Leadership Lessons: Coaching During Tough Times

With an increasingly diverse workforce, economically tough times, competitive demands and greater pressures of doing more with less, leaders are becoming stressed out, and in some cases they are mixed up about how to cope in the current climate.

In these times, employees at all levels need more communication and honest feedback through coaching. In some cases, employees are not even aware that their productivity has tapered off, and managers may wonder whether they are coachable. Right now, your leadership may be one of the most important elements of management, as well as for the culture of your organization.

With the current economic business environment predicted to last well into 2009, the idea that coaching is needed rests on a long-term commitment to employees. Team leaders should be keen to help their team members perform their best by motivating them, encouraging them, listening to them, shaping their values, challenging them, facilitating their needs and inspiring excellence.

A recent Northeast Human Resources Association survey indicated that more than 70 percent of human resources professionals in the Northeast believe that their employees are overloaded and distracted at work. And those distractions lead to loss of productivity.

Key Priorities

A survey of 514 employed U.S. workers in October 2008 shows that employees are witnessing how the current economic climate is impacting the companies where they work. Twenty-six percent of respondents said they believed that layoffs would occur, and 62 percent said their companies would have trouble meeting goals. This reiterates the fact that many companies may have declining engagement of employees, and this is forcing employees to wonder whether they will be able to meet their personal and professional goals.

"The focus of [managing talent] in the past has been on rehabilitating poor performers," said Laura Lea Clinton, GPHR, director of HR management for CARE USA. "The trend will reverse to a focus on the continued engagement and retention of top performers."

The Society of Human Resource Management's (SHRM) December 2008 report, "Key Priorities for the HR Profession Through 2015," states that coaching is a training method organizations can use to retain the knowledge of more experienced or skilled workers so younger employees can benefit from their knowledge and experience. This is key during these economic hard times.

Can You Relate?

It is 5 a.m. and Sheila is up at the crack of dawn waking her kids and sending them off to school. Sheila hurries to get herself ready and out the door for the morning commute. On the way to work, she receives a call from her boss informing her that an 8 a.m. emergency meeting has been called. She slides in the door with just enough time to make take the elevator and grab a stiff cup of coffee.

Sheila manages a team of account representatives. In the emergency meeting, she learns that the company's biggest client has laid off 400 workers. With the client cutting back, Sheila's boss says she'll have to reduce her staff by moving two people to another team. Meanwhile, Sheila has 10 other accounts, with major work coming due on projects over the next two weeks. Facing a disgruntled and deflated team, she wonders if she can step up to the plate and coach them through the change.

Already beaten down from her own company's downsizing the previous month, Sheila wonders whether she's still considered a good performer. She's not confident that she's up for the challenge of restructuring her staff and workload.

Moreover, she's not getting a warm and fuzzy feeling from her boss, whose last words were, "We've got to do what we have to do to stay afloat ourselves. If you want to keep working, just do it." Sheila isn't sure what the priorities are anymore. All she is thinking about is the extra hours she'll be working. Sheila is stressed out and in danger of shutting down.

The Value of Coaching

Research suggests that the main causes of stress in Americans' lives are juggling work and their personal lives, lack of job security, people issues, and workload. Generation Y and Baby Boomers alike take unplanned days off from work as a way to deal with stress, which increases over time.

The value of coaching can be measured in the overall improved performance of individuals and teams. Coaching helps people through transitions, clarifies priorities, boosts team members' morale and helps positively shape attitudes. A team leader who cares enough about his or her team members to help and train them will gain their trust, cooperation and confidence.

Coaching helps employees move beyond their limitations. They grow with their own sense of satisfaction as a vital part of the team and the organization, and they are optimistic about their future in the organization. Isn't that what you want --- positive, enthusiastic employees serving the customer?

Coaching is a valuable way to build teamwork through communication, shared goals and collaboration. It also keeps the team focused on running the business and serving customers.

With Vital Learning's Coaching Job Skills program, your managers and team leaders will learn the coaching process that is so often neglected. They will learn how to identify coachable performance problems early, before problems become out of hand. They will also learn to communicate in coaching terms that improve employee performance and productivity. For general supervisory leadership skills, we continue to offer you the award-winning series by Vital Learning. Available in Classroom, Online, or Blended delivery options, the Vital Learning curriculum includes the following essential topics.

• Delegating - understanding when to use delegation and how to make it motivating
• Complaints - being able to effectively manage complaints
  
• Coaching - knowing how to productively coach job skills
  
• Project Management - being able to run projects, both on-time and on-budget
  
• Conflict - understanding how to successfully resolve conflict
  
• Hiring Winning Talent- knowing what to do to consistently hire the right talent
  
• Providing Feedback - understanding how to establish performance goals and standards and give feedback
  
• And more...

Leadership Lessons: Cutting-Edge Customer Service

The Problem

Maybe your organization doesn't make cutting-edge products. You don't necessarily have to. But do your employees deliver cutting-edge customer service?

With today's uncertain economy and belt-tightening occurring on every level, people are scrambling to maintain profitability and grow their businesses. Add to that competition and a world that relies on social networking and word-of-mouth marketing ... well, let's just call it a tough sell.

Retaining and gaining edge hinges on the kind of customer service that brings people to your door, helps you through the economic downturn and creates customer advocacy.

Who should you be training to provide cutting-edge customer service?

• Sales and service representatives

• All employees who deal with your customers

• Anyone who has internal and external customer contact

That sounds like almost everyone in an organization needs training, doesn't it? In truth, every employee can use customer service training. Such training helps an organization shift its culture to one that encourages cutting-edge thinking and progressive service.

The following are examples of organizations known for delivering superb, memorable customer service.

Nordstrom

An American business more than 100 years old, Nordstrom is touted in a destinationcrm.com article as the gold standard for customer service excellence. The company now relies on word of mouth as a primary marketing tool.

Nordstrom makes customer service a priority, and customers know they will be treated special. One longtime employee said that he felt empowered to pave his own career path and to bring customers along with him. Nordstrom also gives employees on the frontline the ability to make decisions.

