At any level of leading, there needs to be a sense of selflessness and an ability to focus on creating solutions based on what is best for the company, not for the individual. They need to have teamwork skills and be able to deliver constructive criticism without coming off too harsh or simply telling people that they are terrible at their job.

You need to make sure that you find people with natural leadership skills before you put them into a position. You can find leadership coaching and development to hone those skills, but you should never utilize someone with no skills or desire as a leader unless you have no other options. In many cases, it’s often better to outsource your hiring than promoting from within if you have no one who is suited to do the job.

Some people are leaders and some are followers, but there are very few people who can be both. Followers who were meant to lead will work hard and move themselves up the chain of command quickly. Leaders who were meant to follow will likely fail at their goal of leading a group, team, or organization.

Having the right leadership skills varies depending on the type of company that someone works for. Of course, empathy, decisiveness, selflessness, fair attitudes, ability to accept mistakes, and the drive to succeed and make a difference for the company are all going to be important no matter which industry you are working in. there are so many things that make a good leader, but you will want to make sure that you choose people who can be great leaders for your company.

You can utilize development and training solutions to turn the people with leadership skills into amazing leaders for your company. You will be able to focus their skill set on what matters to the company and make sure that everyone is on the same page and working toward the same common goal: the success of the company. If you take advantage of these tools, your leaders can go from good to excellent with ease.

A New View Solutions examines your organization from an entirely new perspective. We work with your company to implement programs that create and maintain a positive Organizational Energy Signature. To discover what a difference A New View Solutions can make for your company, visit our website http://www.AnvSolutions.net and ask for a free half-hour consultation today.

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Interviews have undeniable value in every organization’s hiring process. Performance-based interviewing is a technique to make your interviews even more effective in finding the best hires. Performance-based interviewing takes into account the most important job metrics of a target position (performance), as well as behavioral traits that have proven to deliver great results in those metrics, then matches that data to the behavioral makeup of the candidate.

When the candidate displays a shortcoming in a behavioral trait vital to a role, questions based on performance allow the interviewer to explore whether this particular person has the capacity to compensate for the perceived disconnect and perform at an exceptional level or not. At the same time, the interviewer may find a candidate’s innate behaviors to be so far from ideal that the chances he/she would fulfill the performance requirements of the target job are slim.

Interviews conducted using performance-based content provide major data points for the hiring manager to use when differentiating the game-changers from candidates who are most likely accustomed to being spectators.

If you are an intermediate or executive-level HR professional, recruiter, or HR Generalist who conducts interviews or oversees hiring activities, this white paper is especially relevant to you. Those seeking to improve the quality of hire will learn to do so through better interviewing techniques using the link between job performance and candidate behaviors.

This Interview Could Have Been More Effective

We sat face to face with nothing but open space between us. The candidate appeared calm and cool, leaving me a bit anxious. Maybe my nerves were on high alert because I was on my third cup of coffee, or maybe the long day of multiple interviews was wearing me down.

Regardless of my mood, my objective was to determine if this person could handle a fast-paced role. His resume seemed to indicate a good fit, and he even had related experience with a direct competitor. I was armed with all the textbook interview questions and determined to uncover the real insights masked by the candidate’s sharp suit and calm demeanor.

“So, tell me about yourself.” I led off with an easy, standard-type interview question intended to break the ice in a nonthreatening way. He politely made small talk for a few minutes.

As that conversation thread wound down, I decided to jump start the interview with a very thoughtful situational-style question. “How would you react if you were asked to work in a fast-paced environment?” My tactic was sound. Dig down layer by layer with the intention of uncovering the “real story.”

Would he be able to handle a fast-paced office, or would he fall behind? This savvy interviewee responded with an answer so full of generalities that I had no more concrete information after I asked the question than before.

I thought to myself, “Time to take the gloves off!” It was then that I decided to pull out the big gun-the behavioral interview question! I went directly at him, holding nothing back. “Tell me about a time when you were able to handle many tasks coming at you at once, all with competing deadlines?” He came back with a smooth, practiced answer, making sure he did not tip his hand to reveal any signs of weakness. After his response, he leaned toward me with one eyebrow lifted as if to say, “Is that all you’ve got?”

We hired him based on his professional interviewing manner and with the understanding that he could handle a fast-paced job. A short two months later, we lost him to another employer. We found out during the exit interview that he had understood the job to be action packed and fast paced, but he found his actual duties too boring, lacking the high-energy activities that would keep him engaged.

