Training Trends: Keep your team on their toes

Team coaching and employee recognition are two hot issues, especially in a down economy. It’s important that your team stays on their toes and feels appreciated for doing so. Check out our suggestions for designing training programs that will keep your employees going strong.

And then, check out FEMA’s tips and our supplementary training ideas to set up your fire safety plan. Keep your employees up-to-date with tools and information that can save lives and even your entire business.

Here’s a glimpse at the September issue of Training Trends:

Ready, set, hike… uh, I mean work!

Success in the world of professional football is measured in yards, touchdowns and winning games. In the world of business, however, the road to success is not always well paved.

No, there aren’t any play calls to memorize or grueling physical workouts, but the players on your team are still in need of a coach – someone to motivate and encourage them to do their best.

You want your team to grow, to be productive and win that big game (e.g. sales numbers, peak productivity), and coaching can help you get there.

Here’s the game plan: ... (more)


Putting the Arrrrrrrr in Recognition
Ways to recognize and motivate employees in a down economy

Ahoy, matey! It’s Talk Like a Pirate Day on September 19th and the perfect time to get out yer gold coins and stuffed parrot to honor the shipmates who so diligently scrubbed the ship deck and managed to avoid walking the plank.

All pirate-speak aside, employee recognition is an essential part of sparking motivation and creating company loyalty on the inside. Building employees’ self-worth and appreciating them for all they’ve accomplished will keep them going strong, especially in a down economy.

Here are a few tips that will make your employees feel recognized: ... (more)


Are you up to FEMA’s standards?
Fire safety training to prevent a disaster

September is National Preparedness Month and a necessary time to make sure your employees are trained and ready in case of a fire. Fire causes thousands of deaths and injuries and billions of dollars in damage each year, making it the most common disaster amongst businesses. Here are some ways the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) recommends you stay prepared:

• Have your office, plant or facility inspected for fire safety; ensure compliance with fire codes and regulations.
• Install smoke detectors and fire extinguishers in appropriate locations.
• Consider an automatic sprinkler system, fire hoses and fire-resistant doors and walls ... (more)

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Tuesday’s top 6 training links

There’s just too much great advice on training out there right now to break up and cover separately. So, we put it all of the latest information on training and development in a nice little list:

1. When companies hit hard times, employee training and development is one of the first departments to “feel the pain,” says Chris Ferdinandi at the Manager’s Sandbox. Yesterday Chris wrote a great post on how to get started on building a better training program and has two follow-ups planned. Go play in the sandbox and check it out.


2. A few weeks ago we covered a a Wall Street Journal article where UCLA professor Samuel Culbert denounced the effectiveness of performance reviews. Kris Dunn, The HR Capitalist, says “Kill the Performance Review - But Only If Every Manager You Have Can Coach.”


3. Why is it that the “times when you feel like you need training the most are the very times when you feel you can afford it the least?” asks Jason Seiden. He recently wrote a great run-down of the Key Success Factors (KSFs) that could help you reduce training expense without impacting the effectiveness of the program. “When financial capital is tight, human capital has got to be on.” Read the post and find out how to improve your training program.


4. Training during an economic recession can boost your competitive edge, according to Juliette Dennett in an article on TrainingZone out of the UK. When business owners tighten up budgets and put non-essential activities on hold, employee training is usually included. Read the article and learn why right now is the right time to invest in key members of your workforce.


5. Organizations fail to maximize learning retention because of 7 key reasons, including a lack of learner buy-in, poorly defined objectives and a lack of follow-up, according to a recent study by the World of Learning. Simon Cooper at Brilliant Learning breaks down each reason and examines exactly “Why Training Isn’t Working.”


6. Laurie Ruettimann of Punk Rock HR recommends checking out the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA), a nonprofit organization dedicated to the troops and veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and their civilian supporters. Take a minute to check out their list of employment resources for veterans.

From all of us at Training Time on this Veterans Day, we would like to thank all of those serving our country at home and overseas.

Incentive programs: Where’s your follow-through?

You’ve determined a budget, put an employee incentive program in place and have taken your position, patiently waiting for the motivation to begin. Ready ... set ... hike!

While you may not associate employee incentives with college sports teams, there’s always someone out there like Paul Hebert at Fistful of Talent to make you think again.

Yesterday, Paul wrote an insightful post comparing the effort sports teams put into getting results (i.e., winning championships) to the effort organizations put into preparing their teams to hit the big goal (i.e., sales numbers).

“Too often, companies put a program in place, with the associated budget, in order to motivate the troops to hit their goals. But most of the time, the program is announced, the awards delineated and the “auto-pilot” button is pushed.

Everyone sits back and assumes because the reward is big the folks will do the job. Where’s the one-on-one coaching? Where is the daily practice on areas that need it? Who is watching from the tower and yelling instructions to the team below? In most cases, business is talking big money too. Lack of performance – whether that be your sales organization or your call center, can lead to either big wins or big losses. But we don’t want to put in the effort.

I spend my time talking to clients about the design of the incentive and reward system that helps align their audience to the goals for the organization – but I also ask what effort they will be putting into coaching, training and leadership.

The greatest incentive program in the world won’t get you to the results you want, unless you’re willing to put in the time with your audience to make sure they have the skills and the information needed to help achieve the goal.”

To all of the training professionals and managers in charge of training employees, we would like to know - where’s your follow-through?

What do you do to make sure your rewards and incentive program doesn’t get set on “auto-pilot” mode? Do you always put in time with employees to make sure they’re equipped with the training and skills needed to achieve the goal?