Year 10 | 4th Qtr. 2012
Customer Satisfaction & Engagement Becky Dannenfelser
Making Training Successful After Training Ends Barry Kaplan
on Hospitality Professionals
Technology Enhances Remote Training
Ted Brennan and Beth Mahler
Training is over.
Now
what?
Training beyond the new hire, and maintaining an ongoing skill improvement process.
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Contents
Remote
Trainer
03 06 09 13 14 18 22
Training: What’s the Point!
5 Star Luxury Hotel Inspires 5 Best Practices by Apple
Technology Enhances Remote Training
How to Select a Remote Trainer
Making Training Successful After Training Ends
Customer Satisfaction & Engagement
Drive Engagement with Training
Editor: Beth Mahler Graphics: Julie Leake FOCUSED is a quarterly publication of UNIFOCUS. For more information: marketing@unifocus.com 2455 McIver | Carrollton, TX | 75006 | 972.512.5000 | www.unifocus.com FOCUSED is always looking for compelling content. If you have a particular success story or a unique industry perspective you would like to share with our readers, as well as any other comments, please send them to: marketing@unifocus.com Join Us | Follow Us | Share With Us | View Us
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TWhat’s raining : Point! the
By Mark Heymann UniFocus Chairman and CEO
In this edition of FocusED, we have a series of articles that discuss approaches to, and the reasons organizations should/ need to not just train their staff upon hiring, but to maintain an ongoing skill improvement process. It has been made clear to us that over the last few decades or so we have moved from a manufacturing to a service based economy. And that means that, unlike tangible products that have specific measures for performance or product quality, much of our perception of value is now based on a subjective assessment of the quality of the delivery process. And, to simplify the definition even further, products that we purchase and the prices we are prepared to pay have a direct relationship to our perception of the connection we, the consumer, have with the service deliverer. Some of us may remember Lexus’ advertisements
a few years ago where they touted the precise measure of the separation of the hood of a car from the frame with a ball bearing. Easy to measure and understand as the metric is quite specific and precise. Not quite the same when perception of attitude or knowledge is key to the purchase decision as well as the “experience” with the product. Part of the challenge then is that value perception can be a moving target for the service economy. Manufacturing accuracy has a longer shelf life when it comes to perceptions, and therefore on-going training may not be as critical as in a service based business. Consumers get smarter, more demanding and purchase more often in a service based business like restaurants, hotels and other people interactive businesses.
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Training: What’s the Point?
Therefore, an organization needs to constantly fine tune the “product” to ensure positive ongoing perceptions. And that is done with regular skill and knowledge focused training. One of the areas that organizations frequently do well is onboard training. Yes, the first 90 days of employment. Performance is frequently measured during this initial period to determine if the employee is going to “get it right” and therefore stay with the company. After that period though, training frequently falls to the side and in fact is a disposable item during tougher economic times, exactly when competition is more difficult and a returning customer is even more critical. Let’s be candid; the training budget is the first to go when the bottom line is threatened. What is needed is an ongoing process of constant service delivery improvement through systematic refreshers and development of new innovations in service quality. There are many professions that demand X number of hours of training to retain a professional certification, take CPAs for example to name one. Why then doesn’t a service business require updates to training for re-certification as a server, for example. Are there new ways to more effectively upsell the menu and increase the average check? Better ways to describe specific items or pair items with wine selections? Is there a new service approach that can increase a server’s productivity by 5 covers a meal period? Should the front desk staff know a guest’s perspective on his or her prior stay? These are just a few things that the service industry could consider to improve the customers’ perception of the product that is being delivered. This edition of FocusED is designed to bring to the forefront some thoughts on applied training and how make training an integral part of an organization’s culture and how it does business. We hope you enjoy the readings.
