P B - MY BIG IDEA

Studies have shown that what you do before you learn is almost as important as the actual learning process.

Athletes warm up before doing their sport. Pilots flight-check before their airplane is ready to fly. Why wouldn’t the same concept be applied to our professional training from our company?

It’s why schools promote eating a healthy breakfast at the beginning of the day. It’s why universities provide students with a syllabus, so they can anticipate what they will be learning. The preparation for learning is essential. How does this relate to your corporate training?

Getting your employees ready to learn something new is paramount to the success of the training. In other words, teach them how to learn, so they’ll be ready when the opportunity presents itself.

The Build Up

Marketing experts know something that most business owners don’t: anticipation builds results. Movie producers understand this. They release previews, trailers, and sneak peeks weeks before a movie hits the big screen. For blockbuster movies, the anticipation can lead to hundreds of people lining up hours (or even days) before the movie opens for the chance to see it first.

The anticipation and engagement that builds up is what drives people to go across town and pay top dollar to see the movie. When it comes to staff training and development, the same principle applies. Want to improve the success of your development programs? Build anticipation.

Let your creative side shine. Use posters, emails, countdowns, videos; the sky’s the limit on how you can build anticipation around your upcoming training. Remind employees of the event and show them how excited you are to participate.

The Preparation

Most employees want training and development to help improve their skills and keep up with the changes in their industry. In fact, 87% of millennialsfeel as though professional development is very important to their career success.

Most employers offer some form of staff development. But there is a disconnect between the training and its effectiveness. What is missing? Pre-training. Pre-training allows the employee to be ready to learn. You can help get employees in a learning mindset by answering the questions they have about the training.

Is my mind open to learning this new information? How will it help in my professional life? Will this new training be able to help me with my “out-of-work” life too? What will I learn? Why is this training important?

Many times, employees feel as though trainings are a waste of their time and they won’t learn anything of value. Or they view it as a mini-vacation away from the day-to-day responsibilities of their job. If you can get their mind “warmed up” for the training, it will be far more effective.

The Questions Your Employees May Have

How will this help me? Does the training relate to their current job? Is it based on a new skill they’ll need in the future? Tie the training to company goals and inform the employees on how this will help them meet their individual goals.

How can I prepare? Are there things the employee should do in anticipation of this training? What is the baseline of understanding they should have going into the development course? Are there materials they should read or activities they should complete? How will this training help them within their role in the company? Give them the information in preparation to help them get in the right mindset for learning.

Pre-training can help increase employee engagement during training opportunities. It directs their focus, demonstrates that corporate leadership is taking the event seriously and allows them to prepare for learning.

Want to improve the results from your next staff development event, product training day or strategic planning initiative? Try adding a pre-training workshop and evaluate the difference.

Michele Bailey is president and CEO of Blazing Agency and My Big Idea™. These two lines of business work congruently to support her clients’ success.

Most employers agree: it’s important to check-in with their employees regularly. For most employers, however, a quarterly review meets this standard. To create an environment where employees are engaged and thriving, however, you should check-in more frequently. In fact, most experts suggest that for maximum results, weekly check-ins (or 1:1s) are critical.

The high cost of employees The average wage of Canadian employees is approximately $986 a week, or $51,000 per year. If you have multiple employees, or employees who make more than the average, it likely adds up to a large percentage of your corporate expenses.

Your employees are an important investment, and a weekly check-in gives you the opportunity to build the relationship with those employees and add to the quality of your investment. Without a regular check-in, how can you ensure that your employee is feeling welcome, engaged and is on track to promote and further your corporate goals?

Maintaining focus According to research, most employees spend nearly 30% of their time on email. In addition, only 45% of the average employee’s workday is spent on their primary job duties. Weekly check-ins provide you with the chance to keep employees focused on their tasks. With regular check-ins, you can quickly correct mistakes or errors, identify bottlenecks and notice progress immediately.

Employee appreciation Employees want to be noticed, both personally and professionally. A weekly check-in gives individual attention to each employee, allowing them to opportunity to share concerns, problems or discuss recent wins.

