Getting S'More from Your Leaders

S'mores, Mallomars, Moon Pies ... all have the tasty combination of marshmallow, chocolate and graham cracker that millions have grown to love. It's the perfect balance of flavors.

The name s'mores supposedly comes from a melding of the two words --- "some more" --and the idea that people will want more than just one.

When Leaders Are Like S'mores

Good leadership leaves team members craving s'more. And, if they move to another team, they want their new boss to be just as good as the last one.

Effective leadership is the result of well-trained supervisors, team leaders and managers who understand the essentials of management and communication. BLR's National Employee Attitude Survey uses an online survey to measure the feelings of employees in four key areas, which research shows are critical to morale, productivity and retention:

• Communication
• Teamwork
• Supervision
• Career opportunity

Other research shows that the potential for supervisors, team leaders and managers to become more successful (when measured by a more productive workforce) can be determined by the extent to which they accomplish the following:

• Provide a free flow of communication to employees, with well-crafted messages
• Provide development opportunities for team members
• Keep employees motivated and engaged in their work and in the company's mission

Other components of good leadership include the ability to lead with a positive rapport and the ability to make quick and effective decisions. Nothing is worse than a team leader who is weak, indecisive and lacking in confidence. These leaders create uncertainty throughout the entire team, and team members become frustrated. They certainly don't want s'more of this leadership style.

Although a team consists of a number of team members and a single team leader, it's true that the team's success or failure rests with the entire team. Nevertheless, the team leader bears the bulk of the accountability.

Winning a Second Helping of Productivity

Effective teams are those that have the talent and skills to foster self-motivation and self-improvement. The key differentiator is the leader, whose support determines whether the team is inspired or lackluster. Leaders who can design and support balanced teams will have productive teams with members who are ready for s'more.

Beyond the essentials of leadership, the best leaders:

• Build trust between team members
• Inspire and motivate teamwork to achieve goals
• Influence valuable changes
• Are open to new ideas from team members
• Establish an open system of discussion for decision-making on projects and consult key members frequently
• Encourage independent thinking
• Recognize exceptional talent, and then hire those employees and work to retain them
• Recognize and value each member's strengths and continue to coach them
• Define objectives and expectations for projects and ensure that each member understands
• Work quickly to resolve workplace problems
• Evaluate results in a timely fashion
• Celebrate both individual and team successes

Getting S'more: Leadership Development and Talent Management

A global custom research company recently released findings of a national survey that indicated that 20 percent of currently employed Americans would change jobs if the opportunity arose. Obviously, this affects employee retention. However, the study points out, 53 percent of respondents would still prefer to stay with their current organizations --- even if they were offered a better job with another company.

The reason is clear: Those who would choose to stay are working for well-trained leaders who have "leadership plus" --- added skills that keep employees engaged and wanting s'more.

Vital Learning's Leadership Development and Talent Management Curriculum offers a combination of courses to take leaders beyond the essentials:

• Leading Successful Projects
• Hiring Winning Talent
• Motivating Team Members
• Solving Workplace Problems
• Retaining Winning Talent
• Developing and Coaching Others (Leadership or Senior Management versions)

Vital Learning will work with you to develop a customized curriculum for your organization, helping you to make your leaders' skills the best they can possibly be.

Thought for the Day

"Try not to become a man of success but rather try to become a man of value."

---Albert Einstein

Sources:
Leadership Series (2010). Vital Learning Corporation.
Bruce, S. (Aug. 2010). Which of Your Employees is About to Pull a "Steven Slater?" BLR HR Daily Advisor.
Hill, S. What Makes a Good Team Leader? http://ww.zineArticles.com
More Employees Consider Changing Jobs as Economic Optimism Grows, http://www.gfkameria.com

Employees Want to Be the Boss' Apprentice

In last season's TV show "The Apprentice," they took a different twist. It was centered around professionals who have been affected by the economy. Each contestant had lost his or her job and was searching for a new one. When contestants won a project on the show, they received the opportunity to learn from the best in leadership with a leader from one of the show's corporate sponsors.

Apprenticeship is a system of training the next generation of workers. Traditionally, "prentices," also called protégés, enhance their careers from apprenticeships with training conducted on the job by working for an employer who helps them learn a trade or skill.

To put the idea of apprenticeship into perspective for today, consider that the 78 million Millennials, also known as the Net Gen and Generation Y, are nearly as large a group as the baby boomers. This new generation includes those born between 1980 and 1991.

What Do Millennials Want 

The book The Millennials by Dr. Thom Rainer and his son Jess Rainer, details certain factors based on a massive research project led by LifeWay Research, involving 12,000 Millennials. The study concluded four major leadership focuses for "What Millennials want in leaders":

• Mentoring. Millennials want to be led and taught in the workplace. They want to learn from their "heroes."
• Gentle spirit. They are turned off by loud and divisive leaders.
• Transparency. Millennials want to follow "real" or authentic leaders.
• Integrity. They want leaders with standards and who aren't concerned more about their own personal gain than serving others. 

Applying the Idea of Apprenticeship 

Given these findings, organizations need to examine how their own leaders are leading and training managers, supervisors and team leaders to become relevant in the new workplace. Because Millennials want to learn from others, it makes sense to think in terms of apprenticeship in the workplace. 

Today's leaders must be able to operate in an informal learning environment that positions them as mentors and coaches. They need exceptional communication skills, and they should be trained by good leaders in order for others to follow.

Millennials have a "can-do" attitude about tasks and work habits. They look for feedback about how they are doing, and they expect it frequently. They look for structure from older supervisors and team leaders, and they want these leaders to elicit and respect their ideas, as well.

Leaders can help Millennials become more engaged by providing development opportunities; members of this generation want to know where their careers are going and how to move up. They expect to be challenged, and they look for continual challenges on projects and opportunities for networking.

