As I began to think about I could help with this fear, I thought it might fall on deaf ears. Why? Because in too many companies the last budget planned and first one cut is training. This occurs for several reasons, not the least of which is many on the senior team just do not see the value of training.

We know many are holding cash, not hiring because of fearing the unknown. However, that is the very reason companies should be training, enhancing people abilities. We are all demanding more from fewer people and they are burning out or in fear of being the next on the chopping block if layoffs are taking place.

We need to be allaying those fears and showing a commitment to them by providing quality development. This stabilizes people and helps them feel a sense of security, belonging and certainly creates more productivity. Someone once said; people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. In too many companies today, people are unsure how much they are valued.

Manager’s attempts to do this often do more harm than good. The at-a-boys, pats on the back, good job comments, etc. are so short lived. People need something that can help them be more effective in their jobs and in their lives.

I mention this because we have an idea for you that can accomplish both purposes for you while building a culture of Personal Accountability in your company. Imagine no more blaming or excuses, solutions and not problems. Think this doesn’t apply to your company, I have a friend who is a professional speaker who was working with a major medical firm’s sales operation. In doing so he kept hearing the term SPC. When he inquired what it stood for he was told the Sales Prevention Club. This was the term they used for corporate. Can you imagine?

The idea I am suggesting is a training system entitled The QBQ! The Question Behind the Question! It is all about eliminating blaming, excuses, entitlement thinking and procrastination while building that core value of Personal Accountability. Not only is it effective but it is affordable as well. If you click on QBQ! above you will see a preview on this exciting course that so many companies are raving about. If you would like to receive a PDF overview that shares everything you need to know, simply send an email to me requesting one.

This course can change your people and company! Thanks you for your time.

Best regards,

Jim Strutton, CEO
Accountability Plus, Inc.
Strutton@Accountability-Plus.com
770-205-8171

© 2012 Accountability Plus, Inc.

You have our permission to forward this URL or email to anyone you feel needs to read it. Thank you!

Generally speaking, you should trust your sales manager’s advice. However, this doesn’t mean you should stick your head in the sand when he or she gives you advice, either. It is always important to weigh their advice and mix in your own experience & knowledge before taking action. It is also a good idea to engage your sales manager with your own thoughts after you have been given his or her advice. After all, two heads are certainly better than one. Issues and problems that come up when working in a sales capacity can be complicated, so never be afraid to seek out your sales manager’s opinion before moving forward.

If you know for a fact that your sales manager’s advice cannot be trusted, I would think very seriously about continuing with your present employer. At the very least, you might want to consider making a lateral move within the company. Poor sales managers who give bad advice will ultimately not only impact your moral in a negative way, but will also impact your sales numbers and income at some point in the future, too.

While the majority of sales managers do a good job, there are still far too many sales managers who fall into the “poor” category. This can even sometimes happen at companies where the company is great but the sales manager seems to sabotage sales at every stage of the game because he or she is a poor manager in general. Whatever the case may be, it is always a bad idea to continue working for a manager who doesn’t know what it really takes to sell or is simply incompetent.

The bottom line is that you ultimately need to trust your sales manager to sustain long-term success. Don’t be afraid to seek out their advice when you need it. And if you can’t trust your sales manager, you need to move on to another company or make a position change within the same company.

To learn more about this and many other areas of effective sales management, please explore our “Practical Sales Management Strategies for Today” multimedia training system and the process we use to implement it into your organization. It is my hope that this has helped!

Sincerely,
Jim Strutton, CEO
Accountability Plus, Inc.
Strutton@Accountability-Plus.com
770-205-8171
© 2011 Accountability Plus, Inc.

You have our permission to forward this URL or email to anyone you feel needs to read it. Thank you!

What is Accountability?

Okay, I don’t normally go to Wikipedia for resources, however, this time, I liked the definition that site provides: “Accountability is a concept in ethics and governance with several meanings. It is often used synonymously with such concepts as responsibility, answerability, blameworthiness, liability, and other terms associated with the expectation of account-giving.” Personal accountability is an important piece in the plan to stay on track to achieve your goals.