Ford

Ford was founded in 1903, and remains a leader in the American auto industry. A Ford division customer relationship manager was interviewed, and she said the company has been responsive by listening to what customers want instead of telling them what they need. The Ford philosophy has always been to focus on the customer experience at every touch point.

Men's Wearhouse

A FastCompany.com article, "They Sell Suits With Soul," shares the story of Men's Wearhouse's record of turning "reluctant shoppers into loyal customers." One top executive said that the company's training curriculum is less about how to sell suits than about understanding people. In addition, Men's Wearhouse believes in "the ability to move beyond the initial customer request and to satisfy a true need."

The Solution

Design Customer Service Training and Make it Happen

Consider the level of customer service your organization provides today. What might you consider in the way of training for employees so they feel the kind of empowerment that leads to cutting-edge customer service?

Assessment must be a part of your customer service methodology. Some assessment firms indicate that finding the right operational targets and customer satisfaction information to determine where service and delivery integrate is key. Next, design a CSR training program that builds service levels to satisfy your customers; this will have a direct bearing on your organization's productivity and profitability.

Vital Learning, in conjunction with your training representative, offers a variety of customer service training programs. Each program is flexible to fit your needs and provides both traditional classroom-based and online options.

STAR Service is a powerful, four-hour program that teaches participants how to achieve the following:

• S: Sync up with customers
• T: Target customer needs
• A: Assist customer needs
• R: Reaffirm assistance and the relationship

The STAR Service program offers maximum training in a short period of time to improve CSRs' consistency and create positive and memorable experiences for your customers. It also helps increase customer retention, expand business relationships and drive increased customer referrals. Vital Learning's Winning Through Customer Service program offers four modules to train participants about professionalism that leads to a proactive, problem-solving culture. The program also focuses on communication skills while using a structured process/model for conducting customer service transactions. Furthermore, participants practice strategies for appropriately dealing with difficult customer situations.

Two complementary online programs, Delivering Customer-Focused Service and Dealing With Difficult Customer Situations, allow organizations to deliver training as either stand-alone, self-paced modules or blended learning to complement to the classroom-based programs.

There has never been a more compelling time to keep your organization moving and on the cutting edge with customer service training.

For general supervisory leadership skills, we continue to offer you the award-winning series by Vital Learning. Available in Classroom, Online, or Blended delivery options, the Vital Learning curriculum includes the following essential topics.

• Delegating - understanding when to use delegation and how to make it motivating
• Complaints - being able to effectively manage complaints
  
• Coaching - knowing how to productively coach job skills
  
• Project Management - being able to run projects, both on-time and on-budget
  
• Conflict - understanding how to successfully resolve conflict
  
• Hiring Winning Talent- knowing what to do to consistently hire the right talent
  
• Providing Feedback - understanding how to establish performance goals and standards and give feedback
  
• And more...

Leadership Lessons: Leading Positively

Conflict and Leading Positively

Conflict is an inevitable part of organizational life. Typically, sources of conflict can be found in competition for resources, different goals or priorities, task interdependence, unclear statements of responsibilities, status issues, poor interpersonal communication and individual traits. It's a lot like what is happening in today's politics and the economy.

The long-term ramifications of the current political climate and the failing banks and other failing industries are not clear. In fact, the outcome probably won't begin take shape for some time. What is clear is that the situation has everyone on edge, and this can increase the potential for workplace conflicts.

In the article "Following the Leader, What Makes the Great Ones So Good," Chris Cobb quotes professor and author, Joseph Nye, who said "A good leader has to have the ability to adapt his or her skills to different contexts." Nye points to the ability of leaders to adapt successfully to any conflict. It is imperative for managers and supervisors to have the ability, especially in today's political, financial and economic climate.

The Problem

In the current climate, human resources and training professionals will likely have an increasing role to fill with imminent fall out in organizations and rising concerns of both employers and employees.

Consider Tom, the employee who is worried about the economy and keeping things steady at home. He doesn't want to bring his anxiety to work but it is starting to overflow. Tom is more mistrustful of other individuals who are vying for the same resources he needs to get his job done. He's defensive now, when other team members question why he isn't getting his work done fast enough. They think it is impacting their ability to deliver as the next link in the workflow.

Tolerance for others breaks down because Tom feels his co-workers don't understand his need for additional resources. He questions why the managers of each area can't step in and resolve the situation. Performance for both teams is breaking down.

All managers and supervisors, even though they may be experiencing the same types of stresses posed in the scenario above, have a responsibility to lead their team members through the tough times. The best thing leaders can do is to be honest and forthcoming, and at the same time, manage conflicts appropriately, and align their employees with a shared purpose.

Laurence O'Neil is the new CEO for the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), said in a recent article "I know how much more important HR is destined to become in all organizations, particularly during challenging economic times."

O'Neil pointed to both a changing workforce and economic anxiety in bringing among other things, labor relations and employee relations back into focus. This is why the proper training for supervisors and managers will become more important in the weeks and months ahead.

The Solution

Further Training May be Needed for Positive Outcomes

Organizations should examine the gaps in their training, and enhance managers' and supervisors' abilities to manage conflicts. And deal with the current changes in the workplace. Conflict can certainly cause frustration and discomfort, but it can also, present positive outcomes.

Conflict can lead to opportunity. Conflict that is managed effectively can lead to growth for individuals and teams. Organizations that have a culture of handling conflicts in a positive manner often reap the benefits.

Managers and supervisors need to make decisions by examining the issues while making a detailed analysis of options. This is accomplished through discussion where stagnant thinking and group or individual bias does not block a creative environment where a culture of team members thinks of new solutions for immediate and long-standing problems.

Skills Needed to Handle Complexities

Diana McLain Smith, author of "Divide or Conquer: How great Teams Turn Conflict Into Strength," said that people with the ability to turn extraordinary vision into good strategy make good leaders. These people have sharp analytical skills and a clear understanding of relationships.