With nearly 39% of employees saying they don’t feel appreciated at work, allotting several minutes a week to simply stop and recognize an employee’s efforts can go a long way to improving morale.

In addition, four out of ten employees report that they actively disengage when they receive little feedback. Is your quarterly check-in giving them what they need to feel engaged? Probably not.

Employee satisfaction Millennials thrive on feedback, and so do the rest of us. They seek it out on social media in their personal lives, and they expect it in their personal lives as well.

More than 75% of employees state that feedback is essential to their attitude of their job, and 72% of employees under 30 want more feedback than they’re currently receiving. In many cases, employees want daily feedback on their performance.

Career development Do you know what your employees really want from their jobs? Are they looking for advancement opportunities? Do they currently have skills they could be using in other areas of your business? Weekly check-ins give you the opportunity to have meaningful conversations about the employee’s role in your company. It can help you identify mentors, discover hidden leadership potentialand keep in the loop about the training needs your employees may have.

Receive feedback In most companies, employers are excellent at pointing out how employees can improve but fall short at asking about the company’s performance. A weekly check-in gives employees a chance to provide feedback on the leadership and culture of the company. Often, employees are reluctant to speak out in a larger group setting but are more likely to share concerns and input during a one-on-one session.

Do you conduct regular check-ins with your employees? How often do you conduct check-ins? Have you noticed a difference in employee engagement?

Michele Bailey is president and CEO of Blazing AgencyandMy Big Idea™. These two lines of business work congruently to support her clients’ success.

For a while, things were smoking at your company. The phone rang constantly. You couldn’t fill orders fast enough. You had a ‘waiting list’ of people who wanted to work for you. You were finally ‘at the top’ of your business dreams. Gradually, though, things slowed down. The phone rang less, your orders plateaued, and you are no longer considered a leader in the market. How can you retain (or regain) a top spot in your market?

Stay relevant

Often, companies become so bogged down in the day-to-day demands of the business they lose sight of the ultimate goals of the organization. While it is important (and necessary) to run the business, it is important not to ignore the bigger picture.

Many companies lose market share because they stop being relevant. They are so engrossed with doing business today they forget to plan for doing business tomorrow. The market is constantly changing. To stay on top, you must change with it. (Need an example of this? Look at the history of Kodak, who owned the camera industry, until it failed to adapt to digital photography.)

Pivot One way to stay ahead of the competition (and on top of the market) is by spotting trends before your competitors. Be aware of how new technology could change your business and pivot your company accordingly. Netflix took advantage of a changing market and effectively captured the on-demand movie market by being ready to meet the demands of consumers.

Respond to customers fast Today’s consumers are connected through the internet and expect the companies they do business with to respond quickly. The standard of returning a call within 24 hours used to be acceptable in the business market, but customers are becoming accustomed to instant responses. Want to out-perform your competitors? Find out how fast they respond to customers and be faster.

Hire well Be relentless in your pursuit of excellent employees. Hire top performers who excel at their jobs. Pay better than a competitive wage and build a thriving culture.

Happy employees perform better and are more engaged in their jobs. As a result, their companies are more successful, and they build a loyal customer base. If you want to improve your market share, evaluate your staff needs and find out if your current employees fit in the larger picture.

Invest in your employees Employees can become stuck in the routine of their daily tasks. Offer training opportunities on new procedures, new technologies or cross training to help engage employees. Goal setting and training can help inspire employees to be innovative and improve corporate success.

Statistics show that happy employees are 12% more productive than their counterparts. Want to regain your market share? Make sure that your employees are performing at their peak.

Every company has its ups and downs. To stay at the top of your market, however, ensure that you learn from your mistakes. Use them as a stepping stone to move back up. The secret to remaining a “hot” company is to be consistent in your commitment to change.

Michele Bailey is president and CEO of Blazing Agency and My Big Idea™. These two lines of business work congruently to support her clients’ success.

Corporate culture can make or break the success of your company.

It sets the tone for every aspect of your business, from the moment a new hire begins on-boarding to the way customers are treated. The culture within your organization affects everything. Get your corporate culture wrong, and it can take months to correct. Build a winning culture and your company can join the ranks of other successful organizations. How can you build a thriving employee culture?

