4 Steps to Maintain Organizational Culture with Freelancers

 

Organizational culture is crucial in creating a workplace where employees can work together as a team and contribute to furthering the company’s values and vision. Maintaining that culture in a shared office space is one thing…but when your freelance employees are scattered all over the country, maybe even the globe, that’s a different story. This management challenge is what I like to call “The Big Whopper.”

What do I mean about the “Big Whopper”? First, take a look at the following common scenario as it relates to freelance workers and organizational culture.

CHALLENGE: THE FREELANCE EMPLOYEE DOES NOT FIT IN WITH THE ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE.

Freelancer’s Perspective: I freelance for a large corporation in Midtown Manhattan. They invited me to a party to celebrate a company milestone (I have no idea what it was) so I thought I should at least pop by for a few minutes. When I walked in, everyone was in corporate attire. I’d been running errands all day in my jeans and a bulky sweater, and was carrying a few shopping bags. No one was engaging me in conversation, so I just had a few cocktails, made some jokes with the Intern (he’s the only one I really communicate with there) and took off. Those people really need to lighten up!    

Manager’s Perspective: We sent out a company-wide invitation to celebrate an important moment in our corporate history. We’d finally broken ground to build a water purification plant for a community that had been drinking increasingly contaminated river water. As an organization, we take our work seriously and believe that if we work as a team with integrity, we can change the world. When my freelance employee, Rebecca, showed up to our celebration honoring six years of hard work coming to fruition, she was not dressed appropriately. She seemed to only come by to have a drink, gossip with our intern, and head out to finish her shopping. The fact that her attitude and behavior didn’t mesh with our organizational culture really stood out. Did I hire the right person?

How could the scenario have been prevented with effective management? Here are four steps that will help maintain organizational culture with freelance workers.

Maintain Organizational Culture When Managing

Freelance Employees with These 4 Steps

Step 1: Organizational Culture Starts with You

Like many management challenges, maintaining organizational culture with freelance employees starts with you. You have to model the desired culture through your actions, behavior and communication style. Make sure that you are dialed in to the organization’s values and vision, and use that as a backbone for all of your freelance worker interactions. If you don’t know what your company stands for, how will your freelancers know?

Step 2: Keep Organizational Culture in Mind During the Hiring Process

When going through the hiring process, always keep your company’s vision and values in mind. If your organization values teamwork, hiring a very independent freelancer may not be a good fit. When looking at potential freelance candidates, don’t just look for matching skills and experience. Be sure to include questions that will gauge if they are a good cultural fit as well.

Step 3: Take Time to Integrate Your Freelance Employee into the Organization

Just because your freelance worker isn’t physically in the office does not mean that they don’t need the same thoughtful onboarding that you give in-house employees. Since freelancers work remotely, you can’t shuttle them around from introduction to introduction with an orientation packet in their hands; however, there are other things you can do.

• Pair your freelancer with a seasoned employee who embodies your organizational culture. After an initial introduction, tell your freelancer that they can turn to this employee with any questions they may have.
• Create a photo and bio sheet to distribute to freelance workers. This allows them to take a virtual walk through the office by putting faces to names. This also helps identify the roles of fellow in-house employees, which will help in collaborative projects.
• If possible, invite your freelance workers to the office. Let them experience first hand what your culture looks and feels like.

Step 4: Make Your Freelance Worker Feel Part of Your Team

Have you ever felt like a complete outsider at work? It’s not very motivating. Often, that’s how freelancers feel. It takes effort to make them feel they are part of a team that they rarely, if ever, see. Here are some ways you can do so:

• Keep your freelance employee informed about “what they are part of.” For example, if they have to create a massive Excel spreadsheet of film festivals in Chicago, let them know why. If the freelancer knew that the company produced a transformational documentary on the water crisis and that the spreadsheet would help market the film, she would feel more aligned with the company’s mission.
• Create large goals that remind freelancers who the company is and where it is going. Using the scenario above, an example of a large goal might be, “Provide clean drinking water to every human being in South America by 2017.” With that goal stated and reiterated, it is easier for in-house and freelance employees to feel part of the company’s mission.
• Be open with your freelancers about achievements and failures alike. When a freelancer works hard on a project and never hears if it had any impact on the company goals, it’s difficult for her to feel part of the team.
• If you send company holiday cards or host holiday parties, don’t forget to include your freelance employees.

Now, let’s revisit the scenario above and examine how the problem could have been avoided.

