4 Concepts to Develop Your People
Written by Dr. Richard Norris MBA
There is a difference between professional development and people development. Organizations need to have a people development strategy. Initially, they need to consider the 4 Concepts of People Development.
In a tough economy now is the time to develop your people. So …
What is your people development strategy? Notice it is not professional development but people development.
Professional development sees a person in only one dimension – their job. People development looks at that same person as a whole – a sum of specific roles e.g. mother, partner, SVP, PTA and Brownie leader. Ignoring the other roles jeopardizes individual, team and organizational performance and adversely impacts staff retention, costs, profits etc.
People come to work with all their roles. For some, those roles bring with them issues, challenges and distractions. These can adversely affect performance not only for the individual but also across the organization.
To develop your people to their fullest potential and thereby enhance their performance and maximize your ROI, your strategy must be holistic with a role-specific approach. It must encompass the 4 Concepts of People Development™:
The Big Picture
Raise the importance of having a role-specific Big Picture and how it is applied in terms of individual, team and company development.
Peak Performance
Identify what peak performance looks like, thinks like, feels like and behaves like. Establish what Competence, Commitment and the ability to Communicate is requiredand how that is orchestrated by what and how we think.
The Path to Peak Performance
Establish where your organization is on your path. Determine what is holding you back and what needs to be done to overcome those hindrances. Only then can the Peak Performance concept be fully applied.
The 4 Phases of Role-Specific Development
Establish an awareness of the phases you develop through – Hope to Belief to Knowing to Mystery, where you are as an organization right now and where you need to develop your people in order to enhance performance and attract and achieve growth and results.
Investing in and implementing these 4 Concepts through your people development strategy will always enhance performance and attract the best people – after all people like to know they are valued. Additionally, these can also be applied across each person’s life roles so you also create sustainable synergy across all roles. A further key benefit is that you also gain market share over your competition because you value your greatest asset – your people – who are to be protected and invested in to ensure the greatest return.
So create your people development strategy. Your future depends on it! – Dr Richard Norris MBA
Head of Global Development – Lifestyle Architecture-richardnorris@lifestylerchitecture.com
Office: +44 1738 827813-Cell: +44 7786 393110 Copyright 2009
Building a Training Culture
I direct this article toward small businesses that want to develop a training culture, create or access and deliver programs that maximize productivity and profit.
Two facts are important. First, untrained people typically fail or, at best, under-perform. Their mistakes and omissions lower your service level, damage your image in the marketplace and eventually, cost you money. Second, if you don’t devote significant time and resources to building and administering a serious teaching program, building staff skills isn’t easy. So, we have a need to train and a challenge in making it happen.
Below are some practical suggestions that will enable the smallest business to train more effectively.
· Designate someone who cares. Training is a management responsibility. Still, managers may not always be available to deliver training. Rather than try and fail because you are too busy, delegate. Use training as a development tool for your most quality oriented team member. Choose someone who shares you beliefs about doing the job right. While this is the person who will build your training program, he/she need not be an expert. Most of the info you’ll need is readily available. Your ‘trainer’ must focus equally on task completion and on the people who make it happen. Effective and enthusiastic communication is mandatory. Select the trainer accordingly.
· Organize topics in ‘need to know’ sequence. Limit initial training objectives. Begin with the job description. What is it the employee must know or be able to do first? Begin your training there. Teaching in a logical need-to-know sequence, according to job requirements, will improve retention of the information and make more sense on the job. Information I’ll call “nice to know”, while often more interesting to the trainer, tends to reduce clarity for new people and can be confusing. Trainees must understand what is important now.
· Plan training in ‘small bites’. Spend some initial development time re-formatting important but often boring information. Emphasize most important points and critical knowledge in concise, easy to understand ‘bites’ or learning modules. New hires cannot and will not absorb extensive information. Initial training should allow the new hire to begin successfully, accomplishing small tasks, one at a time. Do not attempt to create a subject matter expert in a week or two. Not only is limited ‘small bite’ training easier to absorb and translate to behavior on the job, it is easier for a new trainer to create and deliver.
· Use available and inexpensive resources. In today’s “green industry”, whether your business is focused on design and build, maintenance, landscape or lawn care, the information you need is out there. One of the first tasks for your new ‘trainer’ should be to network with established and respected companies and trainers in the industry. Take advantage of the work others have done to pull together necessary information. You will find most of us are ready to help. Here are other great resources:
*Pesticide safety/use topics – OSHA website and state extension services.
*Environmental stewardshop – EPA websites [federal and state]
*Driver safety – National safety council, local/state police and for profit training producers [“Google” the topic, you’ll be amazed at the choices available].
*Equipment and product use – Manufacturers provide this info in video and written form.
*Plant/pest relationships – Your state extension service is a great resource and all information is free!
*Sales/customer service – “Train the Trainer” seminars can equip your trainer to deliver these topics. Programs are available and can be customized to your needs.
Eco Institution Offers Green Consultant Training
LISTEN to Course Designer KEVIN HOPKINS interview with > QUESTPOINT HERE
SAN DIEGO—The Eco Institution, a San Diego-based environmental education and training firm, today announced the release of a new and enhanced “Green Consultant” certification and training course. The new online course is intended to make it easier than ever before for home-service professionals and other interested individuals to become Certified Green Consultants, and thereafter to deliver “Green Consulting” services to homeowners, businesses, and organizations in their neighborhoods and communities.
