July 15, 5:27 pm

“We can’t help you - you’re dead.”

While standing in line at the bank today, I listened as an elderly gentleman shared an incredible story of HORRIFIC customer service.

Seems he got a telemarketing phone call offering him life insurance. According to the gentleman, the telephone solicitor went on for ten minutes, explaining how she could save him money on his life insurance. (Yes, TEN MINUTES of talking!!!)

And AFTER the ten minutes of talking, the sales person finally asks “By the way, how old are you?”

The man gave his age.

The woman replied “Oh, we can’t help you — you’re dead.”

Shocked, the man replied “How can that be? I’m talking with you.”

The woman replied “According to our charts, statistically you’re already dead. We can’t sell you any life insurance.”

Now, I don’t know about you, but I think a wee bit of customer service training would provide the telemarketer a better response than “We can’t help you — you’re dead” to people who are too old to qualify for their service. Don’t you?

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July 13, 5:14 pm

Interpersonal Skills Training

Have you noticed how some people are addicted to negativity, blame games, and/or being a victim? Too often, “naysayers” downplay the value of good interpersonal skills training, mainly because they don’t know how to calculate the return on such an investment. It’s a soft-skill, not a tangible capital investment, and because most MBA programs don’t teach how to find ROI on training, too many people remain skeptical of its value.

But consider these statements made by clients of ours who have been through our Management Development Program, which places an emphasis on interpersonal skills:

“We know how to budget and forecast profits. For example, when we make a capital investment, we know how much profit will result and when. Well, this past year our profits are millions of dollars above what we expected, and we haven’t done anything different from what we’ve done in years past – except put people through this program.”

Another senior manager told me the following:

“This program is really paying off. Another senior manager and I used to butt heads like crazy. I thought he was a jerk and he thought the same about me. But after your program we realized we just had different styles. We used to make things difficult for each other on purpose, but now we’re working together and making decisions that save the company sometimes 20 thousand dollars a day.”

In their book Reframing Organizations, Lee Bolman and Terrence Deal state “Many organizations are reluctant to invest in developing human capital. The costs of training are immediate and easy to measure; the benefits are elusive and long-term.”

If you want to learn how to calculate the ROI for soft-skills training, I’ll be happy to show you how for free (just call). But either way, anyone looking to increase their profits should look into management development — especially in terms of Interpersonal Skills training. You can see from what people say that the value of their training was quite noticeable in their bottom line.

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June 28, 12:24 pm

Three tips for managers who must train

If you are a supervisor or manager, you probably need to develop and deliver training. Because most managers don’t receive training on how to train other people, here are a few tips:

1. You want to reach all learners (and not everyone learns like you do!). This means you must understand the four basic learning styles. We don’t have space for a full lesson on this, but each of the four styles has a core question they want answered. Therefore, your training should include activities that address these questions:

Why do we need to learn this?
What, exactly, are we learning?
How do we use what we are learning?
What if circumstances require that we adapt and adjust?

All of this requires planning — thinking through the best ways to convey to material in ways that truly engage the learners.

2. Consider the following “do’s & don’ts” list:

- Avoid providing “lecture only” as much as possible, instead:
- Divide your training into a series of presentation sections
-Your “presentation” sections will have the most impact if they last only 10 minutes or so
- In between each section, incorporate short activities in which learners reinforce their learning by talking with each other about what’s been presented (these do not need to be long)
- Groups should consist of no more than four people
- If possible, learners should have time to try / practice / experiment

3.  The following “formula” may help in designing your training:

Review the learning objective for the lesson

Select an activity that helps learners relate to the concept

Decide how you will discuss their insights from the activity

Display an image that connects learners to the concept

Present the information / material that’s key to the learning objective

Decide how you will test / evaluate learners on what you presented

Select an activity that allows learners to experiment / try the learning

Have learners present their findings to the class.

* * *

For managers who want to learn more about how to create awesome training, all of the above (and MUCH more) will be covered (and practiced) in Leadership Development’s next “How to Train Other People” workshop in Boise, Idaho on November 4 & 5, 2010.  Call (208) 375-7606 for more info.

