Building a training culture…worth the effort!

I direct this article toward small businesses that want to develop a training culture, create or access and deliver programs that maximize productivity and profit.

 Two facts are important.  First, untrained people typically fail or, at best, under-perform.  Their mistakes and omissions lower your service level, damage your image in the marketplace and eventually, cost you money.  Second, if you don’t devote significant time and resources to building and administering a serious teaching program, building staff skills isn’t easy.  So, we have a need to train and a challenge in making it happen.

 Below are some practical suggestions that will enable the smallest business to train more effectively.

 Designate someone who cares.  Training is a management responsibility.  Still, managers may not always be available to deliver training.  Rather than try and fail because you are too busy, delegate. Use training as a development tool for your most quality oriented team member.  Choose someone who shares you beliefs about doing the job right.  While this is the person who will build your training program, he/she need not be an expert.  Most of the info you’ll need is readily available.  Your ‘trainer’ must focus equally on task completion and on the people who make it happen. Effective and enthusiastic communication is mandatory.  Select the trainer accordingly.

• Organize topics in ‘need to know’ sequence.  Limit initial training objectives.  Begin with the job description.  What is it the employee must know or be able to do first?  Begin your training there.  Teaching in a logical need-to-know sequence, according to job requirements, will improve retention of the information and make more sense on the job.  Information I’ll call “nice to know”, while often more interesting to the trainer, tends to reduce clarity for new people and can be confusing.  Trainees must understand what is important now.   
• Plan training in ‘small bites’.  Spend some initial development time re-formatting important but often boring information.  Emphasize most important points and critical knowledge in concise, easy to understand ‘bites’ or learning modules.  New hires cannot and will not absorb extensive information.  Initial training should allow the new hire to begin successfully, accomplishing small tasks, one at a time. Do not attempt to create a subject matter expert in a week or two.  Not only is limited ‘small bite’ training easier to absorb and translate to behavior on the job, it is easier for a new trainer to create and deliver.   
• Use available and inexpensive resources.  In today’s “green industry”, whether your business is focused on design and build, maintenance, landscape or lawn care, the information you need is out there.  One of the first tasks for your new ‘trainer’ should be to network with established and respected companies and trainers in the industry.  Take advantage of the work others have done to pull together necessary information.  You will find most of us are ready to help.  Here are other great resources:

*Pesticide safety/use topics – OSHA website and state extension services.

*Environmental stewardshop – EPA websites [federal and state]

*Driver safety – National safety council, local/state police and for profit training producers [“Google” the topic, you’ll be amazed at the choices available]. 

*Equipment and product use – Manufacturers provide this info in video and written form.

*Plant/pest relationships – Your state extension service is a great resource and all information is free!

*Sales/customer service – “Train the Trainer” seminars can equip your trainer to deliver these topics. Programs are available and can be customized to your needs.

 Finally, remain active in your national and local associations. Take advantage of the resources provided. 

 Many operators just like you have used training to help build a culture of quality

and professionalism.  Why not join the club!

Celebrate Winners, Dump Losers…NOW!

As the year winds down, I want to remind everyone that the customer, while vital, is only half our management audience.  After a long, tiring season full of challenges and hard work, we all need to think about the players on our teams.  If you’re honest, you’ll face the fact that, in every company, on every team, there are winners and losers.

 Oh, I understand that you appreciate your good performers, the ones who show up each day, follow training procedures and meet expectations.  You are surely grateful for every helpful customer communication at the door, on the landscape or via a hand-written note.  And we all love those who hit goals consistently.  But gratitude and appreciation will not amount to much unless you communicate those positive feelings in a meaningful way to your winners.  Take it from me; you CAN make a difference in the way you are perceived by your staff.

 So, now is the time to let your staff know how you feel about their work.  After the Thanksgiving holiday, front line workers in our business begin to assess the year and wonder….was it worth it? Should I stick around after I get my year end bonus?

 If people feel appreciated and understand that you consider them to be important contributors to overall company results, they will be more motivated to stay on and become smarter, more productive veterans next season.  Make that happen now.

 Do the following to maximize positive motivation now:

• Have a private, one-on-one discussion with each individual on your team.  Review their contribution and verbally acknowledge their personal importance on your team.  Give examples of positive performance that made a difference.  When people feel important their self image and confidence is enhanced.  Do this in private, maybe over lunch or a beer.
• Look for ways to help people grow.  All of us are motivated as we feel more knowledgeable and useful.  Now is the time to determine which people you can grow with next year.  Who has the skill to grow?  Which people have expressed an interest in learning more, taking on greater responsibility?  When you decide, your next step is to provide additional training.  That can be accomplished through cross-training with other team members or attending educational seminars and events.  Pick topics you know will help and follow up to be sure the learning was taken seriously.
• Ask each team member how you can be a better leader.  The very fact that you show an open willingness to hear feedback, positive or negative, is important to employee motivation.  If people with ‘issues’ feel you are attempting to make improvements, it makes a big difference in attitude.