SOLUTION: If Rebecca’s manager had embodied the company culture in their previous interactions, Rebecca would have known what to expect at the event. If, during the interview process, Rebecca’s manager had spoken to her about her interest in community and the environment, she would have a better idea if Rebecca was a good fit for an organization that values those things. Additionally, by having Rebecca primarily communicate with the intern (obviously not a seasoned member of the organization), she didn’t have a chance to be integrated into the company culture. So while Rebecca’s manager did include her in the company event, it ended up being an unpleasant experience for both of them.

Organizational culture is dynamic. As the centerpiece of culture among your organization’s workforce, you can make a tremendous impact. Start with yourself and take time in selecting and nurturing your freelance workforce. Above all else—remember that talent is not expendable, in-house or not.

Now that we’ve talked about communication challenges with freelance workers, how to facilitate effective collaborations between in-house and freelance teams, and explored ways to increase the likelihood of freelance employees meeting goals and making deadlines, do you feel confident you could successfully manage freelance employees? What challenges are you most wary of?

Tell us about it with a comment below, in an email, or on Twitter. Let’s get ready for the future of work together.

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Three Tips to Manage Constant Change

Let’s face it. It’s a stressful time for everyone right now. As someone who likes to plan, I feel particularly assaulted. I just get used to a new norm, and another change occurs immediately. For example, I went through three changes within 12 hours for my daughter’s school; first it was school as usual, then closed for one day, then closed for 2 weeks and finally closed for 4 weeks. Talk about whiplash! The same happened with my parent’s retirement center; within hours, I was able to visit them, then couldn’t visit them and finally I could visit them if dropping off essential supplies. And let’s not even talk about work schedules, client meetings and workplace priorities changing hourly.

So how does a planner cope with this constant barrage of changes? I’ll admit that I didn’t handle it well at first. I’m a stress eater and was eating peanut butter straight out of the jar; last Friday I had sweet potato fries, toast and ice cream for dinner! I also sat on the couch instead of working out. And I constantly checked my phone, hoping to connect with people, yet feeling oddly isolated.

As I say in the first line of my first book, “If you’re not changing, you’re dying.” I truly believe that. Yet, believing it and living it are two different things. So if you’re feeling like me, here are three tips that might help you navigate the constant change that is our new norm.

Three Tips to Manage Constant Change

1. Plan Your Day, Not Your Week

I love to plan weeks ahead of time; I know every aspect of our family schedule for the next month. Just ask me and I’ll tell you when the next orthodontist appointment is; if I don’t know immediately, I can find the answer within a minute on my phone. Planning gives me a sense of false control, a way to make sense of the chaos of our family life.

Yet, with so many changes nowadays, it’s not possible to plan a month out, let alone a week. So I’ve adapted and now just plan one day at a time. I can still write a plan and cross off tasks, which gives me satisfaction without the anxiety of tomorrow’s changes. I often say “One day at a time” to my coaching clients, meaning that they will master a new skill or behavior by practicing one day at a time. It’s time I brought that lesson home.

Be sure to plan your work environment too. If you have to go to work in times of stress and uncertainty, be mindful and gentle with yourself. If a cup of tea, soothing music or aromatherapy helps relieve stress, bring supplies to create a safe environment for yourself. Remember the airplane oxygen mask rule: take care of yourself first so you can help others.

2. Move Your Body

Regardless if I can leave the house or not, or if our gym is closed, I can still move my body to keep the energy flowing. I finally dragged myself off the couch yesterday and started to work out. I’ll admit it was not my best workout since I was watching a movie while on the elliptical; however, I started to feel better. My next workout was better, realizing that moving my body moved my energy.

It’s also important to move your breathing in times of stress. Try the 4-7-8 breathing tip, which means you inhale for 4 seconds, hold for 7 seconds and exhale for 8 seconds. This type of breathing forces your mind to focus on the breath, rather than the millions of worries in your head. If done regularly, it can help decrease your stress.

3. Help Others

No matter how bad you think you have it right now, others have it worse. Food insecure families are challenged with school closures, medical professionals are working 24/7 and hourly employees are cash strapped without their regular work shifts. So help others to help yourself. Don’t know how? Donate food to your local food pantry, volunteer to drop off supplies to those in need or send a thank you note to your medical professional. These small steps will help you and those in your community get through this difficult time together.

Speaking of which, check in with your loved ones regularly right now. I come from a huge family. I’m the youngest of 8 kids; there are 55 of us at family reunions, including spouses, grandkids and great grandkids. My siblings and I agreed to talk at 7pm every Sunday night for the next few weeks, to check in on each other. I groan because I’d rather tune out and isolate on the couch. Yet, I always feel better when the call ends. So text, call or email someone you love today. It’ll help everyone deal with constant change.

