TRAINING IS EVERYBODY'S RESPONSIBILITY

Training = Workplace Learning + Performance Professionals

Today, the training has become increasingly complex as the available training options expand to meet the growing and divergent needs of organizations. Traditionally, training was something done to you or by you to increase your knowledge, skills and abilities. When people talked about training, they pictured some form of classroom setting with a "trainer" working with a group of participants, or alternatively, someone receiving skills training "on-the-job" from an "instructor".

This vision has been significantly extended through the impact of new approaches such as e-learning. People are searching for a word or phrase that better describes the techniques, methods and technology now available. Training and Development is now better described as an association of workplace learning and performance professionals. Over the years, we have progressed from training to learning and development, in much the same way as "personnel" changed to "human resources" and now "human capital".

If an organization needs to take their place in the world, the providers of learning, education and training should agree to some common themes. Training is not just about work. Yes it is an essential and key activity in the workplace, but learning and development applies to all aspects of human development. Lifelong learning should apply to all. Importantly, everyone has a training role.

Part of our mindset should be that everyone is responsible for training, just as many are now seeing that safety is everyone's responsibility. We need to learn from the recent trends in the health and safety industry. Too much emphasis was placed on the responsibilities of employers and managers. Not enough emphasis was placed on employees to observe safe work practices. The emphasis now is on all three parties. In the same way, training should be everyone's responsibility.

Technology has significantly expanded the learning delivery methods available. To meet the changed and changing operating environment, organizations need to learn and adapt quickly. This means that training needs to be available easily and quickly. "Just-in-time" not only applies to manufacturing and quality processes - it has become a viable model for learning and training as well. This means that a lot of learning is and can be in small chunks. Training is changing as a result of the need to be "just-in-time". 

Our organizations are leaner, and some would say, meaner. Many organizations expect employees to be fully trained before they are employed. Once employed, knowledge and skills need to be constantly updated. This can be done through structured courses and additional qualifications and/or unstructured methods. Both individuals and organizations can play their part.

A wealth of material is available to assist, particularly now the internet is so widely available. Organisations need to encourage self-help. The resources need to be available. Skilled workers, at all levels, should be encouraged and equipped to pass on their knowledge and experience to others. These workers need to learn the appropriate techniques and methods to do this. This doesn't mean that everyone should undertake the Certificate  in Assessment and Workplace Training. Some people only need basic "on-the-job" training techniques.

On the other hand, organisations need to ensure that their planning and human resources systems are monitoring the "big picture". This means effective performance management systems identifying individual development needs as well as systems providing organisation wide training where required, for example, with the introduction of new systems or ways of operating.

Individuals have responsibilities. Organisations have responsibilities. Training providers (formal, informal) have responsibilities. Management of these interrelationships is a complex task.

GET FIT TO MAXIMISE PERFORMANCE & PROFIT

Healthy Body ! Healthy Profits !

To succeed at business, you need skills, but you will not perform to full potential if you’re unfit. Fitness is where the motivation, focus and energy comes from. We can all be terrible at allowing work, targets and pressure to take over our lives but without a healthy brain can you really work at your true potential and enhance your staff's motivation levels? Probably not... 


For most business owners and managers it is easy to forget exercise, grabbing ANOTHER black coffee, eating late and forgetting breakfast, however the risk factors of this are not only dangerous but can demodulate your team. Your business and team are only as healthy as you are. 

Rather than purely putting the employees through just various training courses, it is also important to promote  new Brown Bag lunches, arrange for a number of external people to come and do talks on things such as Yoga, Mediation and Healthy Eating.

Top Tips for all of those who are Workaholics - 


You would never forget an important meeting with a customer so don't forget an important meeting with the rowing machine! You can not work to your best ability if you are unfit.


Ensure your staff have breakouts! - Why not create a break out zone in your office?


Promote breaks and lunch breaks - We are all human - The brain works threefold AFTER a short break.


Break the mould - why not give it a go?


Encourage wellness programmes - why not set a team competition?


Stop feeling overwhelmed and stop overwhelming your team. Pressure equals low productivity. Fun, fresh and innovative ideas increases team morale, productivity and enjoy!

Look after your health & the outcome will be richer! You will be able to enjoy it more so as you would’ve built up a strong fit body! 

HR SPECIALIZED LANGUAGE..

