OCTOBER 2007 LEARNING FLASH

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Russell Martin and Associates Learning Flash October 2007

 

Happy Halloween!  As I write this, I can’t believe it’s already the first of October.  There are lots of TREATS in store for you in this issue and this month.  Even a couple of TRICKS.  You’ll find:

 

  • Webinar Schedule

  • Project Management for Trainers – last public this year

  • The Halo Effect

  • Last and This Month’s Contest

  • Driving on the Wrong/Left

  • The Science of Happy

  • An Inappropriate Bit of Humor

  • Measuring Trainers Success

  • Gala for Gleaners

  • Insufficient IT for Customer Care

  • Tech Wages Climb

  • Imails or Umails? Getting Clients to Respond to Your E-mails

  • Hiring Great Salespeople.

  • Good Performance Unrewarded

  • Change Management 101

  • Retention: Why Do People Leave?

  • The Link: “Human Capitalists”

  • Changing Your Own Mind

  • Where In the World is Lou

 

Webinar Schedule

 

Attracting and Retaining High School Students
October 17, 2007 2pm-4pm ET  Register

 

Career Services
November 1, 2007 2pm-4pm ET Register

 

Did you know that RMA and L+EARN can offer any of our workshops as a ‘live’ webinar?  If your team needs to learn some new tools and techniques but you don’t have the budget or the time to bring in an instructor, consider holding the workshops as a series of 1.5 hour webinars.  Contact Margie Brown at mbrown@russellmartin.com for more information.

 

Project Management for Trainers – last public this year

 

ASTD will be holding the last public Project Management for Trainers certificate workshops Decmber 10-11, 2007 in Chicago.  You can register now at the ASTD website.  Spend a little time at the end of the year in education and have it pay dividends in 2008 and beyond.

 

The Halo Effect

 

Last month, I shared with you an article about how difficult it is to unlearn and how important it is for facilitators of learning to find out what has already been learned to help transition to the new learning.  In addition, I wrote an article about how the human tendency to fight unlearning can impact not only sports teams but every kind of leadership.  You can check it out at the Inside Indiana Business website

http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/contributors.asp?id=1027  The Halo Effect

 

Last and This Month’s Contest

 

Last month we had a fun word game that over fifty people played.  This month, Carol has come up with another word puzzler for you.  Figure out the answer, email to cmason@russellmartin.com and you will get a TREAT!!

 

This is an unusual paragraph. I'm curious as to just how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it. It looks so ordinary and plain that you would think nothing was wrong with it. In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is highly unusual though. Study it and think about it, but you still may not find anything odd. But if you work at it a bit,  you might find out. Try to do so without any coaching!

 

Driving on the Wrong/Left

 

I’m off to Ireland in five days, and asked you for help last month.  Here is one of my favorite tips about driving on the ‘wrong’ side of the road from Dale Schneidt, Subaru:

 

“When you get in the car to drive and find only the glove box in front of you, pretend that is what you intended to do and look in it for at least 30 seconds. Then get out, after acting like you found what you were looking for or a sign of disgust because it is not there, walk around the vehicle with your head high and get in the right (wrong )side.”  I really will do this!!

 

The Science of Happy

Employees who laugh more than cry, and use sick days more for illness than hangovers, aren't just happy, they are also more productive according to "21st Century Well-Being, Commitment, and Productivity." It turns out from their research that workers with upbeat moods—and those without—affect the dynamics of your whole office. Here are some key findings from the Harvard University and Massachusetts General Hospital study, led by Nancy Etcoff, Ph.D.:

 

  • Those who see themselves as productive quarrel less with their work group, work fewer hours, and are employed longer at the company.

  • The research indicates those who are married are more productive.  

  • The more creative experience a higher level of control at work (have more say in decisions affecting their jobs).

  • Negative groups correlate significantly with average working hours per week. The more they work, the worse the group climate. Individual moods, such as sadness and distress, negatively influence group mood.

  • There is a reinforcing "spiral effect" between productivity and group-level quarrels. The more group-level quarrels, the less productive the group. And, the less productive the group, the more stress and group-level quarrels there are.

  • Key elements, such as purpose, trust, and the quality of human relationships, influence levels of well-being, commitment, and productivity.

 

Need help getting your organization or project team to a more positive and productive space.  Invest a day in our team facilitation and see better effectiveness immediately.  Contact Margie at mbrown@russellmartin.com.  

 

An Inappropriate Bit of Humor

 

….Mike Hannigan and Mike Donahue… this one’s for you!