In many organizations, leaders are ill-equipped at all to handle conflicts. Fundamentally, they don't understand the complexity of individual and team relationships and the conflicts that may arise.

The Right Toolkit for Managing Conflict

Vital Learning's Resolving Conflicts toolkit can provide managers and supervisors with an understanding of conflict management strategies. Different situations require different conflict-handling modes. For example, when managers and supervisors need team members' commitment, they can encourage team collaboration to merge insights from team members who have different perspectives.

Well-trained leaders can lift people from negativity to create a positive, productive environment. Without such leaders the work environment can become one of mistrust, lack of cooperation, poor customer service, absenteeism and turnover. The performance of individual employees and teams suffers and as does the performance of the organization.

Perhaps your organization hasn't examined the need to manage conflict as one that can have a major impact. Your Vital Learning training representative can help you identify gaps between where your supervisors' and managers' current conflict management skills and the skills they should have.

Well-trained managers and supervisors in a culture that handles today's challenging environment and conflicts can provide outstanding strategic and competitive advantages for your organization.

For general supervisory leadership skills, we continue to offer you the award-winning series by Vital Learning. Available in Classroom, Online, or Blended delivery options, the Vital Learning curriculum includes the following essential topics.

• Delegating - understanding when to use delegation and how to make it motivating
• Complaints - being able to effectively manage complaints
  
• Coaching - knowing how to productively coach job skills
  
• Project Management - being able to run projects, both on-time and on-budget
  
• Conflict - understanding how to successfully resolve conflict
  
• Hiring Winning Talent- knowing what to do to consistently hire the right talent
  
• Providing Feedback - understanding how to establish performance goals and standards and give feedback
  
• And more...

For detail go to www.TheLearningEngine.org

Leadership Lessons: Online Training

Online Training: Generation 'Z'

Generation 'Z' of online training is happening now: New technologies, services, web tools and cultural changes driving interactivity and person-to-person learning. Web 2.0 makes it a very exciting time to discover the latest in instructional tools, learning infrastructures and development of online digital campus communities. With all of these developments, what do you focus on in this new age of capabilities and services? How do you tie this to meaningful issues for your organization?

There are four areas to understand: Emergence, Convergence, Onboarding and Further Engagement.

Emergence

Innovation has created a tremendous amount of thinking about what leadership means, now going on nine years into the new century. It brings in-depth opportunities for learning and solutions to a complex and culturally diverse workforce.

This is why training emerging leadership is so important. Current technologies facilitate interaction through Facebook, MySpace, Linked In and so many other networks creating a generation of users who are ready, willing and able to access online learning that is as individual as they are. Learners are expected to be connected to other learners and their trainers. I've seen this described as Connectivism, Networked Learning and Connective Knowledge. This allows learners to access what they need, apply it and share it with others. It supports greater problem-solving and informal leadership transferred from one person to another. It gives learners new connections, renewed relationships with peers and enables the discovery of new resources.

During training, organizations must harness the power of creativity and capacity with their learning management systems to connect supervisors with their team.

Convergence

Major organizations like Microsoft currently are working hard to simplify end user experiences in light of Web 2.0. According to Education Channel Partner, online platform structures supporting a processing environment bring together "content, commerce and community." In a nutshell, it is a boost in "anytime, anywhere" content models that support training content delivered to anyone, to any handheld or other device. According to Education Channel Partner, Microsoft's Chief Software Architect Ray Ozzie proclaimed, the "power of the internet, and the magic of software" across a world of devices.

As trainers and training organization managers, you need to look at ways to use these resources to connect with empowered learners. Integrate learning across diverse channels, use learner-generated content and measure results.

Power of Onboarding

According to Workforce.com, in the fiscal year 2007, the federal government hired more than 195,000 new employees; however, high first-year attrition undermined its recruitment efforts. First-year attrition for firefighters at the U.S. Forest Service stood at 26.6 percent nationwide and 46.6 in Southern California where the country needs them the most.

First-year voluntary turnover between 2003 and 2007 increased from 10 to 18 percent; a dramatically high rate overall. For every two patent examiners hired at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the agency lost one-third within the first year. By 2012, federal agencies will lose nearly 530,000 employees including those in leadership and incritical-skills positions.

Think about your own organization and what you may be losing right now. A substantial study conducted by Partnership for Public Service and Booz Allen Hamilton in 2008 found that successful onboarding of employees during their first year increases engagement and raises retention by as much as 25 percent, improves performance and accelerates the time to full productivity. Onboarding is typically the process of acclimating employees to the organization beyond orientation. Organizations can impact retention using online training as an effective and efficient way to facilitate onboarding employees.

Further Engagement

Many organizations do not realize the key role of their managers and supervisors in the onboarding process. Quite simply, if employees do not feel engaged with their work and the organization, they may move on to the next organization who will invest in them. Workforce.com points to the Partnership for Public Service model which incorporates five phases: acceptance of job offer to start date, the orientation, the first week of employment, the first 90 days and the first year. "During each phase, the focus remains squarely on integrating the new employee into the workplace, communicating the goals of the organization and building engagement in the work."

Vital Learning's Leadership Series gives managers and supervisors the essential skills in onboarding to create further engagement in team members. The beauty of the Leadership Series is that it has both online and classroom-based formats to fit your training needs.

The Partnership report notes that few organizations are using online resources to onboard new employees early in the process. Using new technologies and online training is an essential part of ramping up your recruitment, retention and training strategies. Monitoring performance, providing feedback, reviewing performance objectives and setting individual development goals are all taught through the Vital Learning's leadership curriculum.

Emergence, convergence, onboarding and further engagement give us power you have when combined with web-based resources to stimulate training initiatives. Your training professional can show you how to get into the "next generation now" of training efficiencies impacting the bottom line of your organization.

For general supervisory leadership skills, we continue to offer you the award-winning series by Vital Learning. Available in Classroom, Online, or Blended delivery options, the Vital Learning curriculum includes the following essential topics.