Where did I go wrong? I was a seasoned interviewer. I asked all the right questions. I had all the right interview training. In retrospect, my dilemma had two simple answers:

* My assumption of a fast-paced environment had no behavioral reference point obtained from actual performance data in the role.
* My question content was not focused on specific behavioral disconnects.

I experienced double jeopardy when I incorrectly assumed the role was fast paced, and assumed that the candidate would struggle in a fast-paced environment. As it turned out, the pace of the role was not as fast as I thought it was, and the candidate preferred a much faster pace than the environment the target position offered.

The Concept of Performance-Based Interviewing

The essential value proposition of performance-based interviewing is not the content of the questions, but the compilation of source material that helps you formulate your initial evaluation of the candidate and select the most effective interview questions. The two most important ingredients in performance-based interviewing are:

1. The performance-based factors that are consistently present in those who deliver great performance results (based on actual performance data).
2. An external measure of those factors (or behaviors) for each candidate.

You see, most interview training focuses on techniques to deliver interview questions or interpret information based on subjective assumptions. I would like to discuss a deeper, more impactful strategy that is not meant to replace any interview technique, but to ensure that interview questions are truly based on actual performance aspects proven necessary for job success derived from analysis of real-world performance data.

Performance-Based Factors

To identify performance-based factors, you need two pieces of information:

* A sample of employees with actual performance data.
* An external measure designed to capture the absolute level of a set of behaviors, skills, or knowledge shared by those employees who perform at higher levels when compared to their peers.

Examining relevant performance data for those currently in the position will be the basis of establishing both the importance of each factor and the level needed to be successful in the role. Collecting and examining performance data is not as daunting as it might seem. Let me briefly suggest the steps involved in this portion of the process.

Performance Data

Four steps describe the process to compile performance data.

* Inventory – Take inventory of the data you have for employees in the role, as well as the data you need, for the target position.
* Analyze – Analyze the quality of the data and the realistic ability for you to collect high-quality data that best represents actual performance.
* Identify – Identify position-level data that is considered a business driver (i.e., for a sales position, it might be Total Sales per Month).
* Decide – Decide on the most vital performance data to leverage throughout the process.

External Measure

An external measure will be used to capture the absolute level of a factor. These findings can also serve as the bridge to evaluate future candidates once it has been calibrated against the current employee performance data. An external measure can be described as any tool or collection mechanism that is universal in nature, meaning you will be able to predict future performance based on the results of those currently in the role.

An external measure typically comes in the form of behavioral, skill, knowledge, situational judgment, phone screens, etc. This evaluation occurs even though the candidate has never actually performed in the role.

This external measure, if linked effectively to the actual performance data, can become a powerful predictor of future performance in any given role. Be sure that you feel comfortable with the quality and accuracy of the external measure utilized since you will rely heavily on these measures in the performance-based interview process.

Identifying Performance-Based Factors

By linking the external measure(s) with the employee performance data, you have the ability to uncover the performance-based factors necessary for success in the position. Think of the process in this manner: based on the performance data, you know who your top performers are, as well as the middle-tier and lower-tier performers. Use external measure(s) to answer some relevant questions:

* Based on the external measure, what are the shared factors among your high performers?
* How do those factors differentiate from those who are not doing as well in the position?

Going back to my “fast-paced job” interview example, I should have compared and contrasted successful people in the role against their preference for pace prior to making a faulty assumption. Had I included this step, I would not have assumed that the job was fast paced.

Tip: Performance-based factors are often measured by degree-tiny increments that differentiate the potential of one person from another. My interviewee expressed a preference for a fast-paced work environment. But in the end, the individual abandoned the position because the pace of the role did not meet his preference or his expectations. A better fit for the role would have been someone who prefers an even-paced work environment. It is important to remember that some roles require a smaller measure of a performance factor, not more.

The Concept of “Core vs. Capacity”

Now that the pieces are in place (performance-based factors and the external measure), we need to establish where they fit in the interview process. Specifically, the performance-based factors help us to define and understand performance in the position. The external measure gives you the ability to accurately collect information on candidates outside your organization and objectively compare each one to the role.

Identifying the Core

The concept of a person’s core refers to each individual’s core behavioral preferences. Generally, an individual’s core behavioral preferences remain unchanged over time. The purpose of the external measure is to capture a candidate’s core behaviors and provide a means of comparison against the performance-based factors established from the performance data. This information should be collected prior to the face-to-face interview. This establishes a sound base line to help you focus your interview time on those areas that have been proven to relate to future performance.