There are some tools people use to help me stay accountable for their actions. A “To-Do-List” for example, helps one stay on track. It’s always in front of you and you will like to see things crossed off so it keeps me accountable. Others have questions on their desk that they ask themselves daily – those questions help keep them accountable for their personal goals. I have a friend has a checklist he uses at the end of each day and he calls his list “AP” for Accountability Partner. The check list consists of his daily goals and at the end of the day, he checks yes or no. If there is a no, he takes a few minutes to assess why he didn’t do what he said he would do and writes about what he’ll do the next day to make up for it.

Holding yourself Accountable

I would be a very, very wealthy man if I had nickel for all the times I’ve heard people in the workplace fault everyone else. I’m sure you’ve heard it, “THEY don’t care enough…” “nothing ever gets done around here…” “I can’t get THEM to commit to the project…” “It’s THEIR fault…” “THEY won’t take responsibility…” “THEY need to improve…” Notice the theme here of excuses here; it’s easy to blame others. Perhaps you’re even guilty of saying or thinking some of those things. Here’s the deal, if you want others in your life & business to be accountable, the best you can do is lead by example. You have to figure out how to make things better even when you don’t have control over the actions of other people. Accountability is a choice. You always have choice in how you act and react to every situation and you should hold yourself accountable to your actions and reactions.

Accountability tips

Here are some tips on improving your accountability percentage:

* Stop blaming other people. Instead, ask yourself how your actions or inactions contribute to the situation.
* Figure out what part of the situation you could positively impact.
* Take action. Do things differently in order to change the result.
* Write your SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound) goals.
* Develop your own check and balance plan for your accountability.

In the end, you’re the only person who is responsible for your actions and you’re the one that has to live with your results.

Coaches Challenge

It doesn’t matter what your role is; you could be a parent, or child, an entry-level employee or the CEO and you can be a shining example of accountability. Holding yourself accountable takes courage, because it’s taking away the ability to place blame on everyone around you. Stand up and take responsibility today!

I hope has helped you and if it did I hope you will explore our “Personal Accountability and the QBQ!” multimedia training system. It is designed to be facilitated internally to instill a winning culture into any organization. For a detailed PDF overview of this results oriented system just click here.

Happy Holidays,

Jim Strutton, CEO
Accountability Plus, Inc.

Strutton@Accountability-Plus.com

770-205-8171

© 2011 Accountability Plus, Inc. You have our permission to forward this URL or email to anyone you feel needs to read it. Thank you!

Research confirms that there are serious problems developing in the workplace today:

• 65% of workers say they have received no recognition or appreciation in the past 12 months.

• While 80% of large corporations have employee recognition programs, only 31% of their employees say they feel valued for doing good quality work.

• The #1 reason for recognition in most workplaces is longevity (how motivational is that?).

• Only 8% of employees feel their top management cares about them personally.

• 70% of employees are either disengaged or under engaged in their work.

• Yet only 21% of these workers are looking for work elsewhere, meaning approximately 50 % of the workforce are just passively enduring work they don’t enjoy.

The workplace environment needs to change for the better, and leaders can change the course. Unfortunately, many managers’ efforts to appreciate their staff are misguided and wind up being a waste of time and effort. Why? Because they are not built upon the core principles necessary for appreciation to be communicated effectively.

Make your praise specific and personal. The most common mistake organizations and managers make is communicating appreciation that is general and impersonal. Sending blast emails with the message, “Good job. Way to go, team!” has no specific significance for the individual who stayed late to get the project completed. Use your colleague’s name and state specifically what he or she does that makes your job easier.

Realize that action can have more impact than words for some employees. Some people (seemingly, often men) do not value verbal praise, holding to the mentality that words are cheap. For these people, compliments are viewed with disbelief and skepticism, and often verbal praise is understood as an act of manipulation. Actions are more effective to show appreciation for these individuals, such as spending time with them at the office or helping to get a task done.

