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Employee Training – Creating Star Players to Develop a Stronger Customer Base

August 9, 2010 By Gail Leave a Comment

Employee Training – Creating Star Players to Develop a Stronger Customer Base

By Tony Jacowski

Employee training is not as simple as picking up a book, suggesting someone read the contents, and report back to you. It is an interactive process between the employee, the training team and management as a whole. The first step in developing a plan that will work for your company is assessing your needs. The bigger picture must be looked at and the question asked…will this benefit us and how? Once the needs are determined, get your management team on board.

Trends in Outsourcing

August 8, 2010 By Gail 1 Comment

Trends in Outsourcing

By Ali Morakabi

Although outsourcing is not a newly introduced phenomenon it is as old as human kind itself and during this last decade or so it has become more of a mainstream method of employment and business.

Outsourcing traces back to different eras and periods of the business and industrial evolution, concerning different sectors. However historians agree that the latest and largest wave of outsourcing trend came with the revolution of IT technology and the need of manufacturing hi-tech items, including computers and electronic equipment.

One of the most crucial moments in the history and evolution of outsourcing services was the dot com boom and the significant increase of e-commerce possibilities. In present times there is practically nothing that cannot be outsourced, with BPO expanding in fields like IT and ITES outsourcing, security, monitoring, administration and even commerce.

Evaluating Others is Not Just For Those Dreaded Performance Appraisals

August 6, 2010 By Gail 1 Comment

Evaluating Others is Not Just For Those Dreaded Performance Appraisals

By Leanne Hoagland-Smith

Many organizations have a performance appraisal process in place to formally evaluate the results from the demonstrated behaviors specific to pre-determined and agreed to goals. However, this formal evaluation is just on aspect of the talent intelligence of evaluating others.

This is ability is truly about being able to make judgments or discernments. These decisions are based upon looking at a individual's:

Strengths
Weaknesses
Manner of thinking
Specific actions
Behavioral tendencies

Being able to evaluate extend beyond knowledge of the current role, responsibilities and expectations. This is far much about being able to observe without any predetermined thought or assumptions. Unfortunately, since the word judgeship is involved, this creates a negative impression.

Years ago, the author Kurt Vonnegut wrote a short story about the future entitled Harrison Bergeron. Within this story, discernment took on a very negative connotation. People would not allowed to evaluate others. This results in good looking people walking around with bags on their heads to smart people having electronic shocks implanted into their heads.

Today, in many cases, judgment is still considered a negative action or behavior. Yet we make discernments from the moment we awaken to when we return to those nice and comfy covers. These evaluative decisions may range from what clothes should be worn given the weather and schedule to what person to contact. Maybe this negative reaction to this talent is also due to years of negative conditioning as well as to experiences from all of those gotcha tests.

People who successfully demonstrate this talent intelligence can differentiate the essential components or factors of a person's job performance and then accurately forecast future performance specific to the same job or when a new task is assigned without bias or prejudice. This capacity relies on intuitive or gut decision making.

Those who are weak in this capacity may need more time to determine whether the performance was acceptable. They may also require additional support both in data and through mentoring or coaching.

The behaviors associated with this talent intelligence of evaluating others might be: [Read more...]

Filed Under: Performance Management, Uncategorized Tagged With: employee Performance appraisals, evaluating others is not just for those dreaded performance appraisals, future performance specific, good looking people, gut decision making, leanne hoagland-smith partners, performance appraisal, performance appraisal process, Performance Appraisals, stronger competitive advantage

Leadership – For Better CSR

August 6, 2010 By Gail 1 Comment

Leadership – For Better CSR

by Tim Pascoe

It's unusual to read something balanced and practical about CSR. Activists want business to carry the wrap for everything. Apologists limit it to immediate operating activities and what the law requires. True, the primary responsibility is to sell sound products that people want, employ and reward fairly and act honesty and responsibly. But, the authors of a recent HBR article offer an insightful approach to the boundary issue of what is and isn't a company's responsibility? They make this erstwhile no-man's land a fertile ground for corporate creative thinking and commercial good sense.

There is a Need to Focus on Better Customer Service Training

August 4, 2010 By Gail 1 Comment

There is a Need to Focus on Better Customer Service Training

By Peter L Mitchell

The increasing emphasis on customer service is unrelenting and as a result is in danger of causing confusion. Unfortunately, service is measured by the customers' subjective experience of feeling served.

This is normally coupled with a sterner measure of whether or not a product was delivered to specification. The biggest issue in customer service is the subjective opinion of the customers. What is a high quality service to one customer is not necessarily regarded as a high quality service to another. This means that training is very much a hit and miss affair because each customer really needs to be dealt with individually and that is not always possible.

The Key to Surviving the Recession – Invest in current Staff

August 1, 2010 By Gail 1 Comment

The Key to Surviving the Recession – Invest in current Staff

By Alistair Bromhead

In a period of financial belt tightening, it is important to try and cut down on unnecessary expenditure and become more efficient as a business. Staff are an obvious target for cutbacks, whether it means reducing numbers, stopping scheduled training or reducing hours.

