It's true. Many who attend a training class will see it as prison. The reason is simple, as is the solution. However, keep in mind, simple and easy do not mean the same thing.
When training is mandatory or not needed, many of the participants will see it as one of three things:
- like being forced to stay in "prison" or "time out"
- like a vacation or time to party
- paid time off from the job they would be doing if they weren't in training
You could be sending employees to prison or a vacation day if you're not careful. But, there are ways to avoid it. Make sure you are sending people to training who actually need knowledge and skill. If they have merely forgotten how to do something or are choosing not to do it for reasons other than a lack of skill, training is not the solution. Get to the root of the problem instead.
When you do conduct training, make sure that the content or curriculum transfers actual knowledge and skill, instead of just fun and games. effective training has a point and purpose built in to each activity. If people are scratching their head as to what the purpose is, then you may be creating a fun day, but no substantial skill transfer.
Finally, I have never been a big fan of Mandatory training. Though there is a need for it at times, overusing the "mandatory" edict can create massive barriers to learning that leave your trainer stuck in the first half hour of a training session. It is better to provide learners with an incentive to attend instead of a "because I said so" order to attend. The more you mandate, the more learners in a training class might begin to see bars on the training room windows.
Until next time...
Monica
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Sunday, January 18, 2009
Does your office need an attitude adjustment?
Stress kills a great atttitude, creativity, tolerance, and productivity. And we see stress show up first in a poor attitude. For example, when your office needs an attitude adjustment, you might see the following:
- less tolerance of things that you used to "let go" or ignore
- more complaining
- increased resistance to doing less than satisfying activities
- slower efforts toward any goal or project
- reduced behaviors that used to be common place (i.e. follow through, attention to detail, etc)
If you or those in your office are expriencing these things, then it may be time for an attitude adjustment. And, oh by the way, just ignoring those things mentioned above will not make them go away. In fact, usually, it sends the message that the new behavior is okay. This translates into unwritten permission, unspoken encouragement, development of a new habit, and most of all, DIFFICUTLY in addressing it at a later date. If you wait to adjust the attitudes, you might hear "well, why didn't you tell me month's ago? Why wait until now?"
Attitude adjustments can take many forms - but first consider the difficulty inherent to addressing attitude. It is treachorous and only for the most well developed Contagious Leader. (refer to our January 1st edition newsletter Contagious Commentary - http://www.monicawofford.com/About_N.html) These steps will help you have an advantagious discussion about a needed attitude adjustment:
1. ask what is getting in their way of doing differently than what you are seeing
2. ask what they are thinking or feeling about what is going on (watch your tone)
3. ask what they might be afraid of or worrying about
4. assuage those fears or worries if you can
5. if you are unable to do step 4, address what the consequences and REWARDS will be for a continuation of the behaviors and attitudes you are seeing.
6. If the above don't seem to work or make a difference, begin to closely observe the performance of those sharing their attitude with you and address performance in a separate conversation when you have enough clear, factual, and quantitative data.
You can encourage an attitude adjustment and as a leader, that is part of your role. However, keep in mind that forcing an attitude adjustment is flat out, not gonna happen. You can't change people, but as contagious leader, you CAN influence them. Maybe the best time to begin that is first thing tomorrow. You can do this.
Stay Contagious,
Monica
- less tolerance of things that you used to "let go" or ignore
- more complaining
- increased resistance to doing less than satisfying activities
- slower efforts toward any goal or project
- reduced behaviors that used to be common place (i.e. follow through, attention to detail, etc)
If you or those in your office are expriencing these things, then it may be time for an attitude adjustment. And, oh by the way, just ignoring those things mentioned above will not make them go away. In fact, usually, it sends the message that the new behavior is okay. This translates into unwritten permission, unspoken encouragement, development of a new habit, and most of all, DIFFICUTLY in addressing it at a later date. If you wait to adjust the attitudes, you might hear "well, why didn't you tell me month's ago? Why wait until now?"