Mark
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Star Luxury Hotel Inspires Best Practices by Apple One of the questions Apple Store hiring managers ask themselves while sizing up a potential job candidate is, “Can the individual offer a 5-star luxury hotel level of customer service?” A well-known luxury hotelier is the gold standard of customer service. It makes perfect sense that the Apple Retail Store—the most profitable retailer in America— would benchmark itself against a brand known for its legendary service. Any business could do worse than to copy a 5-star resort. As I was doing the research for my book, The Apple Experience, I learned that Apple Retail adopted several techniques directly from the luxury hotel chain. Here are five ways the Apple Store builds customer loyalty the luxury hotel way.
By Carmine Gallo Author, The Apple Experience carminegallo.com
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Approach with a warm welcome. Greeting guests with a warm welcome is the first step written on a wallet-sized credo card that all hotel employees are encouraged to carry. The greeting is the first step of the Apple experience as well. Walk into an Apple Store and you’ll be immediately greeted by friendly people with big smiles holding iPads and ready to assist you. Guests find the same thing in every hotel location: warm, friendly employees who smile frequently and say hello
5 Star Luxury Hotel Inspires 5 Best Practices by Apple
or ask how your day is going. A warm greeting makes people feel appreciated, valued, and happy. Anticipate unexpressed needs. 5-star employees are trained to anticipate the unexpressed wishes of their guests. In a roomservice visit it’s not uncommon for a waiter to tilt the TV in the direction of the guest and place the remote control on the service tray. During one stay the receptionist called me and said, “We see that you are scheduled to leave very early tomorrow. Can we leave a pot of fresh, hot coffee outside your door?” Apple, too, instructs its sales staff to “listen for unresolved issues or concerns.” If a PC owner is thinking of making the switch to Mac, an Apple salesperson (specialist) might spend more time talking about the simplicity of learning a new operating system and provide a description of the One-to-One program which includes one year of personalized instruction as well as data transfer between a PC and Mac. End with a fond farewell. These luxury-brand hotel employees are instructed to give guests a “warm goodbye” and to use the guests’ name whenever possible. When my wife and I left a restaurant, Salt, on Amelia Island, the hostess said, “Goodbye Mr. and Mrs. Gallo. We enjoyed having you. Please visit us again!” Apple learned this directly from the hotelier and encourages its employees to “end with a fond farewell and an invitation to a return.” It wouldn’t be surprising to hear an Apple Store instructor deliver the following remark upon the conclusion of a Oneto-One training workshop: “Please visit us again
for another session. You take beautiful photographs. I can’t wait to see the photo album you created with iPhoto.” Apple Store employees are taught to make people feel special when they leave the store and give them something to anticipate upon their return. Own the relationship. If you ask a hotel employee to point the way to a restaurant, gift shop or fitness room, don’t be surprised if you receive a personal escort to the location or close to it. The staff is taught to own the relationship and to make sure each guest has an enjoyable and memorable experience. No 5-star luxury hotel employee will ever say, “It’s
not my job.” Whoever receives a complaint is responsible for resolving it. Employees at an Apple Store are also taught to own the experience. If you approach an Apple Store employee with a problem of any sort, that person “owns” the relationship. The employee can direct you to another part of the store (and they will often escort you to the appropriate product table) or might introduce Page 7
5 Star Luxury Hotel Inspires 5 Best Practices by Apple
you to another salesperson more specialized in the product you’re interested in. But even if they hand you off, they will often introduce you to the other employee by name and even check back to see if you got your questions answered. The employee owns the relationship and must do everything in his or her power to make it right. Reset internal clocks. Apple has learned what premier hoteliers have known for a long
time: an employee can alter a customers’ perceived wait time by resetting the internal clock. For example, when my wife and I were staying in Buckhead (Atlanta), we were waiting a long time for our entrées. Just when my wife was about to ask about our order, the waiter appeared and gave us a tomato and mozzarella appetizer “courtesy of the chef.” These employees are empowered to make decisions that reduce the perceived wait time. In the same dining experience a family with two young children was seated right next to us. The two kids began to get antsy between the appetizer and the entrée courses. A waitress Page 8
unexpectedly appeared with two small DVD players for the kids. Both children were thrilled, as were the parents who enjoyed their meals. Apple employees are constantly resetting clocks to reduce the perceived wait time. The customer’s clock is reset simply by being greeted warmly and being told how long the wait time might be. As the customer is waiting for a specialist to arrive, he or she might begin playing with the apps on an iPad or visiting a web site on a Mac (the products are all working and connected to the Internet). This distraction resets the internal clock once again. While the customer is waiting Apple employees might walk by, smile, say hello and “The new iPhone is pretty cool, isn’t it?” Short interactions reset the clock yet again. By frequently acknowledging the customer, perceived wait times are shortened. A customer who had been waiting fifteen minutes to see a salesperson might say they only waited “a few minutes.” Steve Jobs once said, “Good artists copy; great artists steal.” The Apple Store emulated customer service techniques from luxury hotels and it has served the brand well ever since. If a computer retailer can learn something from the king of hospitality you can, too. These top five techniques will help you build customer loyalty regardless of what business you’re in.