However, one way to save money in the long run is to train staff so that they can become skilled in various aspects of business. If one member of staff can be trained to perform two jobs, then it is cheaper and more beneficial to the company and the member of staff to do so. The company will save money in the long run, and the member of staff will become more valuable to the business. One example of how this could work is by training existing staff in how to train others.

Verbal Aikido: 7 Ways to Handle Difficult Customers

July 27, 2010 By Gail 1 Comment

Verbal Aikido: 7 Ways to Handle Difficult Customers

By Myra Golden

In my live complaint resolution seminars, I demonstrate the martial art Aikido and offer it as a strategy for diffusing anger. I began teaching this unconventional approach to managing conflict after having my breath taken away as I watched Steven Segal effortlessly defeat his opponents without violence or aggression in half a dozen of his movies.

Aikido is a nonviolent martial art that never meets force with force and can be applied to conflict situations with demanding, irate or unreasonable customers. (I've personally applied Aikido to situations with customers, employees and co-workers.) Using the principles of Aikido, you too can diffuse anger and demonstrate amazing control over all aspects of verbal attacks.

People using "verbal aikido" can respond to heated situations directly and assertively without being pulled into the drama of the battle and they can lay the foundation for win-win resolutions that maintain the customer's loyalty – even with angry customers. Here are 7 Aikido principles that will help you more effectively respond to anger.

5 PowerPoint Pitfalls

July 11, 2010 By Gail Leave a Comment

5 PowerPoint Pitfalls

by EN Jio

PowerPoint has become the visual aid of choice for most professional presentations. It's fast, efficient and gives you a single platform to present a number of different elements including images, graphs, even audio or video files. However, if used incorrectly, PowerPoint can be the death of your presentation. You can lose or confuse your audience – or even yourself!

Here are some of the most common PowerPoint pitfalls to keep in mind:

Training Management Systems – What Exactly Do They Do?

July 10, 2010 By Gail 1 Comment

Training Management Systems – What Exactly Do They Do?

By Albert Lilly

Keeping on top of your organisation's training requirements can be a demanding task – particularly if you operate in a highly regulated industry that calls for strict compliance from employees and operations.

Training management systems essentially simplify the process of training staff, whether for compliance purposes or simply for employee/business development.

These systems can allow you to automate your compliance training management processes to ensure that you, and your employees, never fall foul of regulatory requirements.

Working Remotely Won’t Work Without Top-Notch Business Communication Skills

July 9, 2010 By Gail 1 Comment

Working Remotely Won't Work Without Top-Notch Business Communication Skills

By Linda Finkle

So many organizations have remote teams, multiple locations or employees working virtually these days. It seemed time to write an article on how to make working remotely work. I want to state right up front that I have zero knowledge of the technology needed or what kinds of processes or procedures remote workers require. What I do know is that for individuals or teams who work remotely to be effective, top-notch business communication skills are required for everyone. All the technology in the world won't make up for ineffective or poor communication skills.

In fact, top-notch business communication skills are more critical when working remotely than if everyone is in the same location. Remotely you don't have the advantage of body language, of catching someone in the hall to ask a quick question, of popping into someone's office for quick conversation or to show them progress or get their opinion.

Should You Rehire Former Employees?

July 7, 2010 By Gail 1 Comment

Should You Rehire Former Employees?

By Jacquelyn Lynn

Known as "boomerangs," they're a reflection of the unpredictable workplace of today–employees who leave a company and then come back in the same or another position. And they can be a very smart hiring decision.

Gone are the days when either employer or employee expected a mutual lifetime commitment. And even though some companies have a standard policy of refusing to rehire former workers, that's not a smart position.

Hiring is always a gamble and you want to do things that will minimize your risk. If you've got someone who has been with your company before, knows the culture, has skills you need and wants to come back, your chances of success with that person are much greater than they are with someone who's brand new to your organization.

Ideas For Team Names

July 6, 2010 By Gail 1 Comment

Quick Team-Building Activities for Busy Managers: 50 Exercises That Get Results in Just 15 Minutes

Price: $11.40

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Ideas For Team Names

By Alison Gray

Are you in the throws of building a new team? In that case, whether it’s a sports team, youth group, cultural group, or corporate team, you’re going to need plenty of ideas for team names. That’s no easy task! So, here you have a few ideas as to how to go about choosing a terrific team building name.

First and foremost, the team leader should get together with all team members, and ask each individual for their ideas. You’re bound to be presented with many and varied suggestions, so it will be no easy task making the final choice. But, it’s extremely important that everyone has their say, and approves of the name picked. For, this is a team and, as such, you’ll want everyone to feel happy about the name, believing that each and every one of them has participated in its selection.

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Employee Training – Creating Star Players to Develop a Stronger Customer Base

Trends in Outsourcing

Evaluating Others is Not Just For Those Dreaded Performance Appraisals

Leadership – For Better CSR

There is a Need to Focus on Better Customer Service Training

The Key to Surviving the Recession – Invest in current Staff

Verbal Aikido: 7 Ways to Handle Difficult Customers

5 PowerPoint Pitfalls

Training Management Systems – What Exactly Do They Do?

Working Remotely Won’t Work Without Top-Notch Business Communication Skills

Should You Rehire Former Employees?

Ideas For Team Names

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