Use the language of appreciation valued by the recipient. Not everyone likes public recognition or social events. One person told me, “You can give me an award but you’ll have to shoot me first before I’ll go up and get it in front of a crowd.” And for many introverts, an invitation to attend a staff appreciation dinner is more like torture than a reward for doing a good job. They may prefer getting a gift card for a bookstore and staying at home and reading. Find out what your co-workers or employees value and communicate in that language.

Separate affirmation from criticism or instruction. If you want the positive message to be heard loud and clear, don’t follow your affirmation with a “Now, if you would only…” message. Don’t offer a compliment followed by a criticism of how the individual could do better. They will only remember the criticism, and may not even hear the positive.

Be genuine. Don’t try to fake it or overstate your appreciation (“You are the best administrative assistant in the free world!”). People can sense when appreciation is obligatory or contrived.

In my practice, I have seen these simple principles of appreciation successfully improve workplace environments previously suffering from a bad case of burnout. Appreciation has the ability to transform any team into being far more productive in a voluntary manner.

To learn more about this and many other areas of effective sales management and leadership, please explore our courses entitled “Leadership in Action” and “Practical Sales Management Strategies for Today” both featuring W. Steven Brown. These systems are designed to be facilitated internally by a client to customize the message to the managers and the company. They help any organization build a method that vastly improves people’s ability to perform. Read how easy the process is.

For a PDF overview of one or both courses to learn more and see how they can be successfully implemented into your organization just request it by clicking here. We appreciate your time and hope this has helped.

Sincerely,

Jim Strutton, CEO

Accountability Plus, Inc.

Strutton@Accountability-Plus.com

770-205-8171

© 2011 Accountability Plus, Inc.

You have our permission to forward this URL or email to anyone you feel needs to read it. Thank you!

There have been so many businesses that have gone under because they could not change fast enough. We’ve all heard the old adage there is the quick and the dead! I would suggest this is a statement of face and the purpose of this article is to help you help your people adapt and change more quickly. This content comes from two specific courses; “Practical Sales Management Strategies for Today” and “Leadership in Action.” Two courses that can help your managers in greater detail lead their teams quickly through change.

First we need to recognize that all people are different and that change affects them differently. A major behavioral style in people is Dominance. There and those who are more dominate and those who are less dominate. Dominance is shown though a persons willing desire to assert their influence over others. The more dominant a person is the quicker they are to change. More dominate people even recommend changes before we even see they are needed. Less dominate people resist change and are slower to accept it, they will even resist it. The problem is most organizations are made up of people who are less dominate.

A major problem of change is the mindsets people have with it. The first being people always experience discomfort because it takes them out of their comfort zone. A comfort zone if a range of environment or activity in which they are totally comfortable. Effective leaders let their people know in advance they will be there to support them through the period of discomfort. They create support systems and teams to assist people.

The next major mindset is people feel they are being ask to give something up. This is caused by the right answer/ wrong answer mentality. If a person feels what they have been doing has served them well then it becomes the right way meaning your way must be the wrong way. This is why effective leaders don’t tell change they sell change. They sell the opportunity for personal growth to the people.

The third mindset of change is people fee they are alone in the change. Nobody wants to be alone, out on the point taking all the risk. That’s why the effective leader never lets them feel alone by make it a team effort. The leader insures each person on the team is supporting others and the leader is supporting the team.

Now what really determines how quickly people will change is the basic motivation of change. That is: ACTION IS ALWAYS PRECEDED BY DISSATISFACTION! In other words PAIN IS ALWAYS INVOLVED IN CHANGE! This pain can take different forms such as the mindsets, money, time away from home, having to learn new skills, etc.

PEOPLE WILL CHANGE ONLY IF THE PRECEIVED BENEFITS (VALUE TO THEM) OUTWEIGH THE PAIN. What determines the degree of difficulty in the change is how the people feel about it. Their tolerance for change is determined by how they view what is happening in their lives.

If people feel what they are doing is good or good enough there is no motivation, no tolerance for change. So how do you get them to embrace the change? There are two ways and the first we do not recommend!

