Workplace Training Newsletter Central

Workplace Training Newsletter Central - Workplace Training Edition

Delegation in the workplace Newsletter for June

So, whenever I'm trying to think about what a great leader should do, I always come back to my captain of the ship story. I think this is an important story, so I'm going to tell you now. So, we must imagine that you're going on a cruise. Quite a big ship, maybe 200 people. And as you come up the gang plank, the captain welcomes you by name to the, to the ship. And he's welcoming everyone. He goes, "Louise, good to see you. Miles, welcome to the cruise. Sally, great, come on in." And he knows the name of everybody on sights they approach his ship. And you think, that's amazing, how does he do that? Once you're on board, you have a look and you find that what he does is he looks at every passport and he memorize the face and the name of every passenger, so he can greet them personally because he cares about customer care. So, you think, well, that's great. And, he's obviously a good captain. And you go down to your cabin, and when you get to your cabin there's a little folded cardboard sign on your pillow. And it says, Dear, Dave or whatever, your bed was made for you personally by the captain because he cares about quality. And you think, well, that's a bit freaky. Does he make every bed on this ship? He can't have time for that. Has he made just mine? In which case, why? Has he chosen me at random? Does he like me? What’s going on? So, you kind of think that's a bit odd. And of course, the best way to ensure quality on the ship, is not to make every bed yourself, it’s to make sure there's a system for training the bedmakers, which we'll come back to. So, you're beginning to wonder, is he a good captain or not? He clearly cares about customer care and quality, but does that make him a good captain? So, anyway, you try to put that out of your mind. You get changed, you go down to dinner, and your meal is served to you by a whole lot of waiters in very smart black and white outfits. And then you think, hang on a minute, I recognize that waiter. And of course, it's the captain serving the soup. He likes to serve the soup, every night because he likes to be in touch with the workers. In touch with his staff. And I don't mean workers in any derogatory way, by the way, I mean they're great. They’re the ones who do the work. So, you're thinking, well you know, that's a bit weird the captain's serving the soup. I mean it's great that he's in touch with the workers but, but who's steering the ship while the captain is serving my dinner? So, after your meal, which is very delicious by the way, you decide to find out who is steering the ship. Maybe it's being steered by a bedmaker, or a waiter. So, on your way to the bridge, not very anatomically correct this, but anyway you go passed the engine room and the door to the engine room is slightly ajar and in the dark, and all the steam, and noise of the engine room, just illuminated by the orange glow of the furnace, you can see a figuratively coal into the boiler. And of course, it's the captain. Cause the normal boiler stoker is off sick, and the captain, who used to be a champion boiler stoker himself, has said, “No worries, I don't mind getting my hands dirty. “So, he's gone to stoke the boiler. So, we're really worrying about who's steering the ship now. And even though the captain cares about customer care, cares about quality, he's in touch with the workers, he’s got the biggest muscles on the ship from his boiler stoking activities, he's not afraid to get his hands dirty, despite all these things, we’re thinking he might not be a very good captain. Anyway, so you go on up to the, the bridge and of course there's nobody there. And the ship is just drifting at random. And in fact, there are icebergs dotted around. And the ship is heading towards one of the icebergs. So, at this point you start thinking, “Oh no, I'm going to have to steer the ship. What do I do? “So anyway, you, you take the wheel and you're about to turn, turn the ship the wrong way, when the captain comes running up from the boiler room still a bit sweaty, and he grabs the wheel and he just manages to swerve the ship and avoid the iceberg. And he goes, "Whoa, that was a close one. I thought we were a goner then. Whew, still, anyway it worked out fine in the end, that's the main thing. “And then he says, "God, I love this job, it’s so exciting. There’s never a dull moment. “And what are you thinking? Cause I'm thinking, he's not a very good captain. I don't want a captain who cares about quality, customer care, workers, biggest muscles, gets his hands dirty. All I want, is a captain who's on the bridge making sure everything's allrightnik doesn’t want him to do any of those things. I want him to delegate all that stuff. So, a good boss, is not somebody who's always running around doing things, it's somebody who's in control. I used to work for a boss once, and he used to drive the forklift truck in the evening, sometimes. If a lorry needed loading, he'd get on the truck and help. And everyone thought he was great, and he loved doing it. But, he was a rubbish boss. He should have been in his office thinking about next year's strategy or whatever. So, the