Boosting Business With Communication

Social media is rapidly changing, challenging the way the world communicates. In corporations, we are seeing many more team and project collaborations, which alters the expectations of employees and customers as the new culture of social media entwines with traditional business communication. Books like The Conversational Corporation: How Social Media Is Changing the Enterprise provide insight into the social media phenomenon.

While keeping pace with the evolution of social media, many organizations have also spent time teaching their employees about the communication dynamics of a diverse workforce. Management is taught to recognize that no two workers are alike. Companies that practice one-on-one management are discovering the value of learning about the communication styles of their team members to understand what motivates them. For many employees, this effort by supervisors helps them become more productive.

The bottom line is this: Communication, which is constantly evolving, is crucial to businesses.

Over the decades, researchers have consistently cited communication as one of the most critical skills for managers to possess. Some studies indicate that managers spend 75 to 80 percent of their time engaged in written and verbal communication. Add to that today's engagement with social media, such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, and you see more emphasis on traditional "soft" skills that provide new and core links in business functions.

The Importance of Communication

Communication is important for three major reasons:

First, ineffective communication becomes expensive. Messages that have no clear objective lead to confusion or missing the mark, failing to win understanding on the part of the listener or reader. This lack of understanding of or sensitivity to how the message will be received can lead to poor reception of the message. Time is wasted and projects can fail. Customers may not receive proper customer service.

Second, today's business environment is increasingly complex, which makes communication that much more important. Diverse and participatory workforces require managers to build trust, promote understanding, remove barriers and encourage feedback. Furthermore, flatter organizations mean that supervisors are communicating with many people over whom they have no formal control. This requires you to break down complexities through effective listening: You must learn to probe, reflect, support and advise in order to communicate effectively.

Finally, the world's economy is increasingly global and competitive, and currently sluggish. Business is even more challenged, stretched and stressed. Every customer touch point, every negotiation, every purchase and sale, joint venture, adaptation, and product delivery involves communication. Thus, messages should be well designed, clear and concise. They should also avoid complex or pompous language, be logically organized and be directed at the receiver's interests. This breaks down barriers to understanding.

A key element to today's communication is building a base of hope and trust among employees. Supervisors who are trained properly build the kind of culture that facilitates productivity and reflects good communication. In turn, employees interact more effectively with internal and external customers.

The following list of "Leadership Tenets of Hope and Trust" presents the fundamentals of what businesses need and what employees expect today:

• Respect and honor others
• Be aware of what you say and how you say it.
• Practice what you preach, and do what you say you're going to do.
• Be true to yourself. Be authentic. Don't hop the fence for popularity.
• Listen and appreciate another person's point of view.
• Avoid using put-downs and zingers.
• Look for the good and reward the positive.
• Appreciate others' uniqueness. Embrace diversity and cultural differences.
• Acknowledge that hope and trust go two ways.
• Don't be afraid to show your human side and acknowledge your mistakes.

This sounds pretty simple, but if your supervisors aren't communicating effectively, then your workforce could be suffering at a time when it needs to be soaring.

Uncover the Essential Skills of Communicating

Vital Learning has debuted a new cover for its Essential Skills of Communicating program, and the redesigned cover reflects today's business environment. This program has been taught to millions of supervisors worldwide, and it is a staple of training for many organizations. The program is available in classroom, online and blended (online and classroom) formats, and it teaches managers the following:

• How to design clear, concise messages
• How to look for nonverbal clues
• How to listen to communicate
• How to overcome barriers to understanding

Only you and your training professionals can improve the skills of your supervisors, managers and team leaders. This program is easily customizable with current communication scenarios typical in your organization. The Essential Skills of Communicating can give your organization real communication skills for real-life business issues. Give your employees what they need now and re-energize your workforce with communication that is trusted, appreciated and authentic.

Build a 'High-Five' Culture Through Motivation

When was the last time you asked your employees what they want and need in order to be productive?

Mitch McCrimmon, Ph.D. and author of Burn! 7 Leadership Myths in Ashes, suggests that the basic principle of employee motivation centers around individuals doing what they enjoy. Managers and team leaders should spend more time with employees to discuss what they enjoy doing, what they want or need to learn, and what gives them satisfaction at work.