 

Interesting Year 1981   

     
1. Prince Charles got married
2. Liverpool crowned soccer Champions of Europe
3. Australia lost the Ashes tournament.
4. Pope Died


Interesting Year 2005

 

1. Prince Charles got married

2. Liverpool crowned soccer Champions of Europe

3. Australia lost the Ashes tournament                   

4. Pope Died 


Lesson Learned      

The next time Charles gets married someone warn the Pope.

 

Measuring Trainers Success

 

Whether you are measuring your internal trainers or US (!), here’s a process for ensuring the quality of the learning transferred:

  1. Define success from the learner’s perspective: What will they be able to do after the training that they cannot do now?

  2. Develop success metrics: How will you measure that learning occurred AND more importantly, that the behavior changed?

  3. Test and validate the metrics: Will you use a subjective or objective (number) measurement?  Often, we measure what is easy rather than what is important.  Here are some ideas – ask the supervisors for feedback about the changed behavior, or ask the learners how much time saved through improved tools and productivity.

  4. Develop consistent internal metric aligned with the company goals: How will this changed behavior increase revenue, avoid cost or improve customer service?

  5. Communicate expectation and metric(s) used to the learners, their managers and the learning facilitators before class begins. 

  6. Measure consistently and update progress regularly.

If you’d like help creating a learning strategy (rather than a training plan…), contact Margie at mbrown@russellmartin.com.

 

Gala for Gleaners

 

Two amazing women’s groups have come together to hold a fund raiser for Gleaners Food Bank at Sports of All Sorts (www.soasindy.net) here in Indianapolis.  For $ 50 ($15 of which is tax deductible), women in Indy can spend from 6 – 9 PM on October 16th tasting wine, sampling fabulous appetizers, seeing a style show and participating in a bowling, skeeball, poker, Dance Revolution or talent contest!  There will also be vendor booths with fun bangles and gifts to peruse.  Hurry – registration must be completed online by 10/12.  You can register at the RMA store.   Contact Leah at lcolville@lplusearn.com for more information.

 

Insufficient IT for Customer Care

 

Here’s some data that will be interesting to all of those whom I met in La Jolla at the IIR Customer Care conference last month. Technical support teams are, on average, 40 percent smaller than they optimally should be, according to a Robert Half Technology survey of 1,400 chief information officers (CIOs). CIOs from the largest companies (greater than 1,000 employees) were closest to their ideal level of technical support, while those from midsize organizations were furthest.

 

Tech Wages Climb

 

Wages for highly skilled technology professionals in 2007 continue to surpass pay rates from 2006, and remain strong this year. According to the Yoh Index of Technology Wages, a quarterly compensation index, the average hourly wage for high-impact technology workers was recorded at $31.61 during the middle of the second quarter of 2007.

 

Imails or Umails? Getting Clients to Respond to Your E-mails


In this helpful article from Sales and Marketing Management by Kevin Mannion,
you’ll see yourself: You've just had a sales call with a client who has expressed enthusiasm for your ideas and suggestions. Then you follow with an e-mail that either gets a brief noncommittal response or no response at all. You follow with voicemails and e-mails that go unanswered. What happened?   Kevin shares:


”Umail is e-mail with a focus on the reader. By contrast, the overwhelming majority of e-mails are what I call Imails—in which I tell you all about what I think, I like, I suggest, and I want.

  1. I, Me, Mine  - It begins with "I," and "I" is the most dominant word.

  2. The fuzziness of warm and fuzzy - When you begin with a variation of "I really enjoyed our meeting," you have given the lead role in your post-meeting performance to an easily forgettable actor. Instead, get to the most compelling points right away.

  3. And your point is…?  Imails lack substance. If it was a good meeting, it is imperative to keep the momentum going by clearly defining the client challenge you are addressing.

  4. What commitment?  Imails tend to hide the request for the next step at the end, cushioned with vague pleasantries.

 

A Umail is a powerful communications tool because it demonstrates extraordinary listening skills, captures the customer perspective, and integrates solutions that build on the foundation of the client view. Umails also pay attention to the ways that people actually read emails—they scan them.

 

  1. You said: Beginning with the client's actual words

  2. Watch your I's and You's

  3. Make it easy for the client to follow through on their commitments“

 

You have been worried about the quality of the emails, proposals and meeting notes coming out of your team.   Our instructor-led and web-based workshops will jumpstart the results of your staff.  Contact Margie at mbrown@russellmartin.com

 

Hiring Great Salespeople

 

There are some telltale signs which Dr. Christopher Croner and Richard Abraham detail in "Never Hire a Bad Salesperson Again: Selecting Candidates Who Are Absolutely Driven to Succeed" including:

  • Achievement is king. A burning desire to excel that is self sustaining and insatiable.

  • Consistent competition. Top salespeople compete with everybody.

