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!

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!

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.

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.

In Tough Times, Smart Businesses Focus on Differentiation

I do lots of presentations on serving the customer.  And each time I begin, I see the faces up front, doubting, hoping, wondering “What is there about customer service that hasn’t been said, and said, and said again?”  “Please, don’t tell me to do what we all know I cannot do…make them love me!”

So, I ease into the topic.  “Why” I ask, “do you suppose customers fire us?” I get blank stares.  Savvy managers know it’s typically not anything we’ve done to the customer…it’s the total impact of the customer experience that deals the death blow.  I forge ahead.

“To understand why we are fired by our valued customers, we must look at how they became customers in the first place!”  I talk about how customers are sold; how we set expectations.  And I do that because that is the starting point for developing a serious reputation for service excellence.

Now, I’m a consultant working mostly in the home services industry…landscaping, lawn care, pest control, etc.  So, my clients typically don’t interact with customers face to face that often…unless of course, there is trouble. Then, half of them cancel service without ever letting us know of their dissatisfaction! Wow! What’s a service company to do? Is there a process that will translate into customer loyalty?  Briefly…sure.

This is a big topic.  For purposes of this post, I simply want to expose the topic and see what interest there is in exploring the process for building what I refer to as E-Service or, defined my way, E for excellence in service.

What is E-Service? My defininition is ‘doing whatever it takes to make each customer feel special.’  That’s it.  Not complicated but not easy either.

Is it possible? Yep, I work with businesses doing it every day.  How do they make it happen? Again, not complicated…but not easy either.  They go about the work of creating a true CULTURE OF EXCELLENCE.  It can and does happen. I see it, so, I know it’s real.
What are the requirements? First, and most vital to success, is a top down recognition that, without a reputation for service excellence in today’s service industry, you have one and only one thing to offer….price. And, as we all know, when you sell with price, you lose customers the same way…to the first ‘low baller’ who comes along and undercuts you.

It is possible to differentiate with service. This sort of differentiation is not new. Nordstroms and Southwest Airlines, each a representative of the high and low end products in their respective industries, have done it for decades.  So, it can be done.

In hard economic times…like the ones we face today and will in 2009, I believe it’s worth looking at creating added value through E-Service.  As I said, it involves and requires a paradigm shift for most organizations. Still, it can and is being done.  Some of initial moves are bullet pointed below.

• Recognition that selling price leads to low quality sales and no customer loyalty.
• Setting reasonable expectations is a must in the marketing-sales message.
• The sales process must provide continuity with the marketing message and brand reputation.
• Service delivery must mirror expectations set.
• The E-Service company will subscribe to the philosophy that “If you see a problem, you own the problem.”
• Service delivery and satisfaction levels are closely monitored. Results drive business tactics.
• Employees are trained and cross trained to appreciate all team functions.
• Communications skills are an absolute….and using them is NOT an option.
• Customer ‘touch points’ are maximize and a personal, almost intimate relationship developed.
• E-Service companies establish customer focused lines of authority and a reasonable escalation policy for problem-complaint resolution.
• E-Service companies have a well thought out ‘service recovery’ process, ensuring that quick problem resolution resulting in complete customer satisfaction and brand strengthening.

These are a few of the skeletal fundamentals that are basic to the E-Service philosophy.  If you are interested, let me know it with a comment below.

Eliminating Team Busters – Landscaping business example

It’s a mid-summer Monday morning in Grassville.  You have just completed your regular team meeting, making assignments, recognizing top performers….steering the ship through another week in the green industry.

 

At this week’s meeting, you tried to emphasize your strong belief that if your small company does not deliver better, more personalized customer service than the competition, your business will suffer.  You talked about knocking on the door of each customer’s home, checking with homeowners every chance you get to identify any questions or problems that may need attention.  You talked about ‘doing the job right the first time’, to avoid unnecessary service calls. 

 

A quick survey of the crew’s faces signaled that they got the message.  Heads nodded agreement at every point.  You ended the meeting satisfied.

 

After the session, you watch over the day’s ‘start-up’, making sure the crew is organized and on the road, then turn your attention toward repairing the breakdown of an important spray rig.  In the middle of the job, missing some parts, it’s clear you’ll have to pick up some supplies to finish the job. 

 

Since another employee is using your pick-up, you borrow the Office Manager’s car and head for the store.  About a mile from the shop, you notice two of your vehicles at a Mickey D’s.  Strange…you provided all the necessary coffee and doughnuts the guys could eat only 20 minutes earlier…why Mickey D’s?  Why now?

 

Unable to arrive at a logical reason for their presence, you pull in.  Parking the unfamiliar car in the rear, you go in through the side door.