• Delegating - understanding when to use delegation and how to make it motivating
• Complaints - being able to effectively manage complaints
  
• Coaching - knowing how to productively coach job skills
  
• Project Management - being able to run projects, both on-time and on-budget
  
• Conflict - understanding how to successfully resolve conflict
  
• Hiring Winning Talent- knowing what to do to consistently hire the right talent
  
• Providing Feedback - understanding how to establish performance goals and standards and give feedback
  
• And more...

For detail go to www.TheLearningEngine.org

Leadership Lessons: Company Culture

Organizational Challenge

Below are some commonly quoted customer service statistics. Maybe you have seen them before:

• A typical business hears from about 4 percent of its dissatisfied customers, while 96 percent just go away ... and 91 percent will never come back.
  
• It costs five to six times as much to get a new customer as it does to keep a current one.
  
• It takes 12 positive service interactions to make up for one negative interaction.

Whether or not these can be substantiated is another story, but it is safe to say that your organization's customer service culture is critically important to growth and profits. According to a study by The Wharton School, stakes are high as reducing customer attrition by 5 to 10 percent can increase annual profits as much as 75 percent. Author Jerry Fritz is quoted as saying, "You'll never have a product or price advantage again. They can be easily duplicated, but a strong customer service culture can't be copied." More focus is being placed on the power of customer service lately. One of the huge drivers of renewed attention is the impact of technology and the demand from consumers for instant access to goods and services. This carries over directly to the delivery of customer service in meeting those demands, especially in responding to e-mail. Technology can't, and never will, replace the human touch. Does your customer service culture touch your customers in the right way?

Slowing Economy ... Growing Customer Service

A study released by the Jupiter Research Corporation in August of 2007 entitled, "Experience-Driven Service Expectations," indicates that customer service must consider the impact as online marketing matures. And, a 2008 Contact Center Satisfaction Index released by Claes Fornell International indicates that as consumer spending weakens and the economy slows, organizations should focus more on retention and less on the more expensive customer acquisition. Contact centers, being on the frontline of the customer relationship, carry the bulk of the load in keeping customers. Jupiter Research, in its US Customer Forecast, 2007 to 2012, shows that spending on customer service will continue to rise with companies dealing with consistent increases in the number of customer service contacts.

A national employment projection report from the Department of Labor backs this up: Employment of customer service representatives is expected to increase 25 percent from 2006 to 2016. This is much faster, the report stated, than the average for all occupations. This same report echoes the call for customer service people who can, "build sales, visibility, and loyalty as companies try to distinguish themselves from competitors." Retention will become more important, especially in industries that already employ large numbers of customer service representatives, including those in the industries of financial services, communications and utilities. OK, so let's examine these ramifications. Word of mouth is powerful and it is causing change. The speed of technology increases the viability and impact of sharing customer service experiences. The spiraling economy sends organizations scrambling to retain customers, save dwindling profits and strive for growth. In the next 10 years, and probably beyond, customer service will be the differentiator as organizations staff up to meet the demand.

A Solution

My vote would be to train and re-train. And then do it again. Take a look at your culture: What is it demonstrating to your customers? Training customer service representatives should be seen as a must-do in any organization. It is possible to create a program that fits into busy schedules. Your training representative can help make this work. Two products fit into this scenario: STAR Service and Winning Through Customer Service, both from Vital Learning Corporation.

What I like about STAR Service is that it is a solid half-day program that isn't fluffy. It teaches a clear, practical, four-step process to transform negative and neutral customer experiences to positive and memorable ones. That is right on the mark for retention of customers and the increase of customer referrals. That ties us back to the power of word of mouth.

What I like about Winning Through Customer Service is the flexibility of the program for delivery, either online or in the classroom. Your training representative can additionally help you with some blended learning ideas. There are four modules that can help turn on your representatives to problem-solving, successful communicating, adapting to different behavioral styles and more. I leave you with this thought. Having a customer service culture will lead to long-term customers who are generally more profitable. In a Whitepaper published by CISCO, the headline reads: "Are you providing your customers with the satisfying experiences that will keep them coming back?"

For general supervisory leadership skills, we continue to offer you the award-winning series by Vital Learning. Available in Classroom, Online, or Blended delivery options, the Vital Learning curriculum includes the following essential topics.

• Delegating - understanding when to use delegation and how to make it motivating
• Complaints - being able to effectively manage complaints
  
• Coaching - knowing how to productively coach job skills
  
• Project Management - being able to run projects, both on-time and on-budget
  
• Conflict - understanding how to successfully resolve conflict
  
• Hiring Winning Talent- knowing what to do to consistently hire the right talent
  
• Providing Feedback - understanding how to establish performance goals and standards and give feedback
  
• And more...

For detail go to www.TheLearningEngine.org

Leadership Lessons: Frontline Managers

Organizational Challenge As Peter Drucker advised us several decades ago, frontline managers are critical to an organization's ability to gain and maintain competitive advantage. These managers understand the skills, activities, and processes that are important to the organization. They also understand the needs of their customers. Despite this, many organizations have not fully tapped into this resource. Is your organization one of the guilty ones? Solution

There are several programs on the market today that do a good job of providing basic supervisory/leadership training. However, there is a major gap in these programs. They typically do not address business process improvement. Business process skills can help frontline managers improve the bottom line by producing clear, measurable outcomes in terms of expense reduction or increased revenues.

Thus, once armed with the knowledge of basic leadership skills, the next natural step is to train these frontline managers with business process improvement skills that help them to:

• Clearly understand the key business issues and goals of the organization
  
• Look for measurable opportunities to align current processes to more effectively meet the needs of the organization
  
• Seek alternative resolutions through the help of customers, vendors, and the organization's employees
  
• Select the best solution
  
• Gain commitment from all parties
  
• Execute a process that produces, clear measurable outcomes
  

Does this seem like a tall order for a frontline manager? Not really, if they are given the know-how, freedom, and support of upper management. Once frontline managers are empowered with the skills and management support, the opportunities to improve processes that produce measurable outcomes for increased revenues or reduced expenses are essentially ongoing and endless. Why? Because change is inevitable, and to stay competitive, your organization will either institute new technology and/or take on new products or services. And, these areas will continually need to be reviewed, tweaked and improved.
Future Implications

Recognizing a need to fill this gap, Robin Byrne, then a manager with Xerox in the UK, developed a business process improvement program. He subsequently refined the program and went out on his own to create Robin Byrne's Measureable Management™. This program is designed primarily for frontline managers and team leaders.