Carmine Gallo is the communications coach for the world’s most admired brands. He is a popular keynote speaker and author of several books, including the international bestseller The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs. His new book is The Apple Experience: Secrets to Building Insanely Great Customer Loyalty. Visit Carmine online at http://www.carminegallo.com.
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Technology Enhances
Training Re m ote S
uccessful training is best achieved when several variables are taken into consideration besides the strategic goals of the company. Variables including the needs of the organization and the employee, timing By Ted Brennan, and commitment level Director of necessary for training, Operations, and Beth Mahler, the skill level of the Marketing Director trainer, the willingness of the participants, the course curriculum, and more than ever the location of the training.
in incorporating remote training for skills needed to perform a job well and have employees exceed expectations. The internet allows individuals and groups to receive training while alleviating geographical challenges. Remote training varies by available technology:
Our continuing economic challenges are leading to tighter restrictions on the training budget. The growth of the internet over the last 5 years has provided an economic way to deliver educational information. With over 94% of all adults with college degrees and almost 80% of the US Population utilizing the internet, we see an increase
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Technology Enhances Remote Training
nn nn nn nn nn nn
Webinars Instructor led training on line Pod casts Audio and Video Broadcasts Simulation On line testing and Feedback
Five top reasons: 1. Timing 2. Flexibility 3. Savings 4. Content 5. Quality What are the realities and the true benefits to consider for on line or remote training? The cost factor alone makes remote training an attractive option for training programs. Remote training can allow a company to meet its strategic objectives while mitigating expenses such as airfare, lodging, meals, and rental cars. The potential cost savings and increased flexibility with scheduling has already resulted in a 1214% increase in online training.
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Timing Remote training allows your company to receive the vital training it needs in a timely manner as opposed to simply when the budget and schedules allow for it. A key factor to successful training is the timing of the class when needed and wanted. This training allows the timing to be balanced with the need and avoids the waiting period for weeks or months to schedule classroom training and travel. The reality is that training is much more effective when delivered when needed rather than postponing. Remote training offers the ease of selecting the classes to fit an individual schedule as well as the benefit of discussing the lessons with the remote trainer. With Wi-Fi being readily accessible, making use of what would otherwise be unproductive time such as down time, travel time, hotel time, etc. could be the perfect opportunity for training. This type of training also enables the participants to access the modules and information on their team, as often as needed. This approach also enables an on line self assessment survey for feedback on the training, content and retention.
Technology Enhances Remote Training
Flexibility
Savings
If internet is not available, Podcasts could provide the training message to a large number of staff, across a variety of platforms, such as iPhone, Blackberry or memory sticks. Podcasts could also be accessed through company intranets enabling employees to access valuable information and advice on their schedule.