Tip: Behaviors are treated differently because certain performance-based factors such as skills, situational judgment, and others are temporary in nature. Training, the altering of a situation, or other issues can greatly affect the stability of the external measurement.

Identifying Capacity

When face-to-face with a candidate, the interviewer’s job is to utilize the information gathered around the core of the candidate and better understand the person’s capacity. Described further, capacity should be thought of as the ability to stretch or shift behavior to account for a particular situation. For example, an external measure may assign a low value regarding “attention to details.”

By applying skills gained from past experience, taking job-related training courses, and old-fashioned hard work, the candidate has learned to put processes and methods in place to incorporate more attention to detail skills when necessary. The core has not changed, but in effect, the candidate compensates for the deficiency situation by situation. At the end of the day, the preference remains low when it comes to attention to details.

In this example, the candidate may not appear to be a perfect fit in the area of attention to details, but by expending energy to meet the job expectations, the candidate has learned to expand his/her capacity and be successful.

Once you have established the performance-based factors, then captured and evaluated the core of the candidate, the interview questions can help you to more efficiently and effectively determine the capacity of the candidate.

Interview Question Types

In the next section, we will take a brief look at three popular interview techniques that may be familiar to you. Keep in mind that if the performance-based concept is used appropriately, each question you choose to ask will be tied specifically to performance as defined by the data in the role.

Tip: The type of performance factor may limit your choices of question techniques that are most effective.

Situational Interview Style

Situational interviews rely on questions that are also referred to as hypotheticals, “what-if” questions, or scenario-based questions. Candidates are asked to mentally place themselves in a particular situation, and relate how they would react.

Sample: “How would you handle a situation where you are assigned to manage a sales team that despised their last manager?”

The Pro’s and Con’s of Situational Questions

Pro’s

* Can be phrased to reflect the actual work environment
* Allows for the inclusion of specifics within the answer
* May indicate how the candidate thinks they will react in the future

Con’s

* Candidates’ verbal responses may not be true indicators of their actual actions
* If they have never been in that exact situation, they are only speculating on how they would react
* Answers are difficult to verify
* Candidates hope they would handle the situation in the best way possible, but do they believe their own words?

Situational interviews are best applied in conjunction with other interview techniques, or with candidates who have limited experience, or as a reference to unique situations related to the target role. Situational questions can help spot a game-changer when you incorporate a performance-based angle to the question.

Standard Interview Style

When you want to learn more about a candidate through an informal, non-threatening conversation, standard interview questions are a good tool for the task. The questions have been around for ages, but unfortunately so have the pat answers.

Sample: “What is your greatest strength?”

The Pro’s and Con’s of Standard Questions

Pro’s

* They are universal-everyone uses them at one time or another
* Candidates are comfortable with these types of questions
* They are an efficient mechanism for gathering an overview on a particular topic

Con’s

* Answers to common questions could be well-rehearsed over the course of a career
* It is difficult to compare and differentiate the answers of one candidate to the answers of another
* Question topics may not be relevant to the job requirements
* Answers can be “created” on the spot

Standard interviews are (like situational interviews) best applied in conjunction with other interview techniques. They are also a good option when a candidate has no work experience, or the job requires no experience. If you want to do more than gain general information, a performance-based standard question will greatly improve the value of the interview.

Behavioral-Based Interview Style

Questions asked in a behavioral-based interview are designed to draw information from a candidate’s past experience. The old premise put forth since the earliest days of behavioral interviews says, “The best predictor of FUTURE performance or behavior is PAST performance or behavior.”

Sample: “Tell me about a time in your career when you had to manage multiple projects to meet firm deadlines.”

The Pro’s and Con’s of Behavioral-Based Questions

Pro’s

* The questions are easily related to business activity
* Helps interviewers capture a sense of past work behaviors and past experience
* Answers are generally supported with more information than other types of questions

Con’s

* A person’s past behavior may not reflect how they would behave today…people change over time
* Prior experience is assumed; interviews to fill roles with “no experience required” are not able to fully leverage behavioral-based questions
* Behavioral questions are often crafted without supporting criteria related to performance targets for the position

Behavioral questions are generally considered to deliver more valid information than the situational or standard methods. However, all three techniques are missing a vital ingredient that makes the candidate’s answers a good indicator of fit, ability, and potential: the performance-based nugget that should be the foundational element of each question. Questions built on performance-based criteria will ultimately provide the most reliable assistance to the interviewer in locating the game-changing talent.