What about the ‘others’?

 As you embrace your winners, this is also the time to get rid of those who are either unwilling to meet your expectations and/or are simply negative players.  DO NOT go into the new-year with them aboard!

 If you have provided appropriate job skill training, followed up with coaching on the job and allowed a fair amount of time for the employee to meet reasonable expectations, you have met your management leadership obligation.  Everyone doesn’t succeed. Your obligation is now to the overall success of your team.

 This I know, if you’ve done your best to train and provide inspirational leadership…and still have a loser on your hands, it’s time to cut bait. Hoping and praying for an attitudinal ‘turn around’ is a lot like buying a lottery ticket and expecting to win.  Get the ‘losers’ off your team now. 

 

 

Increased productivity delivers greater profit…every time!

Read the post title. Are you surprised? Didn’t think so. Question: If increasing productivity is a cinch to boost the bottom line, why don’t we spend more time doing it? Simple answer; most managers are so wrapped up in getting from the beginning to the end of each mulit-tasked day, they will tell you they “just don’t have the time to stop and make changes.” Besides, if you push the conversation, what you’ll hear is…. “people hate to change…it’s always negative.”

So, here we are. Companies that had great 2009 performance did it one way..they became more productive. And you can too! Inertia can be a real negative. Doing what we’ve always done because…well, because we’ve always done it…is silly. Personally, I really enjoyed 2009! That is true because I spent it working with positive owners and managers who chose not to participate in the “hard times”. One point of view explains, nine out of 10 consumers was really not significantly impacted by the recession. If true, we focus on selling what they will buy…value. And we target those with the ability and desire to move forward, heads way, way out of the sand!

And, to a person, my clients found ways to be more productive; often taking a lower top line revenue performance into a stronger than every bottom line! So, skip the push back folks, it can and is being done.

In early December, I will be presenting at the Ohio Turfgrass Foundation’s conference, in Columbus, Ohio. One of my topics will be “How to Increase Productivity through Effective Front Line Supervision.” In the presentation, I’ll drive home four principles; principles learned not from some egg head’s  or psychological survey but from my 25 years of working out in the field, where the action is, with front line supervisors and their senior management.

This is really not the place for excessive details so, I’ll hope to whet your appetite by just listing four principles I have observed, participate in executing and learned to be valid:

1. Individual productivity [leading to team productivity] begins with the hiring process. We don’t spend enough time or energy on recruiting people with whom we can win.

2. Reasonable expectations and procedures must be set, understood and accepted by all. We are task managers. We set the same goals for everyone, regardless of what tools are in their tool kit. We treat people as clones of a job description…a straw man who never really exists. And people struggle, fail, burn out and quit or are terminated.

3. Initial socialization, training and transition to routine [real world] activity will impact results…100% of the time. Why do we believe training is optional? Da! Smart, trained people are more engaged and productive, always.

4. Individual activity and performance [to the smallest detail] must be tracked with appropriate supervisory reaction on a daily basis [using the common sense coaching process]. I know, we don’t have time. Wrong!

So, these are the principles I’ll discuss. Will it matter? If I’m lucky, maybe one in 10 will react. Not very productive, is it!

Two new business articles

Just a note reminding you to have a look at two new articles in the October issue of Landscape Management magazine.

The first, “Apples to Oranges” features several of my clients, all of whom grew top and bottom lines in the middle of this recession. No BS…just honest results. The article resulted from interest created during my recent live LM webinar..the first in their new Business School web series.

The second article, “Nail the Sale” shows how great results are achieved. Surprising to many, my clients have learned to sell value instead of cutting price and profits to the bone! Again, no theory, just great results! Again, have a look and tell me what you think.

That’s the upcoming issue of  Landscape Management magazine.

2010 Starts Now!

This may come as a shock to my friends and clients in the home services industry but…next year is here, now!

Sure, I know, we are just finishing this year…and we deserve a break. Sorry, no break..not now; not when only the best prepared will grow in this economy. So, you just gotta ask yourself, will I or won’t I be on the winner list this time next year?

If you are committed to growing, you have your work cut out for you. Sure, it can be done…I have numerous clients and contacts who have grown significantly this year. But it wasn’t an accident or quirk of fate. It was the result of planning, training, lots of hands-on follow up, tracking and reacting on a daily basis. Nothing short of that works.