The new course builds on and replaces the Eco Institution’s initial Eco Consultant Certification course, which has been offered since early summer. The new course presents more detailed and advanced training content than was included in the original course, and focuses exclusively on strategies for reducing energy use, water use, and utility costs in homes and workplaces. The release of the enhanced course could not be timed more appropriately, as it responds directly to a recent call by the White House “Recovery Through Retrofit” Middle Class Task Force for greatly accelerated training of environmental professionals. The October 2009 report noted that “there are currently not enough skilled workers and green entrepreneurs to expand weatherization and efficiency retrofit programs on a national scale.”
“In recent months, our nation’s mission has become clear,” Kevin R. Hopkins, the course’s co-author, declared upon announcing the new training program. “Energy- and water-conservation efforts will succeed only if they are implemented and driven at the local level. But to achieve that goal, we literally need an ‘army of Green Consultants’ to visit the millions of homes and workplaces in America, and to help their occupants to save energy and water in the most effective and lasting ways possible.
“As a nation, we certainly have the ideas and initiative that this vital objective demands,” emphasized Mr. Hopkins, a Business Week contributing editor who also served as an economic, energy, and environmental advisor in the Reagan White House. “But now we need one thing more: we need the talent. We need people in every neighborhood and in every community in America who possess the knowledge and skills to bring this goal about. And that is exactly what the Eco Institution’s new Certified Green Consultant Course will provide.”
Skyrocket Your Sales And Signups Using Webinars by Kristin Hilton
Did you know that more and more businesses are using webinars to generate prospects?
It’s true. In fact, the use of webinars is growing at a rate of 20-30% each year. But what is a webinar?
“Webinar” is really just another way of saying “web conference”. Webinars are live meetings or presentations held over the internet. Much like a teleconference, each participant sits at their own computer and is connected to the host via the internet
Webinars are conducted using web-based software that is downloaded on each individual computer. The presenter has the ability to control what the participants see on the presentation, and they can communicate through telephone or computer microphone.
Webinars are a wonderful way to boost sales and signups, by simply demonstrating your product or service, and practical uses for them. It sounds simple, but careful planning is essential to hosting a successful webinar. Here are some helpful tips to make sure that your next webinar is a roaring success. 1. Choose Software That Best Meets Your Needs If you simply run a search for “web conference”, search engines will dizzy you with the staggering number of possibilities available. This is where you will need to do your research to see what various applications offer, and which one is best suited to your needs.
Would you like live streaming video or recording capabilities? Each webinar software will boast different features. What would be most useful for your presentation?
Personally, I’m partial to GoToMeeting for its user-friendly interface. GoToMeeting allows up to 15 attendees, and has integrated text chat as well as telephone-based communication. It is extremely simple to use, and each attendee can visit the website and type in the ID number of your webinar to access it. http://www.gotomeeting.com/
2. Schedule an Agreeable Date When you are ready to set the time and date of your webinar, also take into consideration the different time zones and holidays. If you can, it may be best to ask potential attendees what date and time would work best for them.
You may also want to create a webinar registration page on your website, so that anyone who wants to learn more about it can reserve an attendee spot at your webinar. You can also place a poll or comment box on that page, to allow the attendees to let you know of any scheduling inconveniences. 3. Tell Everyone About It!
Now that you have your webinar software and a prospective date, it’s time to spread the word! Promote your webinar through email, phone calls, or even postcards. Be creative—get your customers excited about it!
In your webinar promotions, announce the number of spots allowed. This will create a sense of urgency that will attract more attendees. If you have a larger response than expected, you can send them the date and time of your next webinar.
4. Plan Your Presentation Be sure to prepare a detailed outline of what will be covered. Remember to include adequate time to address questions and concerns during your presentation. I prefer to leave the middle of the presentation as well as at the end open for questions, as this helps me answer most questions as they come.
To keep your webinar organized, use index cards or brief notes to make sure that your presentation flows well. Also, feel free to rehearse your webinar a couple of days in advance if possible. Have an associate attend your rehearsal to gain a different perspective.
5. Send Reminder Notices If your webinar is two weeks away, you can’t expect everyone to attend without a reminder! Constantly remind your attendees of the time and date to assure their presence.
I strongly recommend using this reminder schedule:
1st reminder – One week prior to your webinar • 2nd reminder – Two days prior to your webinar • 3rd reminder – One day prior to your webinar • 4th reminder – The morning of the webinar
6. Ask Your Audience How You Can Improve After your webinar, you’ll want some feedback from your audience. They may have wanted you to expand on one aspect, or go over something that could have been left out. Set up a survey to ask for your attendees’ opinions on content, and suggestions for improvement. You will find these extremely helpful when planning your next webinar! Hosting a well-planned and organized webinar can be a complex process, but it is a very effective tool when training new affiliates or developing sales leads—just by educating the prospect about your program!
-About The Author: Kristin Hilton is the Operations Manager of AdClickMedia.com, an online advertising network and a subsidiary of Multiple Stream Media.–