Summary

Does this person have what it takes to do the job, or not? Effectively answering this question will save your organization thousands of dollars for each hire. Performance-based interviewing will help your organization differentiate the game-changers from the rest of the crowd. After your first few interviews, you will learn to quickly spot the candidates so well matched to the job that they stand in stark contrast to those workers who would simply draw a paycheck and bring little or no passion, creativity, or leadership to the role. Game-changers perform at crunch time, while others stand by and watch-which type of candidate do you prefer to hire?

Dr. Jason E. Taylor is the Chief Science Officer at PeopleAnswers Inc. Following a successful college football career and coaching stint at Division I and II universities, Taylor refocused his coaching and recruiting passion from the football field to the world of talent assessments in business. Since receiving his Ph.D. from Texas A&M University, Dr. Taylor has pioneered the development of several assessment technologies since the late 1990s. His research on web-based selection systems has been published within the scientific community.

His historical perspective, expertise, and track record of delivering bottom-line results to organizations further establish him as a leading thought leader in the development, implementation, and validation of behaviorally-based selection and development tools. He is an active member of the American Psychological Association (APA) and the Society of Industrial Organizational Psychology (SIOP). Visit the PeopleAnswers site at http://www.peopleanswers.com

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Human resource (HR) managers find selection indicators such as intelligence, education, personality, and experience adequate in qualifying a candidate for a job, but it’s not enough to predict performance.

The ability to understand the behavioral patterns of call center candidates is essential to the human resources department. What has been recently discovered is that communication – the key feature in relationship theories – is connected to Emotional Intelligence, a predictor that can be measured by what is termed as EQ or Emotional Quotient.

Emotionally intelligent call center workers are able to form strong relationships because they can communicate effectively and are able to cope well with stressful situations. EQ can also be strengthened and be developed over time, which is why the call center industry would be well served with EQ assessments.

HR managers ought to use and integrate these instruments into their standards for selection and development. Planning the succession of senior leadership is critical to a call center’s success, and selecting the right candidate to hire or promote becomes simpler. Furthermore, EQ helps to identify individual specific strengths and weaknesses so that training and coaching can be designed to develop skills that contribute to future leadership.

Handling calls efficiently may be one of the main tasks of call center agents. However, this includes the ability to listen, build a rapport with a customer, engage in a dialogue, and solve problems. The ability to handle odd timings, and work pressures, are areas where candidates need to excel and not get hijacked due to stressful emotional situations.

Issues of self-control, self-esteem, and self-motivation are areas linked to the emotional quotient. Identifying and growing these effectiveness skills is essential. When call center agents, supervisors and managers can be profiled for EQ it makes it easier for human resource managers to determine, coach, and develop “star performers”.

Attrition rates are also significantly lowered in call centers that include EQ assessment as part of their recruitment process. Moreover, call centers need not worry about recruiting the wrong candidate, resulting in a significant saving. With added pressure from clients to cut down on recruitment costs, exploring the implementation of EQ assessment has gained momentum in the industry.

Call centers are one of the main industries where the Emotional Intelligence factor comes into focus. Moreover, it is a good return on investment when it comes to the selection and retention of employees. Profiling candidates through EQ testing helps create a corporate culture imbibed with an atmosphere of teamwork and leadership.

Call centers cannot afford to have customers complain about inadequate support due to the indifferent attitude of customer support agents. Irate customers too cannot be dismissed without a polite word and an attempt to solve their issues. In short, employees with a good EQ and the right coaching will be able to contribute significantly to the success and profits of any call center.

Keith Fiveson CEO of ITESA – “People Convergence” Consulting – Keith is a communications consultant, enabling people to be more efficient and effective using EI tools, training and processes globally. He works with management to brand, expand and optimize people in operations globally. He has client experience in over 40 countries. Visit http://www.itesa.com for further information.

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Even great speakers can not build energy in a sparsely filled room. It makes it too tough to connect with your audience. You want people sitting together so their energy cascades into enthusiasm. You need a crowd at the front of the room.

How do you get people to sit together at the front of the room? Ideally, there are just enough seats for the number of attendees. But, what if you have no control over the number of attendees? For example, volunteer training or trade show presentations could attract any number of participants.

