Archive for the ‘Hot Topics’ Category

Top Workplace Challenges for 2010

Monday, June 21st, 2010

Workplace managers are constantly challenged to manage their organization as well as their workforce. This year Ken Blanchard Companies conducted a survey of approximately 1,886 human resource and business leaders throughout the world to learn about the key challenges that today’s management face. About 53% of the survey participants were from the United States.  

According to the recent study,  the top five management challenges within the United States that are a priority of focus, in order of importance, were:

  1. Performance Management (48%)
  2. Managing Change (47%)
  3. Creating an Engaged Workforce (47%)
  4. Reducing Costs (46%)
  5. Developing Potential Leaders (44%)

The survey results indicated that at the management level, the focus is on people development such as  performance management, how to manage change, how to keep employees engaged, and developing leaders within the organization.

The top leadership skill gap with regard to developing leaders within the United States was developing leaders that excel in strategic thinking and tactical thinking while having capability for execution on both (50%).  Of those surveyed, 35% felt that there was a gap in effective communication skills with their leaders. Respectively, leader inspiration in the areas of passion for others (26%) and building trust (26%) were the next identified gaps.  Developing leaders with strategic know-how was ranked at 21% of the top identified leadership gaps.

The top five employee development challenges in the United States included, in order of importance, were managerial/supervisor skills (59%), productivity improvement (58%), customer relationship skills (50%), team building skills (50%), and decision making skills (44%).

The top five Human Resource challenges for the United States were improving implementation (59%), embracing a coaching culture (49%), connecting training to business results (46%), creating buy-in for training across the organization (45%), and alignment of training goals and business initiatives (42%).

From an economic standpoint, 36% of the survey participants from the United States felt “mildly optimistic” about an economic recovery for 2010.

For more information on how Total Training Solutions, Inc. can help your organization overcome the workplace challenges of 2010, contact us at 630.585.1168.

Statistics Source: 2010 Corporate Issues Survey – The Ken Blanchard Companies

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in Hot Topics | No Comments »

Have An Extra $250 Million?

Wednesday, May 26th, 2010

I’ve been around the business world for about 20 years now, and, like many of you, have some seen some interesting things.  I’ve seen law firms discriminate on hiring decisions solely because they were discriminating but lie and give the applicant a misguided answer.  I’ve seen inappropriate sexual comments and innuendos inside a sales organization made up of a bunch of 20 and 30 somethings while management knew but took no action (female management team member). Now, we’re talking about large companies with deep pockets and lots of resources all opening themselves up to unbelievably large lawsuits.

It never ceases to amaze me when I read about something that should fall under the category of Common Sense.  I sit there, shake my head and think to myself, “He said what?”  After reading a recent article titled, One Dumb Manager Remark Cost Firm Big on HRMorning.com (http://www.hrmorning.com/a-wakeup-call-on-a-new-threat-of-discrimination-lawsuits/ ), I did just that.  I shook my head and said, “Huh?”

According to the article, here is the line from a sales manager: “First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes flex time and a baby carriage.”  Yes, you read that correctly… said by a sales manger to a female employee being considered for a promotion.  This line cost the health care company $250 million, not to mention the other lawsuits that are more than likely going to follow. 

After reading this article, I started thinking, “I wonder what would have happened if these managers were trained properly on how to interview?”  Lets assume a consistent training curriculum is not implemented to all hiring managers/supervisors for interviewing techniques, the do’s and don’ts, what you can say and can’t say, etc.  Is the insurance policy of implementing a strong, consistent training program worth it?  This goes to the age old question, “what is my ROI on training my employees properly?”  In this case, it appears to be a -$250 million.  And, the company will more than likely raise prices, employees will get fired (more on-boarding and training cost for new employees), there will be appeals in court (more legal fees) all to keep shareholders happy.  But wouldn’t it better for this company if this had less of a chance of happening in the first place?  They not only have the monetary damage, but they also have the collateral damage on their brand, and on their ability to hire and attract strong talent.

Submitted by Rod Snyder

To learn more about how Total Training Solutions, Inc. can help you with your human capital management training, contact us at 630.585.1168.