 

In the middle of the room, sitting behind a row of plants, are two of your people.  Interestingly, one is a new employee, on the job only a few weeks.  The other person is a long time veteran.  The two are absorbed in their conversation and don’t notice your arrival.

 

Like a stealth fighter, you slide undetected into a hidden seat opposite the row of interior plants.  Only five or six feet away and completely unaware, your two employees provide an easy-to-hear conversation.

 

What happens next should happen to all managers at least once in their careers.

 

Listening with growing interest, you become the uncomfortable witness to an all too common employee ‘mind set’ or attitude you’ve come to know as ‘The Team Buster’.  The ‘TB’, as you now refer to these insidious negative employees, can, if a very short time, eliminate positive thinking.  They create divisiveness and negative attitudes that can destroy a team’s morale, productivity and loyalty, leading to increased turnover.

 

As the conversation progresses, you find it hard to stay cool.  Tom, your six-year veteran is lecturing Anthony, your new employee.  In his monologue, he goes into great detail about his extensive experience working with customers.  He tells Anthony that ‘what you heard in the meeting is the typical bosses ‘take’ on customer service’.  With a superior sneer, Tom carefully outlines what he calls ‘the real world’, and lets Anthony know in plain terms that ‘what ‘he’ told us to do is what all ‘bosses’ try to get employees to do’.  Continuing, ‘these owners don’t do what we do kid…in fact, most of them haven’t touched a spreader or spray rig for so long, they wouldn’t know what to do with one’.  The lecture went on, ‘if you want to know how to get the job done…I mean hit your production goal and still have a life…I mean, you know, get out of here at a decent hour, here’s what you do’.  Then, Tom proceeded to undo all the instructions and training you have provided the new person.

 

By the time the bottom of the coffee cup was visible through the last drops of Mickey’s great brew, you new employee had been indoctrinated by ‘The Destroyer’.  He now understood that ‘knocking on the door wastes your time’, that ‘nobody’s home anyhow’.  He learned how to write little comments on invoices in advance because ‘doing it on the lawn takes too much time’.  Anthony had also been carefully instructed on how to answer the typical question ‘those stupid customer’s ask’, and why ‘all you really need to do is blow a little smoke at them and get outa there’.  Good old Tom didn’t miss a thing.  He even told the new man when, where and how to relieve himself in the bushes.  That part of the story he told with great pleasure, emphasizing that ‘if you are good enough, you’ll never get caught’.

 

Tough as it was, you controlled yourself in order to take it all in, until…until Tom began to describe his technique for observing specific female ‘sunbathers’ in his territory that ‘really make the job fun in the summer’.

 

That’s when the game ended.

 

You’ve had it.  You get up, approach the startled workers and say, _________________

 

This is where I am going to stop.

 

What do you say?  What would you say to a veteran like Tom?  What action would you take?  What damage was done?  Can the damage be repaired?  How long had this been going on?

 

Ask yourself, ‘has this happened in my operation’?  Could it happen to me?  How should I eliminate the threat posed by ‘The Team Buster?

 

Sooner or later, in every operation, you encounter a negative ‘Team Buster’

 

‘TB’s’ are negative people.  ‘Destroyers’, left in existence will poison your team. Eventually, ‘TB’s’ will lead to negative thinking followed by negative feelings and resulting in negative behavior.  These negative people will tear down your team’s morale and your business will suffer.

 

How to deal with ‘The Team Buster’

 

Set positive standards.  You have a clear right to run your business any way you choose.  That privilege includes establishing customer service attitudes as well as procedures.  And, your staff has a responsibility to meet your standards.

 

Your actions, in response to learning you have a destroyer on the squad, should be as follows:

·         REACT…AND REACT IMMEDIATELY!  Failure to react, hoping a negative person will ‘see the light’ and change ‘once things get less hectic’ never happens.  React now.

·         First, be certain you have clearly and effectively communicated exactly what your standards and expectations are.  Make 100% sure everyone understands what you expect.  Often, we assume our thoughts are clearly understood.  At times, the best of us may send mixed signals.  Under difficult circumstances, even the most committed of us may fail to live up to our own standards.  So, before you blame and take action, check out your training and communications effectiveness.

·         Next, convinced the employee knew how the job was to be done, conduct an immediate personal and private performance intervention interview.  Take the employee off the premises for a private meeting.  Do not discuss the details with other employees, do not draw conclusions in advance of your interview.

·         In the interview, review the training and communication you have provided, the instructions you have given.  Get the employee to acknowledge that he/she understood the ‘rules of the road’, the job performance standards.