I’d love to hear how you are coping in these stressful times. What is working for you and what is not?

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

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Building and Leading Cross Functional Teams – A Navy Boot Camp Instructor’s Perspective – Part 2

In our previous post, we introduced what we find to be an extremely effective team building model – Tuckman’s Model. It involves four phases, forming, storming, norming, and performing. Each of these phases is necessary for the team to grow, overcome challenges, and deliver results. To read this in detail, check out part-one of our series on Building and Leading Cross Functional Teams.

Today we are going to discuss Adair’s Model to illustrate leadership processes, and a Cross Functional Team Integration concept.

Action Centered Leadership, Adair’s Model

At Recruit Training Command (RTC), everything is biased toward action.  John Adair’s Action-Centered Leadership™ illustrate how tasks are achieved and how the teams and individuals are managed.  According to Adair, the task, team, and individuals have six core functions:

1.    Planning

2.    Initiating

3.    Controlling

4.    Supporting

5.    Informing

6.    Evaluating,

All of these are vital to achieve the common goal.  How did we use Adair’s model for RTC team leaders?

The Task Circle

John Adair identifies the responsibilities for “task” as the vision, mission, and purpose for the group. At RTC, training is the purpose, graduation is mission or the common goal, and excellence is the vision. Achieving the task, or series of tasks, is different for each team and individual, and is necessary to complete the task circle. The three teams, Recruit, RDC, and support, each have their own tasks with purpose, resources, and processes to follow. A recruit’s task is to learn, including learning to rely on each other, and complete every requirement to graduate. RDC’s task is to ensure strict discipline and present a pristine example of leadership, while facilitating completion of all requirements. The support team’s task is to help execute the schedule, fill in gaps as needed, and demonstrate exemplary standards. As the training timeline progresses, the task circle is completed.

The Individual Circle

It is important for each leader to understand the team members as individuals. The responsibilities for the individuals are to visualize the goal, maintain perspective, be supportive, perform in key roles, earn rewards, complete training, and develop as individuals and as team members.  For the Recruits, it is imperative they remain aware of why they volunteered for RTC.  The RDCs find creative ways to motivate, train, and develop recruits.  Support staff focus on recruits, RDCs, and themselves.

The Team Circle

Dynamics at RTC are similar for each team, with differing perspectives.  The recruit team, RDC team, and support teams are defined by their culture, roles, communication, performance, cooperation, and capabilities.  By design, recruits experience challenges such as swim qualification, physical fitness tests, weapons familiarization, academic tests, firefighting and shipboard casualty training events which culminate in a 12-hour overnight capstone event called Battle Stations.  RDCs face unique and often repetitive situations in their teams, such as recruit health and family issues, scheduling changes due to weather, and division performance.  The support team evolves slowly as team members are added and removed over time, and whose culture is primarily established through the training command’s directives and influence.  Through adversity and resolution, each team assumes an identity, standards, and style which forms the team circle. 

As noted by Adair and observed to be true at RTC, achieving the Task, Developing the Team, and Developing Individuals are mutually dependent, as well as essential to the overall leadership role. So how did the three teams work as cross functioning teams?

Cross Functioning Team Integration

Cross functioning teams are defined as a group of people with different functional expertise working toward a common goal. RDCs, recruits, and support staff teams are comprised of a leader and key people in contributing roles. The cross functional model below displays how we worked as cross functional teams.

Recruit Teams

The recruit teams are a division of up to 88 individuals, ages 17-34, from the United States and overseas, with unique skills, abilities, and motivations.  From the first day, recruits are assigned real and functional leadership positions complementing their skills and abilities; the roles were leader, assistant and specialists; responsible tasks included laundry, mail, medical and more.  These assignments help introduce rank, structure, and instill leadership qualities that last a lifetime.  After eight weeks of training, recruits are tested in the final evolution problem, called Battle Stations.  Those who succeed earn the title of United States Sailor and go on to the next phase in their career.

RDC Teams

There are typically three RDCs per division.  One is established as the lead.  Each has nearly half a career’s worth of fleet experience in addition to their own personal skills, RTC experience, and occupational expertise.  All are trained to be interchangeable and can operate with any division of recruits as necessary.  Some RDCs will perform inspections as practice for other divisions, as well as give advice or training to recruits and RDCs from other divisions.  They rely on each other to meet daily requirements.  Family time, personal life, and extracurricular activities are often sacrificed for team responsibilities and the common goal.  This sacrifice doesn’t come without reward, however.  The recruit training and leadership development experience results in the highest promotion rates, nearly double, of any enlisted occupation in the Navy.