1. You can attack their present course of action. An attack is personal and builds resistance

2. You can offer them and alternative that provides them greater pleasure, the fulfillment of their personal goals.

For people to embrace change there are three questions we must answer for them.

1. What the change is? Recognizing some people require more information than others.

2. Why the change is being made? Too many managers answer this question by using because “THEY” (Senior Management) said so. Never do that, it devalues the people and kills their belief in the Senior Team and Company! Always try to share the purpose of the change in terms of benefits to your customers.

3. How will this change affect me? They need to hear personal work related benefits to them personally. As mentioned before we must sell change and not just tell the change.

As always, I hope that what I have shared helps you be more effective in creating change. To learn more about this and many other areas of effective leadership, please explore our “Practical Sales Management Strategies for Today” or our “Leadership in Action” multimedia training systems and the process we use to implement them into your organization.

Sincerely,

Jim Strutton, CEO

Accountability Plus, Inc.

Strutton@Accountability-Plus.com

770-205-8171

© 2011 Accountability Plus, Inc.

You have our permission to forward this URL or email to anyone you feel needs to read it. Thank you!

Knowing what the job is – So many companies and managers feel this is covered by simply supplying a job description, however, this is not the case. A person must be told:

The mission of the organization. A mission should not be an objective; it should be the purpose of the business to build people’s belief in the organization.

They should also be told the Sales Department’s objectives and how they contribute to the objectives.

Additionally, we must share their responsibilities, and the specific activities in which they must engage to accomplish them.

They should also be told how they would be measured. There are three ways to measure any job by using one or a combination of the three.

The fist way to measure is through quantity – how much do they produce.

Next is cost effectiveness – Is the business or sales profitable both short and long term.

The third way to measure is timeliness. Can the job be accomplished in a timely fashion? Can reports be submitted on time?

How to do the job – Another breakdown in many organizations are caused by two reasons. We feel our people are experienced. This leads us to only train the new people. I heard people say I’ve had 15 years experience but given the rate of change today, 15 years only equates to about 5 years at best. The next problem is we teach product knowledge and call it training.

Salespeople must be taught the skills of doing the job and allowed to practice until they are proficient. Certainly product knowledge comes into play but not just that knowledge. People need to communicate their knowledge in terms of benefits that the customer/prospect can relate to. They need to know when and how to close, how to deal with the “no” professionally and verify the customers/prospects true concern and deal with it effectively without pressure.

Another breakdown is the lack of coaching. In over 30 years I can count on one hand the number of sales managers who have raised their hand to the question: How many of you have observed a salesperson’s presentation with a customer/prospect without getting involved.

To coach effectively, at some point, we must be in a position to observe a presentation without jumping in. But the vast majority of sales managers feel it is their job to get involved to save the salesperson. They then leave the salesperson alone to butcher prospects on their own and wonder why there is no improvement.

Someone or something can interfere with their desire and/or ability to perform – Another problem in many organizations is that sales managers often provide the interference unintentionally by mis-managing. They belittle people in front of their peers, destroy their confidence and belief in the company.

Effective sales managers remove the obstacles that interfere with a person’s desire. Often these obstacles are other people in the environment, ineffective tools or supplies, sometimes prospects, even family and friends can interfere by showing no confidence in the person’s decision.

Again, effective sales managers strengthen the person to deal with these things that interfere. They strengthen people by constantly building belief in the person, the company they represent and their products and services.

We build the belief of people, as Ken Blanchard says, by catching people doing something right and recognizing it. The easiest way to recognize people is by telling people specifically what they have done right, how it makes you feel, and why you feel that way.

I could go on and on about this information and hope that what I have shared helps you be more effective. To learn more about this and many other areas of effective sales management, please explore our “Practical Sales Management Strategies for Today” multimedia training system and the process we use to implement it into your organization. It is my hope that this has helped!

Sincerely,

Jim Strutton, CEO

Accountability Plus, Inc.

Strutton@Accountability-Plus.com

770-205-8171

© 2011 Accountability Plus, Inc.

You have our permission to forward this URL or email to anyone you feel needs to read it. Thank you!