Here is the solution: tape off the back rows of seats with masking tape and a sign that says, “Reserved.” Then, people have to sit together near the front. Once the front rows are filled, remove the “Reserved” sign and let the last arrivals sit at the back.

This room layout has a second benefit. Have you ever seen a speaker pause while a late arrival walks all the way to the front of the room to find an empty seat? Everyone gets distracted and the message gets lost. Filling the room from front to back ensures late arrivals find an empty seat – near the back – without disrupting your group. So, you keep the audience’s full attention.

Use this simple technique to pack your room with increased energy and avoid the disruption of late attendees.

© Reflective Keynotes Inc., Toronto, Canada

Mike Aoki is a trainer and motivational speaker with 20 years of experience in the telecom industry. For more free tips on public speaking, sales and call center techniques, visit http://www.reflectivekeynotes.com/articles.htm

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Customer relationship management is a challenging task. If customers’ expectations are not met because of poor customer service, customers would think that their rights have been violated.

Dealing with difficult and angry customers successfully will not only be beneficial to the company, but to the customer service representative as well. Turning around the customers heavy emotions would allow the company to regain the trust of a good and loyal customer.

Studies reveal that almost all angry customers often never complain but take their business elsewhere. Angry and complaining customers, however, care enough to give chances of settlement. These are the customers who stick around if their issues are dealt properly.

Proper handling of the situation would also build the employee’s self-esteem and enhance their customer relationship management abilities. This can be useful in dealing with other difficult situations. So, how do we turn heated confrontations into a friendly and a good business conversation? Below are three tips that you can follow in order to properly handle difficult situations and difficult customers for that matter:

• You have to recognize the customer’s point and frustration. This would create an impression that you understand the rise of their emotions and that you are willing to listen and do something about it. Phrases like “I can see where you’re coming from” or “If I were you I would probably do the same thing” would help. This would open up a window of opportunity for a much lighter conversation that would more likely give rise to a solution.

• Never disagree with the customer by expressing the same level of heated emotions. Don’t lose your temper and always keep your composure. Remember that the customer is upset about the situation and not directly at you. Anger is a normal defense mechanism of people especially if they feel mistreated.

While expressing empathy, listen to the customer and identify the problem. Anger is mostly the customers’ way to cry for help. Asking questions regarding the matter will make them believe that you are indeed interested in helping them out by taking immediate actions. It is important however to probe and make inquiries positively. By this I mean to not do it in such a way that as if you are blaming the issue on the customer. This would further add fuel to the fire. Phrases starting with “are you sure….Mr. customer?” should be avoided.

• Finally, take actions and provide a solution. At this stage, you have to convince and persuade the customer that the problem will be heeded and necessary and immediate actions are to be taken. Satisfying the customer’s demands right away would make them feel like they have not been ignored. If the issue is not bound to be resolved right away, the customer service representative should give the customer the utmost assurance that courses of action are taken to resolve the problem. Dealing with difficult customers indeed would entail good customer relationship management skills.

Shannen Lee has been a freelance writer for the last 3 years. Check out her latest writing here on the bronze shower head website, where you can read her review of the best messaging shower heads.

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Every year sees new transfer records being set and amazingly, even in the height of recession, this year is no different.

This article, however, is not about footballers per se or the spiralling prices paid for them and to them, and whether they are morally justified or not. Talent is certainly a wonderful thing, something that should be cherished and appreciated, and so, valued. You cannot really fault the logic that the more unique and outstanding talent is, the more valuable it is: that is basic economic principle.

Thus the issue is not with the payment for talent or the amounts being paid, but the unique treatment afforded to people with exceptional talent; particularly when it comes to team sports, for the phenomenon occurs in all professional sports leagues.

Of course, you will recognise the importance of the word ‘exceptional’ here, because it is used to justify the whole system. The rationale is that, because their talent is exceptional, such people are entitled to be treated differently. This is talent management for a limited few.

The issue with such thinking is that it creates a kind of commercial anomaly – a type of superiority that is essentially no different to the feudal or class system of old – only based on a specific talent rather than birthright. Yet both still the consequence of who you were born. The concern here, however, is not a social one, for you can legitimately argue that “it has always been thus” – from time immemorial. Rather it is the systemisation of the inequity, which, as implied above, commercially creates a structural weakness.