The time savings, cost savings and administrative savings are significant when you incorporate the ability to eliminate the need to schedule training around multiple conflicts to bring teams together in a traditional classroom facility the savings are amplified.
A huge benefit of online training is that it is available for everyone in your organization to access at any time. The reach of remote training is much greater than traditional classroom style training. This is a tremendous advantage for companies made up of teams working across the globe or nation, with satellite or remote locations around the world. All employees have the ability to access the very same training program whether corporate, off-site or centrally located staff. Staff can work as individuals or in breakout groups providing feedback easily at the touch of a button, all as if the participants were in the same location. Trainees can also benefit from the use of forums or chat boards.
With higher employee turnover rates than ever before, consistent and constant on-thejob training enables companies to remain competitive. Using technology in this way eliminates the cost of travel and associated expenses, reduces the environmental impact related to unnecessary travel, and permits larger numbers of staff to receive essential training. In other words, remote training has far less impact on budgets, allowing your company to deliver the right training at the right time increases the bottom line.
Content Remote training offers the ability to provide vital skills as needed and to customize training based on need. Employees spend valuable time on curriculum specific to their needs rather than spending time in review of basic skills or “101 essentials.� Employees become fully engaged when interested and are able to train with their remote partners without time out of the office.
Quality Smaller businesses now have the ability to access the same quality training that might have only been available to large companies with bigger budgets. Online training Provides access to the very best trainers in their fields. Industry experts
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Making Training Successful After Training Ends
are at your fingertips in addition to removing the needs and the coordination for trainers to travel. Trainers and sessions could also be more flexible with respect to availability thus helping ensure top quality training. Remote training promises to add flexibility to training programs while reducing costs. The success of this training depends a lot on the participant’s engagement and desire. Employees will learn if they really want to. Acquiring skills and learning has more to do with willingness to learn and less to do with everything else. Training at the right time, in the right place leads to the right bottom line. Your employees are the most important investment. The opportunity of training them anytime, anywhere is smart business. It seems there is never enough training budget to go around, so rather than making a choice, choose your team.
Five best practices: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
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Establish and communicate pre-requisites for the training to help ensure all employees are prepared for the level of training. Use technology to send invites or Evites and reminders to ensure participants plan time to be prepared for the training. Establish relationships utilizing technology via blog, forum, chat room, or survey. Plan for 45 minutes of each hour for instruction. Allow 15 minutes of each hour for training management, Q&A and breaks. Estimate for 1-3 minutes per slide or visual aide.d Be aware of technology needs and test for compatibility prior.
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Trainer Remote
How to
Select a
W
hat do you want to consider when selecting the best remote trainer for your company’s needs? After defining the training needs and the expected results, ask a few questions. These relatively simple questions can guide you in the right hiring direction.
3. Ask for the options available for the types of training. Is the training self-paced online training? If yes, are you provided access on your own timeline at your own pace? Or, is the training instructor led training? All participants take the class together and listen/watch, and interaction is through video/ phone or chat methods.
1. Ask for collateral and review the response time to the request. Seems easy, but if the company is slow to respond or unprofessional in their response, they are not a wise choice.
4. Ask the time frame. How long is the commitment to training? How long will you have access to the self paced training? 1 week, 6 weeks, 3 months, for example.
2. Ask to review a demo of the product and presentation being utilized in the training. Take a test drive if possible. Does it meet your expectations?
5. Ask about their history. How long have they been in business? Who are their current and/or previous clients? Which associations or certifications do they have?
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Making training
Successful after training ends
By Barry Kaplan
Sr. Vice President, Organizational Development, UniFocus, LP
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The class ends, handshakes are exchanged and well-wishes are given as people set off to go back to their jobs. It’s at this point that many people think the training is over. However, the process of ensuring a successful training intervention has occurred has several steps that actually start when training ends. In other words, it’s not over when it’s over.