But you can grow.

Next, if you are one of those sad soles who feels you’ve paid your dues, suffered through this recession and are celebrating Ben Bernanke’s decision that “the recession is largely over”, guess again. Ben deals with banks. You deal with homeowners and small businesses. And, flash! The recession is NOT “largely over”. Only a politican or economist would say a thing like that. So, together, we wil l face another tough selling season. You have to be ready..that is, unless you are content to backslide…something I find unacceptable.

If you know my history, you know I helped a small, growing service company grow in the recession of the late 1980’s. We learned that it can be done. But it doesn’t just happen. To succeed in 2010, you will need to be 10% better at everything you do. You will need to hire 10% better, train a tad more effectively, lead, track, react and coach 10% more effectively. So, take my advice…strart next year now! Don’t get lazy. Forget about the flush years past…this is a business war we are in and not all will make it. Be on the winner’s list.

My schedule is filling faster than ever…and that is becsause smart managers are preparing now for tomorrow.

Food for thought.

All Behavior is a Function of it’s Consequences!

Ever hear that line before? Sound like psycho-bable? Shrink speak? Well, BINGO! That is precisely what it is. And, oh…by the way…it happens to be true!

Just back from a consulting visit with a good client. The owner and senior manager are very interested in improving management and staff performance. They want things….like customer service, to work better for the company. They want fewer customer complaints, fewer lost customers, and greater lifetime values. That’s what they want.

Reviewing recent issues, situations poorly resolved or left dangling for a later day….I did what I always do…I called it as I saw it…warts and all. Nobody disagreed. In fact, everyone felt my analysis was spot on…to use an MBA phrase for an accurate description of what is what!

Then, the good part. I laid out a couple of options, things that could be done to create improved performance. Each involved confronting the realities of today, to bring about a better tomorrow…for all. Each option required management to draw a line in the sand and commit to changing the status quo. Each would mean that what is wrong today, will be gone tomorrow.

Guess what happened. To quote senior management…”We don’t want to go that far”. Huh? Then why am I here,  I wondered. “Just do the best you can to explain the right way to do things”, was the direction given to me. “OK”, I replied..and that is what I did.

What will change? Nothing. Why? Because behavior really is a function or the result of how we, as leaders, repond to it. Not complicated. When unacceptable behavior is met with a “discussion” of what should be…but no other reaction, the message is “we think you ought to change your behavior but..if it’s uncomfortable for you…fine.” And so it goes.

My mesage today is…first, don’t begin initiating change unless you are willing to follow through. But, if you are, you can change behavior with your serious and ongoing reactions to what you see happening. And your reaction to poor performance cannot be a suggestion; your reaction must be a declaration in word and deed that, from this day on, some of the things we do, will be done differently. No big deal; no revolution; just modified behavior. Then, as you take each small, easy step toward improved behavior, you celebrate and reward it! Your positive response will keep the changes going. Behavior will improve because the consequence of doing it old way will be corrective action in the form of a negative and unswerving response from leadership.

Honest, folks..it can be done. But you must be less willing to put up with unacceptable behavior than you are to confront reality. I can tell you this…people like to be led. Leadership and positive direction will, over time, be met with improved behavior. But, you can’t stick your head in the sand and expect a consulting to make it happen!

Sorry to rant but…as I learn over and over again, wishful thinking has never and will never change behavior. Your reaction to the performance of your staff must be real, serious and continuous.

Good luck!

Growing in a down economy? You must be kidding!

Yesterday, I participated in an industry sponsored webinar on surviving, even growing in a recession. For a first effort, I felt it was a success…as 325 contractors/operators signed up for the event.

My message, as it is in all my training, was that, if you take time to differentiate your company/product/service from the competition..and communicate the real, tangible value of the differences, you CAN sell and grow in a recession. I have clients who grew 18-23% this year…top and bottom lines! That is a fact.

Yesterday’s blog post on leaving the doom and gloom behind and getting back to business was based on this year’s positive experience. Since yesterday, a couple of people contacted me…telling me I was just another consultant…planting unrealistic expectaitons in the minds of people..to generate business.

Holy cow! How silly! I am reporting what my clients are doing. Believe it or don’t, your call. But this I know, small to mid-sized businesses I work with are making it happen. To me, that’s good news and I intend to use my blog to tell the story.

Value sells…the probem is…we don’t take the time to hone our communications skills and we don’t tightly manage our marketing/sales process. If you want a more detailed discussion, let me know.

