Training Priorities

Rob Betzel and I are about to release a new book titled, The Company Culture Challenge. It provides a step-by-step process to developing and sustaining a strong company culture. Part of the reason we have written this book is because many people do not realize how important training is when creating a great company culture.

With that said, what do you train first, technical skills or soft skills? Do you train soft skills at all? Most companies do not.

For many organizations, one major issue is a lack of soft skill training. In case you are wondering - soft skills are like etiquette rules, social skills and workplace behavior guidelines pertaining to anything from communication to table manners.

Leaders assume their people know how to behave, but in reality a lot of employees do not. At many organizations, new employees are hardly trained at all on how to behave in the workplace. It's not uncommon for managers to hire someone with good social skills solely because that means there is one less thing to train.

At Success With People we have created over 20 training sessions on soft skills we use in our consulting, coaching and training.

WHAT IS THE MOST IMPORTANT SOFT SKILL?: Email me a list of the soft skills you need so we can consider including them in our training.

Aside from soft skills, consider reviewing your new hire and existing employee training. Does each session build upon another? Are these four areas covered?:

1. Company mission, values, vision and accountability (the four cornerstones of company culture)
2. Soft skills
3. Technical training
4. A 90-day plan for the first 90 days at your company:
• Expectations
• Goals
• Team member strategic plan
• (Optional) 3-5 year career path

Half the calendar year is over. Consider investing in developing or purchasing training to help your people deliver a great client experience and be more satisfied at your organization. Let us know if we can help.

Be an Intentional Leader.

David Russell, CEO

Success With People, Inc.

MANAGEtoWIN, Inc.

MEETING IDEAS

At your next meeting with your team consider working with them to identify the soft skill training they need to enjoy their job more and better serve clients.

Here are some ideas to consider:

1. Review together any data you have on negative client experiences. Ask for additions to the list. Where are your clients struggling to do business with you?
2. Group the issues under similar topics. For instance, shipping issues may have several related problems for clients.
3. Ask your people for feedback on how they could work more effectively together. Consider potential training topics related to improving the working relationships of your team.
4. Prioritize the list and schedule dates for when the training will occur. One a month with follow-up exercises or observing people in action may be all you can handle.
5. Purchase materials from a company like ours or develop your own. Make certain your trainings have role-playing, games, exercises and other interactive components so you can see people demonstrating the skills they are supposed to be learning.

Always Recruiting

The third step of my Hire The Best Avoid The Rest hiring process includes a key encouragement: YOU are a full-time recruiter. Here is an example of one way a top company demonstrates this:

I was in a Starbucks the other day. In the area where they offer cream, sugar, etc. there were business cards from the district manager (not the store manager). Here are some interesting things about the card design:

1. His title, "district manager," is in lowercase letters.

2. Below his title is a small icon, possibly like coffee leaves, and the title, "Coffee Master."

3. It lists his cell phone number, a corporate toll-free phone number and his e-mail address.

4. The full list of contact information is:

• Cellular 
• Fax 
• His toll-free corporate voicemail 
• His email address 
• www.starbucks.com/careers

5. The left side of the card as the Starbucks logo, company name and address of that location.

6. The back of the card is most interesting. It says:

We are looking for people we can call partners.

That's what we call ourselves. If you ask partners why they enjoy working here, they'll probably tell you it's the people, the experience and the great benefits for those who qualify, which may include:

• Medical, dental and vision coverage
• Tuition reimbursement
• Paid vacation
• 401(k) savings and stock programs
• Discounts on our great coffee

Apply online at www.starbucks.com/careers

Starbucks is an equal opportunity employer committed to hiring a diverse work team.

Often your best source of great people to hire is from your most loyal customers. They are, if you have not noticed, already raving fans of your company. If you are hiring this year, why not brainstorm with your people how to better reach people who already believe in your company?

Be an Intentional Leader.

David Russell, CEO

Success With People, Inc.

MANAGEtoWIN, Inc.

MEETING IDEAS

Take my last suggestion and apply it in a meeting. How can we increase the number of people who know we are hiring so we can attract new team members from people who already believe in us (customers, people who read our blog, vendors…)? Should we add a hiring message to:

1. The back of our business cards (similar to Starbucks’)

2. Every company employee’s email signature

3. Every thank you note to clients, vendors and community

4. Every business review meeting with key clients (not that we want to hire you, but “If you hear of anyone, we are hiring people for the following positions…”)

5. Should we try to get an article placed in our local newspaper describing the hiring process we go through, how difficult it is to hire qualified people…” (Maybe team up with 3-4 other businesses and everyone shares their story.)

They Are Lying To You

Name three activities you do every month, if not every week, to serve others. Here is why:

“In a way, the world is a great liar. It shows you it worships and admires money, but at the end of the day it doesn’t.

It says it adores fame and celebrity, but it doesn’t, not really.

The world admires, and wants to hold on to, and not lose, goodness. It admires virtue.

At the end it gives its greatest tributes to generosity, honesty, courage, mercy, talents well used, talents that, brought into the world, make it better. That’s what it really admires.

That’s what we talk about in eulogies, because that’s what’s important. We don’t say, ‘The thing about Joe was he was rich!’