In the absence of the above, Millennials --- who are adept on instant messaging, e-mail, text and social media --- will network themselves into new opportunities outside their current organizations.

Helping All Employees Learn From the Boss

Research reveals that most employees, Millennial or not, look for common things fromwork. First, respect is a fundamental right for all employees. An important element of respect is recognition and feedback so workers know how they are doing. They want to be members engaged in the organization. They also want to learn new skills, develop their potential and grow in their careers. They want to be empowered and have influence on decisions.

And, they want good leadership. They want to learn from the boss.

The following tips can help employees learn from your organization's leaders:

• Listen to their ideas and opinions.
• Delegate challenging tasks that help them become a part of change.
• Encourage networking on projects and teams.
• Discover what really motivates them and elicit their ideas.
• Coach them on-the-job and give them exposure across the organization.
• Provide frequent and meaningful feedback. 

As an example, the Conference Board, a global, independent business membership and research association working in the public interest, requires leaders to provide two written evaluations per year and strongly encourages managers to deliver informal feedback at least monthly. Researchers indicate that this type of frequent feedback helps Millennials become engaged in their jobs and improves employee retention. 

Training Leaders to Adapt 

Most organizations' supervisors, managers and team leaders will likely need more training to adapt to an apprentice-style workplace. Look for programs such as Vital Learning's Leadership Series™, which offers targeted, flexible programs that enable organizations to put leaders in action quickly. Vital Learning's flexible programs are available in online and traditional seminar formats to allow organizations to blend learning quickly with their existing approaches. Recommended titles include the following: 

• Essential Skills of Communicating™
• Essential Skills of Leadership™
• Delegating™
• Developing Performance Goals and Standards™
• Providing Performance Feedback™
• Coaching Job Skills™
• Motivating Employees™

Thought for the Day

"By providing Millennials with meaningful and growing experiences, respecting their contribution, utilizing mentoring, giving feedback and staying flexible, leaders can retain Millennials as followers who will develop into future leaders."  --- David Burkus, Millennial and adjunct professor of business at several universities, executive coach, and a student in the doctor of strategic leadership program at Regent University

Sources:

Leadership Series (2010). Vital Learning. 
Burkus, D. (2010). Developing the Next Generation of Leaders: How to Engage Millennials in the Workplace, Leadership Advance Online-Issue XIX, School of Global Leadership & Entrepreneurship, Regent University. 
Heathfield, S. Managing Millennials: Eleven Tips for Managing Millennials. [Accessed Sept. 2010-About.com] 
Rainer, T. What Millennials Want in Leaders [Accessed Sept. 2010-About.com]

Nightmares in Leadership

If you are near the top of your organization, then chances are good that certain things keep you up at night. In 1984, Wes Craven's movie A Nightmare on Elm Street premiered, and with the 2010 remake, Freddy Krueger continues to haunt the newest generation of horror fans. The movie's premise is that insane Freddy, who was a sadistic child murderer in life, terrorizes people in their dreams.

Like Freddy Krueger, your leadership team's missteps could become an ugly and frightening tormentor that keep you up at night and plague your dreams.

What You Don't Know Could Hurt You

The question is this: Do you really know what your supervisors, team leaders and managers are doing and saying everyday? If supervisors are not properly trained, then they may make mistakes that put the entire organization at risk.

An example is a supervisor who hasn't been trained on the correct process for hiring team members. One inappropriate question can lead to a lawsuit. In addition, hiring the wrong people for the team can cost hundreds, if not thousands of dollars, in lost time and productivity --- especially if you have to hire someone new and retrain them.

Many supervisors, team leaders and managers shy away from the duties that need to be done because they don't know how to handle specific situations. For example, they may fail to give effective performance appraisals, avoid talking to someone about a poor work habit, or ignore conflicts between team members. Employees expect their leaders to deal with issues promptly and effectively. Avoiding issues or problems can lead to an unmotivated staff, and productivity will suffer because of lingering, unresolved issues.

When it comes to constant change in the workplace, many leaders freeze when dealing with their own issues with change. They are then unable to articulate change to their teams. The result is that the team becomes uninspired and even more demoralized because its members don't know what the change means for them and how it will affect their jobs.

Training leaders becomes the most important investment an organization can make to reduce leadership nightmares.

Leading Through a Nightmare

Today's work environment is more complex than ever before. Handling day-to-day situations with employees can become a nightmare for some leaders, especially if they are unprepared. Nevertheless, even though they are often the cause of nightmares, the following conditions are inherent --- some are even essential --- in complex internal and external environments:

• Diverse workforce, business models and management systems
• Ambiguity of information, conflicting data and decision points
• The rate of change of circumstances, systems, people, processes and customer needs
• Increased competition and innovation

An organization's leaders must meet the demands of a complex work environment through the effective management of organizational human capital. Exceptional leadership training promotes adaptability, continual learning and creative problem-solving. This results in a workforce that is motivated, engaged, and focused on the organization's goals and productivity.

Essential Skills for Sweet Dreams 

In A Nightmare on Elm Street, Freddy Krueger had the ability to murder people if they went to sleep. In the same way, your organization could be at risk if your leaders are asleep. It is important for leaders to assess whether they really know what they are doing and even to pinpoint areas in which they need the most skill development.

Consider using an easy assessment that can link to leaders' specific skill sets. The Vital Learning Leadership Assessment™ provides a personalized training program for each leader in an organization, identifying the skills they need to develop. Using this approach allows organizations to focus resources for training in the areas where they are most critical.

Skill areas that leaders need most can be addressed with the Vital Learning Leadership Series™. These programs can be delivered in both a traditional format and online, enabling organizations to blend their training and tailor it to each individual. Additional informal learning support, such as online coaching, knowledge databases and social links, can further enhance training.