Get off the doom and gloom kick!

Flash! People are sick and tired of this recession. Over 90% of all Americans, those who want jobs, have them! And, despite what you hear, most have medical benefits too!

So, why are we hanging our heads? I’ll tell you; because the media is making hay, driving ratings scaring people to death! I don’t know about you but I’msick of it!

Don’t want to sound successful or anything not PC but…I bought a new 09 general motors car this year. And, low and behold…it’ still running! In fact, it’s a great car! So, life as we know it has not ended and, unless we let the sobbing, politically motivated pundits control our emotions, we can survive!

Let’s all decide to be positive for a change. We’ve been through tougher times….much tougher..and we’ve survived. And we can now. I’ve never Americans so down in the dumps without reason in my life. Don’t misunderstand…out of work is out of work. But, we can work through it if we go forward and get our heads out of the sand.

If you run a company, you’d better be showing a postive face 24/7. If you are an employee, representing a company, you’d better push back against consumers who are being sold the doom and gloom story. If we kick consumer spending in the rear, if we begin, again, to invest in the future, we’ll actually have one.

I know my positve view is not exactly typical but, I was part of a home serivce business during the 1987 recession..a tough time for the service business. I saw people pull in their horns and expect to fail. No surprise, they did! Self-fulfilling prophecy, I suppose. But my company did not! And my clients this time around are growing! Why, becasuse the refuse to buy into the media dribble which, in my view is mainly responsible for the malaise that has overtaken our country.

Good news! Our attitudes are ours! We can choose to be up…or down. Stay in the dumper if you must but, as for me..I’m not taking part in the negative recessionary doom and gloom any longer.

Gee, I feel better already!! How about you?

Smart Managers Learn To Delegate

Talked to a client yesterday….about an upcoming consulting visit.  After explaining his needs, we talked about the fix.

I asked the man whether or not he’d like to be involved in our initial meeting with the lead supervisors. He declined, saying “Nope, not me. I delegate that to my supervisors.” I made sure I understood, asking “Do you mean you don’t want to listen to what I tell them?” He affirmed his intention to let me do my thing and let his front line supervisors take the responsibility for using the information. “If there is no improvement, we won’t repeat it”, he said.

I hope some of you will understand that this senior leader was not shirking his managerial responsibility. He was simply demonstrating the level to which he’d developed the art of delegation. And, it really is an art.

As my client learned long ago, delegation starts with staff selection. You don’t delegate anything to anyone without first determining that they will likely succeed. They want the responsibility and they have the trainaing and skill to succeed. Knowing this, you delegate small responsibilities. Based on success, you go farther.

All I can tell you is that this particular client believes in his people and knows how much they want to do the job right, the first time. His confidence in them is rewarded daily by the continuity of his operations and bottom line success…even in a recession.

If you want to grow, learn to delegate. If you don’t, you will spend your management life as an army of one..and an army of one never went anywhere!

Tell me what you think.

Teams are out in tough times!

In a football or baseball game, one person alone cannot win. To succeed, people need to combine indivudual skills, ideas and enthusiam for the good of all. But folks, staying afloat in a recesssion of this magnitude is not a team sport; at least not typically.

In times like these, my experience is clear on one point; it’s the strong, persistent individual who succeeds first. Granted, a great individual performance can and and should pull weaker players along, and the team can win. But it is the never say die leader in the group that makes it happen.

So, have your team meetings, talk about working together and helping each other, etc. After that, look for the determined person who simply is not going to be a victim of tough times. That person is your winner.

I know, sounds corny; even writing this I feel sort of corny and old fashioned. But in my consultng work, I am exposed to people every day, looking for two things: first, someone to blame for the current situation. Second, someone to solve their problems. Think about it. I’m betting you’ll agree.

Who is to blame? Our culture; high living standards and the unrealistic, never could have lasted bubble of the last 10 years. Who will solve it?  We will! The same people who allowed this country to get into the hole we’re in will pull us out. The only problem is that most younger workers and managers have never experienced anything like today’s business world. To them, it’s like a bad dream that never should have happened; not to America.

So, where are the answers? The solutions to our business probems are within every organization I work with. That’s right…every one! If we can just get over the shock and awe of realization that, as 9-11 was real, so is our bagged out economy. Once we accept that fact, we can begin to create positive, forward planning and ride the coming bounce out of this mess.

I guess my point is that, when times are tough, we should encourage individuals to come up with ideas and suggestions that we can at least try; creativity that, as in recessions, even depressions past, pulled us through.

One thing is certain, anyone who sits and waits for Washington to save us is in for a long, long wait!

Comments welcome!