Why should you train your staff?

Why should you train your staff?  There are many reasons, but, personally, I think that Richard Branson summarises it in one sentence………

“Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to”- Richard Branson

 

By following Richard Branson’s one simple rule, you can achieve a multitude of benefits – for both you and your team!

You could become a preferred employer – one sure fire way to becoming a high performing organisation (HPO) where people want to work – is to ensure that you demonstrate genuine care and interest in your teams and that you are prepared to invest in their ongoing and future professional development.

You will also find that staff morale increases. Organisations who train their teams find that staff morale, engagement and customer advocacy focus of staff increases. Happy staff means happy customers, means more referrals/customer advocacy, which, put together means more customers and more business! You will experience lower staff turnover and sick days. Your team will WANT to come to work.

But don’t just put your teams through training for the sake of putting them through training!

My recommendations to you are:

Make sure that you speak with an established Registered Training Organisation (RTO). There are many training providers out there that are not able to provide high quality, accredited training and result can be negative. Do you research, talk to other trusted contacts about their experiences with RTO’s and, if in you want to go with the best….. just contact me!

Work with someone within that RTO that you trust to work with and develop a training  plan to suit the needs of your organisation and the developmental needs of your teams – directly related to their role and the overall goals of the organisation. This will not only benefit your teams (both as individuals and as a team unit), it will benefit your organisation and assist in showing you a ROI.

Undertake a TNA from an organisational point of view and also a development discussion with each individual team member. Talk to your teams about what qualifications and skills they already have and what further training would be most beneficial to them to build on those existing skills. Compare the two and see if you can identify overlaps. This can then help you align the two to ensure maximum ROI for all involved.

 

Lessons from an Alpaca competition – taking pride in what you do

It seems an odd title I know but it is amazing, some of the places where you unexpectedly learn life lessons. In this case – an alpaca judging at a local Agricultural Society Show on the weekend.

We all know that we should take pride in what we do – and I usually do, but I observed some pretty amazing demonstrations of pride on the weekend.

I took my daughter to a local Agricultural Society Show on Saturday and, as per usual shows of its type, there were the usual rides, show bags, sellers stalls, art & craft shows, cake judging and animal judging. After walking around for a little while once we had arrived at the show, we stopped to watch the alpaca judging in one of the show rings.

In addition to learning some interesting facts about alpacas, I also observed demonstrations of true pride in what they were doing.

As well as the fact that the alpacas themselves appear to be quite proud (an observation/connection I had never made in the past – they are quite a proud animal) some of the owners really clearly and obviously took pride in their animals. The alpacas themselves are quite proud, head held high, chest puffed out when they stand still – they are actually little posers!

During the judging process, the owners walk their animal around the ring showing off their prized animal in the hope to win the “Best in Show” ribbon. The smiles on their faces and the pride clearly obvious in their whole demeanour. Owners of all ages and sexes, all parading their prides of joy around the ring to audience and most importantly judges with grins from ear to ear (the owners that is, not the alpacas). It was quite heart warming to witness.  After the obligatory parade around they all lined up with their animals and awaited the judges to systematically go down the line checking the stance, the wool, the eyes of the animals on show. One by one the owners stood proud with their animal proudly showing them to the judges and nervously answering any questions the judge asked them along the way.

After a very short wait, the winner announced!

The face and the body language of the winner was predictable – obviously proud and ecstatic that their hard work and the time and money they had invested in their winning alpaca had paid off – the qudos of being named best in Show.

But what was more extraordinary was the reactions of those that had not won. it was quite remarkable – they all looked just as proud as the winner. All had the proud stance and smile of winners as they paraded around the ring once more on their way out of the judging arena and back to their stalls.

The lesson to me was that we are all winners in one way, shape or form and win in different arenas, circumstances and environments. Taking pride in what we do can be as simply as taking pride in the little things, not just the big wins. And those wins do not have to be broadly announced in front of large audiences either – we should all take pride in the achievements we make every single day – whether publicly or in private.

Be proud of what you do, and remember who you are and what you are contributing to the world and those around you – no matter how big or small those achievements are.

Always be PROUD of who you are and in the work you do!

 

 

 

 

 

Bullying in the workplace is NOT ON!

As April Stress Awareness month, I thought I would offer up some facts on bullying in the workplace – as this is a major cause of stress and loss of productivity in Australian workplaces.

“Everyone in the workplace has a work health and safety duty and can help to ensure workplace bullying does not occur” – Safe Work Australia

WorkCover NSW defines workplace bullying as repeated, unreasonable behaviour directed towards an employee (or a group of employees) that creates a risk to their health and safety.