A Positive Approach !

We come across many HR specialized language, and we try to understand things in a negative way. The ultimate aim of sharing the below terms is to create a positive environment around us. Positive Attitude is the key to Corporate Success

COMPETITIVE SALARY -- 

You work you take.

JOIN OUR FAST-PACED COMPANY -- 

You can implement your knowledge right from today.

CASUAL WORK ATMOSPHERE --

Be happy you have a family atmosphere people are warm, friendly.

MUST BE DEADLINE-ORIENTED -- 

Plan and perform you will be perfect

SOME OVERTIME REQUIRED -- 

To earn more name and money.

DUTIES WILL VARY -- 

You should be king of one and jack of many.

MUST HAVE AN EYE FOR DETAIL -- 

You will become perfect.

CAREER-MINDED --

Female Applicants must be focused both officially and personally.

APPLY IN PERSON -- 

If you are high-flyer job is immediate.

NO PHONE CALLS PLEASE -- 

Your quality will speak, only when you meet us in person.

SEEKING CANDIDATES WITH A WIDE VARIETY OF EXPERIENCE --

You will have lot of interesting assignment.

PROBLEM-SOLVING SKILLS A MUST --

Every problem has a solution.

REQUIRES TEAM LEADERSHIP SKILLS --

Move with group, but be a leader.

GOOD COMMUNICATION SKILLS --

A hall mark quality of a Manager.

MANAGE IN STYLE

Analyse And Apply !!

Today’s manager needs to vary his Style of Management to bring out the Best in each Employee. 

The demands of the workforce today are not the same as they were yesterday. The corporate world is changing at the speed of light and there is no escaping the pressure to create a new profile of what a manager should be. New demands from customers, employees and society drive the corporation and the manager to be different. This means that as a manager, you need to assess and evaluate what type of leader you need to be. It also requires you to be ready, willing and able to change. 

The successful manager of the 21st century is regularly evaluating himself and constantly asking: "How can I do this better?"  They are flexible, learns fast, thinks and acts globally and creates value for all stakeholders involved such as colleagues and customers. They take full responsibility for his own behaviour and drive their team to achieve exceptional results.

You will need to use different styles for different people and different situations in order to get your people to perform at peak levels. You should therefore analyze what type of support your subordinates need in their various tasks and responsibilities and then manage and lead them accordingly. 

What you need to do is to evaluate your subordinates’ ability and motivation to perform their tasks in order to choose the correct management style. And it’s a different style for each task, depending on their ability and performance. To make it simple, you can divide your team members into three categories. 

The Low Performer

This person has little or some ability and is often new to the job or specific task. His performance is low and he doesn't deliver significant results. The reason for the low performance can be a lack of ability for and understanding of the job or task. 

However, the person can also be de-motivated, that is, not being committed to the work or having a negative work attitude. If a person is categorised as a low performer, you need to provide him with a clear direction, clarification and training, then supervise closely and follow-up accordingly. Basically, you tell him what he needs to do. The management style for a low performer is Directing. 

The Average Performer

This person has a good understanding of the job or specific task and moderate or even high ability. His performance varies throughout the year. Sometimes, the individual's willingness to perform is reduced due to a lack of self-confidence, low motivation or difficulties faced in performing the task. If a person is categorised as an average performer, you need to encourage, support, motivate and give some direction and clarification. The management style for an average performer is Coaching. 

The Peak Performer

This person has an excellent understanding and ability of what needs to be done. He achieves beyond expectations or even produces superior results. The motivation is high and he seldom needs Encouragement. 

He is a self-starter and needs very little or even no direction and supervision. But he will expect a facilitating management style and a manager who is more a colleague and mentor than a boss. Make sure you delegate responsibility, give him authority to decide and challenge him to take additional responsibilities. The management style for a peak performer is Empowerment. 

To be a manager in the 21st century is definitely a challenge. But if one follows the above guidelines you will take a big step forward as a manager. Remember to: 

• Analyse your subordinates’ performance levels, motivation and general needs' .
• Apply the “correct” leadership style accordingly; Develop each person’s ability and influence to achieve self-responsibility; Give your vision of where you want to be as a company, division and team; and Lead them towards your vision and encourage peak performance at all levels and all times. 