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in Hot Topics | No Comments »

Curbing the Chatter

Wednesday, April 14th, 2010

While sitting in the waiting area of a business, do you ever overhear information about other clients, customers, or employees that you think was not intended for your ears? Perhaps what you heard was really intended for private use only? Does hearing that type of information make you feel uncomfortable? When you walk through the corridors of a business, do you hear telephone conversations that contain information that only the business and their customer should be privy to? Does it make you wonder who might be overhearing confidential information about you and your company? Have you attended a meeting where a co-worker identifies and makes unkind statements about a customer in front of another customer? Is there personal information about your employees or co-workers that you believe should not be shared in front of your customers?

On many an occasion, employees inadvertently reveal information of a private nature as they conduct their daily business. Conversations that occur in public waiting areas, hallways, lunchrooms, or open work spaces often contain customer names, the nature of the business conducted, and financial information that otherwise is expected to be held in a confidential manner. Discussing private or confidential information within the earshot of those not privy to the information affects how they perceive the level of professionalism and customer orientation of your business. It creates reason for doubt and trust of your company’s ability to maintain sensitive and confidential information that has been provided as an order of doing business together.

Employees may be unaware that their conversations are inappropriate or are actually being overheard. Implementing and enforcing guidelines about the treatment of confidential information will aid in creating employee awareness and recognition of their behaviors that can compromise customer relationships. Here are a few tips to help curb the chatter:

  • Refrain from stating customer names and personal information when others are within hearing distance.
  • Refrain from sharing statements with a customer that reveal information about another customer.
  • Refrain from discussing information about their own personal life, activities or problems in front of customers.
  • Close office doors when engaging in phone or in-person conversations that contain information of a sensitive nature.
  • Speak quietly when in an open area or move the conversation to a private location.
  • Refrain from using speaker phone while discussing confidential information….the walls take on lives of their own.

Employee awareness emphasizing the critical nature of maintaining confidentiality should be periodically reinforced. Protecting the privacy of your customers’ information is a “must” in developing cooperative, respectful, and profitable working relationships.

For more information on common Business Etiquette training, contact Total Training Solutions, Inc. at 630.585.1168.

Tags: , ,
Posted in Hot Topics | No Comments »

The Challenges of ERP Training

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) suite of applications, which support such functions as finance, materials management, purchasing, human resources, and other critical processes, are continuing to replace in-house applications that date back more than two decades. The increasingly popularity of ERP applications has created an enormous demand for training.

Companies working with ERP implementations acquire training directly from their vendor along with purchasing additional training services from consulting firms specializing in project management, instructor-led training, elearning, and blended learning. These companies continue to increase their ERP training efforts because ERP packages are not just another software application. ERP implementations are complex multi-faceted projects. The ERP package becomes the foundation for the business operations. Given this level of importance, training managers have an obligation to get involved in their companies implementation at the onset of the project. With the scope and impact to all business areas of a company, training is critical to the success of the ERP project. An inadequate training budget for such a project can result in costly delays, abandoned projects, skyrocketing budgets, and employee dissatisfaction.

Early adopters of an ERP implementation have discovered that most failures in the ERP world are due to companies underestimating the training of its people and the entire scope of educating their staffs.

One of the key steps to ensuring ERP success is to budget adequate dollars to the training efforts of the project. For example, a lead ERP vendor recommends that companies allocate 15 to 20 percent of the overall project budget to training trainers and end users to achieve success. It is also critical to have dedication from top management for an extensive training program; that is, dedication that is reflected in the budget.

Consider the following training tips to help ensure success when implementing ERP in your organization:

1. Make the internal training staff an integral part of the ERP team from the onset of the project. It cannot be an afterthought. It is difficult for end users to learn ERP applications let alone expect the trainers to learn it in a pinch.

2. Partner with your consultants for knowledge transfer. It is critical for the corporate training staff to work with the consultants as a natural transition throughout the project. It is impossible to expect the in-house training staff to learn the experiences and knowledge of the consultants’ project efforts in two weeks when realistically it may have evolved over a two year cycle.

3. Provide hands-on experience to the end users. Test them on their newly acquired skills to ensure transfer of knowledge to their jobs.

4. Communicate, communicate, communicate! It is critical to keep your employees continually updated on the ERP project and impact of change on their roles within your organization. Use newsletters, videos, and meeting formats to help with the change management process.

Keep in mind that your employees need to learn how ERP is changing their current processes, not just how to apply ERP to their jobs. The mindset of “we’ve always done it this way” definitely changes with the scope of an ERP implementation project. With ERP your employees are not just learning new keystrokes, they need to learn and understand how ERP “thinks” when they use it and how it impacts and changes the way they perform their job processes.

