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Great Questions to Ask At The End of Your Training Sessions

Wednesday, July 14th, 2010

We always want to gain some sort of commitment from attendees at training sessions to applying their learning into the workplace. Sometimes we have limited time to explore how they are going to do this. Here are a number of questions (based on management training) you can use to encourage the attendee to think about;

· how they will apply the learning

· what the benefits of applying the learning will be

· what the consequences of not applying the learning will be

1. What, specifically, are you going to do differently as a result of this training? When will you do this? How will you know you have been successful?

2. What management reputation would you like to have in 12 months time? How will this training help you to achieve that?

3. What do you want your staff and boss to be saying about you in 6 months time?

4. What further questions does this training raise for you? How are you going to find the answers?

5. Where are you going to find the support you need to apply this training?

And what I think is the very best question you can ask;

6. If you leave this training and do nothing different, what will the consequences be?

It’s all about helping the attendee to see a) the benefits of applying the training into the workplace and / or b) the consequences of taking no action at all

Tags: management training, skills, training
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Preparing for a Performance Appraisal Meeting – 5 Sure-fire Ways Fail

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Many managers, team leaders and supervisors I work with seem to have a real knack for making their performance appraisal meetings suck. They don’t mean to do this (well most don’t) but they often tell me they just can’t make these meetings work. When I ask them to talk me through how they prepare for the meeting a number of issues consistently arise. So, here are 5 ways you prepare to ensure your performance appraisal meetings fail – just in case you need it!

1. Talk the system down, down, down

It’s critical to ensure that everyone (and particularly new recruits) is crystal clear what a total waste of time the appraisal meeting is. Be subtle though. Something on the lines of ‘I’m really sorry Jack, it’s that time of year again. HR says we’ve got to do the appraisal thing. Yeah, I know, who’s got the time? Anyway let’s get it over with as fast as possible so we can get back to the real work’

2. Postpone the meeting date – at least twice

This is a neat way to really underline the message of how little you value the appraisal meeting and, as a bonus, how little you value your staff member. Postpone the meeting as often as you can and for any reason you can. Particularly effective are reasons relating to, say, preparing a budget report or financial statement. Anything that says ‘we value the numbers more than we value our people’ should do nicely

3. Pick a lousy location

If possible hold the meeting somewhere noisy, too hot or too cold and smelly. Be sure you can guarantee a number of interruptions and that other people can overhear your conversation. Anywhere in an open plan office should work well. If you have to use a private office make sure the air conditioning or heating system is malfunctioning, that you are able to claim a seat that is i) bigger ii) higher iii) clearly more comfortable than the staff member’s seat and that there is some light shining in their eyes. And don’t, whatever you do, offer any refreshments. This is not a party

4. Do no preparation at all. None

Preparation is for wimps. It’s much more effective to

a) Look blankly at the staff member when they enter the room and then begin frantically searching your desk drawer, then filing cabinet, then waste paper basket for a copy of the objectives you agreed 12 months ago at the last meeting. Don’t worry about not finding them – they’re 9 months out of date anyway

b) Attempt to give feedback based on only the vaguest understanding of

· What the staff member’s job is

· What effective performance looks like for their job (performance objectives and standards)

· How the staff member has actually performed against the objectives and standards (and don’t even think about using objective, fact- based examples)

· Areas of outstanding performance (‘nice job Dibley’ will suffice)

· Areas for development (‘ a bit more oomph’ will do nicely)

5. Do not encourage the staff member to prepare. Ever

The very last thing you want is to encourage the staff member to have an opinion on their

· performance

· achievements and successes

· areas for development

· job satisfaction needs

Why would you? You don’t intend to ask them about any of this so why bother?

Summary

So there we have it. Five easy ways to ensure your preparation for the performance appraisal meeting results in a total waste of time and a totally demotivated staff member. Of course if you would like the opposite result you could try taking the opposite approach. Just an idea

And now I’d like to invite you to check out my free video ‘How to hold a motivational performance review (or appraisal meeting)’ at http://www.10mmt.com/watch-videos/

Joan Henshaw, the author and presenter of the video management training series ‘The 10 Minute Management Toolkit’ – the flexible, cost effective and time effective way to help managers, team leaders and supervisors learn how to motivate their staff to high performance

Tags: appraisal meeting, management training, performance, performance appraisal, performance review meeting
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Is poor supervision impacting your productivity?