When we feel their success or failure is our responsibility, we begin cutting corners for them, making excuses for them and even going so far as to adopting them. Their success or failure is their responsibility, it is not ours. Certainly there are things we can do to aid their success and be responsible to them, and we will cover some of those in part 2 next week. First, we must accept that they are accountable for their success.

One of my mentors, Steve Brown, Chairman and CEO of The Fortune Group, an international training firm related a story that happened to him in the early 70’s when his company was in it’s infancy, and he was personally managing the sales organization. He had a salesperson, a man working for them in Florida who had been very successful for several years. Steve said he was closer to him than anyone else in the company. Then the once-successful man went into a slump, and his sales had fallen.

The company had a policy, they brought him in, worked with him, retrained and coached him but nothing seemed to work. He was not succeeding and company policy, thought out with calm cool reasoning, said if someone was not performing and had been re-trained and subsequently didn’t respond, they were to be terminated. Steve said it was his job, but he couldn’t do it.

He said every time he brought himself to the point he backed away because this man had a wife and 10 kids. Steve also said he realized this man would not have the same financial opportunity anywhere else so he kept putting it off. Finally, Steve was speaking in the same city where the man was based and at the break, he came to Steve and asked if he could stay over after the session, as he had something very important to tell him.

Steve said of course and got so excited because he thought the man was going to do his job for him – Quit! After the session they had drinks and dinner and the man shared nothing. Finally, Steve said to him, you ask me to stay over because you had something very important to tell me.

The man looked at Steve and said that it was so difficult. Our relationship has been so strong and you have stood behind and supported me so much. Steve said, “You can tell me anything!” The man said, “ I fallen in love, I leaving Betty and the kids!”

At that point Steve said he finally understood adoption. Steve said he was more concerned about the man’s family than he was. Additionally he said he also knew something else, if he had done his job following company policy and terminated the man, he wouldn’t have had time to fall in love!

Most sales managers had at least one person they have adopted and they never do it for person, they do it for themselves, it inflates their ego. Steve said he took an ego trip at the expense of a family. If you have a person on your staff whose success, meaning a good steady producer, would surprise you, follow your company policy but terminate them as soon as you can. Why? Salespeople seldom fail alone, they generally fail in pairs. If one fails alone, who would be responsible? Them! If they can drag another down with them, guess whose fault it would be? The sales manager!

The belief that we are responsible for our people can be very costly to the person and our company. Understanding that we are responsible to them leads to just the opposite, and as I mentioned earlier we will cover that in part 2 next week.

To learn more about this and many other areas of effective sales management, please explore our “Practical Sales Management Strategies for Today” multimedia training system and the process we use to implement it into your organization. It is my hope that this has helped!

Sincerely,

Jim Strutton, CEO

Accountability Plus, Inc.

Strutton@Accountability-Plus.com

770-205-8171

© 2011 Accountability Plus, Inc.

You have our permission to forward this URL or email to anyone you feel needs to read it. Thank you!

No Timeouts in The Life of a Leader:

You don’t get time off from your role as a leader. There are no timeouts, no after hours hang-up-your-hat and become one of the gang situations.  I’ve attended too many company after-hours events where the boss made an ass of himself or herself to know that NO ONE really wants to see the boss take a timeout.

The most effective leaders I’ve worked for, with and now coach, understand that every encounter, from the greeting in the parking lot to the hallway conversation to lunch to participation in meetings, represents an opportunity to do something positive for someone or some group.

Prepare Your Mind to Lead Effectively-Before You Walk in the Door:

One of my favorite examples is the senior manager who spends a few extra moments “prepping” for the day in her car in the parking lot before walking into the office.  She’s not putting on makeup or fixing her hair. She’s preparing her mind to engage, to lead, and to remember that her focus is on others and helping them solve problems in pursuit of their priorities.  This professional engages with purpose every single minute of her day.

Seven ways You Can Engage with Purpose Everyday:

1.Your polite but focused questions help teach.