essence of management isn't to just do everybody else’s jobs and become the highest paid waiter on the ship, while the ship goes into an iceberg. The essence of management is to make sure that everything's being done. To build a machine of people that will do the job for you. Building a machine of people, I think that's what leadership's is all about. And if you think about the areas the captain must cover, it's people, systems, and vision. So, he's got to make sure that he's got the right people in the right jobs, and that they're motivated. He’s got to make sure that the system works. There’s a system for everything. So, the bed making, is there a quality control system? Is everybody trained? Is there traceability? If there's a problem with the bed, can he trace it back to who made it and retrain them? So, there should be a system for everything. And then there should be a vision for where the company's going. So, people, systems, and vision are the three things that the captain's got to do. And if he doesn't do those, then there'll be problems. So, if the ship does run aground, it's the captain's fault. And now, what about if the captain is nipped into the toilet for five minutes, and somebody else is steering and the ship runs aground? Who gets court marshalled he blame the temporary person who's steering? The answer is no. Because he chose that person, and he put theming charge of steering while he was in the toilet. So, the captain is always responsible, even when he's asleep. Even when he's unconscious, ill for week, he can't use that as an excuse. Because he is supposed to of set up the systems and make sure he's got the right people. So, he is responsible for everything on the ship. Everything’s management's fault. So, if the soup is a bit salty, that’s the captain's fault. He can't blame the chef, he's supposed to have got a good chef. He’s supposed to have checked on the chef by sampling the soup occasionally. If one bed is not made, it's the captain's fault. Because he should have put the good manager in charge of the bed making. And he should have made sure that that manager has a system. So, everything's management's fault and everything is therefore the captain's fault. So, in a way, he does nothing. Cause he stands around on the bridge saying, “Are the beds being made? Do we have a system for the beds? "So, in a way, that's all he does. But, in another way, he's responsible for everything on the ship. Now, suppose he's got everything running smoothly, and all the systems are running, the people are great, everything just works. Which I think most ships are probably like. What happens if he's standing on the bed, going, "Everything okay?" And it all is. And a disgruntled bedmaker, who thinks, "Whew, that captain, he gets paid loads and does nothing. He just stands around on the bridge. “The disgruntled bedmaker pushes the captain off, into the sea. And he falls into the sea and he drown. What will happen, by the way, this is only pretend don't worry, what will happen to the ship? And the answer is, absolutely nothing to start with. People won't even notice that the captains isn't there. Perhaps after a few days, they might think, “mm, I haven't seen the captain for a while. “But because they're good people, they're trained, they, they've got their systems, they actually don't need the captain anymore. So, nothing will happen to start with. But of course, we do still need the captain. Because longer term, we will miss the captain. Because what will happen in a few months’ time, is that the environment will change. And therefore, will need new systems. And, and we'll need a different vision as well. And the environment could be our competitors, it could be our customers, whatever. But also, the people will gradually become out of date, they’ll become bored, they won't be motivated anymore, or the work they're required to do will change subtlety. And so, the arrangement of people constantly needs tinkering with to keep it as good as it can be. So, we will start to notice that the captains missing after a few weeks, or a few months. So, if you've got a boss who when he or she goes on holiday, you think, "Well, I don't really miss them. “That doesn't prove that they do nothing, it actually means they're a good boss. The place should run for a week or two without the boss. And I'm always amazed on training courses when it's just a one-day course and you've got people on the phone every interval, every coffee or tea break, "Yeah, yeah, it's on the third shelf alone. Yes, it's in the blue folder. Yeah, tell him he can have it. No, tell him he's got to pay an extra five quid." And you just think, "They can't do without that person, for just quarter of a day. “And really, everything should run absolutely fine without that boss. He shouldn't need to be phoning back base the whole time. Now, they're going to come to delegation, look at it in more detail later. But it's key. I think the essence of a manager, is somebody who's set everything up wells that it runs. Or somebody who's trying to set up all the systems and get all the people right, so it will just run itself. That’s what we want to see. So, people, systems, and vision. A machine of people, that's the essence of what a leader is all about.