I was recently contacted by Robin who asked me to evaluate the program's content and design. I was very impressed with the concepts as well as the results he has achieved with clients. Consequently, I decided to become one of their founding corporate US licensees. I'm further working with Robin's group to launch an update of this exciting practical and effective program to meet specific needs and expectations of my larger corporate clients. We plan for this update to be completed by December 1st.

One of the things that appealed to me most about this program is their money-back guarantee. Your organization will achieve measureable results in expense reduction or increased revenue equal to or greater than the cost of the program. If that doesn't occur (and they claim that it hasn't happened yet), we will refund the difference between your program cost and your measureable results. To date, their experience has been typically been three to four times in expense savings or revenue generation over the cost of the program.

Stay tuned for more information on this as we get closer to launch. Click on the link if you would like to see the basic course overview and testimonials.

For general supervisory leadership skills, we continue to offer you the award-winning series by Vital Learning. Available in Classroom, Online, or Blended delivery options, the Vital Learning curriculum includes the following essential topics.

• Delegating - understanding when to use delegation and how to make it motivating
• Complaints - being able to effectively manage complaints
  
• Coaching - knowing how to productively coach job skills
  
• Project Management - being able to run projects, both on-time and on-budget
  
• Conflict - understanding how to successfully resolve conflict
  
• Hiring Winning Talent- knowing what to do to consistently hire the right talent
  
• Providing Feedback - understanding how to establish performance goals and standards and give feedback
  
• And more...

For detail go to www.TheLearningEngine.org

Survey Tools for Small Business

Surveys on the Cheap!

When searching for information about small business, I found an interesting new web site. It takes a practical approach to helping a small business owner survey customers and employees at a very reasonable cost. And it has some interesting free stuff, too. I thought you might want to check this out since they are offering an unprecedented introductory offer.

This customizable survey tool makes it easy for you to find out what your customers and employees need. Surveys for Small Business gives you a cost-effective way to discover information critical to your business success. The software comes pre-loaded with surveys for employee opinion, customer satisfaction and individual performance. To find out more and take advantage of their introductory offer, Click http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?Clk=3030177

Leadership Lessons: Motivating Team Members

Motivating all Generations

Oprah has topped the list of celebrities whom hourly workers, including teens, are motivated by to make their day more fun. Kathy Gurchiek, associate editor for HR News, reported in a September online brief results of more than 2,300 people completing the SnagAJob.com online survey conducted recently. Oprah was the top choice ahead of Angelina Jolie and Will Ferrell among workers in the age groups 18 to 24, 25 to 44, and 45 and older.

What does this mean? Perhaps nothing, but it is another indication of the inter-generational workforce and the little quirks that are emerging that may affect how we motivate, hire, and retain employees.

Some Perspective

The SHRM® Generational Differences Survey Report indicates that 51% of HR professionals felt that employees of different generations work effectively together. However, managers need to employ a variety of leadership styles to be better equipped to deal with potential conflicts and motivate employees.

Authors Lynne C. Lancaster and David Stillman in their book, When Generations Collide, say that effectively managing the new workforce depends on understanding the values and experiences distinguishing different generations:

• Traditionalists, born prior to 1945, value loyalty and prefer a top-down approach to management. Information is something provided on a need-to-know basis.
  
• Baby boomers, born 1946-1964, are optimistic and idealist. Success comes from challenging authority and creating open lines of communication.
  
• Generation Xers, born 1965-1980, are more skeptical. As latchkey kids and/or the product of broken homes, they grew up in a time of political and corporate scandals. They distrust institutions and value individualism.
  
• The Millennials, born after 1980, will change employers during the span of their career and they will change the type of work they do.

Understanding this diversity also means adjusting recruitment and retention strategies and training managers to motivate appropriately. Doing so will reap bottom-line results in the years to come.

The concept of how managers lead and motivate is complex and undergoing a major shift. The manager creates the environment - a climate positive for success. In reality motivation springs from within, but it is fostered in an environment in which people motivate themselves through reinforcement of confidence, trust, and satisfaction.
A Solution

When high performers have unresolved motivation issues their performance declines, or they leave for another job. When poor performers are not motivated to improve, they drag the team down and reduce productivity.

Competent leaders must motivate and empower the new generation of workers.

The Vital Learning curriculum is designed to meet your training and budgetary needs. Want to learn more about "Essential Skills of Communicating" or the complete Vital Learning leadership development curriculum? Available in Classroom, Online, or Blended delivery options, the Vital Learning curriculum includes the following essential topics.

• Delegating - understanding when to use delegation and how to make it motivating
• Complaints - being able to effectively manage complaints
  
• Coaching - knowing how to productively coach job skills
  
• Project Management - being able to run projects, both on-time and on-budget
  
• Conflict - understanding how to successfully resolve conflict
  
• Hiring Winning Talent- knowing what to do to consistently hire the right talent
  
• Providing Feedback - understanding how to establish performance goals and standards and give feedback
  
• And more...