You see the accounting treatment of ’stars’ records them as assets, something which is expressly prohibited for ‘ordinary’ employees by accounting regulations. Thus a club’s players are accounted for as assets, but the other people who work for the club, and upon whom it depends for its day-to-day operations, are not. In an era where business leaders continuously claim their people are ‘their greatest asset’, this creates an inherent two-tier people management structure that is analogous to apartheid, not only in its iniquity, but also in the fact that it is ‘legislated’ and therefore legitimate.

It is one thing to reward people differently because they have different talents and express them differently, and because different talents have different values. But it quite inappropriate to treat them differently. The former is economic logic, but the latter, in any society that promotes the equal treatment of all its citizens, is – like apartheid – morally repugnant. It is hypocrisy of the highest order to talk about people as your greatest asset, and not to treat them as such.

Of course this two-tier accounting occurs mainly in organisations like clubs or production companies that actually value people as assets. It is therefore not very widespread and for this reason has not garnered too much attention. Yet the very ability to value people as assets creates a precedent that suggests it is possible to treat everybody as such – thereby rebutting the argument that it is not possible to value people and put them on the balance sheet. Thus more attention and effort needs to be given to the topic of accounting for people.

For almost a decade now, one of the major challenges said to be facing business leaders has been the “war for talent.” This intrinsically recognises the fact that everyone has talent and any organisation, including football clubs, needs talent over and above footballing skills. It is why talent management is such a topical issue and makes the omission even more glaring, and demands new thinking to meet the challenge.

Just as footballers have different degrees of skills, so do the “ordinary people” you need to contribute their skills. So, just as the employer club has to do all it can to optimise the skills of its employee footballers, you as an employer must optimise the pool of talent at your disposal to align your business and get the performance you need for sustained success.

If you are a business leader or executive, you are always actively looking to make the best of your people. Here you have the solution, particularly if you are looking to enhance employee engagement. Yes, the concept has wider ramifications, but these have already been largely addressed, so you will not have to reinvent the wheel. There is certainly no written law that says footballers – or their ilk – are so radically different from the rest of humanity (no matter what they themselves might think) that they have to their own unique accounting or trading systems! A universal system for valuing and accounting for people is just the answer the world is crying out for right now.

Bay Jordan, author of “Lean Organisations Need Fat People” and “A Feeling of Worth,” is the founding director of Zealise Limited. Zealise helps businesses to value their people, offering a unique employee ownership system that creates greater employee engagement with better teamwork and strategic alignment that transforms performance and bottom line results. To find out more about how these breakthrough management solutions will help you and your business please check the website at http://www.zealise.com.

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How can you create an environment of optimum productivity and creativity? Here are few things to keep in mind while putting a team together.

Main Cause

What is the goal of putting a team together? The team should have a common purpose and goal. It may be for a new venture or damage control. Everyone needs to be on the same page.

Rules and Norms

What is expected and what is not expected by the team and by the team members individually should be made clear from the very start. This also governs the behaviour of the group and its members.

Individual Contribution

Each and every member in the group is given a specific task and responsibilities that have to be carried out to best of their abilities and within the given time frame. This enhances the performance of the group and a clear line of direction.

Resources

A good team can use their resources well and also create a new pool of resources for the company to use in the future. It may be in the form of contacts, connections or even goodwill.

Time Frames

A team should be able to work fast and be able to meet deadlines. In the corporate world late deliverables are not accepted and does not leave a good impression at all. It can also be a huge loss to the business.

Communication

This may be the most important one of them all. Make sure the team you put together can understand each other and can communicate well. It isn’t easy for everyone to agree on the same idea or appreciate each other’s working style. There is bound to be friction. But your group members should be able to move on and respect each other none the less.

It is your duty as management to motivate your team and make sure they remain positive through all the trial and tribulations. Another form of ‘corporate team building‘ is working on the team performance. It is a form of organisational development where you carry out different activities within your team members and enhance their performance in every area. Corporate Commandos specializes in corporate team building and leadership development. They have a range of programmes formulated by extremely qualified and experienced professionals to motivate your task force and help them work well together.

You can find out more on http://www.corporatecommandos.com

Jeremy Conan has worked as a management consultant for the past 12 years. He has helped numerous organisations with improving team dynamics and developing leadership skills among their employees and now shares his wisdom through his articles.

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My guess is it would be one of amazement. However, I am not so confident I could predict why. Are you amazed that as much as “a quarter” of all training is effectively wasted? Or are you amazed that it is only “a quarter” – i.e. as little as 25%?

How much training is really wasted?