Effective Communication Newsletter June

Think of a message that was supposed to be communicated widely within your organization. It could be anything, a new phone system being installed, or a new process for requesting travel reimbursements. Maybe people were told to cut back on their copy machine use. Or an important goal was met last month, and the leadership wanted to celebrate the victory. Select a situation that seems typical of the communication in your workplace. Now in the Exercise File titled Practice Exercises, assess your company on its communication effectiveness. First, who were the receivers, or the people who heard the news? Did the right people get the message in your situation? One of the leading communication problems is assuming that everyone who needs to get a message got that message. When we take the time to identify each party who should receive a message, we’ll avoid this common problem. Next, who was the sender of the message? Was the sender the best person for the job? Why, or why not? Third, what was the intended message?

Customer Service Blog News

Happy customers make great brand evangelists. But have you ever thought of the unhappy ones, as an influencer marketing opportunity? In this video, we will dive into their importance and the steps you may take to turn your customer service challenges into a marketing opportunity. In 2009, a singer-songwriter, Dave Carroll, was flying with United Airlines from Canada to Nebraska via Chicago. Upon landing in the layover city, he heard a passenger behind him scream. “My God, they are throwing guitars out there. “Sure enough, his $3500 Taylor guitar was one of them. Upon arrival to his destination, he discovered that the guitar's neck was broken off. Nine months of his back and forth with United, weren’t crowned with success. So, the songwriter wrote a song, United Breaks Guitars. He also produced a brilliant music video to accompany it and uploaded it to YouTube. Within four days of the upload, Dave’s song was viewed by more than 1.5 million people. It went viral and the viewer count tripled in the next three months.

Email Communication Newsletter 2018

Email and blogs are unique because they're used for a range of purposes and in business writing, you need to adhere to some basic principles to unleash their full potential. While email might be the most profound information sharing tool at our disposal, it has some relevant pitfalls. It’s too easy to send and email's the wrong choice for an essay or a long form professional correspondence. It can allow you to be too casual or slip into social correspondence. Include long documents as attachments. Not in the body of the email. So here are some ways to keep your email professional and effective. First, use the subject line and make it count. If you're asking a question, make that your subject line. Are you saying thank you? Make that your subject line. What if you're writing to ask for a job? I think you can see where we're going. You’d be surprised how often hi or quick question clutter up an inbox. If you keep the subject relevant, then you've prepared your recipient to answer or otherwise receive your message. Next, in the body of the email, don't bury the lead. This is a term from journalism that means hide the information. State exactly what you need up front. Don’t write an essay. That’s right don't use email to compose an essay. Because email moves so quickly, take advantage of that speed by not slowing your reader down. Also consider using graphic highlighting techniques in your emails. You can chunk your information to make your points clear, succinct and direct. If you have a list, use bullets or numbers. When discussing dates, times, numbers, important people or topics, bold them. Another tip is to keep professional email brief, appropriate and polite. Even if you have a sparkling wit, save it for personal correspondence. The probability of being misunderstood is simply too high. I know I've said this before but always use proper grammar and spelling. It shows you put care into your words and demonstrates thought and professionalism. Last, minimize social media jargon, abbreviations and emoticons in your email. This could be interpreted as sloppy, careless or immature. Your written work is an extension of your identity and can impact your reputation and credibility. Professionalism is contagious. By setting a standard for your business communication, you train others to respond in kind. If you send every email with clear subject organized to highlight the information you need to distribute or receive and always use a professional tone, you provide a template for clearcommunication. With blogs, the ability to rapidly update information creates the temptation to write for quantity over quality. Always check your facts, spelling and usage before hitting Publish. You may be more rushed in blogs than in other formats. It’s up to you to create a buffer to allow yourself the time to proofread your work. Also, remember to make sure your headlines are relevant and that your hyperlinks work. This is often your direct line of communication to the masses. Make sure you always represent yourself and your company professionally even if your voice is casual or funny. Always consider your audience and what you want them to draw from your post. Ask yourself if it could be misread or misinterpreted. Proofreading often comes down to giving yourself time to reread what you've written whether it's an email or a blog. Remember to think about who will receive it and what they should take away from your writing.