For detail go to www.TheLearningEngine.org

Leadership Lessons: Resolving Conflict

Engaging Employees by Resolving Conflict "Those in conflict are unable to sustain a productive and stable exchange," according to Craig Rashkis, a mediator who has a master's degree in Dispute Resolution from Pepperdine University's Straus Institute for Dispute Resolution. In his article Workplace Conflict and the Importance of Resolving Early, he explains that the amount of organizational resources spent on resolving workplace conflict early on is typically less than the resources used in just half a day of trial when defending a lawsuit. Perhaps more importantly, Rashkis lists benefits which include:

• Increased morale and productivity
  
• Greater employee loyalty
  
• Greater retention
  
• Clarification of organizational purpose and policy
  
• Increased profitability
  
• Better reputation
  
• Success through superior products and services
  

Some Perspective

Conflict is not always easy to identify and must be distinguished from disagreements which can be a part of enthusiastic discussion or caring for the situation at hand. Conflict is associated with anger and frustration.
Effective leaders work from a viewpoint that keeps diverse work teams centered and successful. They know how to use courage and resolve to achieve goals and work with others. It's fairly shocking that according to research of 840,000 employees from the U.S. and U.K., 43% of employees report being disengaged on the job by their third year of employment because they become discouraged or dissatisfied in some way. Conflict in the workplace can only add to this and further disengage employees.

When leaders start to identify and then deal with situations that seem to cause conflict, issues can be resolved fairly and effectively.

There has been much reported about the new and growing diversity in the workforce. As this continues to be a factor, leaders need to be trained to recognize that personality traits and ego can largely influence the initiation of conflict.

Being aware of this and having the right skills to recognize and deal with conflict quickly and effectively will address the root cause, rather than getting bogged down in inflammatory outbursts, irrational eruptions, and inappropriate behavior. Without early resolve, this can become a continual cycle leading to the disengagement-- that we've already defined-- and broken commitment to individual performance.

By using effective techniques in communication and management, leaders help team members understand other points of view in order to move beyond the conflict.

A Solution

Your organization can impact a more positive bottom line characterized by productivity and profitability by improving morale and creating more functional and engaged employees. As Rashkis indicates, "The single most important benefit of resolving workplace conflict early is avoiding its debilitating and potentially disastrous effects." Resolving Conflicts is a program by Vital Learning, offered in both a traditional classroom format or online, that can teach your managers and team leaders the skills to recognize and deal with potential conflict situations early. Some organizations use the blended learning approach using a combination of online and more traditional approaches to deliver the training.

Take this simple quiz to find out if your leaders have the right point of view to deal with conflict. My managers and team leaders...

1. Accept conflict as inevitable in all work situations and deal with it in order to maintain focus and productivity.
2. Recognize the positive and negative impacts of conflicts and leverage situations to everyone's advantage.
3. Distinguish between the two sources of conflict so that the situation can be resolved fairly and effectively.
4. Establish a cooperative atmosphere to resolve conflicts when they arise.

If you answered any of these with a "No", it is likely that your organization needs some work in this area create a more engaged and sustained workforce in productivity and loyalty to your organization.

The Vital Learning curriculum is designed to meet your training and budgetary needs. Want to learn more about "Essential Skills of Communicating" or the complete Vital Learning leadership development curriculum? Available in Classroom, Online, or Blended delivery options, the Vital Learning curriculum includes the following essential topics.

• Delegating - understanding when to use delegation and how to make it motivating
• Complaints - being able to effectively manage complaints
  
• Coaching - knowing how to productively coach job skills
  
• Project Management - being able to run projects, both on-time and on-budget
  
• Conflict - understanding how to successfully resolve conflict
  
• Hiring Winning Talent- knowing what to do to consistently hire the right talent
  
• Providing Feedback - understanding how to establish performance goals and standards and give feedback
  
• And more...

For detail go to www.TheLearningEngine.org

Leadership Lessons: Delegating, Empowerment, and Strategic Alignment

Getting your organization strategically aligned through delegation

There are good habits that we hope all of our supervisors and managers have to help them handle the often powerful and complex challenges of leadership. Bill Gates once said:

"Virtually every company will be going out and empowering with a certain set of tools, and the big difference in how much value is received from that will be how much the company steps back and really thinks through their business processes - thinking through how their business can change, how their project management, their customer feedback, their planning cycles can be quite different than they ever were before." --Bill Gates

Some Perspective

Leaders who regularly delegate are strategically aligned with their employees to improve business processes and provide feedback. This engages employees so that they are reciprocally aligned with their leaders.

Delegating demonstrates trust and encourages development. When you have these two factors at work in your organization, you have a positive environment in which empowered employees are focused on organizational goals.

By delegating responsibilities and projects with clear communication, the bonds of the team are strengthened, manager-employee relationships are improved and a synergistic relationship results. This ties managers and employees together in strategic alignment for the achievement of business goals. A Solution One of the most powerful tools a leader will ever have is communication. There is no replacement for being able to communicate well in the delegation process. Leaders must be able to communicate the "what" and the "why" of every task they delegate. Without taking the time to communicate correctly, misunderstandings occur, workloads become unbalanced, bonds are broken, processes stall, and strategic alignment with goals never occurs.

Therefore, to delegate and empower appropriately, managers and supervisors must learn the following skills:

• Explain the need for delegation.
  
• Use delegation of tasks to motivate.
  
• Explain tasks and ask team member's view (getting feedback).
  
• Specify responsibility and authority (empowerment).
  
• Confirming team member's understanding and set up time review (process improvement).
  

In a perfect world everyone is going out and empowering as is alluded to in our quote from Bill Gates; however, delegating does more than that. It develops people who are able to work through processes and make things better. Then as people develop, they move through the corporate ladder. Delegating expresses confidence in team members and motivates them to achieve strategic goals and redefine their own potential. Delegating creates your leaders of tomorrow, who already are strategically aligned with leadership and goals. What could be better than that?

The Vital Learning curriculum is designed to meet your training and budgetary needs. Want to learn more about "Delegating" or the complete Vital Learning leadership development curriculum? Available in Classroom, Online, or Blended delivery options, the Vital Learning curriculum includes the following essential topics.

• Delegating - understanding when to use delegation and how to make it motivating
• Complaints - being able to effectively manage complaints
  
• Coaching - knowing how to productively coach job skills
  
• Project Management - being able to run projects, both on-time and on-budget
  
• Conflict - understanding how to successfully resolve conflict
  
• Hiring Winning Talent- knowing what to do to consistently hire the right talent
  
• Providing Feedback - understanding how to establish performance goals and standards and give feedback
  
• And more...