I confess that I fall into the latter camp. Thus I would have said it was more likely to be the other way round. In other words training is closer to being only 25% effective and 75% wasted; although that isn’t to say the figures are quite as bad as that. Nor am I maligning the quality of trainers here. Rather it is simply a fact of life, for, when we get back into routine we simply revert to old ways. It is practice that embeds knowledge and if people do not get the opportunity to practice what they learn on training courses when they get back to work, it is inevitable that the benefits of the training will dissipate.

(I should also make it clear that I am talking here about formal work-related training only and not all education.)

My opinion that training is considerably more than 25% ineffective, may have its origins in the harsh reality that I am a bit slow! However, although clearly subjective, I formed it as much by observing others as from my own experience over nearly 30 years. I find it fascinating to observe how quickly we forget lessons and fall back into our old ways. It’s rather like New Year Resolutions. No matter how good our intentions, we fall short.

The costs are the real issue

So regardless of the percentage, there is a problem. The headline, from HR Magazine, was for real! And even more disturbing is that the report states this 25% ‘failure’ costs £9.5 billion a year, which is a steep price to pay for nothing. And if you share my more skeptical view, then these costs are likely to be considerably greater. This makes proposals to make regular training an employee’s legal right a real concern. It is dangerous for a number of reasons.

Firstly, it makes training more of a fixed cost, rather than a variable one. One of the (possibly many) reasons the UK government is proposing this, is that training is one of the first items dispensed with in recessionary times. Whatever the justification for this (and we will look at this question more closely further on) it will mean that businesses will need to look elsewhere and dig deeper to find cost savings in any future recession.

This makes it likely that more people will lose their jobs than would otherwise be the case. It is thus hardly a good solution to the employee engagement problem that is currently causing so much concern.

Secondly, it reduces the likelihood of proper cost-benefit justification for training. And cost-benefit justification for training is already weak. Certainly you spend a great deal of effort on the cost side of the equation. No-one can undergo training unless there is a budget and/or the costs are pre-approved. But nothing like the same attention is given to the benefit side.

Ah, yes, you do devote effort to assessing needs through formal training needs analyses, and you could argue this equates to benefit analysis. However this ignores the obvious point that satisfying needs, and delivering benefits, is not the same thing. This point is reinforced by the earlier point about training being the first expense cut during tough trading times. This suggests that the benefits are not really factored into the equation.

The case for this is reinforced by two points: the value of the waste as described by the article, and the lack of any proper training effectiveness analysis. Training is an investment. Yet the lack of effectiveness measurement suggests this is not fully recognised. The fact is that a large proportion of this training waste can be avoided. All it requires is more emphasis on measuring the benefits – the return on investment.

Now you may argue that this is fine in theory but in practice measuring this is too difficult, time-consuming and costly, and so would make the problem worse. You might even claim that some of the benefits are intangible anyway in so far as they simply improve employee engagement. Perhaps, but the point is not worth arguing about.

How to effectively measure the return on training investment

Certainly it is not easy, and it would be disingenuous to say it was. But, if people are valued as assets and their training costs, or a portion of them, are capitalised and added to their individual asset value, then you would have a basis for more effective negotiation between manager and employee to justify the training as well as a measure of gauging its effectiveness.

The net change in bottom line over the gross increase in Human Asset Value, gives you a perfectly empirical formula for calculating the return on investment. It may not be perfect, but it is at least as good if not better than anything we currently have.

Whatever the waste percentage, this formula certainly gives you a lever for eliminating a large chunk of it. Furthermore, as the rules need to be properly defined and agreed, it is not subjective and so cannot be easily manipulated. This will help build up trust and teamwork within the organisation. It will also encourage practice and so help to embed the knowledge. And, even better, it also provides a communication bridge for HR and Finance. Now, for the first time right brain (HR) and left brain (Finance) dominated people will be to communicate effectively. That has to be good news and great for business.

Bay Jordan, author of “Lean Organisations Need Fat People” and “A Feeling of Worth,” is the founding director of Zealise Limited. Zealise helps businesses to value their people, offering a unique, non-equity employee ownership system that creates greater employee engagement with better teamwork and strategic alignment that transforms performance and bottom line results. To find out more about how these breakthrough management solutions will help you and your business please check the website at http://www.zealise.com

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The traditional management hierarchy is different and ages old in comparison to the new era call centers. Their modus operandi is unique and thoroughly documented to provide customers delightful experience and ecstatic results. The contact center also keeps a proper track sheet to gauge the input and ROI.