Wouldn't that make your employees feel like they'd just been given a great big high five?

Asking employees these questions shows that you care about them. Some areas in which supervisors and managers can improve to generate a high-five culture include the following:

• Creating a sense of fairness and treating employees with respect
• Rewarding behaviors you want to see demonstrated more often.
• Showing that you value employee contributions.
• Challenging employees to keep them engaged and foster their learning.
• Collaborating with employees to solve issues.

No two employees are alike. Therefore, supervisors must uncover keys to what motivates each employee. Stop and think about what motivates you. If your own boss shows an interest in you, doesn't that make you feel great? When was the last time you felt like your boss had just given you a boost --- that high five?

Spending time on motivation is a small effort that results in a big outcome:
• Employees are happy and productive at work.
• Employees are motivated to think outside the box and develop new solutions.
• Employees serve each other and the customer well.
• The workforce focuses on mission and goals, not how badly they feel they are treated.

Energize Employee Belief to Grow Your Business

Former General Electric CEO Jack Welch advises energizing employees by helping them believe in the company's mission and understand how to achieve it. Motivation starts by engaging individuals and communicating effectively with them, as well as understanding their needs and what they need in order to enhance their performance. Then, when performance improves or an outstanding achievement is made, you recognize it. High five!

Having a motivated workforce and building a culture that fosters mutual trust and respect creates a foundation for employees to perform their work at levels expected. After all, employees are any organization's most important assets.

"For companies like us," an IT firm CEO said, "if employees perform their work with expertise and timeliness and provide good customer service, the employer will retain their customers, grow their business with them and get referrals based on their relationship with them."

Creating a Motivated, High-Five Culture

A highly motivated workforce starts with training supervisors and managers to understand the importance of motivation through self-assessment so that they can motivate team members.

Vital Learning's Motivating Team Members is a program that uses skill practice to build confidence and competence in motivational practices. Four stages of the process influence team members to perform a task while creating a work environment that motivates higher performance.

Motivating Team Members focuses on the following objectives:

1. Improving team member performance.
2. Understanding the factors that motivate team members to perform effectively.
3. Understanding individual differences in what motivates team members.
4. Distinguishing between motivation and dissatisfaction.
5. Creating a work environment for each team member that will motivate higher performance.

Your local Vital Learning training professional can help you implement a program that shows supervisors and managers how to identify what motivates each employee on the team, celebrate their positive accomplishments, involve them in ways to enhance performance, respond to their suggestions, and agree on the next steps and ongoing review.

Start creating your high-five culture today!

Motivated employees = engagement, productivity and high performance.

Coping With Change and Uncertainty

Albert Einstein said, "The hardest thing in the world to understand is the income tax." So it is: tax time. You know, the only things certain in life are death and taxes.

We are experiencing a time of change and uncertainty in the workforce. Companies are cutting costs, laying off employees, freezing salaries and reducing pay raises. Companies are no longer able to stay on a steady course, and that is affecting employee morale and productivity.

The Workforce Amid Change and Uncertainty

Layoffs can often be counterproductive and lead to more turnover, creating anxiety among the "survivors." Productivity suffers. Thus, the roles of human resources and training professionals are important in realigning workforce strategies.

According to the Society for Human Resource Management's (SHRM) 2008 survey report "HR's Evolving Role in Organizations and Its Impact on Business Strategy," the following are the top three HR areas critical for the support of organizations:

• Staffing, employment and recruitment
• Training and development
• Employee benefits

At the same time, reports reveal that employee job satisfaction centers around things like job security, communication between employees and senior management, and opportunities to use skills and abilities.

Some leaders may decide to reduce training and development as a part of their cost-cutting strategies, thinking that training is unimportant. Training, however, is one of the things that employees need in order to feel valued and productive. Some leaders may also have a false sense of security that their best employees will not consider changing jobs during a recession.