Support Teams

Underneath the overarching command structure at RTC, the layer of support leadership is vital to success.  In short, they are a finely tuned hierarchy of leaders who are specially trained to help in any given situation.  By design these leaders occupy the “hold” positions.  They are experienced RDCs who are strategically positioned with the massive number of employees to ensure smooth daily operations at RTC.  This cadre of leaders are experienced and possess a keen understanding of even the most unique problems.

Cross Functioning Team Interaction

From recruits leading other recruits, to RDCs facilitating daily routines, to leadership support teams providing solutions, the Navy’s Recruit Training Command has been at the forefront of modern leadership practices, refining and redefining the basics of leadership and management for Sailors. Each team is trained and designated to communicate and interact within their teams and across other teams for the good of the Navy. The teams together operate like a machine toward a common goal.

The Team Interaction model shows how independent, cross-functioning, teams connect and influence each other directly and indirectly. Each team’s connection is dynamic, which means multiple points of connection between teams. While their responsibilities may differ, they are part of the same organization and contribute to its mission in ways that correlate to each other. For example, recruit divisions interact with RDC teams and support teams. Support teams interact with RDCs and organization management teams. The curriculum development team may never interact directly with the recruit division but has a certain effect on their mission and performance. Meanwhile, all the teams within an organization move forward at varying paces toward a common vision, mission, and purpose.

Three Tips to Successfully Manage Cross Functioning Teams

Here are a few tips to build and manage successful cross functioning and interactive teams, along with three important ingredients (Communication, Common Goal, and Rewards).

Tip 1:  Communication is essential to all members and teams for the duration of the task.  Make the organization’s vision, mission, and purpose ubiquitous.  Encourage familiarity within the organization to facilitate engagement between team members, and teams.  You can do this by scheduling team activities, sharing the history of the organization, creating events focused on the purpose of the organization, and by structuring teams in a way that promotes reliance on another team for success. 

Tip 2:  Teams must be focused on a never-changing common goal, and even small goals leading up to it.  Scheduling is key to accomplishing this, but even more important is to never “move the goal posts”.  Ensure your goals are solid and cannot be easily moved or changed.  Make smaller goals, which can be adjusted within reason, part of the larger goal.

Tip 3:  Having a rewards system in place from the beginning, to avoid extra work at the end, is a great way to create additional incentive and foster motivation.  Aside from monetary, time, and personal rewards, you may wish to offer a certification, or a title upon completion.  A hand-written letter or note for meaningful and important work is also valuable.  Small rewards for completing small goals are also highly encouraged.  Sometimes a verbal “thank you” is just enough to demonstrate gratitude and appreciation from the team or organization. 

What teams do you have in your organization? Have you assembled the right team? Is the team focused on a common goal? Does your communication system allow you to interact with other teams effectively and efficiently? Is there a reward system in place? Does your organization have a higher purpose?

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.

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A Guide to Developing, Managing, and Executing Effective Training Programs

Have you been tasked with developing an employee training program? Are you interested in identifying training costs and the criteria for an effective training program?

Read on as we provide answers to some of the most common training program questions, including a detailed overview and useful tips. Whether you’re conducting a training program yourself or simply learning more about the subject, we hope you find it helpful.

Table of Contents:

• What is a training program?
• What’s the purpose of a training program?
• What’s the difference between training program and workshops, webinars, facilitation and keynotes?
• What is a management development program and a leadership development program?
• How do I determine which topic is best for my organization?
• Do I need to hire an outsider to do the workshop or do I need to train myself?
• Is training better in person?
• What’s the ROI of an employee development program?
• What’s the 70/20/10 model?
• What should I expect when asking a vendor to help my organization?
• What are typical topics a vendor could provide?
• How far in advance do I need to plan?
• How do I know the vendor can provide what I need?
• How do I measure success?
• How can I learn more?

What is a training program?

A training program is designed to train employees in the specific skills they need to grow in their career. These programs are usually over a duration of time and based on organizational competencies. Since there are different employment skills needed throughout a career, the employee development programs will also vary to match the specific skill sets.

What’s the purpose of a training program?

The purpose of a training program is to serve as a guideline for employee development. When employees are empowered to grow and learn, they are more likely to remain with the employer.

What’s the difference between training program and workshops, webinars, facilitation and keynotes?

