Taking training and rewards out of the black box -Part 1

In my previous post, I talked about making training into a reward. One of the biggest obstacles to doing that is getting the word out about:

1) Training needed/wanted
2) Training available

Without opening up these two things, your training program -- along with all the good it could do your company -- will remain in a black box. And we all know that the only time someone actually looks into the black box is after a disaster.

Here are some tips to open that box, and get training out where it belongs:

1) Find out what kind of training your employees want.

Oh, this sounds sooooo simple. Starting with the employees. Asking questions. But in reality, it is almost never done!

Training is fed to people, top down. With a "We who sit off in our offices and never do the daily work..." directive behind the training choices, is it any wonder that most training has little or no impact on learning, and is in fact dreaded by employees? Where did we forget that employees are grown-ups, and are perfectly capable of knowing what interests them, what would make their jobs easier and what questions they need answered!

2) When in doubt, ask why.

OK, let's say you asked what kind of training people want and you got the following list:

• Chinese language (from a salesperson)
• How to be a good manager (from a machine operator on the factory floor)
• Microsoft Office skills (from the Art Director)

Wondering why a machine operator wants a management class? Or the Art Director wants training in office? And the Chinese language training? You have no idea!

Traditional black box thinking would be to say no to all of them.

But if you ask, you may discover that the machine operator is taking night classes, and hopes to become a manager or supervisor some day, the Art Director needs help setting up spreadsheets to track projects, and that salesperson just noticed a growing demand for products like yours from Chinese buyers, and wants to be able to open that market.

3) Take away the stigma of asking for training

In tooooo many companies, asking for training in anything directly related to your job is seen as an admission of incompetence. So even employees who really need the information, and who would benefit from the training are afraid to ask for it.

Letting employees know it's a strength to ASK for training in your field will open the door to a better trained, better performing, and (incidentally), more committed workforce. And what employer wouldn't want that!

Tomorrow, I'll talk about getting the word out about training.

Harnessing the power of group productivity

Does the number of people in a group improve the group’s productivity or does it just enable more in the group to slack off?

The authors at PsyBlog explained the answer in a post about the psychological effects group dynamics can have on productivity. It turns out that many workers will use the cover of group work to slack off.

Psychologists call the workplace phenomenon social loafing. And it’s the reason why you may want to think twice the next time you start adding more employees to a group when you want them to complete more work.

Since the idea was introduced in the 1890s, researchers have fount that social loafing can affect people in a wide range of group settings. From pulling ropes to yelling and even clapping, when people were in groups of six or larger their output was only one-third of what it was on their own.

The author does note that the findings don’t necessarily translate to groups focused on knowledge-based production:

For example a group problem-solving session relies on the brains of the best people in the group - social loafing wouldn't necessarily reduce productivity in this group as markedly.

However, it may be easy to find examples of social loafing in our own group work or in the actions of a former group member.


Why do people slack off in groups?

Standard explanations for the social loafing effect involve three main factors:

• Expectations - That person is probably slacking off, so I can slack off too.
• Anonymity - When the work is spread out, so is the blame.
• Standards - Most groups fail to establish clear standards, so some will be confused about how much they need to do.

Understanding the reasons behind social loafing can help us reduce it. Here’s how the author suggests deterring it:

• Task importance. If workers think the task is important enough, they’ll work harder and slack off less.
• Group importance. When workers can identify with the group or feel a better sense of belonging, they’re less likely to partake in social loafing.
• Understanding workloads. Or as the author explains it, the “sucker effect” is when you feel misled when you think others in the group are slacking off. Understanding that everyone has a responsibility can eliminate such feelings.

Unfortunately, most of us have either been guilty of slacking off in a group setting or have had to deal with a social loafer at one time or another. Knowing how to deal with those slackers can make a big difference in the group’s productivity.

How do you deter employees from “social loafing” in group work settings? What have you found that worked or failed to keep employees contributing equally?

Corporate volunteering builds teamwork, improves employee retention

Looking to build teamwork in the office, but running out of ideas? Ditch the office and volunteer.

More than just a fun day out, volunteering strengthens employee bonds and improves teamwork. Bosses value volunteering because of the positive image it creates for the company in the eyes of the community.

Of course the community will appreciate it, but your employees will love it. When employees are engaged, happy and know their employer is doing good in the community, they’ll be hard-pressed to leave.

Whether it’s painting a nursing home activity center, planting a garden or setting up a neighborhood playground, employees work toward a common goal that is tangible and something they can share pride in.

Major companies like IBM, Ernst & Young, and UPS have been featured in Forbes and the Wall Street Journal for their philanthropic work in the community. Some are even saying that getting paid to volunteer is the next trend in corporate perks.