Attitude adjustments can take many forms - but first consider the difficulty inherent to addressing attitude. It is treachorous and only for the most well developed Contagious Leader. (refer to our January 1st edition newsletter Contagious Commentary - http://www.monicawofford.com/About_N.html) These steps will help you have an advantagious discussion about a needed attitude adjustment:
1. ask what is getting in their way of doing differently than what you are seeing
2. ask what they are thinking or feeling about what is going on (watch your tone)
3. ask what they might be afraid of or worrying about
4. assuage those fears or worries if you can
5. if you are unable to do step 4, address what the consequences and REWARDS will be for a continuation of the behaviors and attitudes you are seeing.
6. If the above don't seem to work or make a difference, begin to closely observe the performance of those sharing their attitude with you and address performance in a separate conversation when you have enough clear, factual, and quantitative data.
You can encourage an attitude adjustment and as a leader, that is part of your role. However, keep in mind that forcing an attitude adjustment is flat out, not gonna happen. You can't change people, but as contagious leader, you CAN influence them. Maybe the best time to begin that is first thing tomorrow. You can do this.
Stay Contagious,
Monica
Wednesday, January 7, 2009
Is Entry Level Too Small a Role?
With the number of layoffs and job transitions in our world right now, we are facing an issue that has long since been in existence, but seemingly ignored: The stigma associated with entry level positions.
Part of the challenge Contagious Leaders face is finding the right folks to fill entry level positions. Now, however, the challenge is shifting with finding people who are not overqualified for an entry level position. But also, and perhaps more importantly, it is finding those who will bring a great attitude and work ethic to a position that might be seen by the applicant as "beneath his or her abilities".
What happened to starting somewhere, doing that job to the absolute best of your ability, and working your way up in the organization. This used to be an expected practice. But now, it seems so many want to start out as management, when they really aren't sure how to do management, much less leadership. There is no shame in beginning at the beginning.
Entry level is not too small, it is the beginning. And it will likely give you a bird's eye view of the rest of the organization in ways that you might not be able to explore from the executive suite. If you are a contagious leader, hiring an entry level position, keep this in mind. You are hiring the future leaders of your organization. If you are going into an entry level position, contagiously lead yourself and your own attitude. This is a role that could be a launching pad, a springboard, and certainly ripe with learning opportunities and possibilities.
Stay Contagious!
Part of the challenge Contagious Leaders face is finding the right folks to fill entry level positions. Now, however, the challenge is shifting with finding people who are not overqualified for an entry level position. But also, and perhaps more importantly, it is finding those who will bring a great attitude and work ethic to a position that might be seen by the applicant as "beneath his or her abilities".
What happened to starting somewhere, doing that job to the absolute best of your ability, and working your way up in the organization. This used to be an expected practice. But now, it seems so many want to start out as management, when they really aren't sure how to do management, much less leadership. There is no shame in beginning at the beginning.
Entry level is not too small, it is the beginning. And it will likely give you a bird's eye view of the rest of the organization in ways that you might not be able to explore from the executive suite. If you are a contagious leader, hiring an entry level position, keep this in mind. You are hiring the future leaders of your organization. If you are going into an entry level position, contagiously lead yourself and your own attitude. This is a role that could be a launching pad, a springboard, and certainly ripe with learning opportunities and possibilities.
Stay Contagious!
Is Entry Level too small a role?
With the number of layoffs and job transitions in our world right now, we are facing an issue that has long since been in existence, but seemingly ignored: The stigma associated with entry level positions.
Part of the challenge Contagious Leaders face is finding the right folks to fill entry level positions. Now, however, the challenge is shifting with finding people who are not overqualified for an entry level position. But also, and perhaps more importantly, it is finding those who will bring a great attitude and work ethic to a position that might be seen by the applicant as "beneath his or her abilities".