The services help you to cut cost and save time to build an in house time and train them. One of your representatives can teach them over the phone or in person. From telemarketing to software development, these call centers groups are providing you value added services with quality and time.

The team of agents is well trained to handle the nerve racking stress with ease. The agents work ten days consecutively to handle the call load in an efficient way. Services, they offer are low on cost, high on technology and strict on quality.

The operations and service supports are streamlined such way that a single call is not returned back and you can easily track or analyze your returns and status of your product against competitors. The call centers operate on 24/ 7 work methodology to fill the time hiatus between the west and oriental zones. Services are segmented among teams. The BPO employees go through a strict check and duly monitored to maintain the confidentiality of data. Any USBs or storage devices are big NO-NO at the premises of call centers.

The performance yardsticks of BPO are more than high and these don’t opt for any halfway house between quality and offered services. So, here we can see that you can gain much with a little do. You just need to be careful about to choose a right BPO that suits best your need and cost parameters.

Ella Greens is associated with Callcentersoperations.com and working as a Assistant Manager in Marketing and Advertising. Call Center Operations is a leading BPO outsourcing company offering high-quality Call Center Outsource services, customer care support, technical helpdesk support, back office support, telemarketing and software development services to all sized businesses across the world.

We help clients achieve higher customer satisfaction and increase revenue growths. Any suggestion, queries regarding BPO services or outsourcing is more than welcome at callcentersoperations.com

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As a company does begin to expand, leadership development training can be a very advantageous program to invest in. Leadership development training can ensure that a company’s leaders have the experience and knowledge necessary to excel.

We can break down establishing a company’s superiority into four main parts: 1) A superior product, 2) More working capital, 3) State of the art facilities, hardware, or equipment, and 4) Their employees, and the culture of the workplace in which they work (this includes having great leaders). Out of these, one might ask the question: which of these factors has the greatest potential to create and sustain this competitive advantage, and why?

Products can be copied. Money can be borrowed. Facilities and technology age rapidly and can become obsolete overnight. Therefore, the people who populate an organization are the most important factor in creating and sustaining a competitive advantage. The unique culture of an organization and its ability to attract, motivate, and retain top performers contributes powerfully to success. The leaders of a company are so important to a company’s success. Picking the right employees and the right leaders is critical – when a company reaches this point, it is essential to have human resources supporting employee selection. Often an HR professional with a human resources certificate is a valuable and important part of a company’s success.

Once a company has hired the best, there are several ways that an organization can best realize the potential value of its employees in cultivating its competitive advantage. An organization establishes a powerful means of ensuring its own success through a well-implemented and consistently applied performance management system.

When employees are motivated to perform up to and beyond expected standards, they will contribute to shaping a performance culture that can have a far greater–and longer-lasting–impact than that which is possible through the individual achievements of any one employee. This is another aspect of business where a human resources certification can be applicable – performance management systems are often covered in a human resources certificate program.

An organization’s performance management system can actually have a positive influence on the individual behavior of its employees. They are encouraged to perform beyond expectations, and often the employees will really shine when they are given incentives. Employees need to know what is expected of them and where they stand. An effective performance management system provides a structure within which this knowledge is communicated and this understanding is fostered.

A careful assessment of performance management systems is crucial – and those capable of creating a good system often gain this knowledge through a human resources certificate program or leadership development training. Leaders and HR professionals must have this expertise to ensure a company’s success.

Once a performance management system has been implemented, each employee can then focus his or her efforts on those behaviors that have been identified as most important through the establishment of goals and the identification of relevant competencies.

Furthermore, a performance management system supports the overall attainment of organizational objectives. A sound and effective performance management system ensures that everyone’s efforts contribute meaningfully to the organization’s success. Goal setting, feedback, documentation, and the other steps in the performance management process constitute interdependent elements of an integrated system that–as a whole–supports and reinforces the overall objectives of the organization.

When trying to establish a company’s superiority, it is clear that the most valuable asset a company can invest in is its people. The other aspects of success (a superior product, capital, great facilities) are important – but not as important as a team of effective workers. Everyone in a company can make a difference, and everyone is important. Having the right hiring team (the HR resources) as well as the right leaders is key to being successful. Once a company has the right people, it can build on those assets and advance.

Copyright (c) 2010 eCornell

David Shoemaker is Vice President of Learning Solutions and Innovation at eCornell. For more information on leadership development training, human resources certificate, or eCornell, please visit http://www.eCornell.com

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