Your company may not have the same size budget as major retailers and community service leaders like Gap and Target, you can still create a program where employees get paid to give back.

Designing a employee volunteer program starts with four key steps, according to Tory Johnson at World Volunteer Web. Employers must determine their goals for volunteering, then select the right project, create a schedule and monitor the progress.

Here are some great places to get started:

Habitat for Humanity - help build a home for a deserving local family.

Meals on Wheels - deliver a meals to people in need.

American Red Cross - support community members devastated by disaster.

Volunteer Match - find volunteer opportunities in your area.

Olympic-level employee training advice

The Olympics are off and running in Beijing, where teams from across the world have met to test their competitive skills in hopes of achieving the gold. Channel the spirit of the games and jump start you employee training program with free advice from Olympic personal trainers.

Part of the official Olympic site, the Olympic Personal Trainer section is full of 22 short videos of world-renown trainers answering questions ranging from how to motivate yourself to the importance of teamwork.

“Because a good trainer can bring out the best of us,” take a lesson from the best and listen to Olympic personal trainers cover topics such as:

• How do you improve your concentration?
• What are the best ways to train yourself mentally?
• How do you handle stress?
• How to you motivate yourself and stay motivated?
• How do you learn from failure?
• What essential qualities do you need to succeed?
• How do you set goals?
• Why is teamwork important?

It’s the perfect time to start a personal training program of your own and get your team’s performance and motivation up to Olympic standards.

Employee incentive ideas on a budget

So, your budget is feeling a little snug this year? Not as comfortable as it used to be?

Well, don’t get flustered just yet. Recent studies show that simple employee incentive ideas work just as well as handing out high-priced gifts when you want to let workers know how much they’re appreciated and improve employee loyalty.

Open communication is the best way to foster employee loyalty, even better than giving employees raises, according to a recent Management Action Programs Inc. (MAP) Quarterly CEO Survey. The top three qualities people value most in a company, as determined by the MAP survey, are open communication, employee recognition and involving personnel in decision making.

Effective communication also leads to higher profitability, according to the Communication ROI Study by Watson Wyatt. The study found that companies with effective communication programs had a 47% higher total return to shareholders over a four-year span, and an almost 16% increase in market value.

If you get creative, great employee incentive ideas don’t need to take a chunk out of your budget. Improve employee loyalty and increase profitability with simple communication, here are a few suggestions to get you started:

A greeting card. Leave a greeting card on the employee’s desk with a simple message about how they’re doing a great job, or thanks for finishing a report on a surprise deadline.

A simple ‘thank you.’ Call the employee into your office, or stop by their work area to say ‘thank you’ for something great they’ve done recently.

A small gift card for lunch, enough to bring a friend. It doesn’t have to be to a fancy restaurant, just a little something that says ‘thank you’ and enjoy lunch with a friend on the company’s tab.

A free half-day. Everyone likes to spend more time at home, or at least away from the office. So, let an employee know they’ve been doing a great job and they can take off early this Friday afternoon.

Chocolate. Enough said.

Share the lead for successful teamwork

So, you put together a team to address the latest problem at hand and now you’re wondering who to put in charge. If you want the group to be effective, you won’t put anyone in charge.

At least that’s the latest teamwork advice out of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). Their researchers found that teams are the most successful and productive if leadership is shared among team members.

“Our research, in fact, suggests that teams that perform poorly tend to be dominated by the team leader, while high-performing teams have a shared-leadership structure,” according to the WSJ.

Generally, teams in a work environment are set up to follow the long-standing model where one person in charge and everyone else falls in line. But, the latest research flips that idea upside down.

When you a team who specialize in the different, the collective knowledge will be greater than having one individual leader running the show. With shared leadership, team members step-up when their specific expertise is needed.

It’s an innovative approach to developing successful work teams, but one that’s also worth a try. The WSJ studied dozens of teams in a variety of industries and found that shared leadership led to the best results.

Like everything, shared leadership does have some drawbacks. The practice is most successful when teams have had time to develop, have a good sense of each person’s strengths and know when each person should be in charge.

Strong personalities may also hinder team success. When team members get too pushy or don’t have the confidence to lead, the shared leadership technique can easily fail. Team members must also have the proper management skills to lead one another successfully.

“Instead of seeing the matter as a black-and-white choice, companies should ask some simple -- but crucial -- questions. When is it a good idea to share the reins? And if we do decide to go that route, what steps can we take to make sure we're ready? Companies that apply shared leadership judiciously can see tremendous gains.”

Read the full WSJ article.

Are you delivering ‘me’ or ‘we’ employee rewards?