The following are key areas in which Vital Learning addresses the complex situations that can cause nightmares for leaders: 

• Foundational leadership understanding
• Effective communication
• Change management
• Coaching
• Employee goal development
• Providing performance feedback
• Motivating employees
• Delegating
• Effective discipline
• Managing complaints
• Resolving conflict
• Improving work habits 

Combat nightmares in leadership and produce leaders who are focused on leadership training. 

Thought for the Day

"I have had dreams and I have had nightmares, but I have conquered my nightmares because of my dreams." 

--- Jonas Salk 

Sources:
Leadership Assessment (2010). Vital Learning Corporation
Leadership Series (2010). Vital Learning Corporation
Billou, N., Corssan, M. and Seijts, G. (May/June 2010). Coping with Complexity, Ivey Business Journal.

The Wired Generation and Their Effect on Training

These are wild times, and the new generations are wired for Learning 2.0, also known as social learning. The rise of social media based on innovative Web 2.0 technologies, such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter, has created a new paradigm for how we approach learning. Consider the following:

• Total Internet users (PC and phones): 1.8 billion (25.89 percent) of the 6.8 billion people in the world.
• According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the size of the U.S. workforce in 2014 will be 162 million. Estimates are that Millennials will make up an impressive 47 percent of the workforce in 2014.
• Seventy-five percent of adults aged 18 to 24 who are online have a profile on a social network, according to a Pew Internet American Life Project survey.
• CEOs and industry leaders of all ages are beginning to use Twitter to open dialogues with employees and customers.   
• According to Forrester, interactions online or through other technology and their effect on e-learning indicates that more than 80 percent of adult learning occurs outside the classroom.

Informal Learning Power

 

Social media and learning consultant Jane Hart said, "Once individuals and groups do realize they have the power, ability and tools to learn for themselves, then they will begin to address their own problems informally and quite spontaneously --- without the supervision or intervention of a teacher." It's called informal learning, and, according to an ASTD study, it takes place "without a conventional instructor and is employee-controlled in terms of breadth, depth and timing. It tends to be individualized, limited in scope and utilized in small chucks." 

The Role of the Training Professional

Research indicates that learning professionals still play an important part in facilitating informal learning through social networking tools. It's something that organizations need to get smart about now.

Jay Cross, an informal learning expert, has indicated that formal training and workshops account for only 10 to 20 percent of what people learn at work. Interestingly, he likened formal learning to passively taking a bus and informal learning to riding a bike. The learner chooses the destination or detour.


Author and researcher Donald Tapscott says that Millennials want the following:

• Customization
• To be managed as individuals
• Integrity and transparency
• Value collaboration through social networking tools
• Entertainment through games and simulation 

In the workplace, performance management and training must reflect these needs.

Karie Willyerd, vice president and chief learning officer for Sun Microsystems, said "That social media presents a huge opportunity for the training profession to create strategies for informal learning." According to Willyerd, if the learning organization doesn't use social media, it will become "irrelevant and left behind." This heralds a call to action to become involved, and Willyerd said that it's an exciting place to be.

Getting On Board

In the April 2009 report, "Get Serious about Informal Learning," Claire Schooley of Forrester Research discusses steps to getting on board with Learning 2.0: 

• Examine how you conduct employee training.
• Collaborate with business units to develop effective strategies.
• Use employee performance results to measure successful learning experiences.
• Keep track of how people rate informal and formal content.
   

The many benefits of social learning include the use of online training capabilities that you may already have through providers with comprehensive online training platforms, such as Vital Learning's, which includes online coaching and the ability to link to other content and giving participants the opportunity to share their stories and keep learners engaged. Other benefits include the following: 

• Find and reach new students through Facebook, Twitter, etc.
• Promote your own training.
• Create enhanced and timely presentations.
• Stay on top of trends, competitors, market changes through social mining.
• Increase opportunities for participant feedback and create solutions for a deeper experience.

Lessons from Leaders

Consider the following ways these top companies engage their employees:

 

IBM links participants before and after a formal training event. The company uses its intranet-based "Blue Pages" to help employees connect around business issues.

Sun Microsystems adds to formalized learning and harvests knowledge. The company's open learning exchange called Sun Learning eXchange (SLX) takes advantage of the expertise within the community to gather knowledge.

 
Southwest Airlines uses social media to foster professional networks. The company uses Twitter to foster communication among employees and customers.

John Deere use communities of practice (CoPs) to drive innovation, efficiency and lifelong learning. Since 2002, the company has facilitated connections among knowledge workers with a network of 300 communities that cover topics from Six Sigma to mergers.

Get Going. Get Wired. Get Social.

Researchers agree that integrating social learning into formal learning strategies represents a major change, but it will not replace all formal learning. Learning professions will still need to create, deliver and manage the learning function. The change means that organizations will be adding to what they already have and moving the infrastructure to support exchanges.

Formalizing informal communication can make employees more efficient and productive, reduce costs, improve sales and increase retention. The best part is that implementing social media is relatively inexpensive.

Social media and its uses are growing and show no signs of stopping. Joining those who are already wired in social media is an essential part of the job of learning professionals today.   

Thought for the Day
"A social trend in which people use technologies to get the things they need from each other, rather than from traditional institutions like corporations ... the groundswell trend is not a flash in the pan. This is an important, irreversible, completely different way for people to relate to companies and to each other."

--- Charlen Li and Josh Bernoff, Groundswell

Sources:

Vital Learning (2010). Online training seminars

Fyfe, K. (June 2010). Groundbreaking Book Explains the Power of Social Learning for Organizations, ASTD.

Jarche, H. (April 2008). Skills 2.0, T+D.

Lorens, J. (2010). Learning 2.0, The Best of Social & Informal Learning 2007-2009, T+D.

Meister, J. and Willyerd, K. (2010). The 2020 Workplace, HaperCollins Publishers, NY.