Many people associate bullying with a physical action taken on another. But, bullying comes in many forms.  According to the Australian Human Rights Commission, bullying includes:

• repeated hurtful remarks or attacks, or making fun of your work or you as a person
• playing mind games, ganging up on you, or other types of psychological harassment
• intimidation (making you feel less important and undervalued)
• deliberately holding back information you need for getting your work done properly
• sexual harassment
• excluding you or stopping you from working with people or taking part in activities that relates to your work
• giving you pointless tasks that have nothing to do with your job
• giving you impossible jobs that can’t be done in the given time or with the resources provided
• deliberately changing your work hours or schedule to make it difficult for you
• physical bullying including – pushing, shoving, tripping, grabbing you in the workplace, attacking or threatening with a weapon

And that the effects it has on the person being bullied can be devastating – affects can include:

• be less active or successful
• be less confident in your work
• feeling scared, stressed, anxious or depressed
• have your life outside of work affected, e.g. study, relationships
• want to stay away from work
• feel like you can’t trust your employer or the people who you work with
• lack confidence and happiness about yourself and your work
• have physical signs of stress like headaches, backaches, sleep problems

 

Employers have a legal responsibility to ensure that employees are safe at work – including their mental health. We all have the responsibility to report any bullying we observe in the workplace, to the appropriate manager, who should then take appropriate action. All workplaces will (or should) have a WHS policy or code of conduct that addresses internal procedures/processes for bullying – make sure you are familiar with yours.

Bullying is often repeated and habitual – the old saying a leopard doesn’t change its spots is very well matched to most bullies!

 WORKPLACE BULLYING IS NOT ON! 

 

Why now is the PERFECT time to start a career in the trades

Now is most definitely a fantastic time to start a career in the trades. Whether you are leaving school and looking for a strong, long term career opportunity; whether you have a child that is deciding what they want to do or if you know someone that loves working with their hands, working outdoors and moving around Sydney (rather than being couped up in an office everyday), the trades offer great long term job opportunities.

YES, it is hard work and YES, they pay may not start off high but you need to focus on the bigger picture.

A recent Sydney Morning Herald article reported that demand for managers and workers in construction will ‘significantly exceed domestic supply over the medium-to-long-term and that there were ‘widespread shortages of appropriately skilled trades workers in the construction industry. The number of job openings for electricians is also expected to be high over the next five years.

This makes it the perfect time to enter into an apprenticeship in the trades areas.

Apprenticeships and traineeships are one of the best ways to get job training and qualifications.  An apprenticeship is a combination of work and structured training which leads to a nationally recognised trade qualification and skills to help get a job, or go onto further training – such as licensing courses to help you start your own business. Apprenticeships generally last four years and cover traditional trade areas. You get paid as your learn! Earning while you’re learning is one of the easiest and most practical ways to overcome the challenge all young people face when starting out in their career: no experience, no job; no job, no experience.

Depending on what you want to specialise in, options include carpentry, electrical, plumbing, fitting and machining, welding/fabrication, engineering, automotive mechanical and/or electrical…. the list goes on.

Apprenticeships and traineeships are not just for school leavers and young workers. They also offer excellent pathways for career upgraders, or for people re-entering the workforce, or simply choosing to shift to a new career path. Adult apprenticeships and traineeships offer a range of benefits to both the apprentice and their employer.

With such good prospects for jobs, a wide range of pathways/trade types and further business opportunities at the need – why not consider an apprenticeship in the trades?

Customer Advocacy and its potential benefits for your business

If done properly, Customer Advocacy can be one of the smartest and most beneficial approaches you can introduce into your business to support your organisational growth.

There are many varied (and some contradictory) definitions of exactly what a Customer Advocate is and on what a Customer Advocacy policy looks like in an organisation, but here are my thoughts on what it is…..

I personally, like the Wikipedia definition of customer advocacy, which is: “Customer advocacy is a specialized form of customer service in which companies focus on what is best for the customer.”*

(*Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_advocacy)

To successfully implement a customer advocacy program you will need to find the right advocates that will represent your brand in the manner in which you would like your brand to be perceived by customers – both existing and new.

The advocates that you have need to be completely customer centric and have an organisational structure which supports customer focussed customer service.

I believe that a person undertaking a customer advocacy role within your organisation should have the following skills:

• The ability to build long term business relationships and trust
• Possess a passion for what they do and the products they are dealing with
• Honesty and Integrity
• Negotiation skills / the ability to help diffuse issues between the customer and the organisational (if they escalate to that point)
• Strong communication skills
• Good business sense / strong understanding of the business
• Strong time and project management skills
• The ability to navigate the organisation to assist in resolving any issues

Building a strong culture supporting customer advocacy can start with ensuring that your key personnel are supported and happy. Having good customer advocates can be a result of strong staff satisfaction rates, having staff that are naturally able to build strong rapport with your customers and having a strong customer-centric organisational culture supported by ALL levels across the organisation.

The success of any customer advocacy structure/cultural changes that you implement can be measured using:

• increased customer retention
• increases in customer satisfaction (this can be measured using tools such as NPS)
• increased number of external referrals by your existing and new customers
• increases in sales and revenue