Making training successful after training ends
The Learning Objectives First off, let’s start with those pesky learning objectives; you know the ones that state something like “By the end of this session, you should be able to….” Unfortunately, these are mostly treated as pseudo agenda items to highlight the flow of the class. What they should be used for is to measure if indeed the participants learned what you wanted them to learn. In the simplest of examples, if a learning objective states that by the end of this session, you should be able to ride a bike, then at some point, you need to get on a bike and prove you can ride it. So it’s not good enough to just create learning objectives; you need to actually find a way to measure if the objectives were met when the class ends. There is quite a lot to consider when designing a course and creating a set of learning objectives, but one simple thing to remember is this: make the learning objective an overt action that can be demonstrated, don’t use words such as “understand”, “know”, “appreciate” in a learning objective as those are essentially impossible to measure, and use action verbs that the individual can actually perform as a demonstrable act.
The Call to Action Secondly, provide some sort of a “call to action” that has the participant going back to the
job and completing the tasks for which he or she was trained. There are several reasons for this. The first is that you don’t want too long of a time between the learning and the initial use of the knowledge/skills just obtained. Retention of information decreases as the amount of time increases between learning something and then using that knowledge. Also, aside from the knowledge being provided in the class, another goal of the training session is the motivational aspect of getting people excited about what they are being taught. But if they aren’t allowed quickly to show off what they just learned, their excitement will subside. The second reason for the call to action is to provide an opportunity for the trainee to show off to his or her manager that the learning objectives were met. This should be a common goal between the manager and the trainee. It is just as important for the manager to know that his employee is trained as it is for the employee to show the manager that the training was successful. This step becomes even more important if the initial training was delivered through an online asynchronous (computer-based training) or online synchronous (webinar) delivery medium. If done in either of these two ways, it is harder to judge during the training course if the knowledge/skill was obtained. The last goal of the call to action is to start the proficiency process. With few exceptions, people get more skilled, the more they do something. Starting that process earlier means the time between the initial training and being fully proficient will be shorter. Page 15
Making training successful after training ends
The Change Management Aspect The third aspect of the post-training endeavor relates to the concept of “change management”. In the simplest of views, training is seen as a way to change behavior. The individual did not know something before and thus behaved a certain way. Now that the individual has been exposed to whatever knowledge and/ or skill is provided in the training session, what about his or her behavior changes? That is written as a precursor for this next thought. If training is a change in behavior, then the concept of “change management” and its underlying components need to be addressed. One of those key components is the one dealing with restraining forces or obstacles, depending upon which change management philosophy you subscribe to. If the training was of the “soft-skills” variety, do you have policies, procedures, an operating environment, or even a culture that is incongruent to what was just learned? This scenario occurs more than we would like to think, and if the environment is stronger than the concepts that were taught, then the skills that were trained will not take hold. If the training was system, process, or application training, are there other systems, processes, or applications that need to be changed before the individuals can dem-
onstrate what they now know? In other words, if your team can’t use the knowledge they just obtained, then what good is it. Nothing is more damaging to the training effort than not being able to capitalize on the education that was provided. More so, from an ROI perspective, the training becomes a waste of resources. Quite frankly, the notion of change management should be considered prior to the attendance of training. However, the problems associated with a lack of forethought may not show up until after the training has occurred.
Training
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The Performance Management Aspect Lastly, from a “performance management” angle, there is a very simple question to ask, but not so simple to answer. That question is “does it matter”? Obviously, first inclination would be to say, “of course it matters”. Great! But the answer shouldn’t be “why” it matters; the answer should be “how” it matters. What mechanism was put in a place to make it matter? For example, if a manager attends a leadership training course, what has been put in place as a way to measure if the desired use of those skills has occurred? If he or she doesn’t have it as part of a performance management goal, then how exactly was
Making training successful after training ends
it made to matter? What if it is application training? Is there a consequence for using or not using the application as trained? If not, then again, it doesn’t matter. But you can’t stop there. You also need to ask yourself this: if the person who is sent off to training comes back and performs exactly as expected, will there be a punishment? For example, the employee who knows the system the best gets sent on the toughest assignments. This could be related to time or travel or effort, whereas someone who wasn’t trained gets the easier assignments. In
this case, the desired performance is seen as punishing. Conversely, what if someone decides that the desired performance was punished, so he or she decides not to show competency in the application? If that person is rewarded by not having to use the system (“oh that’s okay, we’ll find somebody else”), then the undesired performance was actually rewarded. Either way, punishing desired performance or rewarding undesired performance undermines the training effort.