Workshops, webinars, facilitations and keynotes are all tools used within a training program. They are sometimes used as one-off events; usually, they are combined to create a diverse learning structure over time.

Below are general guidelines of what to expect for each tool:

• Workshops: half day to multiple days, in person, interactive, ranging from 20-50 people, with the objective to interactively learn information
• Facilitations: half day to multiple days, in person, interactive, ranging from 20-50 people, with the objective to bring group consensus and decisions amongst the participants
• Keynotes: 45-60 minutes, in person, minimal interaction, ranging from 50-2000 people, with the objective to share knowledge (often referred to as ‘Sage on a Stage’)
• Webinars: 60-120 minutes, online (with or without video), varying interactivity, ranging from 10-1000 people (depending on the platform), with the objective to interactively teach information to a remote audience

Download our summary guide here!

For example, if you are tasked to create a coaching employee training program, where all 500 employees know the basics of coaching and use coaching skills consistently, you could facilitate a half-day session with the HR team to create alignment with the coaching objectives and organizational mission. Once that is clarified, a 9-month developmental program could be devised that included one keynote for all employees to understand the macro concepts of coaching, followed by 10 workshops for 50 people to learn how to coach. Follow up webinars would be the next step, to help people reinforce the skills they learned in the coaching workshops. At the conclusion of the 9 months, all employees would have heard a macro keynote on the topic, been trained in the workshop and had time to reinforce the lessons learned through a webinar, creating coaching skills to be used consistently within the organization.

What is a management development program and a leadership development program?

Management development programs (MDP) and leadership development programs (LDP) are similar to the training program described above. The difference is the specificity of the audience (management or leadership team) and the identified topics needed to become an effective manager or leader. In addition, the cohort stays together throughout the entire time; for example, if an organization has 10 managers, that group of 10 managers will meet together in the workshop or webinar throughout the entire duration of the program. Finally, MDPs and LDPs often include a capstone exercise where small groups within the cohort need to develop a solution to an organizational problem, using the skills they learned. Watch the video here to learn more about our Performance Leadership Program.

How do I determine which topic is best for my organization?

For effective training, we must know what the employee needs. This need should also be aligned with the organizational vision and mission, which requires foundational work. And in order to do that work, competencies must first be established.

Sometimes referred to as ‘KSA’s, competencies are the things people need to know (knowledge), do (skills) and have (abilities) to be successful in a specific role. Competencies can be grouped into technical, foundational and leadership areas. They are defined by specific behaviors that describe what that competency would look like if someone was using it effectively. These behaviors are often laid out across a proficiency scale so the employee can clearly assess her current behaviors and understand what behaviors are needed for the next level.

Some examples of competencies are problem-solving, conflict management, technical skills and speaking up. While some competencies will be applied to every employee, others are role dependent. The CEO of a large organization likely won’t need to have specific technical competencies, and a coder on the tech team likely wouldn’t need to be competent in sales communication.

Once competencies are defined, the next thing to do is identify five clearly defined proficiency levels. For example, for problem-solving skills, level one might be, ‘asks questions and looks for information to identify and differentiate the symptoms and causes of every day, defined problems’. Level five might be, ‘anticipates problem areas and associated risk levels with objectivity; uses formal methodologies to forecast trends and define innovative strategies in response to the implications of options; and gains approval from senior leadership to solutions of multi-faceted problems’.

After competencies and proficiency levels are clearly defined, the next steps are:

1. Determine the expected proficiencies by job position.
2. Assess the employee’s competencies using a standardized process, on a regular basis. Competing an assessment will help the leader know which competencies to focus on for future leadership training.
3. Aggregate the identified competencies and assess which ones are best for the cohort in mind.
4. Develop a training program based on those competency topics.
5. Track progress using accountability measures in the leadership development training.

Read in depth about each step here.

Using this process will prevent your training program from failing. You’re developing training programs because you are invested in employee development. If you’re willing to make that investment, it’s worth doing the foundational work necessary to create effective training that elevates your employees.

Do I need to hire an outsider to do the workshop or do I need to train myself?

It depends. Do you have in-house talent and capacity to complete steps 1-5 above?  If you do, then build a plan and allocate resources to do the work. If you don’t, then an outside vendor may be what you need to complete the work.

Is training better in person?

Again, it depends. In person training programs might be best if the skill being developed needs to be verbally practiced with other people, such as coaching, giving feedback, or crucial conversations. However, small group sessions can be just as effective using video technology, avoiding travel costs.

