I am amazed at the number of people who put themselves forward as business advisors, consultants and trainers without ever owning all running a business. Some of them even buy themselves a job by way of a franchise and set themselves up as business gurus. Read more…
I have been working with an organization that is struggling to introduce changes. The problem is centered around the fact that the managers of the organization have no credibility in the minds of the work force. There is very little mutual trust. This situation has arisen because the managers have been saying that, “People are our greatest resource” but they are not behaving that way. Members of staff will quickly pick up the difference between what is said and what is done. If this carries on for any length of time the credibility of the managers and the organization will reach rock bottom. Given circumstances like this it is almost impossible to introduce change because of a complete lack of trust. Unfortunately, even a completely different approach by the management team will initially fail. It will take some time to rectify the situation because of the adversarial relationships which currently exist.
We spend billions on workplace training but never do the obvious. We employ trainers to deliver training in a wide variety of subjects. The transfer of training room knowledge to workplace behavior has been measured at less than 10%. This means that we are not getting good value for our training dollars. The reasons for this waste are many and varied. The prime reason is that we fail to take into account how the learners will view the credibility of the trainer. If the person has no or low credibility, the message is largely ignored. To assess the credibility of your training providers get them to audition to a panel of prospective learners. They will advise you if you are wasting your training money.
For information on training, leave a comment and I will send you a special report that normally costs $27 absolutely free.
I am currently in the process of writing an article on workplace safety that asks why we have so many fatalities and injuries at work. This sad state of affairs exists in spite of the millions being poured into workplace safety initiatives every year. The article will raise more than a few hackles as it questions some of our long-held practices. Watch this space–it will be posted here in the next few days.
To obtain a free copy of The Special Report on safety just leave a comment
When we consider workplace safety it is extremely important to realize that the whole concept of safety relates to the prevailing conditions and human behavior within those conditions. Eliminating all risk is impossible so we regard a safe situation as a condition where risks of injury or property damage are low and manageable. Read more…
Reading accident reports is a heart-wrenching experience when you consider the human losses incurred. It is made worse by the understanding we have spent millions of dollars on creating safer workplaces and training our staff.
We have run induction courses, explained hazards, pointed out safe working practices, trained staff to work safely, appointed safety committees, held safety meetings, hired safety managers, kept meticulous statistics, investigated accidents, written more safety rules and yet we are still having too many work-related accidents.
It is chilling to understand that every single person who has been killed or injured on construction sites has been trained to work safely. They have received training on how to do their work without hurting themselves. What’s gone wrong? How has this state of affairs arisen?
It’s time for a revolution in safety training.
Leave a comment with your e-mail address and I will send you a copy of my Special Report. We hate spam and will never pass your address to any third party.
PLMitchell
If you are going to select a training course and want to ensure best value for money, consider this approach. What are your people going to learn? Is it a cognitive or emotional subject? Read more…
If you have a need for training in the emotional skills such as supervision, management, leadership, selling, customer services and marketing.
Do something revolutionary, hold an audition. Give your hopeful trainers 15 minutes to convince a panel that they have the ability and skill to hold their audience and teach them things of value.
It will only take a few minutes to work out which are the ones who have a sterile approach and those with a more empathetic approach which will be much better received by the learners. Include potential learners in your panel and value their opinion because instinctively they will identify the people they will enjoy and learn from.
Thanks for all the comments I have received. I am grateful. I have a vast amount of information about human behavior so if you have a question about how to deal with a situation, contact me and I will share my answers on this site. I know that at work, the nagging problems that wake you up at 3 am are not technical matters but people ones.
Our power as leaders is conferred upon us by our followers. Those individuals, choose to extend or withhold our power. Our power flows from our followers. There are many, many competent and able people who have comprehensively failed in leadership roles because they believe that the flow of power operated in the opposite direction. They saw their leadership position as a control and command function where they told their people what to do and how to do it. Are you aware of the power limitations of top-down leadership?