20 years in the field of management development. Based on that experience he has created PATS, a new training development tool that allows companies to take advantage of existing resources to create a more productive and trained workforce.

An acronym for Process Activated Training System, PATS allows employees to become certified to train others. As Fisher puts it, PATS formalizes on the job training.

"One thing all companies have in common is on the job training. It's the oldest form of learning ... I wanted to formalize a very informal way of training so I developed PATS. I've always wanted to make a difference in the way people learn and

Showing a clip from the "I love Lucy" television show which showed Lucy and Ethel working to keep up - under the pressure of a hard-nosed supervisor - with the company's assembly line, Fisher discussed ways of creating a positive environment of continuous learning for employees.

"All of us should have one thing in common, which is sharing a passion for work," he said.

By identifying employees who demonstrate the company's best practices and using them to teach new learners, PATS has a number of benefits including motivating existing employees and building confidence among new employees, Fisher said.

For example, by using this method, the company recognizes existing employees' understanding of the job and allows them to determine new ways to improve the work process, as well as re-educating those employees. "Whether you've been here 20 years or 20 months, you're still a learner," he said.

Fisher has judged quality performance at more than 100 organizations, including MLGW.

He says that companies need to write down their "recipes" for success, especially when employees retire. "If you don't write down the recipe, you lose its potency," Fisher said.