Top 3 qualities of an excellent supervisor

We attended a meeting with a client last week. He was complaining that his supervisors were not up to the mark. It was a very typical complaint that we seem to be hearing more and more. The client representative was getting frustrated with the casual attitude of his supervisors and wanted them to attend a supervisory skills training to fix the same.

Now these were millennial supervisors that we were talking about. As time goes by, more and more millennials are entering into the workspace. They are getting promoted and taking up supervisory and managerial roles. However, their perspective towards life and ways of working are a little different. And this can get difficult for their co-workers to understand and manage.

I am therefore going to tell you the top three qualities that a supervisor needs to have. These are qualities that all supervisors need to have although am writing keeping the millennials more in mind!

So here goes…

1.       Ownership and Accountability – This is of prime importance for supervisors and one of the points that we ensure that we start every supervisory skills training session with. Every supervisor needs to ensure that he takes up his tasks wholly, which means being completely responsible for them. They really can’t afford to be lax as that puts a bad impression on their juniors who start displaying the same behaviour!

A supervisor needs to own the task that he has on hand and ensure that it gets completed in the best possible way. He also needs to own the mistakes and failures that happen during the completion of the same rather than blaming those below him for it.

2.       Good Communication – Being able to say what we need to, is necessary. If we lack the communication skills to do that; it will lead to a lot of confusion, conflict and rework. This is turn affects quality and the time taken to complete a task. And we are all well aware of how that affects customer satisfaction and the profitability of our organisation.

Therefore, communication skills form a very important part of every supervisory skills training and a skill that every supervisory really needs to work on. After all, a supervisor is no longer an individual contributor. He has moved up the chain and now has to get work done from others. He therefore needs to ensure that his communication is in place to get the same done smoothly.

3.       Emotional Intelligence – This is an area that many of us would prefer keeping our hands out of! However, its also one that needs to be looked into to get many of the other areas in place. Many supervisory skills trainings do not focus on this aspect. However, if you ask me, its one that they really can’t afford to leave out!

Supervisors are subject to many difficult situations on a daily basis. Having to handle their workers, bosses, clients and in some cases difficult working environmental conditions apart from personal problems. These can affect the emotional well being of the person and cause him to react to situations rather than respond to them. This affects not only those around him, but also his own inner landscape. It becomes difficult for him to handle his emotions and handling others becomes almost impossible! That’s why being able to manage one’s emotions is very important. It helps in keeping a calm demeanour and makes it easier to handle any situation that comes along during the day.

Do write in and tell us what other qualities you think a supervisor should have. We would love to hear it. And you never know, we might just include it in our next supervisory skills training!

Know how your organisational culture affects productivity

Every organisation has its own culture. And this culture is very well reflected in the way its people work and interact with each other within the organisation as well as outside the organisation. Some Organisational culture workshops aim at understanding the pulse of the current culture of the organisation and looking at what can be done to enhance the same. Others, on the other hand, may be simply a sharing of the culture the top management wants its people to follow.

An organisation’s culture is mainly driven by its top management. It’s basically a top-down approach. The way the top management of the organisation operates and treats its people, gets pretty much replicated by the rest of the organisation. Hence, the top management forms a major stakeholder in every organisational culture workshop.

The culture of an organisation is very important. It is what gives rise to a particular environment in the organisation, which in turn directly affects their productivity.

Culture is based on the vision, mission and values that the organisation lives by. These truly drive the organisation and run like blood through its veins. They tell people how the organisation wants them to behave and in what direction they need to head to be successful. It therefore fosters the communication within the organisation and also the way people are treated. And we all know how engagement and productivity changes when we feel valued in our organisations!

Hence, an organisation’s culture is not something that can be taken lightly. And if it’s not something you have been giving too much importance to, it’s time to think again. First find out what the current organisational culture is. You can do it through a survey that all your employees fill or through an organisational culture workshop which has activities that help you sense the same. Then bring your top management team together and ask them to brainstorm and come to a conclusion as to what they would want it to be.  Now you can run organisation wide organisational culture workshops which actually tell employees how the culture needs to be. To make it easy for them this can be shown in the form of observable behaviours that they can display. And can be done very effectively through various games and activities which simulate the work environment and tell people how they need to behave in various situations.  Thus organisational culture workshops can set the context very well and aid the top management in building a culture where their people are prospering and taking the organisation to a new level.