“Most companies would love to have all their employees (or their distribution channel and customers for that matter) focused on the best interests of the company. However, that is a difficult task. People typically focus on what they think is important. Especially, if we reward them in that manner.” - Incentive Intelligence

According to those at Incentive Intelligence, with different kinds of employee rewards, you can have a direct impact on the relationship an employee forms with the company.

Depending on how much the reward impacts the individual (me) or the group (we), it will either create an individual or collective bond with the company. Read the original post for a full explanation of the “me vs. we” reward method. They’ve even mapped it all out on a nifty little chart:



Take a look at your rewards program. Are you motivating individuals or groups with rewards? What do you think creates a stronger relationship between employee and company, ‘me’ or ‘we’ rewards?

Beat the Baby Boomer retirement 'brain drain'

As Baby Boomers move into their retirement years, they may be taking more than just their 401(k)s with them. Insider information and all the ‘tricks of the trade’ will retire with the Boomers, if companies don’t focus on transferring information to younger generations now.

The Baby Boomers are some of our country’s (and your company’s) longest running and most loyal employees. That time and loyalty has added up in the form of valuable corporate knowledge.

It’s estimated that by 2010, more than half of the U.S. workforce will be over 40 years old. In order to give them a little more leeway and delay the knowledge gap, many companies are doing anything they can to hang onto their older employees. More than 60 percent of U.S. companies are bringing back retirees as contractors or consultants, according to a recent AARP study.

A recent SHRM article examines how other companies are babying their Boomers to keep them working a little bit longer with health care benefits, flexible hours and guaranteed salary.

If keeping retirees on the job isn’t an option for your company, do your best to transfer the knowledge now. “How to Beat the Baby Boomer Retirement Blues” from CIO.com examines how some big name companies like Rolls-Royce dealt with the brain drain. Using both a knowledge management system and an employee tracking map, companies can manage the knowledge transfer effectively.

First, develop a knowledge management system. You must be able to tackle two types of knowledge: explicit and tacit. Explicit knowledge can be stored in databases or manuals. Tacit knowledge includes ‘tricks of the trade,’ personal experience, stories and creative business solutions.

Work on documenting explicit knowledge. Do your best to have the retiring employee document all the information someone in their position would need to know. Establish “Standard Operating Procedures” in the form of manuals, stored on your network. These even come in handy when an employee goes on extended leave.

Tacit knowledge can be transferred by experience. Have the employee who will be taking over the retiring employee’s job to shadow that person for a time. More than learning the facts, the younger employee will learn the method.

Going forward, track employees and soon-to-be retirees. Keep a database of all of your employees. Document how long they have been with the company, in what positions or departments, and if known, when they plan to leave or retire. A map like this could help you plan ahead when hit with multiple retirements or if an employee plans to go on extended leave.

Don’t be afraid to pair younger and older generations together, Harvard found that there's a "love fest" going on between the two. Gen Y and Baby Boomers generally like each other and enjoy learning from each other. Many times it is your Boomers who are the most energetic and engaged at work. Get some of that energy and excitement to rub off by pairing Generation Y workers with older coworkers.

Companies should encourage Boomer/Gen Y work relationships, in order to be more proactive than reactive when the retirement rush comes around. Do your best to hang onto the valuable corporate knowledge that has built up over the years in your Boomer employees and don't let it slip down the drain when the go.

Recognizing and rewarding employee teamwork

We’ve told you previously about the best (and worst) ways to reward employees, young and old. But, what if those employees are working collaboratively in groups to achieve a common goal? What’s the best way to go about recognizing and rewarding employee teamwork?

Yesterday, I read a post on Incentive Intelligence devoted to team-based recognition. The authors explain how employees in the corporate world depend on teamwork to complete tasks and use it to learn from coworkers. Statistics reveal that many employees would rather work together than work alone, especially with younger generations.

The ‘Intelligent’ ones reviewed recent statistics on work collaboration from the April 28 edition of BusinessWeek. Here are some highlights:

• 82% of white-collar workers partner with coworkers
• 46% of white-collar workers say learning from others is their motivation to collaborate
• More women (51%) than men (40%) prefer to work together because they can learn from others
• Gen Y employees (ages 18-24) like collaborative work the best (60%), as compared to 44% of 25-64 year olds and only 28% of 65 and older workers

“Given the tendencies these statistics indicate, it might be counterproductive to conduct individual programs in many situations,” according to the author at Incentive intelligence.

Remember that teamwork requires team recognition. This is not to say that individual recognition should be thrown out the door, but you should carefully look at the team effort first.

Like one of our past posts, the best way to know how to recognize and reward employees is by simply asking. The ‘Intelligent’ advisors are on the same page - “Gather some folks together, tell them you think teamwork is the driving force behind success (I think they will agree) and ask them for the best way to measure team effort and team success.”