·         Now, communicate the specific performance problem in detail.  Be specific, detailed and unemotional.  Confine comments to specific performance.  Do not attempt to analyze why the performance was unacceptable, just describe what actually happened. 

·         Ask the employee to explain his/her performance and give input.  Listen with an open mind.  Do not jump to conclusions and do not ‘bait’ the employee in order to prove your point.  In other words, stick to the facts.

·         Based on what you learn and assuming the performance was unacceptable, most managers believe the employee deserves at least one verbal and one written warning.  Depending on the severity of the unacceptable performance and it’s impact on your business, you may decide to terminate the employee on the spot.  If you decide to warn the employee, give the employee specific and detailed instructions on the type and level of performance you expect in the future, beginning immediately.  Do not argue, do not negotiate.  At this time, you are giving clear and non-negotiable instructions. 

·         Establish follow up performance ‘benchmarks’ and a time table for improvement.  Always follow up quickly.  As performance improves, performance checks can be made at increasingly longer intervals.

 

The worst thing any manager can do is NOTHING.  If you don’t like what you see or hear, only you, the manager in charge can bring about change.

 

Keeping ‘Team Busters’ off the team

 

Once stung, most managers react one of two ways.  They either develop the general opinion that ‘people just don’t want to follow directions’ and ‘they don’t make em’ the way they used to’, or they learn to keep a closer ‘ear to the ground’.  I prefer the second alternative.

 

Here are two specific things you can do to minimize the chance that a ‘TB’ will invade your staff through:

·         Require staff input as a part of the planning, problem solving process.  People are positively motivated and will work harder to succeed when they feel ownership in the process and objective.  You do not have to turn over the decision making or procedure establishment process to employees, but getting their ideas and input while you are developing your own thoughts will take advantage of the power of synergy. People working together with a common goal, will almost always make better decisions than even the smartest individual working alone.  Not only will group input in the process improve the quality of your planning, it will motivate employees, building ownership and loyalty.

·         Hold regular ‘one-on-one’ meetings with your staff.  Make them frequent, private and personal.  Ask questions that probe the employee’s mind.  Learn as much as possible about their overall level of satisfaction, their frustrations.  Be bold enough to ask your employees straight out, ‘how can I make your job a little bit easier’?  You do this to show you care about your people.   Once they know you genuinely care about them, they’ll care too.  People respond in their own way to work and stress.  The more you know about each individual, the better able you’ll be to deal with his/her issues and needs.

 

The Making Of A Leader

 

A quick retrospective on the leaders I have known reveals two key characteristics all possess.  Yes, there are identifiable characteristics common to all.  And both are vital.

 

Years ago, in the midst of an after hours conversation, a very successful businessman and fellow association board member, described what he believed were absolute requirements for leadership success.  He talked about the Big D and the Little D.  He said you need both, but one of them separated real leaders from the want to be majority. Since that time,  experience has taught me that his light hearted definition of what it takes to lead makes good sense.

 

“Bill,” he asked, “what do you think the Big D is?”  He gave me two choices, desire or discipline.  I thought for a moment.  My top of mind response was – desire.  “You’re wrong,” he happily replied, seeing I’d taken the bait.  “Everyone thinks desire is what it takes.  But it’s more, a lot more.”  Based on his success as a leader, he made it clear that, while it’s easy to say “I want it,” the real measure of a leader is taken in his or her level of discipline. 

 

“Some things aren’t complicated.”  He scooted up on the edge of his chair. I knew he was trying hard to make his point.  Finger in my face, he repeated, “You gotta be disciplined and do the work every day.  That is the Big D, discipline, the Little D is desire.”  I listened. Obviously, I was hearing life lessons from someone who’d learned about leading the hard way. 

 

Since the night of that brief conversation, I’ve thought many times about what I’d been told.  I’ve applied that standard to dozens of managers with whom I’ve been associated  and, by golly, I totally convinced my friend was right.

 

While I’d love to give you his name, I don’t have permission and attempts to contact him about this article have failed.  So, I can only hope you’ll accept my story as factual and evaluate what you’ve read.

 

At my final manager training session, before retiring from the ‘corporate world’, I summarized a few basic conclusions about what it takes to become an effective leader. 

 

Big D or no Big D, you first need the desire to lead.  Through the years, I’ve watched repeatedly as strong individual performers were forced to take leadership jobs unprepared and uninspired.  They fail.  Leadership is hard work. You must want it.

 

Next, as my friend taught me, the discipline must be there on an every day basis.  You must discipline yourself to do what leaders do, and that is to be “hands on” and develop their people.  Failing this, you won’t make it.  Leaders cannot survive by simply working hard and giving orders.  We provide a motivating workplace environment and we teach our team members win.