Organisational culture workshops are not as common as other workshops like Communication Skills, Managerial Skills, Personality Development, etc. However, they are crucial. They require the leaders of the organisation to have very high awareness levels and an acceptance that the current culture may not be the best and may need a change. After all, only when the leaders are open to change, can change be driven through the rest of the organisation. And it’s the leaders who need to walk that change. And organisational culture workshops can aid largely in that.

TEAM BUILDING TRAINING FOR EXCELLENT BUSINESS GROWTH

There’s no doubt that trainings help in developing people which eventually helps in business growth. But what do you think of team building trainings? Do they help in business growth?

I’m sure you’re wondering why I’m asking you this question. When I already said that trainings contribute to business growth, team building trainings should do the same, right? Then why do you think I’m still asking you if team building trainings serve that purpose too?

That’s because, many a time team building training is considered as an outing or a form of recreation for employees taken offsite. In fact, we get a lot of such enquiries where organisations want to conduct team building trainings as a part of their team outings for fun. They actually insist on keeping the debriefs minimal. And hence sometimes team building trainings are not taken very seriously and may be considered as simply a way to have fun.

I, on the other hand, personally feel that team building trainings are the most important one’s for business growth. This is the time when the whole team is together and away from work. They can therefore focus on bonding with each other and build those bonds that will help them back at work.

Yes, fun definitely is a big motive of team building trainings. Fun is what keeps the atmosphere light and creates a space where people enjoy mingling and getting to know each other better. And when they know each other better and bond better, a very different level of trust is created. This results in working together more efficiently, and eventually more productivity and business growth.

How? Because when you trust your team members, you are more open to each other in your ways and thought processes. This reduces conflict big time and you actually enjoy working together. And that’s when you become more productive and an overall happier team.

Team building training provides a platform where teams and team members can get aware of how they operate in and as a team. They can then work on becoming a better team to achieve better results.

So I’m sure you now know why I feel team building trainings should be given highest priority! They do after all serve multiple purposes like effective communication skills, learning, awareness, development, growth, business results, efficient teams, well bonded and motivated teams, better workplace environment and most importantly, fun! Team building training is truly a buffet!

BENEFITS OF EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN WORKPLACE

Communication skills training is a common training program that anyone can go through irrespective of their level, age, experience, department, etc. This is one skill that needs continual enhancement, though sometimes some people do get offended when asked to attend a communication skills training! They feel, being in the position that they are, they are by default exceptional at their communication skills. There are good at it, no doubt. But remember there’s no limit to learning. And certainly, no harm in enhancing a skill further.

It’s very important to have good communication and good team bonding in a workplace.  It makes things easier and a lot smoother. In fact, an organisation that encourages open communication has less unnecessary conflicts. People are ready to listen to each other’s opinions and a lot of sharing happens. They also give each other constructive feedback and are open to receiving it too. This helps in improving them, others and the organisation on the whole.

Talking about open communication, organisations where people can openly share ideas and thoughts have very high levels of creativity too. This in turn improves employee engagement and retention levels. When people have the liberty to share their ideas, they feel heard. This gives them a creative boost which helps them come up with more such ideas. And that’s when you have an organisation full of people who are running high on creativity, productivity and will stick around for a long time!

Another benefit of good communication skills is teams performing better. When communication is good, team members come together to create strong cohesive units. This is not just helpful within the team, but also greatly improves cross functional collaboration. Being able to communicate effectively opens more channels to ask for help and provide help more often.

Effective communication skills also help in being able to speak assertively to our seniors, colleagues and subordinates. This is challenging for some people. But can be helped by communication skills training.

In short, communication skills enable you for better asking, speaking, listening and understanding. And believe you and me, its these basics that matter a great deal while trying to get any job done! And how do you enhance these? By attending a good communication skills training. It will help you work on these aspects. And if you are already good at them, it will help you in brushing them up further.

So if you are ever given a chance to attend a communication skills training, go for it. Irrespective of what your communication level is, go for it. It will only make you better. And people rarely get a chance to better themselves.

