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

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.

Keeping Cool When Things Go Wrong

"He dozes off after lunch for 15 minutes in his cubicle."
"Her tattoos are distracting me."
"He rolls his eyes every time I speak."
"It's not fair that she takes all the credit for the team project."

You may hear complaints like these frequently in your workplace. According to a 2009 CareerBuilder national survey of 2,667 hiring managers, unusual complaints are commonplace.

In everyday life, communication breaks down and misunderstandings occur even more frequently in a diverse workplace. The varying perspectives about how to get a job done or directives from the top can become a breeding ground for complaints and conflict.

Effective leaders make it clear to all team members that they want to hear their complaints. Then the leaders deal with the complaints in an even-handed way to resolve the underlying problems. Constructive working relationships are maintained. The workplace remains productive.

Managers and supervisors must deal with three areas in order to keep the workplace cool: managing complaints, mediating conflicts and using discipline effectively. Without training in these areas, leaders are unequipped to handle these situations. Everyday issues become problematic and can explode like a powder keg.

Unresolved complaints and grievances cost an organization time and money. The flip side of this is that well-trained leaders know that complaints, conflicts and effective discipline provide an opportunity for open communication, produce better solutions and keep the workplace productive.

Intervening to Keep the Cool

Whether you work in a large corporation or for a small nonprofit organization, the potential exists for growth and development as a result of a complaints, conflict or discipline. There are four areas of interaction in which a leader may intervene:

• Individual or between individuals
• Team or groups
• Inter-group
• Throughout the organization

First, it is important to understand the style differences of individuals. People don't communicate in the same way, and this influences how they react to each other in the workplace. When leaders understand their own styles, they can better understand and value the differences of others. This is a self-awareness practice that leaders can use to articulate clear business goals and keep individuals and teams focused.

According to a global study, "Workplace Conflict and How Businesses Can Harness it to Thrive," 54 percent of U.S. workers, report a better understanding of others after conflict, versus 42 percent of workers globally. Furthermore, forty percent of U.S. workers find that conflict leads to better solutions to workplace problems, comparedwith 31 percent globally.

Leadership training for conflict resolution should focus on four key objectives:

• Accept conflict as an inevitable part of all work situations and deal with it in order to maintain individual and team focus and productivity.
• Recognize positive and negative impacts of conflicts so that they may be leveraged for all involved.
• Recognize the sources of conflict so that they can be resolved fairly, effectively, respectfully and amicably.
• Establish a cooperative atmosphere to resolve conflict as they arise.

When Discipline Is Necessary

When team members perform their jobs while keeping with the established standards, they do so out of a sense of self-discipline. Occasionally an employee may lapse, but a reminder from the team leader usually puts the entire team back on track. If a team leader overlooks the situation, then the issue may continue and the team member may not realize that a certain behavior is unacceptable. When the team leader fails to respond altogether, the situation can deteriorate. Co-workers may be watching a bad situation unfold. If it persists, then morale suffers.

The effective team leader approaches the team member on a mature level, presenting the disciplinary matter as a problem to be solved by the team member. Using this communication strategy elicits an adult response and a solution to the problem. The team leader obtains the team member's agreement to solve the problem, evaluate possible solutions and select the best course of action. This works because the team member is committed to, and has responsibility for, maintaining appropriate behavior.

Mediation as a Cool Strategy

Mediation is a strategy to use when issues have progressed without resolution through other means. Mediation involves the voluntary agreement of conflicting parties to consult a neutral third party to help them reach a resolution. Even if no resolution is achieved through the mediation itself, employers can demonstrate that solid steps were taken to investigate and evaluate the problem.

Mediation generally results in a quicker resolution, reduces costs and preserves relationships. Disagreeing parties often are able to resolve the dispute better than a third party issuing a decision. Mediation is particularly useful in addressing the underlying cause of a disagreement so that a resolution can be found and damaged relationships can be healed.