According to a recent national survey of 1,098 working Americans, 26 percent said they would look for a new job in 2009. Thirty-seven percent said the major reason they would look for a different job is money; 19 percent fear layoff; and for 11 percent, the grass is greener on the other side. Although this survey indicates that many workers are still happy in their jobs, even 26 percent looking to leave a job is an issue if your best workers are planning to leave.

Case Study

Marisol is a midlevel customer service manager who has consistently received high performance appraisals. She is working harder than ever and working longer hours. Recently, a mandatory layoff forced Marisol to eliminate two of her team members. Her staff is reeling from the loss and struggling to fill the gap. Customer service is slipping.

Marisol has asked for leadership training, as she believes it will help her better communicate changes. The company denied her request because Marisol's VP said the company is too busy right now. The VP also told her that if she doesn't improve her team's productivity, her performance review will be affected. Marisol feels as though her company no longer views her as a top performer.

She decides to check out jobs available online, and she is surprised to find several openings in which she is interested. She applies for three jobs, and a week and half later she receives a call to interview.

Marisol ends up leaving her company and rationalizes that she is going to a job where she feels wanted. The new company promises training, and she feels more secure in her decision.

Result: Turning over even one employee can cost about one-half of an hourly worker's annual wages and benefits. Losing a member of middle or upper management can cost three to five times his/her annual salary and benefits. Average turnover in organizations is 25 percent, so you can see how this adds up. Add in the cost of recruiting and hiring, and ... well, you get the picture.

If you are a leader, considering training now is one of your best strategies.

Training and Communicating Change

Studies show that lack of or poorly communicated information leads to distrust, dissatisfaction, disengagement, and increased and unwanted turnover. Watson Wyatt's 2007/2008 Communication ROI Study reveals that organizations that communicate effectively are four times more likely to report high levels of engagement than those that do not.

Vital Learning's Supervision Series offers a number of courses to train your managers and supervisors to handle these times of change and uncertainty, leading to a happier more successful workforce. For example, Supporting Change teaches participants the following:

• Understand that the anxiety that change causes is inevitable and can be dealt with through effective leadership.
• Understand the importance of planning change carefully to give team members adequate time to provide input and become accustomed to the change.
• Better assist team members' adjustment to change by being well informed and clearly explaining the reasons for the change.
• Involve team members in the process of change, encouraging them to ask questions and voice their opinions fully and honestly.

Building leadership skills in this area builds trust in the organization, helping to retain workers during these tough times. Vital Learning's training professionals can help you assess and train your workforce. Like taxes, pressures associated with change are hard to understand, but with training and communication, recovery is certain.

Supporting Change by Blowing Off the Dust

Employees have had a rough time over the past year or so. Many are now wallowing in the dust of employees who have been downsized, and they are living in fear of experiencing downsizing themselves or trying to do more while they already feel overworked. Many have watched their benefits and retirement savings dwindle. At the same time, they may be seeing their opportunities for promotions, raises or new training waste away. When the economy recovers, some experts indicate that employee dissatisfaction --- and even anger --- will remain.

Human resources professionals know that "survivor syndrome" occurs after downsizing or rightsizing. Employees who remain after a layoff often quit their jobs, and retention becomes more difficult for the organization. This can become a dire situation because retaining employees at that point is critical to the business. Remaining competitive is difficult when human capital is crippled.

Changing Business and Employee Discontent

In "Fast Forward: 25 Trends That Will Change the Way You Do Business," Workforce.com says, "Employers who ignore workplace discontent run the risk of periodic productivity slumps as skilled staffers depart for higher-paying positions whenever the labor market surges. Smart companies that make employees feel valued will gain a crucial competitive advantage."

Training is one way organizations can make employees feel valued. Training your supervisors to manage their teams can enable them to help their workers combat the malaise that often accompanies tough times like these.

A few years ago, one CIGNA change agent said, "In any change effort, the real work comes in closing the gap between where you are and where you want to be." Training your supervisors to understand why change is occurring in the organization and how to help their team members cope can, in turn, help close the gap and advance organizations to where they want to be. With the training approach, barriers are reduced, workers become engaged and momentum picks up.