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June 23, 6:48 am

How to train other people - Workshop set for Nov 4 & 5

Can you really cut training time by 50 percent while increasing retention? YES!

We’ve had several requests for this workshop again, so it’s on the schedule for November 4 & 5, in beautiful downtown Boise, Idaho!

In this very popular and practical workshop, you will learn:

•    how to create and deliver training for any situation
•    tools and techniques to reach all learning styles – even those different from your own!
•    proven methods to engage learners so they “own” their learning
•    a 4-step method that cuts your training time by 50 percent, while increasing learner retention

Learn proven, practical, best-practices from your facilitator:

Dan Bobinski, M.Ed., CPBA
Director, The Center for Workplace Excellence
- 25 years experience conducting and teaching training
- holds a Master’s Degree in training and development
- is wrapping up a Ph.D. in organizational learning

When:     November 4 & 5, 2010
8:30 – 4:15 each day

Where:     Residence Inn, Boise Downtown
1401 Lusk Avenue
- SUPER room rates for our clients!
- FREE shuttle to/from airport

Cost:         $497 gives you both days, PLUS:
- FREE full breakfast and lunch both days
- The 90-page trainer’s workbook
- Unlimited coaching after the workshop
- Framed Certificate of Completion

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June 21, 3:16 pm

An Open Letter to the Closed-Minded Manager

By Dan Bobinski

I’ve decided to pen an open letter on behalf of mismanaged employees everywhere. After 20+ years of training and consulting in hundreds of companies of all shapes and sizes, I’ve seen many managers who think they’re strong, but are not. And their teams suffer as a result.

Sometimes these managers are easy to spot, openly flaunting their iron-fisted “my way or the highway” approach. Other times they talk the talk when it’s expedient to do so, but manage with a large hammer, thwacking anything (or anyone) to impose their will. And yes, sometimes such self-deluded managers don’t rant or rave much at all, but they still view their frontline employees as know-nothings.

Perhaps you’ve seen managers do these things. I know I have. And, because some of their team members approach me privately to plead for help, I’ve decided to write this open letter on their behalf.

If you manage other people, this may or may not apply to you. If it doesn’t apply, don’t sweat it. But if it applies, I hope you seriously consider making a change within yourself. It will require thinking about the ripple effects of your actions and considering other ways of influencing your workplace. Chances are that making a few changes in how you approach people will net great gains in how they respond.

And so, on behalf of those who can’t write this without being fired:

Dear Boss,

This letter will be blunt, but it needs to be. Let me start by saying that everyone here thinks you’re a hypocrite. Last week you lectured us for almost an hour about how we need to read and adhere to Stephen Covey’s Seven Habits. We fought rolling our eyes during your condescending “training” about the need for us to “think win/win” and to “seek first to understand.” Since you took over last year, we’ve never seen you do this even once.

In fact, just this morning I watched you standing near the front office, openly criticizing a coworker without asking for her side of the story. So much for thinking win/win and seeking first to understand.

Not only did you do this in front of other employees, but four customers in the reception area overheard your all-too-typical intimidation. I’m guessing they weren’t too impressed, but if I were a betting man I’d put money on you saying that “they’ll just have to deal with it.” After all, we hear that phrase from you all the time.

And you wonder why some of our customers—and coworkers—leave for the competition?

Haven’t you heard that people follow as they are led? If you would practice what you preach, you might actually get the team effort you keep telling us you want.

While I’m speaking my heart, let me also bring up your iron grip on how decisions are made. Your “my way or the highway” style flies in the face of the “let’s consider all ideas” mantra you were promoting a few months ago. When some of us tried a little brainstorming at one of our planning meetings, you cut us all off at every turn with “that won’t work” and sometimes your famously sarcastic “now that’s a bright idea.”

It doesn’t take but two or three of those zingers for people to stop participating and simply let you decide what you want us to do. And then you wonder why people won’t contribute in meetings anymore.