5 steps to effective goal setting

A lot of people have goals, but not everybody spends time actually thinking deeply about their goals. And that’s the precise reason why we have goal setting workshops. They provide a dedicated time and space for you to reflect on where you want to go and how you can get there.

Unfortunately, most people don’t take goals very seriously. And that’s one major reason why these goals never get achieved and just remain as dreams. Therefore goal setting workshops are very important and one’s that shouldn’t be taken lightly. It’s a part of corporate training. Just thinking of what your goal is in your head is not enough.  One needs to stop and spend time with the goal. Check and see whether this is truly what you want in life and ask yourself what you’re ready to give for it.

Goal setting is therefore an extremely important exercise and not setting proper goals can compromise their achievement. Therefore one needs to follow certain steps to get their goals right and maximise their chance of fulfilling them:

Step 1: Believe and Visualize

The first and most important thing to do in order to set a goal is to believe in yourself. One needs to believe that he or she is capable of achieving the goal or else you’ll lose the motivation to work towards it on the way.

After that, visualize what you want. Picturize yourself in the situation when you have achieved what you want. How does it feel? Do you feel motivating enough to pull it through? If yes, then you’re on the right track. If no, you probably need to change or modify your goal. If you however still feel that you want to go ahead with that goal, reflect to understand the internal resistance you may be facing. Check what fears you have or what challenges you may face on the way that are affecting your motivation levels. 

Step 2: Create a SMART goal

Make your goal SMART; specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time bound. If it isn’t SMART, work on it until it is. Making your goals SMART also provide you with insights on how to achieve the goal.

Step 3: Put it on paper

Only 3% people put down their goals on paper. And these 3% people have higher chances of achieving their goals as compared to those who don’t. Writing your goals down on paper indicates your seriousness towards your goals. It also helps your mind see things more clearly.

Step 4: Start Now and Stick to it!

To start working towards your goals, the best time is now. Start working on your plan as soon as possible and stay focused until you achieve it. Goals cannot be achieved over night and what you achieve over night may not a big enough goal. So stay patient, stay focused!

Step 5: Review

Make sure you are reviewing your goal on a timely basis. While in the process of working towards it, you might realise that your goal needs alterations. It may cease to motivate you anymore or you may even realise that you have the potential to achieve much more. And that’s when you will need to alter your goal and action plan.

As you can see, it’s important that you set your goals appropriately. And this is exactly what goal setting workshops help you do. A goal setting workshop provides you with a guide who takes you through the process of understanding the importance and implementation of these steps in depth. They can also give you good insights on the quality of the goal set by you and the challenges you may face on the road to achieving them.

Improve work place safety with right induction training

I was reviewing the induction training of a client the other day. We were going to deliver only the soft skills and behavioural part of their induction training, but they wanted us to review the entire training and see if it needed any improvements. And guess what I found. The part on process training was incomplete. It did not lay much focus on workplace safety.

Workplace safety training is extremely important for organisations that have environments that could be unsafe for their staff. However, the question is, how many of us actually ensure that we cover safety training in the induction training itself in the required depth?

While there are some organisations that definitely give a lot of importance to it in the induction training, some actually do it after a few months or even after some kind of tragedy occurs! My question is, why do we wait for something to go wrong. Why can’t we tell our employees exactly what needs to be done before they touch the floor?

Apart from the timing of such sessions, I also believe that such induction trainings need to create the right environment for learning. For example, consider a session which is simply a download of information. Do you really think it can have the impact that it needs to have? Do you really think employees are going to absorb completely what has been taught and remember it when the time comes for application?

Induction trainings need to be made more experiential in nature. They should be able to simulate the unsafe environment and make employees get an experience of why safety training is so important. It should be interactive and make employees come up with the actions that they need to take to ensure safety rather than the trainer feeding them with ready-made information. This increases their buy-in levels, seriousness as well as retention levels.

Precaution is a top priority. And if understood clearly as to why it’s needed, will definitely reduce or even prevent future disasters. And how best to do it? With experiential, interactive corporate trainings that covers all the required aspects in the correct way and detail.

So, I urge all of you to relook at your induction trainings. Are you covering all that needs to be covered? Are you using the right methodologies? After attending the session, are your employees going to be fully equipped to set foot on the floor safely?