We say, if we can … ‘The thing about Joe was he took good care of people.’”

This is from two slides that Tom Peters discussed on February 15th of this year at the National Business Growth Summit in Sydney, Australia said. He credited Peggy Noonan, “A Life’s Lesson,” on the astounding response to the passing of Tim Russert, The Wall Street Journal, June 21-22, 2008. (I changed the formatting for emphasis.)

This is one key reason why we work to have Success With People and a great company culture. Improving the lives of our coworkers, clients, vendors and community, which in the process positively touches our personal relationships. What are you doing to make certain this is what you and your company are known for?

Be an Intentional Leader.

David Russell, CEO

Success With People, Inc.

MANAGEtoWIN, Inc.

(http://www.tompeters.com/docs/TLBTSynopsis_48__BIG_.pdf)

MEETING IDEAS

The commitment to serve others is one of the most important you can make as a leader, whether your responsibilities are that of an executive managing others or an individual team member.

Here are some ideas for how to apply this wisdom:

1. First “look in the mirror.” How are you doing in this area? Take a break on your own. Tech Out (turn off all technology - let your people/family know in advance where you will be).

• List the names of the primary 3-10 people you want to positively impact. (If you can serve them effectively, then the habits you develop will help others too.)
• What specific activities are you doing weekly or monthly to serve these people - consistently and systematically?
• How are you helping them think better and learn how to make great decisions on their own, rather than just giving them the answers?
• Are there activities you could be doing that would have more impact than these?
• How can you schedule time to make certain you are preparing for and doing these activities to the best of your ability and on a consistent basis?

2. Ask your people to do the same thing (#1) on their own.

3. At your next meeting have each person share what they learned and what they are doing. Encourage people to make suggestions to one another on how to improve in these activities, and people to be open to considering their suggestions.

4. Commit to “pilot” a more consistent schedule of actions you will take to improve the lives of others for 30 days. Have a check-in where people share how they are doing. Possibly extend the “pilot for 60 more days.

20 Years - Never a Compliment

Imagine This:

A guy works for an organization for 20 years. He tries to be creative and feels like he’s made a real contribution… but he feels no one cares.

As a leader, I try to use the 5 Languages of Appreciation with people. You and your people will benefit from doing the same. Learn about it - https://www.christianleadershipalliance.org/?page=SRbookdiscussion

NOTE: Don't shy away because this article is. Learn from anyone, even groups that are different than your beliefs. If it is truth, if it is logical, if it can help you become a more effective leader, then consider piloting their recommendations for 30 days to see if it improves your company culture.

Engaging Gen Y

Last week I was asked by a client:

"We have a candidate for a summer intern position that is graduating from high school this year with a 3.3 grade point average. We think he is very smart. He completed most of his high school curriculum early and has been taking college courses and currently works in the high school IT department.

"When he was asked about his 3.3 grade point average, he said that he is really good at taking the tests but doesn't complete the homework if he finds the class boring.

"What is your impression of this? Does this throw up a red flag for you?"

My response, which you may want to consider when hiring young people:

Not in this case. Much of public school education these days is a waste of time, particularly at the high school and college level. It is one of many reasons our nation is in decline. Very correctable, but our leaders lack vision, guts and... I've said too much already.

On the contrary, this lets you know that he needs to understand WHY he is doing something and WHERE he can grow in your organization. This should be constantly reinforced (with all employees). He will work for a PURPOSE more than a paycheck. To test my conclusion you could try the following:

1. Tell him 3-5 stories of problems clients had, how you solved them and how that enabled the clients to positively impact the lives of others. Touch his heart. If he seems bored or disinterested during these stories then do not hire him. At the end ask him to describe a situation where he has had a similar impact as part of his role in the high school IT department. Does he tell a story or explain why he works there in a way that demonstrates passion and/or purpose?

2. Ask him what he wants to be doing in 5 years. He may not know. 2 years? If he likes working for you then will he want to continue during college? Try to define a rough "career path" of learning, not titles, for the next two years if he stays with you. Does this excite him?

3. Give him 1-3 typical scenarios he might face on the job as homework. Ask him to solve them and bring them to his next interview.

Be an Intentional Leader.

David Russell, CEO

Success With People, Inc.

MANAGEtoWIN, Inc.

(Above quotes are from www.thinkexist.com.)

MEETING IDEAS

When a job candidate, employee or client makes a comment, try to understand the "disease" rather than the "symptom." In the example above the young man was not doing his homework in boring classes. That is a symptom. What is the disease? Being asked to learn things he feels he will never apply in his life.

Here are some ideas to discuss this in your next staff meeting:

1. Read the story from my client and ask your people to answer their question. Have an open discussion and do NOT jump on anyone who says something you do not like. Remember, that is a symptom. Be wise and consider what disease is causing that symptom (response).

2. Read my ideas, one-by-one, and ask for their thoughts. They may disagree. (If you get some good feedback, please let me know. I am still learning too!)

3. How can we do a better job at helping our employees understand WHY we do our work?

4. How can we do a better job at helping our employees understand WHERE they are growing in our company?

5. How can we do a better job at helping our employees understand our PURPOSE - how we apply our mission and values daily to achieve our vision of improving people's lives? (your vision may be different)