  • Optimistic outlook. Real optimists deal well with the inevitable rejection they experience in sales while non-optimists take rejection personally, and tend to break down under its pressure.

 

For those of you who have used our DISC and Workplace Motivators assessments, you know a good salesperson tends to be High D, High I and Utilitarian, Individualistic.  If you’d like to check out our Sales DISC assessment, contact Margie at mbrown@russellmartin.com.

 

Good Performance Unrewarded

 

More than one-third, or 35 percent, of professionals say businesses are ineffective at rewarding their employees' strong performance, according to an OfficeTeam poll of 150 senior executives at the nation's 1,000 largest companies, and 534 full- or part-time workers 18 years or older employed in office environments.   Do you agree?  Let us know at info@russellmartin.com.

 

Change Management 101

One of my dear friends, Ann Herrmann-Nehdi co-authored a great article with Michael Morgan in Incentive magazine in September 10, 2007.  Here are some highlights:

 

  • Know your employees' mind-set before asking for change. You have to discover what the mind-set is on a specific issue and why they have it.

  • Mind-set can exist en-masse. When everyone in an organization holds the same mind-set it becomes self-reinforcing.

  • Most radical changes come from outside an industry, or from those who bring to an industry a different mind-set, and dare to think differently.

  • Crisis does not necessarily drive change. Research reveals that up to 90 percent of coronary heart patients do not change their lifestyle.

  • A compelling, positive vision is often far more powerful.

  • When change happens successfully, it is because the brains behind the initiative were engaged, focused, aligned, and synergistic.

  • All change initiatives require the involvement and thinking of everyone.

 

For more information, or to download a copy of the white paper, "Know Change…or NO Change Will Happen," visit the Herrmann International Website at www.hbdi.com.

 

Russell Martin & Associates has worked with many customers like you to transition organizations into new thinking models.  Need help?  Contact Margie at mbrown@russellmartin.com.

 

Retention: Why Do People Leave?

 

Whether it’s customers, students, employees or vendors, retaining the people you have invested in is critical to successful, profitable business.  Dr. Stephen Curtis, from Indiana University, has developed an assessment to clarify the real reasons you are experiencing turnover called Clarity.  His unique web-based assessment uses simple questions to help participants identify emotionally what is really creating the gap between their ideal situation and the one they are currently in.  The bigger the gap, the greater the stress, the more likely the people are to leave.    The participants generate the list of ways you can improve the situation to win them back.  We are proud to be a distributor.

 

If you are interested in learning more about this innovative approach to engagement, please contact Margie Brown at mbrown@russellmartin.com.

 

The Link: “Human Capitalist”

 

At the recent CCA conference, a school director approached me after my project management book 10 Steps to Successful Projects caught his eye.   He said “I think my staff might need project management, because I keep telling my team what to do but none of it ever gets done.”  It’s something I hear a lot from executives.  It is true; the team probably does need a repeatable project management process, but so does the college director. A critical skill that a successful college director must have is to successfully implement his or her strategy to grow a school is the ability to get staff members to start. 

 

If you are currently frustrated with your inability to move along the initiatives at your school, consider the role you are playing.  You can read Lou’s article, “Human Capitalist”, in the Fall edition of the The Link.    Do you need help with getting your teams to Start or helping your staffs to move along your strategy?  Contact Leah at lcolville@lplusearn.com


Changing Your Own Mind


The hardest thing to change is your own mind.  Ann Herrmann-Nedhi offers these tips for helping you clarify and transition your thoughts using a Whole Brain approach:

  • What is the current mind-set that is shaping your thinking?

  • What are its strength and weakness?

  • What are some of the recent decisions you have made that might have been influenced by this mind-set?

  • How has your own education and experience shaped this mind-set?

  • Why do you hold this mind-set, and why won't you let go of it?

  • What are the potential blind spots from holding this mind-set?

  • What are some of the blocks/barriers that might be holding you back and keeping you locked into a mind-set?

  • What are the challenges and opportunities in exploring a new mind-set?

  • How do others see it?

  • How do your feelings and emotions drive this mind-set?

  • How is your current mind-set different from those of other people?

  • Who can help you look at things differently than you normally do in this situation?

  • How can you change or modify your current mind-set to improve results?

 

Where in the World is Lou?

 

In October, drop me an email if you are going to be in the same place I am!

           

            October 1-4, 2007          Amsterdam

            October 8, 2007             Lansing, MI

            October 10-12, 2007       Harrison Park, NJ

            October 16, 2007           Chicago, IL

            October22-24, 2007        Austin, MN

 

Lou Russell, President

Russell Martin & Associates

info@russellmartin.com