Source: http://www.123oye.com/

AVOIDING PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL MISTAKES

If You Think Employee Satisfaction, Productivity And Performance Are Important!

Mentioning "Performance Appraisal" gets such mixed responses because people have such mixed experiences. If your respondents aren't hostile, or scornful, then they're clearly not impressed.

Why are performance appraisals seen to be negative experiences? Isn't a performance appraisal simply a meeting between a manager and a member of his or her staff, where together they appraise the staff member's performance during the year (or other time period) and agree on goals for the coming year?

Well, that's the theory.

In reality, many managers handle performance appraisals quite poorly. And the result is not only an unpleasant meeting, but one where the manager and his or her staff member never quite understand each other, never quite appreciate the other's point of view, and never quite settle on appropriate goals for the coming year. It's almost inevitable that the staff member will end up less happy and less productive than he or she was before! 

Below are few big mistakes that managers often make in conducting performance appraisals. Fortunately, these mistakes are easily avoided once you make a conscious effort to avoid them.

Waiting For The Performance Appraisal To Give Feedback:

This is the biggest mistake and the most common one. It's where a manager fails to give someone adequate feedback on their performance during the year, and then dumps it on them in the performance appraisal meeting. Unfortunately, the feedback is almost always negative, so the employee ends up sitting there in shock -- at best, wondering why his or her manager didn't say something sooner; at worst, feeling unjustly victimized. And you have to wonder -- how can a manager expect an employee to do the right things, the right way, if the manager hasn't provided any guidance or feedback all year?

The Solution: Managers should make it a habit to tell their employees if they've done a good or poor job, and if it's a poor job, explain how they can do things better in the future. There should be no surprises in the performance appraisal!

Over emphasizing Recent Performances:

It's all too human to remember, and give greater weight, to recent events rather than earlier events. However, this can lead to an inaccurate and unfair assessment when it comes to reviewing an employee's performance.

The Solution: Take note -- and ideally take notes -- of the employee's work throughout the year.

Being Too Positive Or Negative:

Some managers feel uncomfortable giving negative feedback and consequently, can omit to give employees the constructive criticism they need to improve. And then there are other managers who are instinctively too negative, leaving the employee wondering if they can do anything right! While, as a manager appraising someone's performance you should give your honest opinion, you also want your employee to understand and appreciate what you're saying.

The Solution: Instead of being too positive or negative -- which can result in the employee not believing what you say -- think about the impact on the employee you want, and communicate your feedback accordingly.

Being Critical Without Being Constructive:

Some managers can be too critical and neglect to provide any constructive advice on how an employee can improve. This doesn't help the employee or the manager. Even if your criticisms all have merit, if you don't explain how the employee can improve, he or she is likely to miss the validity of what's being said and simply think he or she is being victimized. Not to mention the fact that his or her performance won't actually improve.

The Solution: If you need to be critical, be constructive too!

Talking Not Listening:

The final big mistake that managers make in performance appraisals is doing too much talking and not enough listening. These meetings are supposed to be interactive -- where the manager doesn't simply relay his or her own appraisal of the employee's performance during the year, but also listens to the employee's viewpoint. 

The Solution: If you have criticized the individual's performance, it's not only fair, but important, to get the employee's response as to why he or she may have underperformed.

Moreover, a key objective of the performance appraisal is to agree on goals for the following year. How can there be true agreement and commitment to such goals, if you don't learn the employee's point of view? One can avoid the above mistakes -- it just takes a little effort. It's certainly worth it, if you think employee satisfaction, productivity and performance are important!

HOW DIFFICULT IS MANAGEMENT ?

Practice Where Art, Science And Craft Meet

A manager's most important, and most difficult job is to manage people. You must lead, motivate, inspire, and encourage them. Sometimes you will have to hire, fire, discipline or evaluate employees.

Management is nothing but making things to be done by the people. Now how difficult is the management? Well there is a common proverb in most of the languages that "One can take the horse to the pond but you cannot make her to drink water" but in management this principle is not accepted, you have to make that horse to drink water under any circumstances with in the given time limit. 

In order to make the horse drink the water, we have two options:

• Get some carrots and put into her mouth. After eating the carrots the horse will drink water, but what if the horse refuses to drink water after having the carrot.
• Then, we need to go for the second and final option by getting some red hot chillies and put it into her mouth.and then the horse will definitely drink water.