 

Finally, you must feel comfortable in the leader’s skin.  Tough to describe in words, while leaders really aren’t born, some of us just take to it, like birds to the sky.  The most successful leaders I know love the process. They can’t wait to get out there with the team; to face the challenges and celebrate every little accomplishment.  And when their people win, they win.  It’s a feeling, a sense of purpose.  Leadership is a calling.

 

If you are developing a leader in your organization and need some support, let me know.

Developing Teams – It’s About Time To Get Serious!

In the spring of 2008, I made over a dozen presentations to business groups interested in learning how to be more effective and successful managers. 

When they hired me, these folks knew they were going to hear about one thing, leading, or managing if you prefer, people.   After 20 years in management training, that is the part of the business I understand best.

 

In every instance, whether I was speaking at a trade show and conference or to a private business management team, in one way or another, I asked this question; what is your most vital resource?  To clarify, if you had to pick one resource that, if properly used, will lead to success, what would it be?  And I offer these choices; Products? Equipment? Operating capital? Credit? Marketing programs? People?  And in every instance the answer is the same; people are the key resource in building a successful business.  It’s not that other resources aren’t required; it’s that they are more easily acquired and managed.  If you accept that as fact, let’s move on.

 

Again this season, as in every spring since 1985 [when I began training/consulting], I encountered owners and managers who struggled mightily with people. It has to be the single biggest frustration we face. 

 

As an example, reflecting on my experience with one company, the sequence of events goes like this:

1. Plan the year…marketing strategies and details.
2. Create the annual budget with all known costs, revenue projections, etc.
3. Set timelines/benchmarks for activities, marketing, sales, and production.
4. Oh yea, people!  Do we have enough of them?

 

And the story repeats itself to a greater or lesser degree in 90% of the businesses I encounter.

 

My point; everything is nailed down…except for people.  Smart managers plan and strategize.  Owners and top managers with valuable experience lay out the year, deal with banks and vendors.   We know it pays to contact each customer and confirm their business for next year.  So, many make the time to do that.  But staffing with the right people? Gee, time to get the ad in the paper.  Bad.

 

Enough ‘brow beating’.  The intent of this article is to make you think about developing your team.  My goal is to get you to put people on the top of your resource planning list and do it now!  The intended result will be to begin 09 with the best prepared core of people you’ve ever had.  Does it take time? Yes.  Will you invest more labor dollars up front? Yes.  Is it a smart business move? Yes…if you do it properly, as part of an overall people strategy that builds teams vs. just filling chairs.

 

Mistakes to eliminate:

• Assuming your best, core people are satisfied and will be there when you need them most.
• Assuming staffing is pretty much a ‘roll the dice’, run the ad and see what happens game you play without predictable results.
• Assuming you can start new hires and bring them up to speed in a week or two.
• Assuming training and daily coaching will happen without specific, focused plans in place.
• Assuming you can’t control new hire turnover.

 

Strategies I’ve seen work to develop people:

 

• Assess your staff.  Don’t assume you know a person’s mind.  If you want to build a team of loyal, committed players, you must begin by confirming that motivationally, your veteran leaders are ‘on board’ and supportive of your business philosophy and practices.  If not, they will sink your ship, guaranteed.  Have a one-on-one with core team members.  How did the year go for them?  Are they getting bored, need a challenge or expanded responsibility.  What can you do for them that will motivate them to help you?
• Designate a competent person to handle new hire recruiting and on-boarding.  It’s time to get serious about bringing on the best new hires.  You cannot develop someone who is simply doesn’t have what it takes or who has taken the job for invalid reasons.  Understand, you can control this process and, do a large degree, the results will be predictable.  The days of finding the best new people in the classified ads are gone.  You’ve got to be more pro-active than in the past.

–          Sales reps find jobs on the internet.  Go to ‘monster’ or ‘career builder’   and be pro-active!  Scan resume’s listed and contact them!  This takes time.  Assign the responsibility or do it yourself but don’t sit, waiting and hoping ‘the ad works’.

–          21^st workers search specific, industry focused internet sites. So, get familiar with sites that address your industry and business.

–          Use your best employees to find additional labor.  Create incentives for successful ‘in house’ recruiting.

 

Don’t let incompetent people conduct screening interviews!  Prepare and role-play the hiring  questions in advance.  Be sure you are looking at past performance as the best indicator of future results.  And, for most jobs, I place a candidate’s attitude above all else in scoring the interview. 