Everyone on the team thinks you’re messing things up, boss. We used to have a passion for what we do. We were eager to come to work and give it our all. We loved the challenge. But since you became the manager you have squelched every drop of enthusiasm we had. Now we just show up to endure another day and collect our paycheck. It never used to be this way, but basic survival is a strong enough instinct to keep us coming in. Well, for some of us, anyway. I’ll bring up again the fact that some of our best workers have moved on.

One more thing I need to say. You know how you tell us that we’re “replaceable” whenever something happens that you don’t like? First of all, it doesn’t make us want to work harder for you. And second, every one of us believes that even if you do replace us, any energetic new-hires will soon shut down their initiative and passion, the same as we have.

Please think about it, boss, because your current management style is not the best way to get results. Other methods are available, and I guarantee we would respond more positively if you would choose them. All you need to do is choose them.

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June 16, 1:29 pm

Do leaders shape cultures?

Someone recently asked me “Do leaders shape cultures, or do cultures shape leaders?”

My answer is “both.” From one perspective, a leader should be influencing an organization’s culture, otherwise the leader would be a follower (of the culture). For example, while serving aboard a destroyer during my time in the US Navy, I experienced leadership from several different commanding officers. Each influenced the ship’s culture in dramatically different ways.

On the other hand, employees also influence culture. At one company I know, some long-time employees started coordinating elaborate pot-luck going away parties when one of their co-workers retired. The pot-lucks were quite popular and became an integral part of the company’s culture. The leader of that company saw the importance of these rituals, and invested himself in seeing they were well-publicized. He even started devoting funds to help make them more special.

Perhaps one of the biggest problems for companies is when new leaders do not bother to study the corporate culture before trying to influence it. Consider some of Jack Welch’s disciples. Many from his top team were recruited to lead other companies, only to flop because they thought they could transfer the type of culture Welch had created at General Electric.

One Welch protégé, Gary Wendt, took over at Conseco but was unable to grasp its culture. Sure, he issued a lot of corporate memos, but he drove the company into Chapter 11.

Robert Nardelli was the Welch protégé that took over at Home Depot, but failed to grasp the customer-friendly, decentralized culture that had propelled HD to success. By trying to import GE’s centralized, technocratic approach (and cutting costs by increasing the percentage of part-timers), Nardelli alienated customers. The financial result? Home Depot’s stock price spiraled to less than half of its pre-Nardelli value.

I could go on, but you get the point. Leaders should be able to shape their corporate cultures, but they also need to pay close attention to what people like about their culture. It’s got to work for everybody, or it’s not going to work at all.

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June 2, 8:57 am

Do you Assign Blame, or Seek Solutions?

Recently I’ve engaged in several conversations on the subject of blame. The huge oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico is probably what brought it to the forefront, but here are my thoughts on the subject:

Placing blame seems to fulfill a need in people, but it’s a false fulfillment. Think about it — when something goes wrong, the first thing some people do is look for who to blame. Then, once a culprit has been identified, the finger-pointer steps back, smug and satisfied, as if to say “there — I’ve done my job.”

In other words, finding “who to blame” provides some morbid sense of fulfillment … as if a task has been completed. The accompanying sense of accomplishment seems to be satisfying enough that it stalls any efforts to resolve the actual problem.

But the “problem” still remains!

No learning has occurred.
No behaviors have changed.
The optimal end-results have not been achieved.

The “Assign Blame” mentality has no place in effective leadership. A truly fulfilling and much more effective approach is to seek first to resolve the problem. It ought to be common sense . . . but it’s not as common as it ought to be.

The “Seek Solutions” approach is much more effective. Instead of first seeking who to blame, the leader first seeks a resolution to the problem. This approach is effective for problems of all sizes … from oil leaks in the Gulf to a misplaced file or pair of scissors.

Maybe it would help those who choose the Assign Blame approach to remember something many kids hear from their mother: “I don’t care who made the mess, just clean it up.”

Does blame ever play a part? Yes, but only afterwards, and as a springboard for learning. After a problem is solved, a leader needs to ask questions like “what caused the problem,” “what could have been done differently,” and “what will we do in the future to prevent this from happening again?”

Are you the kind of leader who Assigns Blame, or Seeks Solutions? What kind of leader do you want to be?

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