What happened to starting somewhere, doing that job to the absolute best of your ability, and working your way up in the organization. This used to be an expected practice. But now, it seems so many want to start out as management, when they really aren't sure how to do management, much less leadership. There is no shame in beginning at the beginning.
Entry level is not too small, it is the beginning. And it will likely give you a bird's eye view of the rest of the organization in ways that you might not be able to explore from the executive suite. If you are a contagious leader, hiring an entry level position, keep this in mind. You are hiring the future leaders of your organization. If you are going into an entry level position, contagiously lead yourself and your own attitude. This is a role that could be a launching pad, a springboard, and certainly ripe with learning opportunities and possibilities.
Stay Contagious!
Part of the challenge Contagious Leaders face is finding the right folks to fill entry level positions. Now, however, the challenge is shifting with finding people who are not overqualified for an entry level position. But also, and perhaps more importantly, it is finding those who will bring a great attitude and work ethic to a position that might be seen by the applicant as "beneath his or her abilities".
What happened to starting somewhere, doing that job to the absolute best of your ability, and working your way up in the organization. This used to be an expected practice. But now, it seems so many want to start out as management, when they really aren't sure how to do management, much less leadership. There is no shame in beginning at the beginning.
Entry level is not too small, it is the beginning. And it will likely give you a bird's eye view of the rest of the organization in ways that you might not be able to explore from the executive suite. If you are a contagious leader, hiring an entry level position, keep this in mind. You are hiring the future leaders of your organization. If you are going into an entry level position, contagiously lead yourself and your own attitude. This is a role that could be a launching pad, a springboard, and certainly ripe with learning opportunities and possibilities.
Stay Contagious!
Sunday, January 4, 2009
Doing too much?
Last Christmas I received a calendar from a dear friend of mine entitled: Women Who Do Too Much. I finished it up this year on Dec. 31 and what I found is that not only, yep, I do too much, but that I was also trying to do too much all by myself. Oddly enough, that is not a very good leadership principle, particularly for someone who teaches leadership of both yourself and others. Here is what I found in a year of reading up on Women Who Do Too Much. (and hey, this applies to men, too!)
Contagious Leaders delegate well and often:
If you are doing too much - just flat out staying busy, instead of being truly productive and purposeful - you may find that you are missing opportunities. (that is, provided you stand still long enough to be able to notice what you are missing) When you, as a Contagious Leader, delegate tasks and projects, and take the time to explain:
Contagious Leaders delegate well and often:
If you are doing too much - just flat out staying busy, instead of being truly productive and purposeful - you may find that you are missing opportunities. (that is, provided you stand still long enough to be able to notice what you are missing) When you, as a Contagious Leader, delegate tasks and projects, and take the time to explain:
- the importance of the project
- the details in a way that the person to whom you are delegating understands
- the timeline of completion or milestones
then you are truly helping someone else grow, while taking something off of YOUR list, but ALSO getting more done by sharing the work and employing the efforts, talents, and skills of others.
Contagious Leaders who try to do it all, all the same time, and all by themselves, they limit their own success by the mere number of hours in the day and your own physical efforts. There is a lot we can do in a little time, truly, but the constant running, buzzing, and stressed out craze of being busy will diminsh your productivity, make you work slower, and in effect, force you to get less done.
As I reflected on this year of doing alot (as I would likely really say it was a LOT or rather not enough, instead of too much), it occurs to me that although I did a lot, there are some questions that are begging to be asked:
- Did I do the right things?
- Did I do them at the right time?
- Was I just busy all the time or was I acheiving those things that mattered most?
- Am I happy with where I am at the end of the year of "doing so much"?
As a Contagious Leader, step back and reflect on your own answers to these questions. And before you jump into the 4 billion emails tomorrow, the pile of voicemails, and the stuff you tossed in a box before you left for the holidays... consider this: what is your strategy for 2009. This may be a more important question to ask, instead of 'what's next on my "to-do" list'?
Stay Contagious!
M
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