Harassment and Bullying Newsletter Update for June in 2018

Let's start with two hard truths. One, everyone including you will have performance challenges at some point in their careers. Two, poor performance is your responsibility. As a manager growing your leadership bones, you must ask yourself, is it me or is it them? In my experience, the answer is often a bit of both, but it starts with you. So, let's look at the most common performance issues. Poor quality work. Lack of time management and productivity. Absenteeism. Poor communication. Harassment and bullying. Stakeholder or customer complaints. As a manager, you can do a lot to avoid major performance issues by making sure you're setting goals and expectations with your people and regularly checking in with them. It’s also a good idea to recognize good performance publicly and offer constructive criticism privately and when you learn about a performance issue, do not let it simmer. Deal with it. You might also want to do a little self-assessment of your own. What kind of leadership or communication skills do you need to improve on? So, dig deep. Own your part. And now, let's move on to some writing prompts that will help you prepare for that initial performance conversation. One, what are the facts? Two, being as objective as possible, what is the impact of your employee's performance on your team or organization? And three, what changes must be made to turn things around? Use these prompts to think through, write and practice an opening statement that’s free of accusation and full of facts. Now, let's explore the 10 guidelines for handling that first conversation and for ongoing performance coaching. Number one, set a meeting. Explain the purpose of the meeting and set the tone. Something like I'd like to discuss your performance and offer my support in finding some solutions. Number two, share what you've observed and offer specifics objectively. This is where your opening statement comes inland where you want to be sure it's free of accusation. For example, according to the data, your numbers are down by 40%. Number three, ask for input and feedback on your observations. Remember, this is a two-way conversation you’re both collaborating on to solves get your employee's perspective. It might reveal the reasons that they're not performing well like inadequate training or resources or circumstances in their personal lives. Number four, ask for reflection about how their behaviour impacts the team and organization. When people understand their impact on others, it generally motivates them to make changes. Number five, tell them what behaviour is expected. Simply stated, be clear about the behaviour the results you need to see. Number six, ask open-ended questions to find solutions. Once you've clarified what you expect, brainstorm with your employee to generate options and right actions. Number seven, agree on a course of action and write it down. Number eight, identify the stakeholders. Resolving performance issues may require reporting out to others like your boss or HR. So, make sure you list the people you’ll be sharing your results with. Number nine, define the consequences if expectations are not met. Now, this is highly situational. In some cases, it could be monetary as in the payout of bonuses or it could mean the difference between promotion and no promotion or being reassigned or even laid off. Whatever the consequence, be clear and specific. Finally, number 10, create a follow-up structure for progress check ins. Remember, you're coaching for results so it's not a one and done. You have as much accountability for your employee's progress as they do. So, to be successful in performance coaching conversations, let me leave you with this. Clear your head and do your best. Hold the perspective that all human beings are capable of course correction and change. This perspective will help you set a positive tone and focus on getting results that benefit you, your employee and your organization.

Developing Creativity Newsletter 2018

Onboarding, even when it's not called onboarding, takes place at every organization. Sometimes people call it socialization. Sometimes they call it onboarding. Either way, it refers to the ways new employees gain the needed knowledge and skills required to be effective in the organization. Companies use meetings with lectures, videos, lots of printed material, and increasingly, computer-based experiences. These efforts cover lots of technical needs such as forms for payroll and benefits, as well as other information about the company mission and history. Research does indicate that quality onboarding efforts support employee satisfaction and retention. Firms not systematically thinking about onboarding should be. Having said that, let's be honest. Onboarding in most organizations is usually just some sort of orientation process. One the new hires don't enjoy. The new employees are assembled in a conference room, asked to fill out a million forms and asked to read or listen to a million facts about the company.

Retail Den Newsletter for June 2018

Great performance begins with clarity. That clarity must have thought in context with an understanding of the company's vision, mission, values and strategic goals. If clarity is not gained at the outset, performance can easily veer off track, even while the employee thinks they ‘redoing a good job. For example, say a retail clerk gets a new job at Nordstrom’s. Previously, he worked in a retail chain known for its poor customer service. To provide clarity that new employee must be trained that the customer's always right. Without that training, the clerk may feel it's his number one job to save Nordstrom's money on the spot, argue with a shopper, and in the process tarnish a valuable customer relationship’s gain clarity I suggest managers ask employees these two questions: Number one, what are the most important things you do every day? And two, how do you know if you are doing them well without having to ask me or that my having to tell you? Until you and your employees can answer these two questions in concert, performance is guaranteed to suffering any system. Let’s examine each in turn. When I do workshops with CEOs, they often invite their HR executive, which allows me to show this challenge of clarity. I ask the CEO and HR exec to get out a piece of paper and then, out of view of each other, write down the three most important things they both think that the HR person does every day. Then I ask them to show their lists and they never match. As the saying goes, they were not even on the same page. Now afterwards, they get to discuss what the most important things are and gain the clarity they assume was there but was not. So where do you go from there? Let me use an example to illustrate. Let’s say that we agree that the number one most important thing everyone's responsible for doing is to create a great client customer or patient relationship. That is true north in an experienced economy. Armed with this clarity we can then ask how to do you know if you're helping to create great client experience? All performance comes down to two benchmarks. Quantity and quality. Take a call centre employee that supports Nordstrom’s online sales. They work in a culture where the customer is always right. They receive a given quantity of calls and perform at a certain quality on those calls. The number of calls can be compared to the desired benchmark. The quality of calls can be based on real time surveys sent out after the call. Some call centres have a screen where these metrics generated in real time directly in front of the worker. Now that's clarity. Of course, many jobs are more complicated than that. Clarifying knowledge job benchmarks requires a deeper conversation. In terms of quantity, the attorney must build 2,000 hours a year while producing great client results and satisfaction, the quality benchmark. The marketer must get X number of prospect views or generate X number of leads or sales. From a qualitative experience, a survey may determine if the clients had an engaging experience and would-be willing to refer others as a result. I think you're getting the picture. Once you have clarity on what's important you can benchmark for quantity and quality results. Because we still want to set and achieve benchmarks. That’s one thing that hasn't changed with performance management. I encourage you to try this simple exercise I described. Ask the people you manage what are the three most important things you do every day and go from there.