Be a high ticket closer with right sales training program

Sales Training is an absolute necessity for every sales professional. And it can make a huge difference to the service that they deliver to their customers. I got a live example of it last week during a sales call, and I thought I’d tell you about it today.

So I went on a doctor visit for a client from the healthcare industry last week. And believe me it made me all the more certain of why sales training is so important!

I was accompanying a sales executive who was trying to explain to the doctor why his products were good and why the doctor should recommend them to his patients. By the way, I must say the executive was wonderful when it came to his knowledge on the products. He knew each and every product along with all its specifications like material, size, price etc. and frankly I was really impressed with his technical knowledge. However, even after so many years of selling the same products, there was a very apparent gap. A gap that only the right coaching by his Manager or Sales training could fulfil.

While the executive was top notch when it came to hard skills, he had a lot to learn on the soft skills front. Basics like building rapport, talking to the client with confidence, etc. were completely missing. I realised that it was partly because of the personality type of the executive, him being an introvert. And also the fact that I was observing him, which made him conscious. But when I asked his Manager about the same, I came to know that that’s a feedback his Manager had been giving him since quite some time now. But one that had failed to reap any benefit.

Once the sales executive got a little more comfortable with me, I also asked him whether he enjoyed his job. He said he did and also said he did not face any challenges while doing so!

And that brings me to one of the important things that sales training does. It creates awareness.

Many executives are not aware of how they come across to a client when they are selling. They have no clue that they may come across as being low on confidence through their facial expressions and body language, even if they know their product like the back of their hand. Sales training sessions act as a mirror for participants and make them aware of the areas, verbal and non-verbal, that they need to work on.

Typically, building rapport and being friendly with a client comes very easily to a person who naturally has that kind of a personality. However, it may be difficult for executives of other personalities. Sales training makes people aware of the differences in personality development that exist. They discuss the positives and areas of development of each personality, along with how you can go beyond the limitations that these pose.  In fact, apart from exploring facets of your own personality, they also throw light on the different personalities that customers may have and how you can adapt to these to build rapport easily. So a sales executive with an introvert personality can also get to know how to crack a very extrovert personality!

These are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what is covered in sales training. There’s a lot more than just awareness that gets covered in the same. Will discuss those in some later articles. For now you can start with these. These itself will take you from closing small accounts to much bigger one’s while creating relationships with customers for life!

3 major differences in the impact of Slang Communication & Business Communication

I’m sure you all know what slang communication is, right? I may still have had to explain it a few years back. But with the advent of so many means of communication, I’m sure everyone understands it even if they are unfamiliar with the term. And believe me, it’s one reason why organisations are having to conduct more and more communication skills trainings for their employees!

In case you are unfamiliar with the term, let me give you an example to make it clear. For example, consider the term ‘FOMO.’ Have any of you heard it before? I happened to hear it for the first time in a session that I was conducting a few months back. And only I know how I was looked at with wide eyes when I said I had never heard of it! I was very sternly told by my participants that it meant ‘Fear of Missing Out!’ It seems that’s what the youngsters use nowadays to explain their incessant need of following the pack, or else they feel left out!

So, what do you think could be the differences in the impact that slang communication has versus business communication back at the workplace? And with the advent of Facebook, WhatsApp, etc. why are more companies opting for communication skills trainings?

As you may have concluded from my example, slang communication is the communication used typically by a group of people. In my case, the entire younger generation, as I was told! So, what do you think are some of the dangers of using slangs over business communication?

·         Not understanding it – And that’s exactly what happened with me! I could not understand what the term meant until the group using is took the effort to explain it to me. And this is something that commonly happens especially when we travel. Local people use local terms that are beyond our understanding. And this causes huge gaps in understanding. Gaps that large, that even communication skills trainings can’t repair! And some terms can even cause misunderstandings. For example, the term ‘trainers.’ To a person from the learning and development sphere, it means someone who gives training to others. On the other hand, for some youngsters, it means sports shoes!

·         Wasting Time – Yup, this one’s pretty understandable too. If you use such terms that others don’t understand or may be confused with the meaning of, you’re going to waste your as well as their time in re-explaining what you mean. Now don’t you think its better to use a commonly used term in the first place!