2. Your thoughtful (never rushed or harassed) responses show respect.

3. Your willingness to listen shows that you care.

4. Your encouragement at a moment of failure accelerates learning and helps grow confidence.

5. Your fair and constant reinforcement of accountability sets performance expectations.

6. Your willingness to delegate decisions shows trust.

7. Your interest in helping others advance and grow builds fierce loyalty and great teams.

Your management of yourself models the values and behaviors of an effective leader. Be prepared and have purpose in your efforts. Remember there are no time outs!

I hope these tips helped you and if they did I hope you will explore our Leadership in Action multimedia training system. It is designed to be implemented internally to instill a winning culture into any organization.

Sincerely,

Jim Strutton, CEO

Accountability Plus, Inc.

Strutton@Accountability-Plus.com

770-205-8171

© 2011 Accountability Plus, Inc.

Far too often training makes no difference. It adds no value, creates no change—and in the end, is a cost rather than an investment. Why? Because both buyers and sellers make mistakes.  And in the current economy, we can’t afford mistakes nor can we afford not to train existing staff.

On the “selling” side, more often than not, the training rep is anxious to make the sale so he or she caves to the request of the buyer. This leads to the seller selling the client the wrong training, just to make a sale. Many years ago, a major retailer purchased a customized retail sales program from me. Why? Their CEO wanted one! What they really needed was a Leadership course. They had just gone through a major turn around and even the President of their apparel group said it takes a different mindset to lead a company than it does to turned it around. He was right, and I knew it but the CEO was demanding it, so I sold the custom sales course. It failed and it was my fault because I failed them.

Also, some training suppliers don’t just sell the wrong product, they sell a bad product. There’s a lot of junk on the training market, and when it doesn’t work, it gives the industry a well-deserved lousy reputation—and is a waste of the customer’s time, energy, and money. Often it is simply hype or motivational and does not build the skills people need to succeed.

On the buying side, even when clients purchase really great content, they too can make really big mistakes. Once I sold a substantial amount of needed training to a company who a year later had lost it and never implemented it.  This wasn’t just about misplacing paper and plastic, this was also about changing priorities. Their business was doing well and they were simply too busy succeeding to implement the training they paid for. Today, that struggling company needs the training, but “can’t afford it.” A buyer’s mistake!

To make training worthwhile, here are several “Do” and “Do Not” recommendations.

Do Not:

Do not buy training only “if it can be measured.” If you believe a statistical return on investment can be applied to the development of people, then you are sadly mistaken. This desire to measure is often an excuse used by executives to not spend money on training. The truth is, senior managers either believe in training or they don’t. Training can only be measured by the actions people take after the course, and leaders must observe recognize the good actions and re-train where necessary.

Do not rely on the outside trainer for success. Just as Mom and Dad—not the school, church, or scout leader—are accountable for the success of the child, it is the client organization’s job to create change in people and culture, not the outsider’s.

Do not believe there are panaceas. Events, books, audios—these are just tools; tools that need to be used correctly. Single events need to be followed by repetition to effect change. Books require a commitment to study, discuss, and apply. As I once heard executives “backed up the truck” to load up on mega-seller “Who Moved My Cheese?” and pushed it at their people saying CHANGE! And then they all wondered why nothing did. There is no silver bullet.

Do not do “executive overviews.” What could be more arrogant than buying into the myth that the senior team only needs the short version?! Want to tear down walls, build trust, and engage employees? Have everyone go through the same program and mix the top folks in. And no sending the CEO and Team to the warm weather golf resort while the staff does it in the company cafeteria, either.

Do not allow “auditing.” If someone from another department or group wants to “check the program out,” have them pull up a chair and get involved. People watching from the back of the room, with an evaluation mindset hurts the group, the program, and themselves.

Do not s-t-r-e-t-c-h material. Don’t do in three days what can be done in two, or in six hours what can be done in four. Stretching content kills people’s desire for the next training program.

Do not cancel training! Short of a natural disaster, stick with the scheduled commitment. If you don’t, it wasn’t ever a commitment—and the people know. Oh, and Mr. or Ms. Executive, if you’re scheduled to be there, then be there. That’s real leadership. The worst thing any executive can do is introduce a course and leave, it devalues the training in the student’s minds.