Recap So while a great deal of attention needs to be given to the analysis, design, development and delivery of the training program, the success of the program HAS to consider the aforementioned post-training items. If all four of these items are considered, then you are well on your way to getting a return on your training investment.
1 3
Ensure that the learning objectives aren’t just guideposts, but rather a means to an end.
Consider that every training intervention is part of a change management initiative.
2 4
Make sure that employees quickly get to use the skills for which they were trained.
Make sure that the training matters.
So hopefully it is now clear. Just because training ended, the work to ensure that the training was successful is not over. Page 17
&
Satisfaction Customer
Engagement
Page 18
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Want to improve customer satisfaction and increase company profits? Make leadership training accessible for all front line managers! Making the case for why investment in front line hospitality managers matters. While most organizations have moved towards a focus on the engagement level of the employee as the litmus test for evaluating a company’s ability to grow their talent and grow their profits, it bears remembering that the precursor to monitoring engagement levels was the idea of the serviceprofit chain. “Putting the ServiceProfit Chain to Work” (http://hbr. org/2008/07putting-the-serviceprofit-chain-to-work/ar/1) was originally published in 1994 and reprinted as a classic in 2008. The article was written by a group of service management thought leaders (Jim Heskett, Tom Jones, Gary Loveman, Earl Sasser and Len Schlesinger) and was a practical call to action founded on the principle that when organizations treat their employees well, the employees in turn will treat their customers well. Treating customers well ultimately leads to higher profits. Unfortunately, while this idea makes sense, many companies will proclaim “employees are our number one asset”, only to later pay homage to their investors and the bottom line at the expense of these same employees! But missing the connection between treatment of employees and the results Wall Street sees may be short sighted.
Data collected on engagement levels, customer and employee satisfaction surveys are still dismal with the economic downturn wreaking havoc on the employer, the employee and the customer perspectives. The number one complaint of 1 million customers surveyed in the “2012 Traveller Rants and Raves: What Guests Love About your Hotel and What They Complain About”- unprofessional and incompetent service! To make matters worse, recent reports tell us 69% of all employees are actively looking for a new job! That means the employees who are still around are not engaged and do not care about your customers. Turnover rates in the hospitality industry remain very high with an estimated 60% forecast. Research tells us they are leaving because they do not feel appreciated, and one in three managers leave because of a lack of training! On the other hand there is some good news, a 2011 Towers Perrin study found that companies with engaged employees had a 6% higher net-profit margin and a 2009 Kenexa study conducted over a 5 year history found that the highest levels of engaged companies produced shareholder value 5 times higher than companies with lower levels of engagement. So what’s a company in the hospitality industry to do?
We invite your comments on any article and welcome new articles: email: marketing@unifocus.com LinkedIN: linkedin.com/ company/unifocus Facebook: facebook.com/ UniFocus Twitter: twitter.com/unifocus Correspondence might be edited
By Becky Dannenfelser
Principal, Clearwater Consulting Group, Leadership and Team Development
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Customer Satisfaction & Engagement
Tips to Improve Customer Satisfaction and Increase Company Profits Invest in your people. Focus on front line leadership. Create a culture of leadership training and growth for all employees with a commitment to training. Employees that are treated well will service their customers better, leading to higher profits.