So what is the difference between the first method and the second method. 

The first method is the motivation and the second method is compulsion. The motivation is the best method but not an easy one, because motivating a person is not that easy. where as the second method compulsion is the final alternative when you have left out with no options. 

Management is a difficult task but one can make it easy if the Management Person possess enough management skills like motivational skills, negotiation skills, Timely decision making etc.

HR BRANDING

Best Company To Work For

We start our day with a morning jog in Reebok athletic shoes, we go to work dressed in a Blackberry suit in a new Volkswagen car, and stop along the way for having a cup of coffee at Cafe Coffee Day.

These aren't mere shoes, clothes, cars and coffee we are talking about. These are brands, and chances are you have to choose them not only because they meet your basic requirements of clothing, transportation and sustenance, but also because the brands promise a certain quality and style that you've come to rely upon. Great brands provide a source of identification and assurance of quality. These brands simplify decision-making and communicate the value they create for their customers. And great brands make and keep their promises. These characteristics differentiate great brands and cement their leadership credentials.

Branding in HR has traditionally been limited to the employment function. The HR branding has become a topic of great interest. The success of an organization relies upon excellence in execution. Historically, corporate leaders have looked to other functions, such as product development, marketing and sales, to drive corporate success, today more and more eyes are looking towards HR as the call for need. Success of the brand depends upon of awareness and relevance. If target audiences are not aware of the brand, if their internal and external customers don't notice your effort in the cacophony of messages they receive each day, then we will never have a chance to be relevant. And if they become aware of you, if you capture their attention and fail to deliver relevance, then they will learn to ignore you.

Customers differentiate firms by their products. Marketers have traditionally used "The 4 Ps" (product, price, position and promotion) to set the products of their firm apart from those of the competitor in the market place. Employees now differentiate their jobs by HR branding . The 4 Ps of HR are People, Pay, Position and Prospects. As the functions of HR started spreading across the organization, the services rendered by the HR department to the employees can be treated as the same thing as selling services to the external customer. Hence, the HR department should care about its brand identity.

For a company to be successful, it has to attract, motivate and retain the best and brightest, making it competitive in the race. As organizations are complex, open systems, single interventions are not enough. The best organizations have compelling people strategies that are perfectly aligned with the organization's business strategy. Once the people strategy is aligned with the business strategy, you can begin creating a great place to work. The HR brand has to be aligned congruently with what the company delivers to the employee, customer, public and shareholder.



In today's knowledge driven economy, HR plays a strategic role in bringing in the right kind of people into the organization. In a sense, HR is the first face of an organization for a new prospective employee. Market research has revealed that strong brands contribute to strong competitive presence. In this way, the HR in its new avatar, the importance of branding HR follows quite as a corollary.


The challenge faced while structuring the brand is to establish new deliverables to sustain strong partnerships with both internal and external customers. The ability to see the big picture and to deploy the resources to address to this big picture will be more important than ever, based on the interactions of HR department with both internal and external customers.


Brand as a System
We can consider brand as a system. The brand system has four components which are inextricably tied and interdependent.


Offer: It is the service or a group of services that the brand renders to its customers, and if the offer is complex or it is difficult to explain, then it would be very difficult to communicate the offer to the target segment. Hence, the offer should be clearly described for a brand to be successful. Example: Compensation packages, Training programs, Employee assistance programs, a good working environment, etc.

Identity: Identity is defined as every thing that assists in attracting attention, setting expectations and making an impression. Names, logos, slogans, advertising, packaging, vision and mission statement of the HR department make up the brand identity. This provides information to employees to determine an impression on the HR department.


Experience: Brand experience is the aggregate of all the perceptions that result from the interactions with a brand. But all the experiences are not equal. Employees assign different levels of importance to different facets of their experience.

Image: Brand Image is what people think of the brand. This is primarily based on the interactions with the HR department.

Why do we go for brands? The answer is simple -.reliability. It’s the popular brands which provide this reliability. Attracting knowledge workers has become a Herculean task for the HR department. Only the best practices and the best environment can assure their interest in working for your organization. The practices and policies of the HR department and its outlook create a certain brand for the HR. The better the brand, better are the chances that you attract the best talent. The focus in our paper outlines all that are required to make HR the best brand.