When planning your ERP project, the one constant factor you can always count on is change. New releases and major enhancements with ERP applications become a way of life and your training team needs to be prepared to handle the training needs of the end users. It’s the ongoing challenge of ERP implementations.

To learn how Total Training Solutions can help you with your next ERP implementation, contact us at 630.585.1168.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Hot Topics | No Comments »

Difficult People – What To Do???

Wednesday, February 17th, 2010

Do you know an employee who seems to see only the worst in every situation, whines about their work responsibilities, resists engaging in a conversation, or chronically exhibits behaviors that others find difficult?

Employees who are difficult to manange exist in every work setting. They may be difficult to manage because they are hostile, silent, negative, or chronic complainers. Their behavior and manner of relating to co-workers and supervisors causes stress in work relationships, interferes with productivity, and undermines the morale of co-workers. Encounters with the difficult employee may leave co-workers feeling angry, helpless, hopeless, or de-energized. These difficult to manage employees are often assets to the organization because of their skills and knowledge, yet as they attempt to fulfill their work responsibilities, their behavior becomes increasingly more difficult for co-workers and supervisors to manage.

What do you do to manage these difficult employees in a manner that allows the organization to benefit from their skills and knowledge?

While it is not possible to change the difficult employee, it is possible to change the reaction of those who are at the receiving end of the behaviors. Implementing new responses to the behaviors of the difficult employee allows the opportunity to create a dialogue that contributes to cooperative working relationships and the completion of work responsibilities.

Changing the response to a difficult employee begins with identifying the specific difficult behaviors of the employee. While each difficult employee has their own individual personality and behaviors, there are indicators that allow them to be grouped into six types.

Understanding what motivates each of the six types of difficult employees is the next step in successfully managing the behavior. The motivation provides clues for the next step in successfully managing the difficult employee, learning the appropriate verbal and non-verbal responses.

There are specific phrases, questions, and non-verbal cues that increase the likelihood of a productive interaction with a difficult employee. When co-workers and supervisors learn and implement these responses, they are in a position to build a cooperative working relationship with “their” difficult employee.

To learn more about managing difficult people, contact Total Training Solutions at 630.585.1168.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Hot Topics | No Comments »

The Growth of Training Outsourcing

Sunday, January 10th, 2010

In this economic downturn, training outsourcing is becoming a viable alternative to staffing an internal training department. Prior to the onset of the economic crisis, training outsourcing was perceived as another means to a cost-cutting measure as its primary benefit. However, with the ups and downs of business, training outsourcing provides businesses with staffing flexibility that benefits the company as a whole during both good and bad economic times. Training outsourcing presents real value and benefit that companies are increasingly re-evaluating as a result of the demand for practicing a leaner business model.  Flexibility is the key benefit to enlisting in training outsourcing resources. Businesses need to be agile with the ebbs and tides of the economic impact. Training outsourcing provides that agility!

Let’s look at the transformation of training outsourcing. Initially the perception may be that when a business engages in outsourcing its training needs and eliminating its in-house training staff that the business is undertaking serious cost cutting measures or has elected to move the training responsibilities offshore, again for cost reduction purposes. But that may not be the case at all. Training outsourcing is a means to a smart business practice. When things are tough and cost measures need to be implemented, typically companines find that they must reduce current staffing. When the economy improves and business increases, then those laid off employees need to be rehired or replacements hired. The lay-off and re-hire and re-train staffing model can become quite costly. Just consider the process to rehire an employee…..more than likely, the process will incur additional recruiting costs as well as required job specific training. On the flip side, when a business engages the services of a training outsourcing vendor, this re-hire and re-training process is eliminated. The training outsourcing vendor bears the responsibility and manages all resources and risks needed to support the business’ training needs.

As we all know, training projects are all contingent on business initiatives undertaken and budget allocations. With outsourcing your training needs, businesses gain the flexibility of having a training staff “on demand” to meet the flow of projects and funds. The climate of the business is constantly undergoing change and businesses need to position themselves to be able to quickly react to its needs. Employing a flexible and scalable staffing model such as that offered by training outsourcing, businesses gain the flexibility of rapid turnaround and afforable specialized training expertise.

To learn more about how Total Training Solutions, Inc. can help you with your learning and training outsourcing needs, contact us at 630.585.1168.

Tags: ,
Posted in Hot Topics | Comments Off