For detail go to www.TheLearningEngine.org

Leadership Lessons: Communicating Up

Communicating upward to avoid productivity spiraling downward...

Interaction today comes in two ways: human-to-human and human-to-information. As a natural extension of the Information Age, the Interaction Age has come with messaging capabilities and real-time conferencing; however, with so much technology at our fingertips, it is easy to lose sight of what makes for productive communication between team leaders and employees. Of particular concern is the kind of communication that focuses on upward communication that leads to productivity and high performance.

Some Perspective

Great team leaders actively listen to employees. They also actively encourage employees to talk to each other, to customers, and to their leaders. The good news is that most people already have the skills to communicate to their team leaders; they simply need to apply them to their manager. This is the power of human-to-human dialogue that constitutes interaction. With it, employees are able to see the vision for the company and come closer to a sense of ownership in the company initiatives. In addition, this new interaction breeds an environment of teamwork, organizational flexibility, and corporate agility.

For employees to communicate effectively, they need to have a broader understanding of their manager's style and the work environment. For example, one manager may need communications provided in an "executive summary" format as an overview, while another requires more of the detail behind the summary. In any case, employees need to feel empowered with this understanding to alert their managers when issues, concerns, problems, as well as opportunities arise. Employees, who are engaged in the kind of interaction that uses 1) an understanding of style and 2) a process for communicating effectively, create a powerful framework that produces results and a positive working environment.

Take Jack for instance. Before receiving training on a process for communicating with his manager, he was stymied by what seemed to be impossible weekly meetings with his boss, Denise. It seemed to Jack that they were always butting heads because Denise constantly needled him for more details. Jack felt like she didn't trust him.

After training, he learned that everyone has a communication style and that his boss's style was different from his own. Jack deduced that their weekly interaction was not necessarily negative nor a personal attack; it was just Denise's need for more detail. Jack now has a greater understanding of what is required to satisfy his team leader's communication style and move the conversation forward to reach their objectives. Now, Jack looks forward to his weekly meetings.

A Solution

It's actually pretty simple. When employees are trained how to communicate up, they are more committed to the organization and naturally ask for more feedback from their team leader. Everyone takes the next step, listening to each other and responding appropriately. The environment changes, and old problems clear away to be replaced by productive interactivity and passionate employee involvement.

"Communicating Up" is a program by Vital Learning that can teach your managers, team leaders, and employees to be engaged in positive interaction. This program will help your people:

• Enter meetings with well-thought out and clearly stated objectives.
  
• Clearly link objectives that support plans and goals.
  
• Move conversations toward questions that focus on understanding gained when your objective is reached.

These are just a few of the powerful tools for communicating up interaction. Putting your training plan in place to address the Interaction Age will keep the human-to-human communication on track and move it toward productive goals.

The Vital Learning curriculum is designed to meet your training and budgetary needs. Want to learn more about "Essential Skills of Leadership" or the complete Vital Learning leadership development curriculum? Available in Classroom, Online, or Blended delivery options, the Vital Learning curriculum includes the following essential topics.

• Delegating - understanding when to use delegation and how to make it motivating
• Complaints - being able to effectively manage complaints
  
• Coaching - knowing how to productively coach job skills
  
• Project Management - being able to run projects, both on-time and on-budget
  
• Conflict - understanding how to successfully resolve conflict
  
• Hiring Winning Talent- knowing what to do to consistently hire the right talent
  
• Providing Feedback - understanding how to establish performance goals and standards and give feedback
  
• And more...

For detail go to www.TheLearningEngine.org

Leadership Lessons: Coaching Job Skills

High tech + Low change = No productivity

Singularity is the term that technologists and futurists use to describe the point at which rapid technological progress leads to a quick, completed transformation of the human experience. Are your employees prepared to embrace rapid technological changes and experience singularity?

Based on the rate of past improvements, some believe that technological advances are likely to be exponential in the coming decades. For those who work in HR and training, the impact is huge. A report issued by the Society for Human Resource Management, 2015: Scenarios for the Future of Human Resource Management, brings this to the forefront as an issue to be considered now.

Some Perspective

The rapid turnover of technological knowledge may well require that employee education be embedded and coached as a part of everyday working life. A shortage of supervisors, team leaders, and managers, who are capable of coaching employees in the face of increasingly complex technologies, is quickly becoming a reality.

Take the example of Steve. He's a supervisor for a cereal processing plant. He's faced with the addition of three new machines and the need to hire new staff. It's also budget time. He's finding that he has little time to coach his current team members through job tasks related to the new machines, much less showing the new team members what to do. It's all happening too fast.

Steve's team is not likely to be productive and may be destined to fail. Why?

A Solution

In order to achieve results every coach must go beyond simply showing how to perform a task. Coaching must involve observing, analyzing, demonstrating, and developing relationships with team members. This process is essential to help team members adjust and adapt to rapid changes, and it creates a foundation of trust and respect that is essential for optimal performance.

To achieve this, your managers and team leaders should be trained and prepared to:

• Understand why coaching is important and how it supports company goals.
  
• Prepare for a coaching session using observations and analysis plans for a successful dialog.
  
• Hold a coaching conversation which improves an individual's performance and productivity.
  
• Use coaching as a way to build a valuable sense of teamwork, communication, shared goals, and collaboration.
  

While rapid change, speed, and innovation continue to transform the workplace, it is imperative that leaders are ready for this challenge with the right coaching skills that help team members work appropriately and productively.

The Vital Learning curriculum is designed to meet your training and budgetary needs. Want to learn more about "Coaching Job Skills" or the complete Vital Learning leadership development curriculum? Available in Classroom, Online, or Blended delivery options, the Vital Learning curriculum includes the following essential topics.

