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Western Leadership Centre Inc.

Amp up your Training Programs Comments Off

One of the challenges in any training environment is getting participants to transport the skills learned in the class room to the work environment.  Over the past 24 years we have used many methods to affect this transfer.  Two years ago considered Daniel Pink’s work on autonomy, mastery and purpose with the general needs of the Generation Y and Millennials and came up with a novel approach to assist in the learning transfer.  It worked very well.

What did we do?

Participants worked with senior VPs and the President to identify key issues, to find a solution and take action.  The senior people listened, made recommendations, acted as mentors and provided the resources to solve the concern.

At the end of the term, the participants and the senior people evaluated the success of the project, made recommendations and observations about the process, relationships and results. This evaluation was shared with other groups.   This project was supported the learning topics of trust, time management, effective dialogue, and giving and receiving feedback.

The participants developed a better relationship with the senior people and with others outside their functional area, knew that the senior people had heard their concerns and took them seriously.  The senior people made more connections throughout the firm, understood issues affecting the firm and established mentoring relationships. The surprise outcome was development of 17 innovative ideas for solving technical, process, or relationship concerns.

Posted on: 09-23-2011
Posted in: growth

People that companies fight to keep Comments Off

Does your attitude create a positive impact on others? Do you add value to the financial stability, success and growth of your organization? Do you take charge of your personal life? How can each one of us be more effective and valued employees, whether front line or executive? Who do you like to work with? Where do you get the best service?

Connie Podesta and Jean Gatz posed a hypothetical situation to over 900 decision makers including CEO’s, managers, human resource directors and business owners: “You have 2 employees, both technically competent, but the current economic situation dictates that you can keep just one of them.  What characteristics or abilities do you look for to determine which employee will stay and which will go… which one would you fight to keep?”

The answers were in seven areas:

  • Have a Positive Attitude – your attitudes, behaviours and performance are related
  • Take Personal Accountability – your job helps your company either make money or save money
  • Maintain Work/Life Balance – your personal life affects your professional life
  • Adapt to Change – become a change agent
  • Be Productive – despite the distractions
  • Communicate well – be open, honest and assertive
  • Look for Leadership Opportunities – outside of your position

Developing these characteristics and abilities would guarantee you “staying employable” with those decision makers throughout your career.

Posted on: 09-19-2011
Posted in: leadership

Are you engaged at work? Comments Off

At WLCI, we consistently encounter folks who are extremely competent at what they do, can articulate their company’s mission and purpose, but lack confidence to act at work. Why? Most say it is a lack of feedback from their leaders; they never quite understand what the unwritten rules are, and how to achieve success for themselves, their boss and their company. Do you get the right amount of feedback to gain confidence in what you do? Are you engaged right now? Most of the time? Often enough?

When the Gallup organization asked “Do you have have the opportunity to do what you do best at work?” a few years ago, it introduced to the world the term ”Employee Engagement”, words that still reverberate throughout organizations everywhere. Unfortunately, the Gallup organization found that only 20% of people world-wide said “Yes” to the question, and it was independent of economic strata, education or location. People that answered “Yes” were called “Engaged”, about 60% of people were termed “Disengaged”, and another 20% were “Actively Disengaged”. (The numbers were marginally better in North America.) Have you ever worked with someone who was actively disengaged? It almost gives you a shiver of “sabotage” to contemplate!

Marcus Buckingham, now with his namesake organization, introduced three conditions of “Engagement”:

  1. People are competent. They know what to do and are able to use their skills and abilities at work.
  2. People are focused. They know “the why” of their work, the direction and the big picture.
  3. People are confident. They have the confidence to apply their skills in the focused direction.

Buckingham suggested that if these three conditions existed, people were “Engaged” at work. Great selection and constant training creates Competence. Great Managers create a Focus about the work to be done, and Great Leaders inspire Confidence to take action.

Has there been a time in your career when you felt less than Engaged? Which of the three conditions was missing?

Posted on: 09-19-2011
Posted in: ideas

Happy People = More Money Comments Off

Most people would agree that satisfied employees positively impact the financial performance of an organization. Few know how much. David Maister, in his book “Practice what you Preach” researched and measured the impact that “Satisfied Employees” have on the bottom line. He created a “causal model” that shows the relationships of seven factors that cause this success.

He also concluded that a 10-15 percent improvement in Employee Satisfaction (as described by the elements in the causal model) will cause a 42 percent improvement in financial performance. That is a staggering result! These elements can guide managers where to put their efforts to focus and shore up the apparent areas of dissatisfaction.

If you look back at your career “dissatisfaction points”, you may have found that one or two of these factors were missing. That may have lead to lower performance or even a job change. How satisfied are you now? What’s missing? Chances are it’s in those seven elements? What needs to be addressed to help you to be more productive and successful in what you do?

From WLCI’s perspective, we do not have influence on our client’s compensation and standards of work (2 of the causal model elements). However, we do seek to incorporate the remaining 5 factors in every project, ensuring our clients have more satisfied employees for their involvement with us!

Posted on: 09-17-2011
Posted in: leadership