Millenials, Portrait of Generation Next: Confident, Connected and Open to Change, Pew Research Center

Nancherla, A. (May 2009). Knowledge Delivered in Any Other Form Is Perhaps Sweeter, T+D.

Paridise, A. (July 2009). Informal Learning: Overlooked or Overhyped? T+D.

Sauve, E. (March 2007). Informal Knowledge Transfer, T+D.

Schramm, J. (June 2010). At Work in a Virtual World, HR Magazine.

Wilkins, D. (April 2009). Learning 2.0 and Workplace Communities, T+D,

Woodill, G. (April 2010). Worldwide Mobile Learning Trends 2010, Brandon Hall Research. 

Better Than Mom's Apple Pie

Summertime means county fairs, and they're in progress now all across the country --- complete with pie contests. To some, there is nothing better than Mom's blue-ribbon-winning apple pie. Just one sweet, buttery bite makes you feel good.

Compare your organization's customer service to Mom's apple pie. Is it better? It can be if your organization has well-trained employees providing winning customer service.

Customer service is an experience so memorable for customers that it can help you retain them, even when your competitors are luring them with lower prices and incentives.

Today's economy is complicated; wooing customers during a recession is even more complicated. Today, people can research businesses via the Internet and social media. The way organizations interact with customers includes multiple channels: telephone, e-mail, text, Twitter, Facebook and other social media vehicles. The extent of customer service can be intense.

What the Research Reveals

Research conducted by McKinsey Inc. indicates that business performance varied the most in industries with high levels of interaction "intensity," such as in the financial services sector. Companies can differentiate themselves from their competitors by improving their ability to interact with customers and prospects through improved service.

A survey conducted by Dr. Jon Anton and Dr. Michael Hoeck, the authors of eBusinessCustomer Service, shows that customers who buy a faulty product but have the problem resolved through "world-class" service are more likely to purchase from that company again than someone who buys a perfect product in the first place. A representative from Forrester Research, Inc., adds that some of the best-performing companies are taking great care to preserve customer service during the recession.

Furthermore, a global survey of 900 executives from 12 countries indicates that barriers exist to customer service, including a lack of trained employees. Two important factors create a superior customer service experience. These include the quality and competence of service employees and their ability to address the problem on the first call or in the first e-mail.

Finally, a U.S. study called "Customer Loyalty: How to Earn It, How to Keep It" concludes that 87 percent of customers feel that companies don't listen to them.

The Importance of Training

Remember Mom's apple pie? We all know it has to be sweet. Think about your organization and the customer service your employees provide. Is it a sweet experience every time?

The key to retaining customers is also your most important asset: well-trained employees. One sour experience can mean the loss of the customer or client. When you consider the lifetime value of a customer, you can't afford to lose even one.

Training employees on the skills to meet customer needs is an ongoing proposition --- especially in today's interaction-heavy environment. Maintaining customer relationships requires listening to the customer's need and acting on it.

Bring Winning Customer Service to Your Organization

Vital Learning's Winning Through Customer Service™ has tested training principles through more than 10 years of product field research. This seminar provides a step-by-step process for conducting successful customer service transactions. It also identifies key competencies for world-class customer service:

• Demonstrates professionalism that builds on the ability to work with customers proactively and solve problems.
• Introduces essential communication skills, such as listening to understand the customer's needs.
• Recognizes individual customer behavioral styles and opportunities to adapt to their personal styles.
• Teaches strategies for dealing appropriately with difficult customer situations.

In addition to training, make sure that your employees know what is expected of them. Define clear, attainable goals that are measurable. Employees should also know your organization's policies and procedures for satisfying customer complaints in order to resolve situations more proactively.

Use coaching situations with successful service-oriented employees who can work through and practice real-life situations with new employees. Make these situations a part of the training to customize role-play scenarios to your business. Especially tough situations can become a source of some of the best information for improving service.

Better Than Mom's Apple Pie Service

Customer service occurs at more points of interaction than ever in the sales and service chain. Training employees about customer service can bring positive memorable experiences. High-quality customer service retains customers, expands business relationships, and increases referrals and sales. Sweeten the pie for your customers ... train employees for successful customer interactions.

Thought for the Day

"During tough times there are plenty of other pressures customers face ... We don't want a customer service issue to be what makes them blow their cork."

--- John Venhuizen, ACE

Sources:

Winning Through Customer Service (2010). Vital Learning Corporation
STAR Service (2010). Vital Learning Corporation
Horovitz, J. (April 2009). Leading in Turbulent Times: Managing Your Customers.
Industry Best Practices: Customer Service Challenges and Innovations in the Financial Services and Insurance Sectors (2007). eGain Communications Corporation.
Knowledge Management for Customer Service (2004). eGain Communications Corporation.
Krasovitzky, F. The Difference Between Hearing and Listening to Customers, Customer Service Management.
McGregor, J; McConnon, A.; Kiley, D. (March 2009). Customer Service in a Shrinking Economy, BusinessWeek.
Pophal, L. Ten Tips for Effective Customer Service Training, Customer Service Management
Sprague, B. Customer Service is Crucial in a Downturn, BusinessWeek.

The Ugly Truth About Performance Management

What's Ugly

"Fewer Americans are satisfied with all aspects of their employment, and no age or income group is immune."

That is according to a Conference Board survey of 5,000 households. Those under age 25 had the highest level of dissatisfaction ever recorded by the survey for that age group. The report shows that dissatisfaction negatively affects employee behavior and retention, and that affects any company's success.

The state of performance management is bleak: A Towers Watson survey of 200 executives at mid- and large-size U.S. companies revealed that only 23 percent have a formal process for talent management. Only 14 percent use metrics to analyze and track their internal talent pools and connect that information with performance data.