Embarking on Change Management

Organizations that are about to embark on change management will do so with a plan for engagement. This plan involves identifying important stakeholders, and recognizing that your employees are important stakeholders is the one of the first steps. Too often, leadership fails to devote time and resources to training, regardless of how limited. This is one of the controllable aspects of change and can lead to a higher success rate in closing the gap between where the organization is today and where it should be.

Vital Learning's Supporting Change seminar provides the tools managers need to understand and interpret change within the organization so they can more successfully communicate change to their team members. When team leaders work through change by involving team members, employees understand and own the change as well as the benefits to come. This approach generates excitement and anticipation of good things to come, and employees begin to see how the organization's investment in them is a part of the change process. This encourages them to contribute and reinforce their personal goals. Thus, employees are more likely to stay at the organization, they become more productive and they offer creative solutions for current issues.

Putting the Pieces Back Together and Blowing Off the Dust

Legendary racecar driver, Dale Earnhardt once said, "I've had confidence in myself all along. It was just a matter of getting the pieces back in place."

It's not rocket science or even racecar science that tells us we need to help employees blow off the dust left in the wake of the economic downturn. Train them, invest in them and encourage them to support change; this will sustain your organization during these difficult times and close the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

Go Green With E-Learning

As organizations continue to tighten their belts with the overwhelming concerns of the economic crisis, it is time to consider "green" training strategies with e-learning.

Now more than ever is the time for organizations to take advantage of the opportunities associated with training programs delivered through easy-to-use learning management systems (LMS). Integrating e-learning into a training curriculum has never been more optimal for your strategies. Whether you are a part of a small, medium or large company, these resources are realistic and promising.

We've talked about the power of going green and the cost savings associated with it. Today, going green is also a way to attract and retain the best and brightest employees to maintain competitive edge. An example is the members of Generation Y, also called Millennials, who place a high value on the environmental ethics of prospective employers. According to Experience Inc., an Internet-based career services provider, a recent nationwide survey of 2,774 college students found that 81 percent believe it is important to work for a green company.

Furthermore, research also indicates that corporations with increased social responsibility tend to have longevity. E-learning makes environmental and financial sense because it reduces time away from the job, classroom energy use, costly travel and other resource use.

The need for communicating about and training employees on new business objectives in order to help them succeed in a more complicated business environment is imperative. It is also much easier to achieve these days because of the ease and immediacy of using technology. A Watson Wyatt Communication ROI Study 2007/08 of companies worldwide found that "firms that communicate effectively are four times more likely to report high levels of employee engagement than firms that communicate less effectively."

The tools used for communication and training enhance the business environment and are particularly important to younger employees, who have grown up with the use of computers and the Internet. I see this becoming a green engagement with employees --- a new partnership between the employee and the organization.

Leveraging Green in Your Organization

The world of electronic capabilities and portable computing and communication connected through wireless networks has facilitated mobility in learning. Mobility enables instruction and learning to extend far beyond the traditional classroom, thereby eliminating traditional inhibitors and boundaries. It offers increased flexibility and opportunity for interaction for those who might otherwise not receive the training they need.

E-learning supports experiences that are accessible to, collaborative with and integrated with the business environment. What can green learning bring to your organization?
• Increased training for busy employees
• Anytime, anywhere access to new content
• Enhanced interaction between and among learners and trainers
• Just-in-time training or a review of content
• Enhancement of student-centered training
• Greater engagement of tech-savvy participants in a media-rich environment
• Support of personalized learning
• Collaboration through asynchronous and synchronous communication
Researchers also indicate the benefits of training occurring in the individual's environment rather than in the classroom. It enables reinforcement of learner recall and reflection with others in the same technology space online. Some organizations can also use e-learning to increase learning within team environments.

A Green Strategy

Greener strategies may not have reached your organization yet, but chances are they will. If they haven't, then you may have an opportunity to take a leadership position. Obviously, global warming, high energy prices and other issues have many people wondering how they can make an impact. Organizations are beginning to incorporate green initiatives into their strategic planning initiatives. This is a great time to suggest e-learning as a greener approach to delivery.