Some Final Tips

Keeping the workplace cool is not always easy. But, it is possible to encourage more harmony in a culture that values issue management. First, train supervisors to communicate more effectively. Train them in conflict-resolution, managing complaints and effective discipline skills. These should be treated as core competencies for leaders. Leaders should also be able to set clear expectations for their teams. Leaders also should have an open door for listening to concerns, and they should know when to intervene.

Contact your Vital Learning representative to learn how to create a training system for your leaders in the area of conflicts, complaints and discipline.

Thought for the Day

"Working relationships are less likely to be damaged when the individuals in dispute listen to each other, share opinions and feelings, and determine their solutions."
--- Jim Hanley, Adjunct professor and Mediator

Sources:
Effective Discipline (2010). Vital Learning
Managing Complaints (2010). Vital Learning
Resolving Conflicts (2010. Vital Learning
Gurchiek, K. (Aug. 2009). Big Hair, Magnetic Personality Among Oddball Co-worker Complaints, SHRM.
Hanley, J. (April 2010). Transformative Mediation, HR Magazine.
Mooney, J. (Jan. 2009). Coaching Can Help Counter Personality Clashes, SHRM.
Wolfinger, P. (Dec. 2008). Workplace Conflicts Differ by Persona and Locale. SHRM

Transforming Your Organization's Culture

Using training to give your organization's culture a boost for current and prospective employees is imperative for 2010 and the upcoming decade. To remain competitive and increase productivity, businesses must hire and retain high-achieving employees. That's difficult to achieve if your culture has a negative reputation and does not engage employees.

The Disengaged and Dissatisfied

Disengaged employees create a culture of absenteeism, conflicts, turnover, declining work quality, loss of productivity and reduced customer satisfaction. This affects an organization's bottom line with loss of customers, diminished revenue and reduced market share.

In the Conference Board's annual job satisfaction survey, 22 percent of respondents said that they don't expect to be in their current job in a year. John Gibbons, program director of employee engagement research and services, said, "The data throws up a big red flag because the increasing dissatisfaction is not just a 'survivor syndrome' artifact of having coworkers and neighbors laid off in the recession."

Although many leaders consider recruitment and employee retention critical to business, few are actually prepared to address the issues with the appropriate training. A Towers Perrin study of 650,000 employees found that fewer than two out of three believe that management provides a clear business road, down from 1 out of 100 in 2008.

Communication Training: Road Map for a Better Culture

Training leaders for enhanced communication skills improves their ability to provide a clearer picture of what is expected from employees. Providing a roadmap for engagement boosts morale and helps transform the business culture for the better.

Studies show that improving employee morale creates an effective workplace culture regardless of organization size or industry. A Sears study, in conjunction with the University of Michigan Business School, linked employee satisfaction with customer retention. It found that as employee satisfaction improves, so does customer satisfaction, and this can increase quarterly revenue by about 1.6 percent.

So what does improving an organization's culture accomplish? Effective and productive cultures have the following characteristics:

• Effective workplace practices
• Opportunities for two-way communication and feedback about what is and is not working
• Flexibility in the workplace
• Supervisors and managers who treat employees with respect and dignity
• Effective problem-solving and conflict management skills
• Demonstrated value of employees
• Supervisor and co-worker support for employees
• Employee input into management decision-making
• Collaboration between management and employees in deciding schedules, developing customer service protocols and designing solutions for efficient business operations
• Managers who seek to bring out the best in workers by providing training and enrichment opportunities

According to a National Study of the Changing Workforce (NSCW) conducted by the Families and Work Institute (FWI), organizations that adopt effective workplace principles have employees who are more loyal, engaged and productive:

• Eighty-three percent of employees express high levels of job engagement and commitment.
• Eighty-one percent express high levels of job satisfaction.