Another study by the Corporate Executive Board's Learning and Development round table analyzed survey responses from nearly 20,000 employees and managers. Only 30 to 40 percent of employees said that their managers communicate performance standards and provide fair and accurate feedback in order to help them better do their jobs.

Are Motivation and Satisfaction Really Tied to Performance Management and Development Standards?

Yes. Studies show that managers who improve their effectiveness in employee development by only 20 percent can increase employee performance by about 5 percent. It translates this way: A company with a sales force of 2,000 employees who each average $1 million in annual sales can increase company-wide annual sales by about $100 million.

The widespread realization is that driving better performance depends on effective deployment, development and engagement of a range of people across an organization.

The Gallup Organization initiated a multi-year research project to try to define a workplace where employees were satisfied with their jobs. Using data from 200,000 employees and 36 organizations in 21 industries, five themes emerged: retention, productivity, profitability, customer loyalty and safety.

The study also measured employee desire for learning and growth; understanding the mission and purpose of the company; and leader encouragement for development. Among the elements cited as a key to retaining employees:

• Clarify expectations to employees.
• Give employees opportunities to focus on their talents and do what they do best.
• Provide opportunities for employees to learn and grow.

Jim Trinka, Ph.D. and chief learning officer for the FBI, conducted a study of manager-employee surveys. Focusing on development of others and communication competencies, managers can increase their overall leadership effectiveness by up to 60 percent. Furthermore, of 250 managerial activities, 10 have the most potential for delivering high employee performance. Among these: managers who set clear performance standards.

Trinka's findings show that managers who become more knowledgeable about employee performance and provide fair and accurate feedback on performance strengths can significantly improve individual performance. Discussing weaknesses is also important --- but with the focus on specific suggestions for improvement or development, which improves team member performance.

From the Ugly Duckling to the Beautiful Swan

The following are ways in which organizations can improve performance management.

1. Upper management can set the tone for evolving a culture of development. These members of the organization are good role models. Rather than viewing performance management and development as an expense, consider it an investment that returns dividends in the form of employees who are more committed to the organization and willing to expend the effort necessary to do the job.

2. Create an environment that involves continuous coaching and performance dialogue within work teams. Vital Learning teaches that managers should use positive performance feedback to encourage self-motivation among team members. Another skill for leaders to develop is to encourage and obtain team member participation. Manager-employee relationships improves, day-to-day productivity increases, and individuals and teams offer ideas that result in groundbreaking improvements.

3. Involve employees in a higher purpose. Employees need to understand the organization's mission and vision and clearly comprehend their roles in achieving these. They must see how their work on the job contributes to their performance management. This makes work more meaningful and satisfying.

4. Hold people accountable by establishing clear performance expectations with the goal for employees to contribute to the organization. Another Vital Learning technique teaches leaders to work with employees by developing performance standards that are S.M.A.R.T.-based:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Results-Oriented
• Time-Framed

Employees feel motivated and satisfied if they are delivering on their work promises to the team, the manager and all company stakeholders.

5. Align the performance culture with engagement strategies, job design and reward systems to maximize motivation. Sonoco created a pay-for-performance system that establishes clear links between performance and rewards based on individual and group measurements. Employee satisfaction and engagement improved markedly. In 2005, Sonoco was named by Hewitt Associates as one of the top 20 talent management organizations in the United States.

Final Thoughts

Developing performance management and setting employee development standards may not be completely ugly in your organization. However, even if your skills are good, it is critical to your organization's success that you continually improve whenever possible. With a well-defined approach in these areas, employees will become more committed, engaged and satisfied --- and this results in less stress and greater productivity for everyone.

Thought for the Day

"The secret to high performance and satisfaction --- at work, at school, and at home --- is the deeply human need to direct our own lives, to learn and create new things, and to do better by ourselves and our world."

--- Daniel H. Pink, Author of

The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us

Sources:

Barrington, L., Franco, L (Jan. 2010). Conference Board report on engagement.
Coffman, C. (2000). Is Your Company Bleeding Talent? The Gallup Organization.
Developing Performance Standards (2010). Vital Learning
Fairlie, P. (2010). 10 Ways to Make Work More Meaningful, Workforce Management.
Lockwood, N. et. al (2010). Motivation in Today's Workplace: The Link to Performance, Research Quarterly, SHRM.Schade, J. (2010).
Providing Performance Feedback (2010). Vital Learning.
Towers Watson (Oct. 2009). Managing Talent in Tough Times. A Tipping Point for Talent Management
Trinka, J. (2010). Action Plan to Achieve Breakthrough Improvement in Employee Productivity and Leadership Effectiveness, GovLeaders.org.
Trinka, J. (2009) What's a Manager to Do? GovLeaders.org

Leading Despite Chaos

During the 9/11 crisis, the world witnessed tremendous courage and collaboration as the United States struggled to remain calm and collected despite the chaos, fear and resulting change. Leaders emerged from all walks of life.

The current global recession has brought about chaos in organizations, and organizations can learn from the way the government has handled crisis situations.

Today, many employees are unhappy at work, and job satisfaction has been on the decline. A recent Gallup report showed that more than 70 percent of employees are actively disengaged. Organizations are struggling to maneuver profitably amid economic uncertainty, and they're trying to find opportunity, retain customers and manage constant change.

According to chaos theory, chaos causes systems and people to function in ways that are often unpredictable and sometimes counter intuitive.

In order to be effective during times of crisis or chaos, leaders must maintain perspective and exercise good judgment. They must be actively committed to optimism and focus on the future.

In organizations, adapting to change during crisis and chaos requires a new kind of leadership that drives a culture of collaboration to understand difficult challenges and discover how to resolve them.

Crisis, Chaos and Change

During times of crisis or chaos, leaders have many choices and opportunities. They can remain frozen in a state of denial, or they can become proactive in their leadership. Although such situations are often painful, proactive leaders see these times as opportunities to make changes that can result in positive outcomes. These leaders guide others with the kind of courage and confidence that inspires them to press on.

