Are you as successful as you want to be?

To answer that question you need to take a critical look at yourself. But before you start analyzing your behaviors and attitudes, think about what it means to be successful. Ask yourself "What does success means to ME?". Figured it out? Check your picture of success with those you are in agreements with – partners, colleagues, etc. Refine and define your success and then get to work using the WDEP system for self-evaluation. The WDEP system is the go-to procedure for lead managers to encourage quality performance in the workplace and you can make this system work for you as well!

WDEP stands for:

• What do you WANT?
• What are you DOING?
• EVALUATION: Is it HELPING OR HURTING?
• What is your PLAN?

You will quickly learn how to make a judgment or determination about the effectiveness of your actions and the attainability of your wants.

1. Is what you want realistic or attainable?
2. Is your action helpful in getting the job done?
3. Is your action helpful to others?
4. Is your action helping you get what you want?
5. Is your action in line with or against the explicit rules of the bank?
6. Is your action acceptable?
7. Is your action helping the bank achieve its goals so you can maintain a secure job for yourself?
8. Is your plan for improvement attainable and helpful?

Build your success muscles with the tools and training you will find in our online store and calendar.

 

Still learning,

 

Honey

Presenting Like A Pro

 

When a presentation or speaker amazes you, do you ever stop to think you are seeing only the last 20 minutes of a process that took hours or work? On average presenters devote 20 to 60 minutes of time for each minute of a finished presentation. That means that a 10-minute presentation can take up to 6 hours to prepare. Keep everything organized when you are working on your presentation with these four tips:

 

Who is my audience?
What does your audience know about your subject? Why is your audience listening to your presentation? With what attitude do they approach your presentation? Understanding who your audience is will help you in choosing the right words, graphics and length of your presentation.

What is the purpose?

Are you persuading your audience or are you simply informing then? Are you training them on a specific topic? As with the first question, the answer will help you in choosing how to develop your presentation in terms of wording and graphics.

 

What style?

Once you have determined the audience and purpose of your presentation, you can consider what style is appropriate. Perhaps a problem-method-solution approach is best? Maybe it suffices to only place outlines in your presentation and engage your audience with your stories? Perhaps you want to test your audience and repeat your key points throughout the presentation?

 

Rehearse

Even the most talented speakers need to rehearse thoroughly. Initially, don’t worry about your posture or tone. Once you feel confident about the content of your presentation you can tweak the flow and make sure your transitions are effective, both in your voice and on your slides. Record your presentation when you are happy with it. Embrace your style, be natural. The payoff from rehearsing is that you will be more relaxed when you do your live presentation. Recording your practice session is beneficial in numerous ways. A recording offers a change in perspective: now you are an attendee and you watch and listen in that role. The recording also helps you fine-tune what you want to say, how you want to say it and tighten up your time line.

People that like to make a difference find that helpful presentations can do just that.  Make a difference.

 

Still learning

 

Honey

Hire the Personality, Train the Skills

What do you think about that?  We help bank and credit union trainers excel at designing and delivering training that teaches people what they need to learn in order to do their job.  The trainer’s job is to identify the competencies the worker must master to ensure the work is accurate, complete and competent.  The caveat is that the trainer needs learners that want to excel on the job.  It is very hard to teach someone to be socially savvy and motivated to excel.  It is much easier to teach people how to complete a process or fill out a form.

The greatest stress, the biggest ailment in the workplace comes from how people “act” toward others.   It always gets executive management’s attention if a client is mistreated by an employee and it very well should.  I think the bar should be set that behavior that is unacceptable when interacting with a client is equally unacceptable with others you work with.   A company that wants to create an exceptional place to work has to take a hard look at what kind of work environment exceptional people want to show up for each day.

Our upcoming webinar, If They Knew Then What They Know Now, Would You Still Get the Job? focuses on the behaviors and impressions that help someone ace an interview.    No doubt you can dress, rehearse, learn your lines, and act in such a way in a job interview that you are sure to leave a very positive impression with the prospective employer.   It’s recommended.  It’s proven that the interview can trump the resume when recruiting new talent.  I want to pose this question: “When should you not present yourself on the job as you did when you secured it?” 

Everyone that wants a job recognizes the impression they make sets the stage for what will happen next.  Someone that doesn’t strife to make a positive impression in a job interview is a red flag.  This candidate might be the most qualified but they certainly won’t work at taking pride in how others they serve or work with see them. 

Second and third interviews serve a couple of purposes.  Additional interviews convey how important the selection process is to the company and the more comfortable the candidate becomes.  When we move past first impressions we get a good look at how someone acts on autopilot. 

Don’t misunderstand me, competency, skills, expertise and experience are critical to job performance so hiring someone that is engaging and enthusiastic but unqualified is not a good trade.  It’s a fact that you get hired for what your resume offers but if you can’t play well with others – others will regret you got the job.

 Still learning,

Honey

 

Grab that Frog and Be Done with It!

I was reminded recently of something Mark Twain is reported to have said, "Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.”