 

Show candidates your ‘best face’ but present the job honestly with clear expectations and rewards.  A candidate will be asking him/herself “Why should I work here”.  You must effectively answer the question in their mind.

 

Don’t forget the interview setting.  What are the physical surroundings like?  Clean or disorganized?  The physical environment means a lot.  Walk outside and come back in.  Would you want to work here?  Is your office private, uninterrupted?  Desk cluttered?  All this matters.

 

 

• New hire on-boarding must be a positive experience.  Bring new hires into a positive, organized and well planned training, learning environment.  Show the new team member how he/she is now an important team member.  Introductions are first.  How does the new hire fit into the group?  Give the new person an opportunity to spend some time with each veteran and get to know them unsupervised.  You are going through a process called ‘socialization’ and it takes time.  Be sure that each day of the first few weeks is planned and controlled to ensure a positive start and finish.  The new person should be given limited goals, followed by honest but consistent positive reinforcement as they learn and gradually take on more responsibility.  When new people feel important, respected and succeed, they don’t quit.

 

• Provide ‘hands-on’ daily coaching after the initial training period.  It is vital that the each new person on your team is brought on-board with enough advance time to go through a reasonable learning period without undue stress.  ‘Hands-on’ coaching is an investment of time and effort that is not only worth making, it is key to the new person’s success.  You or your designated ‘recruiting/training’ person can be this coach.  Or, the immediate supervisor can do the job.  But someone must prioritize and maintain consistent daily contact, coaching and reinforcement of early learning.  Though daily coaching, the new hire will learn and form the right habits quickly.  To throw new people out on the job without initial training and follow up coaching simply does not work.  Your investment in the recruiting, on-boarding and follow up coaching process must become an integral part of the annual business plan.

 

 

• Provide visible ‘top-down’ examples of positive leadership.  Practice what you preach.  If you truly want to build a team of loyal, ‘can-do’ players’, your people must see exactly those traits in you.  Telling people to be considerate of customer’s feelings and needs, then failing to do the same with your staff, sends an undeniable double message.  If your people feel you highly value your customers but treat the staff with less caring and concern, your people will simply leave.  Think about how you treat customers vs. your people.  Be honest. If you place the same priority on your employees feelings about you as you do the opinions of your best customers, I guarantee turnover will drop!  So, don’t assume high turnover.  Be certain you have a positively motivating work place environment.

 

With limited space, I have tried to address some of the most impactful and controllable factors we all face as people managers and leaders.  The suggestions I make have been proven to work in the real world.  How much you need to change, how seriously you take the people challenge is up to you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If You Wanna Win, You Gotta Train!

I want this post to help managers out there who are serious about winning and understand that it will be their people, not them, that will put them over the top.

Two facts are important. First, untrained people fail or, at very best, underperform vs. those who have the skills to succeed.  Seems obvious enough, doesn’t it. Why then, is training typically an after thought on the priority list of most managers? Let that question soak in a while.

Untrained and, therefore, unskilled people cost lots of money; they are inefficient, prone to error, and have trouble solving the the easiest of problems.  So, can we agree…training makes good business sense? I hope so.

Below, are several suggestions that will make training easier for even the smallest companies.

· Commit to building a training culture. It all starts at the top. Without visible support for training, it just won’t happen. Too many other things to focus on…training can wait!

· Designate a trainer who cares. For far too long, the person doing the training is a burned out veteran, deemed unproductive by senior management.  Your trainer must want to train and have a fire in his/her belly for teaching people to win! Be sure the person you select is literate, can communicate effectively verbally and in writing…and simply enjoys mixing it up with people.

· Spend adequate time constructing a training program.  Too many companies pull the first the fist generic program off the shelf they can find.  Honestly, the best training comes from within the company.  Subject matter experts are your source, the trainer is your story teller/teacher.  Don’t train just to say you did.  By the way, “small bite” training works best with today’s gen y workers. They want to be taught, not told and they want it in concise, logical form.

· Organize your content on a need to know, sequential basis.  Most training covers too much for too long in too great detail.  What does the new player need to know today to win today? Teach that. Then, with an early success driving learner motivtion, come back tomorrow with another ‘small bite’ and another success. Sequence the training over time.

· Follow all training with “hands-on” coaching on the job. This is vital! People learn through spaced repetition.  Adults need for the learning to make logical sense; they need to know why we ask them to do this or that. Train logically, sequentially, based on skill development needed to win. Leave the nice to know stuff for another time.

I could go on…but won’t. If this makes sense, let me know. If you have a better way, toss it at me too.

Good luck!

For more on me, go to my website www.trainandkeeppeople.com