Do:

Do decide that people can change. This is a belief held deep down, where we really live. If your organization isn’t there, don’t buy/do any training. It will only fail.

Do provide for repetition. Repetition is the motor of learning and without it higher percentage of the content is never applied. Schedule reviews at regularly scheduled meetings. It will make a tremendous difference in the effectiveness of the training.

Do follow up on actions taken. Reinforce positive actions taken. When people try new ideas or techniques for the first time they feel self-conscious. If they feel the ideas/techniques didn’t work, they have a tendency to stop the action. If we reinforce and praise them for the use, the will continue using and become more comfortable and natural in it’s use. We do not learn to ride a bike or drive a car in one lesson so how can we expect people to master new skills in one lesson.

Do understand the four levels of learning. When people first try a new skill they feel Extreme Discomfort, by continuing to try they move to Discomfort, Comfortable and finally Reflex Action. Studies have shown people usually fall in-between Extreme Discomfort and Comfort with new content. Only through reinforcement and repetition of content use do we stand a chance of getting people to the Reflex action level. That is where they use the content naturally without having to think about it. That is true effectiveness in training

Do use training to solve a problem. Example: If sales are down, bring in some quality sales skills development. Don’t train just to train. It’s not a “To do” that we do just to check off our list.

Do implement training in bite-size “chunks.” People learn best when exposed to material they can apply now. As the wise farmer said, “I may have a barn full of hay, but I don’t feed it all at once!” The purpose of training is to get action, so give people small amounts and let them act.

Do acquire practical “how to” content. If the ideas presented don’t cover the what, the why, and the how, then don’t do the training. Life is not theoretical, so don’t give learners just a bunch of theory.

Do buy less stuff. The axiom “less is more” truly is true when it comes to training. Many a credenza is loaded with 3-ring binders that were never opened again after the class.

Do create ownership in-house. The best learning comes from one’s boss. Give the manager the tools required to do the training. Yes, he or she may not be a polished, professional trainer, but it speaks volumes when a leader engages with people in this way. And if the manager doesn’t own the training, it will die anyway.

Do stick with what you buy (unless you bought the junk). Avoid doing the blue program one quarter, the yellow program the next, and the purple one after that. This creates confusion and cynicism—the latter being a disease that’s hard to eradicate. Effecting change is based on a commitment to constant and consistent communication. Mixed messages never work.

There you have it. What else is there to say, other than training does not fail when we do it right! At Accountability Plus, Inc. we are committed to doing it right! Please feel free to explore our Process and our courses on Leadership, Sales Management, Sales and Personal Accountability.

Sincerely,

Jim Strutton, CEO

Accountability Plus, Inc.

Strutton@Accountability-Plus.com

770-205-8171

© 2011 Accountability Plus, Inc.

Please forward this information to your executives, managers, and HR/training people.

Both jobs are equally important and here are some other tips to think about.

Leaders accept Personal Accountability.

Leaders never refer to Corporate management or any other department as “THEY.”

Leaders are problem givers not problem solvers.

People are different and should not be treated the same.

Base your judgments on behavior and performance.

Let your people know where they stand often, don’t wait for an annual review.

Change mean train, a huge part of the Leaders job.

Give team members the maximum control possible over their work.

Leaders confront incompetent behavior and don’t ignore it.

Change is a way of life and Leaders are change agents.

If you find these tips helpful, you should consider our two multimedia training systems entitled “Leadership in Action” and “Practical Sales Management Strategies for Today” both featuring W. Steven Brown. These systems are designed to be facilitated internally by a client to customize the message to the managers and the company.  They help any organization build a method that vastly improves people’s ability to perform.

For a PDF overview of one or both courses to learn more and see how they can be successfully implemented into your organization just request it by clicking here. We appreciate your time and hope this has helped.

Sincerely,

Jim Strutton, CEO

Accountability Plus, Inc.

Strutton@Accountability-Plus.com

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© 2011 Accountability Plus, Inc.

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