Good Judgment and Communication

In their book Judgment, authors Noel M. Tichy and Warren G. Bennis wrote, "If leaders don't make smart judgment calls about the people on their teams, or if they manage them poorly, then there is no way they can set a sound direction and strategy for the enterprise, nor can they effectively deal with crisis."

Tichy and Bennis also wrote that making good judgment calls during crisis requires a leader to have clear values with an ultimate goal in mind. They cite open and effective communication among members of the senior management and the team as key elements, as well as the ability to gather and analyze data and effectively execute strategy.

Lessons From Leaders

Andy Grove was CEO of Intel during the turbulent early years of the computer industry. He wrote a book about his experiences, and in it, he explains that it is imperative for leaders to recognize the moments when basic changes are occurring and act quickly and decisively. As for his ability to keep Intel at the top, Grove credits communicating appropriately when slight changes are on the horizon, as well as responding correctly to crisis situations.

Former head of GE Jack Welch always looked for leaders who had the ability to make tough calls during a crisis by using both cognitive and emotional skills.

Both of these exceptional leaders demonstrate that good leaders spend time figuring out what is critical, frame their communications, and then mobilize and energize the troops.

A Case for Training

A leadership study conducted by the Center for Creative found that approaches to collaboration, crossing boundaries and collective leadership are gaining increasingly more importance than just making the numbers. As organizations face change, they must invest in training their leaders to meet challenges.

Training leaders to manage through change gives an organization greater speed and agility. Effective cross-communication between management and effective communication upward to executive leadership creates a forum for better decisions and increased productivity during the complexity of chaos and change.

Training leaders to communicate openly and effectively during crisis and chaos is essential. Vital Learning's Communicating Up™ seminar teaches skills that many managers and supervisors have never learned:

• Understanding the importance of framing all communications with managers
• Clearly linking well-thought-out and well-stated objectives with facts that support plans and goals
• Moving conversations toward agreement using questions that focus on the benefits gained when the objective is reached

In addition, Vital Learning's Supporting Change™ seminar teaches that leaders must understand and interpret changes that affect team members. Leaders should also be able to accomplish the following:

• View change and the anxiety it can cause team members as natural and inevitable
• Assist team members as they adjust to change
• Mobilize team members in the process of making the change

Train your leaders to lead despite chaos with effective communication that breeds good decisions and the attainment of goals. Then, these leaders will be able to manage through the change in the resulting aftermath of crisis.

Leadership and management styles are changing with the times. Help your organization's leaders become effective so you can not only survive difficult times but also emerge from them successfully.

Thought for the Day

"I think many correct decisions are messed up in execution ... because you've bet on people that you thought could deliver and they couldn't."

---Steve Bennett

Sources:

Communicating Up (2010). Vital Learning
Herman, R. (1995). Turbulence: Challenges and Opportunities in the World of Work. Are You Prepared for the Future? Oakhill Press, Akron, Ohio.
London-Vargas, N. Creating Teamwork in the Midst of Organizational Chaos, Workplace Institute.
Supporting Change (2010). Vital Learning
Tichy, N.M and Bennis, W.G (2007). Judgment: How Winning Leaders Make Great Calls, Penguin Group, New York, New York.
Yip, J.; Ernst, C., and Campbell, M. (2009). Boundary Spanning Relationship, The Center for Creative Leadership.

Keeping the Talent Pipeline Full

The quest for finding top talent is not just an American phenomenon. Organizations around the globe are seeking top talent in order to remain competitive. This begs the question: Does your organization work to keep fresh talent in its pipeline?

Managing the Talent Pipeline

Despite global economic conditions, the search for talent worldwide is predicted to intensify in the upcoming years. In developed countries, organizations are finding it difficult to recruit and retain skilled workers.

Several factors complicate talent acquisition: aging populations, younger workers who lack skills and experience, the gap between education and the skills organizations need, lack of investment in training, and societal and generational changes in how people want to work are just a few.

A study conducted by the Economist Intelligence Unit indicates that companies are implementing talent management strategies to address the following:

• Globally, sourcing talent is more competitive in attracting talent.
• Organizations expect to experience difficulty in finding talent with the success-driven skills necessary to manage change, think strategically, communicate effectively, and analyze and solve problems.
• Talent management should be integrated with business strategy, implemented by business units and supported by HR.
• Nontraditional approaches to recruitment will be needed.
• Organizations will need to work more collaboratively with educational institutions to develop training programs to develop the skills they need.

Other studies identify an issue with younger generations and their high expectations for on-the-job development. This creates a problem because these workers are more likely to consider leaving if their talents are not developed.

Underscoring the need for talent management is identification of the skills needed in a complex work environment:

• Acceptance and management of change
• Strategic thinking
• Communication and interpersonal skills
• Analytic and problem-solving skills
• Ability to work in teams collaboratively and virtually
• Project management skills
• Management skills
• Industry knowledge

Is Your Talent Preparing to Leave?

In June 2010, the U.S. government reported that the number of people who quit their jobs for positions at other companies rose to nearly 2 million in April. This signals that many who clung to their jobs out of fear now feel more confident about the job market --- in fact, they feel more confident than they have in a year.

David Adams, vice president of training at Adecco, said, "The hangover is kind of over."This could signal a mass exodus of talent in the post-recession.

Results of a May 2010 Harvard Business Reviewsurvey questioned 20,000 workers identified by their employers as "high-potential." About 25 percent of companies' top performers indicated that they plan to leave their current jobs within a year.

The loss of talented employees can have a damaging effect on organizations because these workers usually possess key skills and knowledge. Moreover, covering a departed employee's work and finding a replacement is expensive.