Procrastination is always lurking in the shadows ready to grab my thinking.  When procrastination rules I grow my dread list versus my get it done list.  It’s a tricky thing when you have a dread list. This is the list of what I am convinced I should do but appear committed to find ways or excuses to block me from getting that list wiped out.  The bigger the dread list the greater the procrastination.  Procrastination is barrier to accomplishing priorities.

At our Train the Trainer Boot Camp bank and credit union training professionals often share stories about the progress that gets underway when procrastination doesn’t rule at their company.  Some trainers are people-oriented while others are detail-oriented.  In a financial institution almost every job requires plenty of both.  Here’s the dilemma: if you are a people person, you dread aspects of the detail that is required of you. If you are a detail person, you dread some of the people engagement that comes with your job.

Put an end to feeding procrastination with dreaded intentions and start each day with a list of priorities that foster wiping out dread.

Grab that frog first and be done with it!  Do the unpleasant but important tasks first.

Still learning,

Honey

Supervisor Training Effectiveness: Best and Worst Practices
Managers and supervisors are promoted or hired in to lead. There is still a myth prevalent in the work world that placing someone in a leadership role makes them a leader. Truth is that much like playing the piano or a sport, excellence at supervision requires training, coaching, practice and feedback.

 

When your company invests in the time, talent and resources to conduct supervisor training it needs to be evaluated for effectiveness.

Best Practices

• Involve all stakeholders (training designers, a few of the candidates for the training, executives, participants’ managers, HR, external providers). The job of the stakeholders is to clarifying who is responsible for training effectiveness. That would be all the stakeholders. The trainer owns design and delivery of the training. Who is the responsible party for the effectiveness of the training? The answer is simple. The stakeholders.
• With the stakeholders, establish before the training is designed or conducted how success will be measured.
• Make certain all stakeholders have shared and created a clear picture on expected outcomes.
• Designate a resource to collect, track, analyze, and communicate findings to build the business case for the value of the training, or build the case for modifications to the training.

Worst Practices

• Provide supervisor training based on the expectations of only a few. Involvement and input must require accountability with all stakeholders, not just the trainer or the learners.
• Expect training to be a sole solution. Training is not like a vaccine or baptism.
• Determine evaluation strategies after the training has been completed.
• Select outcomes that cannot be measured.
• Use evaluation data to cast blame and point fingers versus to modify and improve the training content and approach.
• Share evaluation results and data with a limited few key parties and not with executive management.
• Most companies, banks and credit unions for example, track everything that matters in their business. Are they, are you tracking training? 

 

Still learning,

Honey

 

Writing Like A Pro

 

Avoid Technicalese
Technicalese is the overblown style that makes writing sound as if it were written by a robot. Sometimes it’s tempting to use technicalese as a way to emphasize our knowledge of the topic. However, loading up your writings with jargon, clichés, antiquated phrases, and passive sentences only makes your text more complex than it needs to be. Make your writing more direct and vigorous by using the active voice to overcome this habit.
For example:
Passive: Security of a credit card is provided by the four digit pin code.
Active: The four digit pin code provides credit card security.

Lengthy Sentences
Lengthy sentences tire your readers. A survey by Harvard professor D. H. Menzel indicates that a sentence becomes difficult to understand when it exceeded 34 words.  Test how readable your writing is at www.readability-score.com

KISS - Keep it Simply Simple
Don’t use overblown expressions such as “it is a well-known fact that” or “it is the purpose of this writing to”. These take up space but add little meaning and clarity. Use simple words instead of wordy phrases.

Attention all Trainers!
Make this Your New Year’s Resolution
Train the Trainer Boot Camp
 

Be on the Lookout

Always be on the lookout when you are reading for excellent writing.  When you find it consider the writer’s style, sentence structure, succinct directions and descriptions.

 

 

Still learning,
Honey

12 Tips on Coaching Employees

Coaching isn't about telling, it’s about engaging the other person. First engage and then listen! Are you charged with inspiring, guiding and engaging others? If yes, that calls for you to “up your game” with coaching expertise. Put these tips to work for you as a coach.




Here’s a dozen tips that will improve your coaching effectiveness:

1. Have a clock where both parties can see it – even take off your watch and put it on the table. Confirm from the start how long the coaching session will last.
2. Quickly create an agenda if one wasn't established in advance and prioritize the central points.
3. Concentrate as much as possible; avoid thinking about your next response while the other person is speaking.
4. Take notes on what you hear; documenting and follow up are key.
5. Never coach from behind your desk.
6. Use affirming body language to show your employee you are focused on what is being said.
7. Have patience when your employee is speaking, especially if they need time to explain something.
8. Maintain as much direct eye contact as you can.
9. Keep your cell phone out of the coaching session.
10. If you are in your office turn on the do not disturb button on your desk phone.
11. Hang a sign on your door requesting to not be interrupted.
12. Smile and be as friendly and sincere as you can when your employee is doing the talking.

If you are the coach put these to good use. If you are the employee that is fortunate to have a supervisor that strives to excel as a coach take note. You have many of the same responsibilities that your coach has and you can tap into these twelve suggestions in order to make MVP!

Still learning,

Honey