Tag: training

15 Jul 2018

Have what it takes to be a manager? Part II by Debra Fraser

Launching Leaders with Debra Fraser

 

Companies are completely right to spend a large amount of time and money when selecting supervisors and managers to run their businesses, for any employee who is “not a fit” for the job eventually costs the company in several ways, including lost productivity, reduced employee morale, and replacement costs. But when the miscast employee is in management it is especially damaging because of their broad scope of influence on so many other employees.

Research suggests that the majority of companies are doing a poor job in their selection process: The State of the American Manager: Analytics and Advice for Leaders by management consulting company Gallup indicates that 82 per cent of managers are in fact miscast in their roles, with 25 per cent of them being “dangerously lousy”.

It begs the question: Why are companies floundering in selecting good managers? One of the challenges is that sourcing and selecting leaders represents a significant effort and is NOT a core competency of most businesses. Headhunting and recruiting firms can help with this.

But what about the responsibility of the aspiring manager to pursue his/her own development? There are numerous testimonies of executives who have taken risks and made sacrifices to acquire new skills necessary to advance their career. I can testify to these risks, and rewards, having left Canada at 28 to pursue my own development in Jamaica.

To help those of you who are in this pursuit, and to guide you in choosing the right skills, review the first five (of 10) employer-sought management skills as printed in our last edition. This time ’round however, have a friend interview you and rate each response on a scale of 1 – 10. (See graphic below) In our next article we’ll take a closer look at the last five skills: team building & motivation, delegation, integrity, resource management, and subject matter expertise.

Until then, leaders keep lookin’ up!

Debra Fraser, MBA, is CEO of Caribbean HR Solutions, an HR outsourcing and recruiting firm; a member of the Business Process Industry Association of Jamica, Human Resource Management Association of Jamaica, and Society of Human Resources Management. Direct comments to dfraser@caribbeanhrsolutions.com

 

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09 Jul 2018

Have what it takes to be a manager? by Debra Fraser

Aspiring Ainsley just passed his 90-day probation at an entry-level job and schedules a meeting with HR to ask where he can apply for a manager position. Ambitious or delusional? Who knows, maybe a bit of both! But it begs the question: How do you know if you are management material? What are employers looking for anyway?

The 70/30 Rule

Having worked with clients both locally and overseas (about a 30 per cent – 70 per cent split), I can tell you there is no clear answer, but there certainly are trends. Some local companies still look for the traditional pre-requisites: education, peer and supervisor references, industry knowledge and experience, and prior management experience. This last requirement is really a catch twenty-two. The result is that many high-potential managers are excluded from consideration due to one or two unchecked boxes. Companies from North America and the UK are more flexible on the education and qualifications side, but sometimes rely too much on ‘personality’ fit, preferring candidates who build rapport with them, at the expense of solid management skills. So what’s an aspiring employee to do?

The best advice I can give is simply this: build your experiences on a solid foundation, much like you build a house. Build it and they will come! Here are some competencies that all employers want to see:

Once you have these skills, half the battle is won.  The other half is being able to confidently present them in the interview process. Another hurdle that must be crossed!  Hiring an Interview Coach to work with you is an effective, and worthy investment.  Having coached job-seeking managers on interview skills I have seen time and time again that the best-skilled candidate will almost certainly NOT get the job if interview skills are lacking.

Finally, consider your motivation for moving into management, a role carrying much higher responsibility and stress.  Let’s say the management post would equate to an additional $20,000 JMD per month, then you must consider your options.  Perhaps a part-time job in teaching or real-estate, or working overtime, could yield a similar cash lift.  If selling Avon on-the-side would reward you an additional $35,000 JMD per month, which would you choose? If you still choose management, money is likely not your main motivator, and you will enjoy the sober pursuit of becoming a manager.

Debra Fraser M. BA, is CEO of Caribbean HR Solutions – a leading HR Outsourcing and Consultancy firm, a member of the BPIAJ, HRMAJ – Human Resource Management Association of Jamaica, and SHRM Society of Human Resources Management. Please direct comments to dfraser@caribbeanhrsolutions.com or www.caribbeanhrsolutions.com

 

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http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/career-education/have-what-it-takes-to-be-a-manager-_137328?profile=1270

02 May 2018

Training and Development of my Staff – Are my Programs effective?

Training and development of staff is arguably an important part of the development of your company and ensuring that your company grows. Onboarding a new employee is costly and similarly, every company wants to ensure that their employees are not only effective but also efficient. Training and development programs provide employees with that necessary skills and knowledge to grow and also implement in their current work to be more efficient and effective. As an organization, it is therefore critical to examine training and development programs and ensure that they are effective.

Here are 5 tips to ensure that you have a successful training program

  1. Identify Clear Goals and Outcomes

Any good program starts with clear and definable goals. Training merely for the purpose of having it is futile. You need concrete outcomes in order to stand any chance of deploying materials and a curriculum that add value to your firm.

  1. Develop Engaging Training Resources

In addition to having the correct goals and the best intentions, you also need materials and a curriculum that is sufficiently interesting to engage your employees and keep them focused. It comes down to three choices:

  1. Establish a Consistent Schedule

Effective training is all about consistency. Instead of trying to cram all of your company’s required training into a three-day period at the end of the calendar year, try spreading things out and commit to a couple hours of training every week or month.

This kind of consistency not only lessens the burden on your company, but it also raises the probability that your employees will become committed to ongoing learning. (They’ll also retain more information this way.)

  1. Give Employees a Say in the Curriculum

Though you’ll have the final say over which curriculum your organization uses for its training programs, don’t deny your employees the opportunity to get involved. Ask them about concepts and topics they feel would help them grow as employees, leaders, etc. There’s a lot of potential value in getting their input, and you may stumble across some ideas you hadn’t previously considered.

  1. Bridge the Gap Between Knowledge and Action

One of the biggest mistakes organizations too often make is failing to bridge the gap between knowledge and action. In other words, they expend generous amounts of time and money on training but don’t give employees a timely opportunity to transfer the knowledge they’ve acquired into action.

Employee training expert Julie Winkle Giulioni believes in developing an action plan: “Organizations, leaders, and individuals invest heavily in training and development through traditional classroom-based workshops, e-learning, webinars, apps, mentoring, experiences, and more,” Giulioni explains.

“But formal and informal learning efforts fall short of the full range of possible outcomes if we don’t metaphorically cross the finish line by bringing the learning to life. Action planning is what does this, bridging insights and intentions to results.”

You can increase the odds that your employees will convert knowledge into action by setting them up for success. Always enable employees to debrief before they leave any training session.

Ask questions like “What will you do differently now that you know X?” Host follow-up meetings with your team to see what progress they’re making. Simple things like these can have a significant impact.

 

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