• Delegating - understanding when to use delegation and how to make it motivating
• Complaints - being able to effectively manage complaints
  
• Coaching - knowing how to productively coach job skills
  
• Project Management - being able to run projects, both on-time and on-budget
  
• Conflict - understanding how to successfully resolve conflict
  
• Hiring Winning Talent- knowing what to do to consistently hire the right talent
  
• Providing Feedback - understanding how to establish performance goals and standards and give feedback
  
• And more...

For detail go to www.TheLearningEngine.org

Leadership Lessons: Retaining Winning Talent

Managing talent for greater success...
If your organization is focused on growth, profitability, customer loyalty, new product introductions, employee engagement and shareholder value to name a few, you must also be in the process of managing your talent. This is a strategy that allows you to not only develop new leaders, but also retain the exceptional talent you hire. It is a tightly woven process, and what you do to retain talent must be threaded throughout all you do.

Some Perspective

The fine art of retaining talent has an effect on your ability to deliver business value. A recent survey by McKinsey & Company asked senior executives of global companies to rank obstacles that prevent them from having talent management strategies. Among the most critical, as defined by executives' response rates, were:

• 54% - Senior managers don't spend enough time on talent management
  
• 52% - Line managers are not sufficiently committed to people development
  
• 51% - Silos discourage collaboration and resource sharing
  
• 50% - Line managers are unwilling to differentiate high from low performance
  
• 47% - Senior leaders do not align talent management and business strategies
  

Here's one more statistic for you. A recent study showed that 85% of HR executives stated that the single greatest challenge they've had was their organization's ability to compete for talent.

If your organization is one of those facing obstacles with talent management, and you're concerned about your ability to compete for talent, then consider a plan to train your organization on how to effectively retain your best talent.

Most people can understand that turnover is costly in replacement expenses, but it also impacts productivity when other team members see good people leaving the organization.

Picture this scenario: Ray was an executive for a hotel chain that had lack-luster performance. Attrition of leadership was high in the organization. He decided to conduct an analysis of risk factors in retaining top talent. He identified new strategies and tactics such as creating an emerging leaders program, training future leaders, and providing more on-the-job training for line supervisors. As a result, they have recruited better talent and, more importantly, have retained that talent resulting in the value of their stock growing by more than 50% in the last five years.

A Solution

By training your managers, you will help them realize their ability to combat turnover in the organization. You will be giving them the tools they need to create a proactive and productive environment that values key talent.

"Retaining Winning Talent" is a new program from Vital Learning that teaches managers about the process of retaining talent.

Managers will understand that they need to be concerned with team member retention and how to identify individuals at risk. Managers will be able to:

• Describe the scope, severity, and cost of attrition
  
• Determine the risk of attrition for each team member Identify which retention factors motivate each team member
  
• Increase each team member's engagement and commitment
  
• Build and implement an effective
  
• Retention Action Plan for their entire team

The Vital Learning curriculum is designed to meet your training and budgetary needs. Want to learn more about "Retaining Winning Talent" or the complete Vital Learning leadership development curriculum? Available in Classroom, Online, or Blended delivery options, the Vital Learning curriculum includes the following essential topics.

• Delegating - understanding when to use delegation and how to make it motivating
• Complaints - being able to effectively manage complaints
  
• Coaching - knowing how to productively coach job skills
  
• Project Management - being able to run projects, both on-time and on-budget
  
• Conflict - understanding how to successfully resolve conflict
  
• Hiring Winning Talent- knowing what to do to consistently hire the right talent
  
• Providing Feedback - understanding how to establish performance goals and standards and give feedback
  
• And more...

For detail go to www.TheLearningEngine.org

Leadership Lessons: Blended Learning

Two for one... From a training perspective, sophisticated technologies provide endless opportunities for the delivery of training. They offer just about every combination you can think of between the classroom and online. In a recent study on lifelong learning trends, students preferred a moderate amount of technology in their learning programs, viewing it as supplemental to classroom instruction.

Technology can be one of the major keys to success when applied properly. It satisfies the need to keep employees engaged; it satisfies customers both internally and externally; it also offers employees learning opportunities.

Some Perspective

Originally, most people thought "blended" learning would save them time in the classroom. What we are finding is that rather than saving time, blended learning offers higher value and more effective training. Thus, when participants complete an online module prior to an upcoming class, they come to class armed with the basic terminology and skill points. This knowledge positions them to be ready for discussion and practice. With blended learning, they have the additional advantage of returning online for reinforcement and practice to further ingrain their new skills. This is what real blended learning is all about.

In a recent study conducted by the University Continuing Education Association (UCEA), more than 80 percent of Chief Learning Officers indicated that online learning strategies would play an increasing role in their companies over the next two or three years.

Studies also indicated that learners appreciated trainers, who used the technology wisely to guide participants through online learning and add value to the process.

It is also important to have high quality and alignment with the content -- There needs to be a strong connection between the material taught and the practices and objectives of the organization. When training and business practices are in sync, productivity and improved performance are not far behind.

A Solution Look for organizations that provide both online components and classroom elements that mirror each other. These components might include fully- accessible online videos and skill practice exercises that can support the classroom component and that can be replayed by the learner at a later time for reinforcement of the skills learned. The flexibility of the online component should allow you to structure the learning segments for use before and after the classroom portion of the course.

At Vital Learning Corporation we have readily available programs in formats that allow you to transition and blend traditional classroom training with online. Blended learning has gone strategic. Is it time for your organization to follow?

The Vital Learning curriculum is designed to meet your training and budgetary needs. Want to learn more about "Blended Learning" or the complete Vital Learning leadership development curriculum? Available in Classroom, Online, or Blended delivery options, the Vital Learning curriculum includes the following essential topics.

• Delegating - understanding when to use delegation and how to make it motivating
• Complaints - being able to effectively manage complaints
  
• Coaching - knowing how to productively coach job skills
  
• Project Management - being able to run projects, both on-time and on-budget
  
• Conflict - understanding how to successfully resolve conflict
  
• Hiring Winning Talent- knowing what to do to consistently hire the right talent
  
• Providing Feedback - understanding how to establish performance goals and standards and give feedback
  
• And more...

For detail go to www.TheLearningEngine.org