Leaders and supervisors affect employee retention by influencing factors that lead to an employee's disengagement and disenchantment with the organization. In order to retain winning talent, organizations must leverage both a talent management system and train high-potential leaders to actively work with their best employees.

High-Potential Leadership's Effect on Talent

Teaching leaders effective talent management strategies is one of the most important elements of the approach itself. Organizations must train high-potential leaders to recognize potential in others. The Center for Creative Leadership has found that high-potential employees expect their leaders to recognize their potential, discuss it with them and develop them accordingly. The study states that high-potential employees expect the following:

• Visibility and access
• Special assignments
• Training
• Greater responsibility
• Promotion and rewards
• More opportunities in general
• Freedom and flexibility

Leaders should be trained to communicate clearly with high-potential employees about their career paths. Training leaders to coach and delegate appropriately in order to provide talented team members with decision-making autonomy is also key to obtaining and maintaining employee commitment and engagement.

Recent studies have examined the ways in which employees become not only engaged but also embedded in their jobs. High-potential leaders can help high-potential talent by supporting them in community involvement, as well as in professional and community life. These leaders build a more positive team culture and provide more challenging jobs with well-defined career paths. They make team members feel more valued --- and leaving their positions is more difficult when employees have reasons to stay.

More than a Strategy

In today's complex environment, creating a talent management strategy can be tricky. A study in The Harvard Business Reviewindicated that most companies actualize only 63 percent of their strategy value because of lack of planning and execution. This is another indicator of the importance of well-trained leadership with a commitment to the talent plan.

When the recession is over, will your talent pipeline be ready and full? Talk to your Vital Learning training provider today about your strategy and Vital Learning's Hiring Winning Talent™ and Retaining Winning Talent™ programs, two valuable seminars that can help your organization prepare for the days after the recession.

Thought for the Day

"It is not just talent alone that is important...Talent without teamwork is not sufficient."

---Dave Ulrich, Author and Professor of Business Administration

Sources:

Allen, D. (2008). Retaining Talent, SHRM Foundation
Campbell, M. and Smith, R. (2010). High Potential Talent A View from Inside the Leadership Pipeline, Center for Creative Leadership
Hiring Winning Talent (2010). Vital Learning Corporation
Leonard, C and Rugber C. (June 2010). MSNBC.com
Murray, S. (May 2008). Talent wars: The struggle for tomorrow's workforce, The Economist Intelligence Unit
Murray, S. (May 2008). People for growth.The talent challenge inemerging markets
Retaining Winning Talent (2010). Vital Learning Corporation

A-Team Leaders Bring Their A-Game

An A-Team leader heads a small group of people with unique talents and complementary skills committed to a common purpose and goals. These leaders have an approach that engages team members in producing and holding themselves mutually accountable.

The movie The A-Team is a remake of the television show that ran from 1983 to 1987, the movie has a few variations --- like the characters are Gulf War veterans rather than Vietnam veterans --- but the premise is the same. Although faced with their own challenges, these good guys are on a mission to help others and to succeed.

Although The A-Team movie may be a rugged example of how teams work together, the emphasis for leaders is the capability to build a team and keep it together and functioning optimally.

A-Team Leadership Competencies

If you work with A-Team leaders, you'll notice several proficiencies they all possess:

• They create an inspiring culture and provide a clear, shared vision that enables people to achieve more than they dreamed.
• They listen to the team's input.
• They build trust and share their values.
• They make decisions with integrity and reliability.
• They are the primary forces behind successful change, which they consider an opportunity.
• They use passion and intuition to achieve extraordinary results.
• They can mold groups into a team that becomes a force of competitive business advantage.
• They know how to influence individuals to function collaboratively, as well as how to motivate them to excel in performance and balance their individuality with others to create synergy.
• They help each team member develop into an effective self-leader by providing the tools, training, coaching and incentives needed to help team members exercise and foster their own ability to set priorities and make decisions.
• They have a competitive spirit and set an example for others to follow.

Setting the Example

Lessons from Jack Welch, an American Businessman and Author, indicate that great leaders create a vision and help people generate passion about what they do so they become excited about achieving results. These leaders don't micromanage, and they encourage the team's input.

In 1983 or in 2010, it would have been difficult for the leader of the A-Team, Hannibal, to produce the results needed without the ideas and unique talents of each team member. A-Team leadership never goes out of style. Welch says that we must lead by example and master the four E's of leadership: energy, energize, edge and execution.

There Is No 'I' in Team

A-Team leaders are all about the collective results of the team rather than "I." Gen. George Patton said it well: "An army is a team. It lives, eats, sleeps, fights as a team. This individual stuff is a bunch of crap."

What we see in the TV show "The A-Team" and now in the movie is that every member shares in taking responsibility for failures. When tough decisions are made, every team member buys in.

In any organization, success depends on the employees as well as the leaders. A-Team leaders help each of their team member recognize the importance of his or her place on the team, as well as in the company. They help others see that their hard work --- and sometimes sacrifices, during these tough economic times --- are essential to creating solutions and achieving results.

A-Team Leadership Training

Effective training can help managers and supervisors become successful A-Team leaders. Regardless of the method or the intensity of the training, employees perceive it as valuable. Along with coaching, organizations can adopt the necessary leadership competencies and use training packages to build A-Team leaders.

An example of how to customize A-Team leadership training is to cluster training into core training packages, such as those offered by Vital Learning. For example:

Leadership Essentials™ provides 12 core learning solutions that address the typical management challenges leaders deal with every day. This suite includes seminars such asEssential Skills of Leadership™, Essential Skills of Communicating™ and Developing Performance Goals and Standards™.

Leadership Plus™ provides learning solutions designed to build the key strategic capabilities that every A-Team leader needs in order to perform at the highest level. This package includes Leading Successful Projects™, Hiring Winning Talent™, Motivating Team Members™ and Developing and Coaching Others™.