The focus must begin with front line leadership. A commitment to your front line leaders will increase your engagement levels and improve your customer service levels. Your front line leader is the ambassador for the brand and he/she is the face of the franchise. He/she needs to understand senior leadership’s commitment to the following: nn The mission/vision/valueshe/she needs to be able to relate to these principals and make them his/her own. Do your employees know from day one what you stand for? nn The role you expect them to play- is it clear? Do your employees know what they do versus what others on the team do? nn The commitment you have to the customer-Do you just talk about customer service or do you live it? Is it apparent from day one how you expect your employees to treat the customer? Can your employees make the right decisions for your customers? nn The definition of leadership- What do you want your employees to know about what it means to lead? Have you set the notion that anyone
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can lead at your property? How do you model the way so others can follow? nn The passion you have for creating a learning culture where training others to grow in their careers is the expectation and the norm, fostering loyalty and higher engagement levels. Create a culture of leadership training and growth for all employees with a commitment to training. Because one in three front line managers leave their roles in hospitality due to a lack of training, commitment to training is of the utmost urgency. Begin the process of leadership training from the beginning with your talent. Consider the follow ways to approach training and invest in your leaders: nn Begin when they begin. Go beyond traditional orientation and on-board all talent with a focus on increasing their effectiveness with customers right from the start. The more your talent knows about your company, the more they will share with your customers and the happier they will be on the job! On-boarding training is one of the best investments you can make. nn Maximize the 70/20/10 model of training and developing your people. With 70% of the training coming on the job,
Customer Satisfaction & Engagement
20% coming from feedback and coaching, and 10% comes from formal training and classroom time.
their specific training needs may be the best retention tool you can put in place to keep talent happy.
nn Establish a scorecard of learning requirements, and re-evaluate the program each year to make sure it is relevant and supports an employee and customer centric approach. A front line manager may need management training to understand how to best motivate and develop his team. A new team may need team development training in order to more effectively work together. A high potential leader may need an executive coach to reach full potential and continue to grow in your company. Your investment in
nn Model the way by making training an investment in the growth of all talentfrom the front line to the C-suite. Investing in your people shows you care and makes people feel appreciated. Appreciated talent is more engaged and interacts at a higher level with your customers creating a culture that produces higher revenues and profits. Taking a look at your 2013 commitment to training your front line leaders will go a long way towards creating a win for your employees and your customers!
Clearwater
Consulting
Group is a professional service firm dedicated to working with organizations to develop their leaders and their teams. Clearwater designs,
develops
and
implements programs to support a company’s most vital resource – talent. Within the context of a company’s organizational mission and values, we provide targeted coaching, consulting and training. Our firm is passionate about the work we do as it leverages the extensive backgrounds our associates bring to their work- from marketing, retail,
merchandising,
human resources and salesmanagement. Contact us at www.clearwater-consulting. com or follow us on twitter @clearwatercg.
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Drive
Engagement
Training
with
We recently had the pleasure of spending time with Ellen Moss, Senior Learning Services Manager at Harvard Business School Publishing, to educate us on the best practices to measure training’s impact on an organization’s strategic initiatives.
Why is it important (to the organization) to include a measurement component for training initiatives? What are the benefits?
Ellen:
Strategic objectives are obtained when training initiatives support the goals. Alignment of training to the corporate strategy drives accountability at the property level. There are many benefits to measuring training; most importantly is to know if the goals of the training initiative were met. As a result of many training initiatives there is a significant positive impact in customer focus as well as employee and customer retention.
By Celia Karseno,
Sr. Account Director and Beth Mahler, Marketing Director Page 22
Measurements need to incorporate retention, upward mobility, merit increase and succession planning. This information can easily identify gaps and link training needed back to the needs of the organization.
Drive Engagement with Training
When looking at gaps to drive training, measuring employee engagement is critical. Happy employees are more likely to be more productive resulting in a higher level of customer satisfaction. The question is not “Do I like my manager?” The question is “Do I understand what I am doing every day and how it contributes to or detracts from the strategy and success of organization?”
