Posted: June 1st, 2010
Organizations invest in equipment, office and production space, software, hardware and operating expenses, and yet when it comes to investing in training and development of human capital, many see this as something “nice to do”. Successful people and organizations recognize that their organizations’ successes are only as good as their people. They invest in developing their people and view them as their most valued resource. Growing your organization means growing your people – people at all levels within the organization. When we think of successful people, we often see the end result of their endeavors. Each may have embarked on a unique method of learning or carved out a specific course of action as it related to their field of expertise or industry, but they all have several things in common. They have demonstrated excellence in:
- Setting and achieving goals
- Influencing others and negotiating results
- Interpersonal skills (relationships)
- Self-management
- Personal accountability
If you are ready to grow your organization, contact us about our customized solutions for building a high performing individuals and work teams. Employees will increase their knowledge, skills, abilities and overall performance. Some of our most popular courses include:
- Communication With Style
- Problem Solving and Decision-Making
- Conflict Prevention and Resolution
- Lights, Camera, Action! (Presentation Skills)
- The 5:00 News! (Dealing With the Media )
- Leadership Development and Continuity
- Mentoring for Success
- Professional Etiquette and Netiquette
- Resilience in Action (Based on Dr. Northup’s book, Life’s A Bitch And Then You Change Your Attitude)
- The Promotable Woman, Have We Come A Long Way, Baby?
Just to name a few…………..
Tags: instructor led training, management training, online training, training solutions
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Posted: August 31st, 2010
There is no question that the way we learn has changed dramatically over the last several years. Our own experience in working with training and development has taken us on a journey into the unknown – online learning. Even though I have taught online courses for Bellevue University for 11 years, I wasn’t ready to give up the “platform”, and the face-to-face interaction that comes with that, when it came to my corporate clients. Meeting others, hearing their ideas, watching their responses to topics and solutions were a major part of the experience. It also challenged me as an instructor to keep everyone engaged, answer objections and give reinforcement to those having those “ah-ha” moments.
More and more clients were exploring alternatives to curriculum development and training delivery for off-the-shelf courses, as well as meeting the specialized needs of their employees. So what else could we do but dive into the depths of online learning? Two major influences, in my opinion, have been the catalyst for having to “thinking outside the classroom”. (By the way, thanks to Taco Bell for giving us the option to “think outside the bun” a play on words with thinking outside the box. This has been one of those ah-ha jingles for me. I am not sure most people know what the “box” is but we expect them to think outside it. But we certainly know what it means to think outside the bun.)
Back to the two influences – the first has to be the availability of information on almost any topic that is available to us on the Web. The other is the younger generation who has grown up with technology and forced the rest of us to get on board with the unending list of benefits. My own journey has taken me from pre-historic days of playing PacMan to learning to use a TiVo remote control from a nine year old grandson to writing blogs for our website.
We have had amazing feedback from our clients when they learn we have entered the age of technology when it comes to offering them solutions to their needs. We aren’t alone in trying new approaches. A high school in Vail, Arizona, recently eliminated textbooks and issued students iBooks. In an interview with students, most seemed to like the idea of not having to schlep textbooks from class to class and carry weight-laden backpacks home and back each day. For more on this “no textbook” approach, see the following link: http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2005/08/68578
So as we continue to explore innovative ways of training and developing our employees and increasing our personal knowledge, perhaps we should begin to “think outside the classroom”.
Tags: employee development, management training, online learning, online training, training solutions, workplace development, workplace learning
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Posted: August 24th, 2010
Today, companies with hiring challenges are not alone. Just recently, over 150 businesses showed up at a job fair sponsored by Jobing.com, a major job board agency. Over 14,000 people attended, but not a single hire was made that day.
As companies world-wide are in a crunch to hire for key positions, job seekers continue to flood the talent pool. This creates a challenge for screening and selection because non-qualified applicants are pouring in, and the typical process in place just can’t keep up, resulting in a delayed hiring process.
Most companies have a screening process for selection, but does it include a true analysis of talent? Beyond experience and education, a truly effective screening and selection process will look at innate traits we all possess, like behaviors, motivators and personal skills. Without this essential component, you could be wasting time, energy and resources sifting through applications, comparing unimportant employment details and making tough talent decisions with little support. Rather, an effective candidate selection process will reduce turnover, shorten the decision-making time frame and eliminate unnecessary time spent on screening.
One client, for example, just recently posted a job ad for a sales position. Within one week, they had over 3,000 resumes. In the end, only 1% of the applicants were actually qualified for the position. Now, they have screening tools and consulting in place to save time and money, make a hire quickly and efficiently, and ensure they hire the right person for the job. Without an effective selection system, cost of turnover, wasted time and lack of moving forward with the position is negatively impacting the bottom line.
Tags: career solutions, management training, organizational strategy, talent management, talent selection, turnover costs
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Posted: August 19th, 2010
“Everything, then, must be assessed in money;
for this enables men always to exchange their services,
and so makes society possible.”
– Aristotle (384-322 BC)
Even though Aristotle made this point over 2000 years ago, it couldn’t ring more true today. Almost everything involved in transactions today are based on a price and assessed in money.
What about Talent Management?
Beyond salary and sales, there are many important aspects of talent management that are often not tied to the bottom line. Yet, “dollarizing” the value of talent management initiatives is vital to bottom-line analysis. Whether you are placing a value or cost on your current status, or calculating the ROI of your next talent management strategy, metrics that assess the monetary value will help you see the true effect on the bottom-line.
Bottom Line Statistics
Knowing the bottom line results of talent challenges will help you implement strategies with a proven ROI that you can see on your balance sheet. Find out how much you already know by asking yourself questions like:
- What is disengagement costing the bottom line?
- What was the ROI on your last training? What can be expected of future training?
- How are your team-building initiatives impacting your bottom line?
- What was the cost of your last bad hire?
- What is your overall turnover percentage? How is it related to tenure?
In a study on over three million employees, Gallup found that over 70% of Americans who go to work are not engaged. This means businesses may be operating at significantly less than full capacity, a loss that could cost millions a year.
- What is employee disengagement costing your company? Several thousands, millions, more?
- How can you calculate this cost?
- How does it compare to the investment of a proactive approach to increasing engagement?
With tightening budgets and a focus on cost-saving strategies, businesses worldwide are making drastic labor cuts. But is that always the right move? A recent study analyzed the savings resulting from changes in general and administrative functions and found that 75% of the savings came from strategies focused on restructuring and redesigning, while only 25% was from reducing.
- Would you, too, save three times as much on your bottom line by investing in your people and processes?
- Is the slash and burn approach actually costing you more?
- What would the ROI be if you restructured and redesigned your workforce?
As business associates who want to make a difference in the bottom line, we might find advice in Aristotle’s quote by remembering to assess, in money, the value of talent management initiatives so we know its true worth. How else can we place fair value on the investment in people? After all, they are a company’s biggest asset.
Tags: employee retention, management training, online learning, organizational strategy, talent management, workplace solutions
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