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

How often do we stand back and think about the value of applying effective people management practices – especially the value to the business? Take a look at this piece of research:

Proudfoot Consultings (www.proudfootconsulting.com) annual Productivity Survey for 2007 shows that in the UK 33.3% of the time spent in work is unproductive. Taking into account that they estimate that the optimum ‘labour utilisation’ time is considered to be 85% this means that UK businesses are wasting just over 18% of working hours.

Here’s what they say about the reason

‘Whatever business you’re in, pay particular attention to the calibre and capabilities of those who directly supervise frontline workers. Poor worker supervision has always been a prominent reason for wasted working time in our Business Reviews and in the last two years has risen to become the dominant factor’

That’s just short of a day a week, then, lost to poor supervision

Before we explore this issue further I should point out that this report is based on research of large businesses (with turnover in excess of £100m). Clearly, managing staff in a smaller organisation can be very different. For example, there’s less likelihood of there being a long ‘chain of command’ and it’s clearly more difficult for staff members in a small enterprise to be unproductive, at least intentionally. However I’d say it’s worth all organisations, whatever the size, periodically taking a critical look at how they manage their staff

Here are a few questions you can use to assess your people management practices (based on my model of effective people management):

1. Are your staff crystal clear on what’s expected of them? Have you described and agreed what good performance looks like for their job? Are these agreed descriptions written as performance standards or objectives?

2. Do you monitor your staff’s actual performance against the standards or objectives on an ongoing basis? Are your staff involved in monitoring their own performance?

3. Do you and your staff review together their performance on a regular basis (every 3 months is standard good practice)? Do you give them objective, evidence- based feedback? Do you agree on areas of outstanding performance and how these can be built upon? Do you identify and agree any areas of improvement?

4. Do you discuss your staff’s job satisfaction with them so that you can, together, develop ways to maintain or enhance their satisfaction?

Do you now feel like having a lie down? I do know this all sounds like an awful lot of work and it certainly does take some time commitment to manage your staff effectively. However research does demonstrate again and again that not only does effective people management positively impact productivity and business performance but it also positively impacts your staff’s job satisfaction. A win for the business, a win for your staff and not nearly as hard as it sounds with the right tools and techniques

Tags: management training, managing, performance, performance objectives
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A quick way to improve your listening skills

Thursday, May 27th, 2010

We all know what a powerful tool listening is. We know that when people feel listened to they also feel valued, respected and engaged. Yet, I’m often told by the clients I work with that they don’t feel listened to at work. Of course there are many barriers to listening effectively. For example, have you ever found it difficult to listen to someone when a) you know the solution to the problem they are talking through or b) when you fell sure you know what they’re going to say next or c) when you can see they are missing the point?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of the above, or you know you could listen better some of the time, you could try this simple technique taught to me some years ago by a wonderful man called Alan Mumford. At the time Alan was coaching me in facilitation skills and talking about how to judge when to speak out (make an intervention) and when to keep quiet. His advice was;

‘The first time I feel I want to intervene, I keep quiet. The second time I feel the need, I do the same. If I feel for a third time that I need to say something then, and only then, do I speak up. Very often if I wait until the third time, I won’t need to speak at all’

Here’s a way of applying this technique in a one to one conversation

Step One – the first time you want to speak, hold your tongue. If the other person has ‘dried up’ ask a question instead of offering an opinion or solution eg Tell me more about …

Step Two – the second time you want to speak, do the same. If another question isn’t appropriate, try reflecting back what you’ve heard so far and asking the other person to check that you have understood them eg So I think what you’re saying is that…Have I got that right?

Step Three – If you still want to speak then go ahead. A way to keep the conversation flowing and to help you stay in ‘listening mode’ is to frame your suggestions as questions rather than directions eg ‘have you thought about involving your team in this’? then ‘how do you think you can best do this?’ rather than ‘you need to involve the team and here’s the best way to do it …’

This technique works well in any situation where it’s important to give another person the opportunity to work out a solution for themselves, or when you just want to give someone some good quality ‘air time’. It’s a neat technique - easy to learn, easy to apply, and very effective.

Tags: listening skills, management style, management training, manager, managing
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Want to improve productivity? - then get supervising!