Ellen: An attitudinal shift from no desire to learn
(except what they have to know to do their jobs) to a willingness and desire to learn skills that enable them to be more effective in their jobs. A marked change in the cultural mind set of an organization to value learning.
Harvard includes an Impact Survey after the training to measure use of skills.
Training improves employee engagement; 20% is knowing what to do and 80% is feeling like doing it. Training initiatives communicate to the employee that the company believes in them and is investing in a future with them.
What components are best to include when measuring the effectiveness and impact of training?
Ellen:
Identify your champions and stakeholders. Consider them at EVERY level of the organization. It is important to consider employees on the floor as stakeholders in the strategy. Ensuring this team is on board with the training is extremely important; these are the people getting it done. Components to measure include: nn nn nn nn
mployee Engagement E Attitude Productivity Customer Focus
How would you best measure a participant’s change in behavior after completing the training curriculum?
nn nn nn nn
1. I have applied skills and knowledge from this topic to my job. 2. The new learning has improved my actual performance on the job. 3. I have used materials and resources in this topic to develop others. 4. Did the application of this learning impact any of the following measures? nn Increased Productivity nn Decreased Costs nn Time Saved Improved quality of products/services Improved communications Improved team work Increased business understanding
Key Measurements of Improvement include: nn nn nn nn nn nn
ench strength B Succession planning Promotions Customer satisfaction Retention Employee engagement and satisfaction
What have you seen to be a best practice for translating training into action?
Ellen: Understanding the impact of the training is necessary to successfully complete on the job action plans. Page 23
Drive Engagement with Training
Many times as a follow up to training, learners are asked to create action plans. Writing down action plans that build on the skills learned is a great way to keep track of conversations that need to happen with colleagues and/or managers. It is important to keep in mind how these skills help the employee, the department and the organization. Logging the initiatives and sharing with a manager creates accountability and willingness to participate. When actions are written down, an individual is more likely to act and communicate with his or her manger.
In your experience, what is the best role for HR to play in planning and executing training programs? Who do you feel are the key stakeholders typically in leadership development programs?
Ellen:
It is imperative Human Resources play a role in executing, evaluating and measuring the success of training. A key function of HR is to accurately articulate to key stakeholders exactly how the change in behavior after training will impact the customer’s experience. There is a direct correlation of effective training and success of the organizational strategies. Identifying champions to communicate the goals to all levels of the organization is crucial. These managers are key influencers along the way in helping the teams get the training and apply the skills in their day to day work.
How have you seen organizations change as a result of training? Page 24
Ellen: Transforming organizations to a learning
organization with an environment where people want to learn and seek out learning is a tremendous accomplishment. Fostering the sharing of knowledge, development of new ideas, the learning from mistakes and thinking outside the box has a positive impact on an organization, highlighting the importance of value and development. It is great to see employee satisfaction go up and employee engagement improve. This leads to increased customer satisfaction, loyalty and engagement. Harvard’s teaching philosophy is the forefront of leadership in a learning organization “I’m a people manager and I have learned a skill, how well am I teaching and leading what I have learned.” Successful training needs to be sustainable day to day.
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Teach it Internalize it Know it If you know it, your team follows it. Believe it
By implementing leader as teacher, leaders in your organization transition from who they are and how they work; it becomes part of their being. Takes them from doing to being. Ellen Moss is the Senior Learning Services Manager at Harvard Business School Publishing with 20 years of combined Solution Architect, Project Management, Training Facilitation and Sales experience. She is currently a Sr. Learning Services Manager in the Training and Development industry, where she consults with clients regarding their organizational goals and provide them with custom training solutions to help them attain those goals. Articles Referenced: Harvard Business Review Tool Kit. Is yours a Learning Organization. March 2008 www.hbr.org Harvard Business School Publishing 2010. Harvard Manage Mentor Impact Survey.