The following are some reasons to consider e-learning in your organization's green strategy:
• Eliminate paper-based marketing materials and tools for inviting participants by replacing them with electronic components and the use of learning management system (LMS) tools.
• LMS tools offer self-service registration and confirmation components that save time, staff and paper.
• Offer training materials and resources through the online program.

Because training in classrooms requires time and gas commuting and time spent off the job, organizations can save energy in a variety of ways. Consider shifting to more e-learning components through blended learning, online coaching, performance support and stand-alone courses. While helping the environment, this also helps make training more transparent and efficient as well as increase skills development.
Consider moving course evaluations and assessments online.

Researchers indicate that greener training must start at the top by promoting a clear commitment to it as an overall organizational strategy to social and ethical responsibility. Nick Van Dam, Ph.D., suggested in his article, "Time for Green Learning!" suggested that this strategy involves early communication and planning for a green learning environment, and it requires the support of the organization's learning community. Again, transparency is important addressing trainee concerns in the shift from paper use and traditional classroom settings. Finally, specific goals and objectives for green learning must be matched with measurement of progress.

Go Green With Vital Learning

Vital Learning is doing its part to enable organizations to commit to green learning practices by offering online learning programs through a comprehensive LMS. With programs that incorporate e-learning and blended learning methods, your organization can save time and money while ensuring that your employees receive the training they need. Your local Vital Lerning training consultant can show you the best way to go for the green with e-learning for your organization.

E-Learning Buzz to Your Training Toolbox

It's learning in a widely networked world. It's green, it's in cyberspace, it's blended and unblended, it supports change. It can save your organization money, it fosters interaction and collaboration, it's global, scalable, adaptable and part of the new learning fabric that goes hand-in-hand with revolutionary and technological change. That's the buzz of e-learning. But is e-learning in your training toolbox?

Content and Providers

The e-learning market is expected to surpass $52.6 billion by 2010, according to a May 2008 industry article. Shorter business cycles, mergers and increased competition are driving businesses to incorporate of e-learning in their training curriculums. Other drivers include quality instruction, cost effectiveness of new technology and increasingly supportive cultures of e-learning.

Another trend is not only in the purchase of software but also the added value of training vendors who can provide online facilitation, blended approaches and coaching. This increases engagement and customer learning satisfaction leading to outcomes contributing to the bottom line.

Scenario: A data processing company is rolling out supervisory training for its 200 managers. The company wants to deliver the same training to all managers, but because the participants are in five locations in three states, classroom-based training is not feasible due to the cost of bringing participants to one location.

The decision is made to use e-learning. A training vendor supports online training by interacting with students through threaded discussions. The online trainer is also available to answer participants' questions. Thus, students feel supported. They apply their learning on the job for a defined period and return to the online course fur further discussion and coaching with the instructor based on their real-life experiences.

Productivity levels are measured before and after the training, as well as at six months and one year. The results show that turnover is reduced and productivity has increased.

Learning 2.0 and Social Communities

According to research, the future of e-learning may be in workplace communities using social learning, which is a major change for business training. As a training professional or chief learning officer, you are responsible for managing and delivering training with classroom, online or blended approaches. The prospect of socialized learning adds to the formal approaches. E-learning lends itself well to this because it is already delivered via technology and uses features such as chat, asynchronous threads and document sharing.

How they do it: Social networking sites and blogs can be easily embedded into e-learning formats. The accessibility of posts for best practices and ideas are built upon and archived over time, becoming a wealth of collaborative knowledge for the organization.

Another way inject social learning is to wrap it around existing formal content and link to social forum spaces where they can discuss the training. These are public spaces where additional outside experts contribute so learning is further enhanced.

Learning Management Systems

Learning management systems (LMS) need not be expensive. They allow companies to register, track and catalog available courses for participants within the organization, allowing them to manage the function.

Choosing the right content and provider can bring resources to you without the expense of building or investing in large-scale systems beyond your reach or budget. This makes it easier to deliver value to your organization and mange results. For example, tracking the number of participants, courses delivered, and time spent in courses compared to the return on increased customer service or productivity following training.