Wednesday, February 24th, 2010

How often do we stand back and think about the value of applying effective people management practices – especially the value to the productivity of our business or organisation? Take a look at this piece of research:

Proudfoot Consultings (www.proudfootconsulting.com) Productivity Survey shows that in the UK 33.3% of the time spent in work is unproductive. Taking into account that they estimate that the optimum ‘labour utilisation’ time is considered to be 85% this means that UK businesses are wasting just over 18% of working hours.

Here’s what they say about the reason

That’s just short of a day a week, then, lost due to poor supervision

Before we explore this issue further I should point out that this report is based on research of large businesses (with turnover in excess of £100m). Clearly, managing and supervising staff in a smaller business or organisation can be very different. For example, there’s less likelihood of there being a long ‘chain of command’ and it’s clearly more difficult for staff members in a small enterprise to be unproductive, at least intentionally. However I’d say it’s worth all organisations, whatever the size, periodically taking a critical look at how they supervise their staff

Here are a few questions you can use to assess your people management and supervision practices:

1. Are staff crystal clear on what’s expected of them? Do they have agreed descriptions of what effective performance looks like for their job? Are these agreed descriptions written as performance standards or objectives?

2. Is the staff member’s actual performance monitored against the standards or objectives on an ongoing basis? Are staff involved in monitoring their own performance?

3. Is the staff member’s performance reviewed on a regular basis (every 3 months is standard good practice)? Are they given objective, evidence- based feedback? Are areas of outstanding performance identified and how these can be built upon agreed? Are any areas for improvement discussed and strategies for improvement agreed?

4.Is the staff member’s job satisfaction discussed with them so that ways to maintain or enhance their satisfaction are agreed?

Do you now feel like having a lie down? I do know this all sounds like an awful lot of work and it certainly does take some time commitment to manage and supervise staff effectively. However research does demonstrate again and again that not only does effective people management and supervision positively impact productivity and business performance but it also positively impacts your staff’s job satisfaction. A win for the organisation, a win for the staff member and not nearly as hard as it sounds with the right tools and techniques

Joan Henshaw is the author and presenter of the video management training series ‘The 10 Minute Management Toolkit’ – the flexible, cost effective and time effective way to help managers, business owners, team leaders and supervisors learn how to motivate their staff to high performance. Want to learn more about how to motivate staff to high performance? Watch videos and claim your free e-book at http://www.10mmt.com

Tags: management training, managing, performance, skills, supervision, training videos
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Gen Y - Employees or Volunteers?

Thursday, October 22nd, 2009

I guess it’s always been true that employees ‘sell their labour but volunteer their commitment’. I’m sure it’s never been truer than with those highly talented, highly sought after Gen Y’ers. On the basis that research suggests that in ten years time these people (who are currently aged up to 28) will make up the largest proportion of the workforce and that demographic trends suggest that in a few years we will have both a talent shortage and a people shortage, how to recruit and retain these people is proving a major challenge for many organisations. Clearly this is a complex area. One way of exploring how we may need to adapt our management styles and practices is to probe Peter Drucker’s idea that we have to ‘accept the fact that we need to treat almost everybody as a volunteer’

So here’s a question

How would you manage your staff differently if, instead of being paid employees, they were volunteers?

I count myself lucky that as president of my local branch of a national charity I get to ‘manage’ volunteers. Reflecting on how I work with these volunteers compared to how I used to manage my staff I’ve identified some key differences;

1. People have much more flexibility around what they do and when they do it
2. I thank and praise people much more often
3. I spend significantly more time with our new ‘recruits’ exploring what motivates them – what their specific interests are, what type of work they feel they are most suited to etc
4. I spend more time discussing with people how important their work is, highlighting the value of their contribution in light of what we are aiming to achieve
5. I use a more collaborative decision making process – all decisions are joint decisions in our group

Now, I’m willing to accept that this list may say more about my lack of skills as a manager than anything else (and it’s been some time since I’ve managed a significant number of people – think Iron Age) and clearly I’m aware that there are some fundamental differences between both the motivations and responsibilities of paid employees and volunteers. But it’s not difficult to see how the style of management outlined above could have a positive impact upon an employee’s commitment – irrespective of the generation they belong to.
For more tips on how to manage Gen Y take a look at The Glass Hammer blog

http://tinyurl.com/lwtx94

Tags: management training, managing, skills
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