Journalism Today Newsletter June 2018

If you're stuck with a blank page and no ideas, go to the headlines. What’s being covered in the news? What are the stories people are talking about? What’s trending on social media? Take these topics and then ask yourself, is there a news peg I can use to hook readers? How can I incorporate what everyone is talking about into a post? Take this one from Frederick who is a student at MIT. He used the news of the news of Thea's founder's net worth to talk about the media's obsession with tech wealth and valuations. This one from Emily, a Brandie University undergrad, used the rise of student protests as catalyst to talk about what was happening on her campus and how social media was being used to gain widespread support. You want to use current events as a conversation starter, or in a way that connects it back to your own major, area of study, or interests. Take this post that was written by Secularise journalism student at the University. She weighed in on the standards and ethics of news coverage of the San Bernard shooting, or this one from Sydney who studies computer science at Duke and used her experience to talk about the GE CEO's plan to provide coding lessons to all new hires. As an editor, I'm always on the lookout for great newsy content. If you want to get the attention of a LinkedIn editor, and potentially reach more people, be sure to add #Student Voices at the bottom of your posting the body. We find that our readers really engage with posts that offer unique insights or perspectives on timely topics, particularly in the professional sphere. So, if you're looking to get your posts promoted beyond just your network, this is a great way to do it.

The Time Management Times – June Edition

It is known that we all perceive time somewhat differently. And so, when it comes to doing business, it’s crucial to be aware of what to expect and how to manage perceptions that others have of time. For example, watch this commercial about a brand of fast food. A young couple meets at a party. The man in the commercial moves things along fast with the help of the fast food chain. - Call me sometime. - Absolutely, yeah. (phone rings)- Hello? - Hi, it's Mike. From the party? How about dinner? - Okay. - A comical way to poke fun at the fast, convenient, and just-in-time culture of the United States. But is it true? Does culture value time more, use it as a commodity, and manage it with all sorts of gadgets? The answer, for the most part, is yes. As with many other cultural dimensions, we tend to group countries together to compare them. Now, every individual in each of these countries, however, has their own personal style and their own preference which may not be consistent.

 Look for the easiest answer as it is often the best too. It's normally the right answer too.  Learning the best way to support your team or customers is a good step to creating a booming business.  Meeting everybody's expectations at times can be difficult but fulfilling them one at a time could be easier.  Speak to someone in your business about workplace health and safety as it affects everyone.

 Show your team members that you are a fantastic leader by becoming involved in each activity. Do not micromanage though.  Delegation training will also assist you and your team with completing correctly.  Communication within the workplace and with customers will help to grow relationships that make a happier office.  Clients notice when you have adequately trained staff members working together.

 Mentoring and coaching your employees will assist them in more ways than one.  Complaints will need to be handled efficiently with the upmost care.  Effective delegation of tasks will help get things done effectively and economically.  Effective communication helps to ensure that messages are understood how they have to be.

 Business mistakes do not have to be pricey, if you get training beforehand.  Learn to spot the major issues when they are only small issues.  Discuss any Expectations to make sure that you have the ability to meet them.  If your staff like you they will work harder for you.  Giving your staff members different things to focus on will help them become more inspired through the day.