Preparing Leadership

Driving the imperative for transforming a culture is a multigenerational and highly complicated workforce challenge. Stephen Parker, chief commercial officer of Healthy Companies, said, "Our research indicates widespread uncertanity about the future. Many CEOs will be severly tested in the decade ahead. CEO's are struggling to build trust with their employees."

Research is indicating that mid-level and first-level leaders are lacking in readiness to fulfill workforce challenges. The Center for Creative Leadership (CCL) conducted a study called "Understanding the Leadership Gap." Among the competencies identified were the following:

• Building and mending relationships
• Compassion and sensitivity in showing understanding to human needs
• Acting resolutely when dealing with problems
• Being culturally adaptable
• Coaching and encouraging employees to develop their careers
• Inspiring commitment by recognizing and rewarding employees' achievements
• Leading people by directing and motivating them
• Managing change effectively
• Respecting individual differences

By training leaders in these areas, organizations can take the first step in achieving a better culture.

Prescription for Transformation
Vital Learning offers training programs and tools to help organizations get started in building a more positive culture:

• Start with the Leadership Skills Assessment™ to pinpoint the individual training needs of managers and supervisors. This assessment is linked to Vital Learning's Leadership Series™ programs that address critical leadership competencies
• Consider Essential Skills of Leadership™ and Essential Skills of Communicating™ as foundational training.
• Leadership mini-series packages are available to incorporate into training plans.
• Flexibility of both classroom-based and online training formats provides opportunity for creative learning opportunities, such as collaboration and coaching

Optimize Your Organization With Coaching

Today's workforce is a volatile workforce. With dynamic diversity, a changing business environment and implementation of ways to re-energize a stressed employee-base, it's time to optimize your workforce.

Organizations must use creativity to resolve current issues while remaining productive and profitable. The way to change employee behavior and improve performance is to develop and coach them.

The Current Job Market

Although some sectors, such as manufacturing and services, expect modest employment gains for 2010, workplace forecasters indicate that recruiting is still difficult, and new-hire compensation rates remain down. The market is still tough for job seekers.

Survivors Need Coaching

What is happening in the workforce today is similar to what happens when a mass layoff occurs in an organization. Workers who remain have "survivor's syndrome" --- they likely feel lucky to have a job, yet at the same time feel bad that others have lost theirs.

At the same time, the tight labor market means that the survivors are probably doing much more work than before the layoff, absorbing the work of others. They are expected to perform better in order to help meet rising demands as the organization strives to remain competitive.

In addition to feeling the need to perform well, many workers may start to feel trapped under the current stress. Burnout and apathy ensue. Productivity wanes.

To combat this situation, employers need to provide training and coaching to optimize what employees' skills and talents and help them become more successful and productive.

Train Them, Then Coach Them

Today's work environment requires employees to use their full spectrum of talents. One way to encourage this is to make sure that your organization is still investing in training. Maximizing training also depends on senior managers' skills in coaching the supervisors they oversee. In addition, other managers and supervisors need to be trained on the same coaching skills in order to transform their teams into successful, productive members of the organization.

Managers who are effectively involved in the growth and development of their employees spark changes in behavior. In a positive and productive environment they practice the following:

• Provide continuous support and coaching for the development of their employees
• Ensure positive experiences before, during and after each element of employee training
• Handle "coaching moments" effectively, so employees are motivated to learn and teach themselves new things

Vital Learning's Developing and Coaching Others program teaches managers, team leaders and supervisors the essential elements of coaching their employees. This program teaches them how to achieve the following:

• Increase every team member's skills and capabilities.
• Handle coaching moments effectively, so team members make learning decisions themselves.
• Maximize on-the-job behavior change that results from training and development.
• Develop a work environment that encourages growth and development.

When these things occur, employees feel empowered instead of oppressed; they feel transformed and energized through training and supported in their jobs through coaching. Your workforce becomes optimized.

When the job market changes, you'll want to ensure that you retain your best employees. Thus, coaching them through these tough times is essential. Let Vital Learning show you how.