What’s the ROI of an employee development program?

Simply put: a better prepared employee is a more productive employee. According to the Association of Talent Development (ATD), companies that invest in training employees see a 218% higher income per employee than companies that don’t.

We know that a manager cannot motivate an employee to improve; that has come from within the employee. However, managers can create the learning environment for employees to grow. How? The first step is to take an inventory of the current staff, using a consistent assessment tool such as a 360-degree assessment, with an objective lens to collect skills data. This full assessment will provide two sets of data in one assessment: strengths and areas to grow. This 360 view lets managers begin to leverage the strengths in their staff; it also shows the delta between the strengths and weaknesses, so you can create the best strategy to improve the team.

The next step is to understand how adults learn. The 70/20/10 model (pronounced – seventy, twenty, ten) for employee development is one effective tool to leverage the current talents of your staff and build stronger teams, which increases the organizational bottom line.

What’s the 70/20/10 model?

Before we explain how the 70/20/10 model can help you develop career goals, let’s look at three types of learning strategies: pedagogy, andragogy and heutagogy. Pedagogy, known as “teach-centered”, is typically used where the student learns from one direction: teacher to student. Andragogy, known as “student-centered”, is when the student learns from two directions: teacher to student and student to student. Finally, heutagogy, known as “self-directed”, is how students learn from multi-directional perspectives: teacher to student, student to teacher, student to student, inside and outside of the learning environment; with heutagogy, the student sets goals and expectations, based on their experiences. The 70/20/10 model includes all three types of learning strategies.

Most of us immediately think about the costs of going to back to school to learn new things. The 70/20/10 model shows how you can learn something new, in many cases, without spending a dime. The model says that the best learning uses pedagogy, andragogy and heutagogy, where you spend 10% of your time learning from a teacher, 20% of your time learning through others and 70% of your time learning experientially. Click here to learn more about this model.

What should I expect when asking a vendor to help my organization?

At first, the vendor will likely ask for:

• Multiple conversations with the organizational point of contact, so the vendor can better understand the objectives and organizational culture.
• Up to three calls with an organizational employee or stakeholder, so the vendor can better understand the objectives and organizational culture.
• A conversation about material preparation (slide decks, handouts, other supplies)

What are typical topics a vendor could provide?

We provide keynotes and workshops on these topics:

Coaching

1. Coaching for Managerial Success
2.  Career Coaching
3.  Coaching Skills to Motivate your Team for Peak Performance

Communication

1. Crucial Conversations
2. Listening Skills
3. Providing Feedback
4. Presentation Skills
5. Facilitation Skills

Diversity and Inclusion

1. Unconscious Bias and You
2. Leading Diversity for Improved Performance
3. Engage Every Age

Human Capital Management

1. Workforce Transformation: Oversight of Human Capital Strategy
2. HR and People Analytics

Leadership

1. Influencing without Authority
2. Strength-based Leadership
3. Leadership Development for Supervisors
4. Organizational Polarity
5. Values Based Leadership
6. Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Empowering Women
7. Workforce of the Future: Preparing Leaders for the Workforce of the Future
8. Problem Solving: Thinking Differently to Solve Problems Faster
9. Managing Conflict

Other

1. Delegation
2. Emotional Intelligence: Improve Your Team’s EI to Improve the Bottom Line
3. Energy Management and Stress Reduction
4. Mentoring
5. Managing Constant Change
6. Prioritization for Success
7. Building the Teams of Tomorrow Today

How far in advance do I need to plan?

A brand new training program will likely take 1-2 months to develop, including clarifying objectives, identifying the cohort, developing curriculum, creating the communications and designing each workshop, webinar and other tools.

In general, training programs work best when employees are fully present, so August and December are not recommended training months. Often training programs run from September-June (skipping December) or January-July. However, be sure to avoid busy times for your organization such as January-April for tax accountants.

How do I know the vendor can provide what I need?

Training and development programs require specific skills, including Instructional Systems Design (ISD), so ask about the vendor’s ISD background.

In addition, ask for client references and be sure to call those references. Finally, ask for case studies that include specific measures of success.

How do I measure success?

The objective of an employee development program is to develop new skills and behaviors, which can be measured. Some common metrics include:

• Absence rate
• Cost per hire time to fill
• Turnover costs
• Vacancy rate
• Human capital return on investment (ROI)
• Training return on investment (ROI)

How can I learn more?

Check out our free summary paper on training and development here. Or contact us here.

Let’s share experiences. Leave a comment below, send me an email, or find me on Twitter.