Following Vital Learning's training courses, your employees will have the added bonus of applying for college credit through the University of Phoenix. Ask your training consultant how Vital Learning can help you build A-Team leaders in your organization.

Thought for the Day

"Leaders inspire people with clear visions of how things can be done better."

--- Jack Welch, American Businessman and Author

Sources:

The Leadership Series (2010). Vital Learning Corporation
Bruce, A. (2001). Leaders Start to Finish, American Society of Training and Development.
Lessons from Jack Welch
Sanibel, M. (Dec. 2009). It Takes Leadership, Entrepreneur.

Eight Strategies for Effective Meetings

We've all been to "those" meetings --- the ones where it seems like nothing is accomplished or where the same old topics are discussed with no resolution. The most productive, effective and engaging meetings require clear objectives, open communication and strong leaders who understand the essentials of communication:

• Design clear and concise messages.
• Pay attention to nonverbal cues.
• Listen to feedback.
• Overcome barriers to understanding.

The way in which meetings are conducted to some extent determines an organization's culture. Beneficial meetings are productive, timely, useful and relevant, and they are the result of good leadership.

Case Study: UPS

UPS holds daily pre-work communications meetings at the beginning of every shift. This practice has been part of the company's culture at all of its centers worldwide since 1924. These highly structured meetings last only three minutes, and managers are responsible for delivering important information before drivers start the day.

UPS's meetings help reinforce the company's values on a daily basis, as well as provide relevant information, such as updates about weather and road conditions, safety reminders, and customer service tips. Employee anniversaries are also mentioned during these meetings. UPS has found a formula that works to provide timely information to and elicit feedback from a large workforce.

To Meet or Not to Meet, That Is the Question

Many organizations exhaust and overwhelm employees with meetings. Thanks to e-mail, everyone has at their fingertips the power to invite people to meetings. The problem is that nowadays meetings are often called when informal communication would work better and save everyone time.

According to one university professor, the best way to determine whether a meeting is appropriate and necessary is to find out whether the communication is one-way or if feedback and consensus are needed.

Consensus-building works best face-to-face; thus, a meeting is a good idea in these situations. If, however, feedback and consensus are not required, then an informative e-mail can work just as well.

Strategies for Effective Meeting

1. Plan the Meeting Objectives. If you are leading the meeting, you must know why you are calling it. Clearly write down 10 to 30 words about the purpose and objective of the meeting prior to completing your agenda. Preparing this at least an hour or so before sending the meeting invitation is helpful because you can set it aside and revisit it before you actually send the invitation. By reviewing the information, you perform a "gut check" to determine whether everything still seems necessary and relevant.

Along with the invitation, you should craft an agenda that provides a framework for the meeting length necessary to accomplish the objective. If you hold a regular weekly meeting, then a standard meeting format is also useful.

2.Invite the Right Participants. Invite only those team members who really need to attend to contribute, carry out action plans or make decisions. Including superfluous attendees may slow progress, or they may resent being invited to a meeting that they don't really need to attend.

3. Notify Invitees if They Need to Prepare. Meeting leaders and facilitators should ensure that that participants are informed about any advance preparation required of them or anything they need to bring to the meeting, e.g., reports, records, etc.

4. Start and End on Time. Always respect attendees' time commitments, especially those who are coming from previous meetings or who need to move on to the next meeting. End your meeting a few minutes early, if possible.

5. Preserve Order and Focus. Your organization should have established standard meeting practices or ground rules for meetings, as well as expectations to be followed. Always designate someone to be responsible for taking accurate notes and reviewing minutes with the meeting leader before sending them to meeting participants. Creating a standard format for meeting notes will also prove helpful.
Although conflicts and heated discussions sometimes occur, good leaders keep meeting participants focused on the agenda, give everyone a chance to be heard and redirect topics that need further discussion as action items to be resolved during a separate meeting.

6. Assign Tasks and Obtain Participant Agreement. As soon as consensus is reached on a subject, assign an action item to the person(s) who will be responsible and accountable for it, and be sure to set a deadline for the action item. Then, obtain participants' agreement that they understand and accept what is required of them.

Be aware of nonverbal cues given by participants during consensus, assignments and agreements. Probe and clarify directions so that participants understand what is expected of them and commit to the task. Recap during the last few minutes of the meeting and verify that everyone has the same understanding.

7. Follow up and Check Action-Item Status. Leaders should follow up with participants after the meeting minutes are sent in order to help smooth out any misunderstandings that may have occurred during the meeting. Status checks ensure that action items are on track, questions are answered, unanticipated roadblocks are discovered and better decisions can be made.

8. Keep on Track. Good leaders recognize issues or problems early on, and they attempt to correct such situations, e.g., participant conflict, task completion breakdown, lack of collaboration, etc. Failure to stay on course impedes progress, costs money, and affects delivery and quality.

Attendees and team members often perceive poorly run meetings as a waste of time. Meetings do have a place, and conducting a productive meeting requires that you invite the right people to the right place at the right time to collaborate, make decisions, and set the course for action items and project fulfillment.

Thought for the Day

"It gives them a guide to where you're going. It has a point of view and an action step. You're influencing them toward something, not just informing them."

---Bert Decker, Communications Consultant on Meeting Agendas

Sources:

Essential Skills of Communication, Vital Learning (2010)
Define Goals and Distribute an Agenda, B-NET
Kalvar, S.T. (May 2006). 10 Things You Can Do to Organize and Lead Effective Meetings, Tech Republic Project Management Newsletter.
Let's Be Careful Out There (Case Study), B-NET
Make Every Meeting Matter-or Don't Meet At All, B-NET
Mochal, T. (Jan. 2006). Use Time Wisely With Effective Meeting Management, Tech Republic Project Management Newsletter.