Scenario: An auto parts store chain has rolled out training to its 257 stores nationwide. Through its LMS, the chain can track those who have received customer service training. Because the store also tracks customer service levels, it can draw correlations between those who completed the training and increased customer service ratings. Further return-on-investment has been shown through this tracking.

Vital Learning Brings the Buzz to Your Toolbox



Organizations are increasingly examining the incorporation of e-learning and the vast array of technology and Web-based tools strategically. Resources include planning and evaluation methods.

Vital Learning has been delivering online training courses and tools since 1996. With its affiliated training partners, Vital Learning offers a sate-of-the-art LMS and courses that can be delivered as stand-alone modules for self-paced learning or for blended learning solutions. Contact your Vital Learning training consultant today to discover how you can add e-learning to your toolbox.

Essential Communication Leads to Employee Engagement

If you were to create a formula for productivity it might look something like this:

ESC + EE = P

Or in more elaborate terms:

Essential Skills of Communicating + Employee Engagement = Productivity

A new study from the Institute for Corporate Productivity (i4cp) on the subject of corporate productivity and engagement indicates that higher-performing companies are more likely to involve employees in the process of cost-cutting measures. In these uncertain economic times, it is more important than ever to keep employees involved in critical company issues. Communication plus talent management programs supports forward focus and engagement for the future.

The same study showed that 91 percent of higher-performing companies point to communication at the top as a way to reduce turnover.

One way to define employee engagement is to consider an employee's connection to the work, the organization, the leaders, the customers, performance and results. Engaged employees stay with their employers, have higher levels of job satisfaction and make significant contributions. Employee engagement is not a "nice-to-have"; it's an essential requirement to achieve organizational results.

A Glimpse at the Disengaged

Roger is a midlevel manager at a software sales organization. He heads up a team of salespeople and spends his day communicating with his staff by e-mail, even though they are only a few steps outside his door. Roger's main focus is sales, which are down. In addition, the company is suffering financially. Roger has been told that budget cuts, including staff, are likely. He is worried about his own job and is wholly focused on crunching the numbers and figuring out who he might let go to make his numbers look better.

Roger's team spends the day wondering why he isn't telling them what is going on. They've talked among themselves and have some ideas about customer focus groups to help re-energize their sales territories. Two people have scheduled time with Roger this week to share their ideas, but, for the second week in a row, Roger has cancelled because he doesn't have enough time. The team is deflated. They are worried, too, but at this point, they are not sure that talking to Roger will do any good.

What Could Have Been

If Roger had only come out of his office to talk to his team, he might have prevented the members from becoming disengaged. The fact is, employees are better able to deal with company downturns if they know what is going on.

Poor managers fail to communicate. They fail to involve employees in solutions. And because they aren't communicating well, they aren't listening to employees' needs, concerns or ideas.

Good managers share clear strategy and vision. They engage their team in discovering solutions, so employees feel as though they have a stake in making things better. Good managers have a relationship with their bosses, and they want to go the extra mile. They care about their bosses and the organization, and they are armed with the belief that they can make a difference.

Numerous studies indicate that engaged employees work harder to achieve within the organization, and they speak positively about their companies. In the process, they also please customers and are more productive.

One of the Most Important Steps You Can Take

If you are considering where and how to focus your training programs, you should know that choosing to develop managers and supervisors in the area of communication is one of the most crucial steps you can take.

Many managers have never developed skills to deliver clear, concise messages focused on the needs and interests of the listener. These are skills that improve their relationships with individual team members.

In addition to constructing clear messages, Vital Learning's Essential Skills of Communicating teaches managers and team leaders to the following essential skills:

• Communicate with a two-way process.
• Manage nonverbal behaviors to reinforce the intent of the messages.
• Listen actively.
• Create a climate of open communication, which increases team members' motivation and commitment.

The foundation of good communication in organizations rests in managers and supervisors who are open and support an environment that encourages the free exchange of transparent, honest communication. Such managers are able to reflect, probe, support and advise their employees. In return, your employees will respond and become more engaged, happy and productive. Get your managers involved in the essential skills.