·         Groupism – Now this is one I realised when I was in the training room that day. Not knowing the term, when everybody else was aware of it, actually made me feel like an outsider to the group. In fact, my self esteem took a hit and I for a minute actually felt like I must be really dumb to not know the word!

The solution to all these issues…Simply sticking to business communication at the workplace. I know we tend to use slangs all the time at home and especially with our friends. But let’s make an effort to be more aware of the words we use to ensure that it makes communication easy for us and the people around us.

And if you’re having difficulty with that, you can attend a communication skills training. It will help you get aware of what you speak and replace those words with more commonly understandable terms. We are so used to using some slang terms that we don’t realise we are using them. And getting aware of it, is the first step to changing the habit.

Why business needs team building training?

We got a very interesting enquiry from a client last week. What started off as a request for an interpersonal skills session, soon evolved into a team building training requirement. And from understanding the requirement, you will be able to clearly understand why businesses need team building training.

So, the client gave me a call last week. She said she needed a one-day training on interpersonal skills for a particular team in her organisation. As usual, I then got down to asking her a string of questions. What were the challenges the team was facing, how was it impacting them, etc.

I must say she gave me a very detailed answer which helped me understand the problem very quickly. She said that there were a lot of conflicts happening within the team. Individuals were having arguments and it was spreading a lot of negativity throughout the organisation. People were reacting to one another and tempers were running wild. Work was getting hampered and the overall morale of the employees was going down. She felt that the employees lacked interpersonal skills training and did not know how they should behave with one another.

Our conversation gave me the feel that what we were looking for was a training on conflict management. If we could teach the team how to behave with one another and also give them awareness on how they may come across to each other, they would be willing to alter their ways and come together as a team.

I then asked the client to fill up our training need identification form too. You see, it gives clients a chance to think deeply about what their needs are, as we tend to forget things while on a call. And that’s precisely what it did.

The client also came up with the various components of team building training like communication and collaboration, leadership, taking initiative, etc. that the team required. And that’s when we were actually able to put a finger on what we needed to deliver. A team building training that experientially made the participants understand the importance of each of these team building components along with a one-day training on conflict management. This would help the team in taking their first step to resolving their differences and work together more efficiently. It would also help them get a hold on their emotions and how they display them. Yes, the duration of the session had increased by a day, but it was now exactly what was needed by the group and provided a more holistic approach to the issue.

We also decided to package the session as a team building training rather than an interpersonal skills training. Why? Because the acceptability of a team building training will normally be higher than that of an interpersonal skills training in such a scenario. And ensuring that our participants look forward to a training session is an important part of our job. And teaching them what they need and in the best and most harmonious manner, our forte!

Importance of corporate team building training programs

Team building trainings are the most fun filled training programs. They provide the perfect combination of learning, fun and an opportunity to bond with team members. Many organisations opt for team building trainings as a part of annual meets, sales meets, team outings, etc.

Though team building trainings are the most enjoyable, they also provide amazing insights into team dynamics. There is a lot of awareness created while doing various activities and playing different games.

Working in a team should be fun for everyone and proper communication skills. In fact, it’s how a team grows its cohesiveness and bond for performing exceptionally well. You can’t be productive in a team where you don’t get a feeling of belongingness. Therefore, it’s very important that you and your team members are in sync with each other to achieve the best results. But how do you do that? How do you ensure your team is rock solid?

Most of the times; teams don’t even realise, or choose not to realise that there is something wrong within. They are trying so hard to achieve their goal, that they land up overlooking what’s impeding their progress. Conflicts keep taking place and nobody does anything about these ‘small things,’ that can actually be powerful enough to disturb the team’s dynamics.  This, in the long run can disrupt the overall purpose of the team and cause them to lose direction.

Team building trainings bring these very things to notice. Team members and leaders realize the factors holding the team from performing its best and are encouraged and supported in working on them. Corporates therefore give high importance to team building trainings. They look forward to organising such programs at least once in a year to keep the team’s morale and energy high.

Team building trainings are also conducted as a part of various events. They fit in very well with other corporate events like strategic meets, etc., by providing a breath of fresh air in between intensive discussions.   

Learning with fun is the best way to learn and team building trainings provide exactly that. I’m sure all those of you who have been a part of such trainings will vouch for that!