Define your core values

Culture is the outward expression of the internal core values within your company. Before you can establish a thriving culture, you must define what it will look like.

Is customer service a priority?

Do you value innovation?

Your company is unique, and the vibe your culture radiates should reflect the distinct character of your organization. Create a list of your values and then begin to build your corporate culture around those terms.

One of the biggest problems in creating a thriving employee culture is that different people define words differently. Simply posting a list of values on the boardroom wall is not enough to affect change within your organization.

You must define those words and align them to the goals you have as an organization. Engage employees from every level of your organization to develop definitions for the values you prize. This ensures that every employee will understand the specifics of your organization’s mission.

Be intentional

Successful corporate cultures like the ones many people admire found at Facebook, Apple, Disney, or Zappos don’t happen by accident. They are the product of purposeful design that permeates every aspect of the company.

It requires top-down buy-in. When the leadership demonstrates that they are living the values of the organization, it inspires others to do the same. Consistently making decisions that support the culture of the company is one way to show that culture matters.

Another facet of intentional culture building is creating a set of expected behaviours for your team. What are the standards of behaviour for when your employees interact with your customers? With vendors? Other employees? How do those behaviours tie in to the culture of your organization?

Craft written standards that are observable, measurable, or tangible. Train your employees on how to implement these behaviours into their day, and then reward them for their efforts.

Experiment

Don’t be afraid to experiment in your pursuit of a thriving workplace.

Introduce a new employee recognition program. Adopt a casual Friday wardrobe. Institute a weekly breakfast meeting. Not everything you try will work – and that’s ok. Ask for feedback from your employees about what is (and isn’t) working. If something doesn’t work the way you expected, change it.

Companies that thrive are constantly pursuing greatness. The minute you stop putting effort into building your corporate culture is the minute you’ve lost it. Make building your culture a top priority for everyone in your organization. When you do, you’ll find that your company can grow and flourish in ways you may not ever have imagined.

Hiring and training new employees is expensive. Experts have determined that it can cost anywhere between six to nine months of an employee’s salary to replace them. The high cost of employee turnover can cripple an organization’s path to success and can negatively affect the culture of the workplace. How can your organization retain your current effective leaders?

Engagement

One of the biggest misconceptions employers have about their employees is their level of engagement. Globally, only 13% of employees are considered engaged at work – a red flag for employers who want to retain their top talent. Many leaders acknowledge that there is a lack of engagement within their organization but do little to improve the situation.

Employers who want to ensure that leaders in their company stay must be proactive about employee engagement. To engage employees, corporate leaders must empower them to discover their full potential. Set them up to succeed and allow them to have the authority they need to do their jobs. Provide employees with the opportunity to challenge themselves and then give them feedback on their efforts.

Coaching

Employees want to be trained. Establishing a coaching program benefits the employee as well as the company. Through mentoring, onboarding processes can be more effective. Statistics show that employees who are immersed in a strategic on-boarding program within the first 45 days on the job are more likely to stay on their job for more than three years.

Consider mentoring, it allows companies to bridge the generational gap between millennials and boomers (or any other generation), and can increase productivity by 56%. In addition, it helps employees (both the mentors and the mentee) become more engaged with their job.

Staff Development

Training opportunities are essential in keeping top leaders in an organization. Surveys show that employees who don’t receive adequate training leave their jobs within their first year of employment.

Offering training in technical and soft skills can improve employee satisfaction with their jobs, as well as improved abilities for the employee. As a result, 88% of employees feel motivated to do their best. By involving employees in the identification of the skills and knowledge they’ll need in the future, you can align their training with your organizational goals.

Salary (it has to be said)

Many corporate leaders list salary as an employee’s primary motivation. Employees, however, list appreciation for their work as the thing they value the most. Salary may not be the most important factor in an employee’s reason to remain in their job, but it is a key element in keeping valued employees.

If you want to ensure that quality leaders remain in your company, ensure that they are being paid a competitive wage. Perks, bonuses, and other incentives are important as well, and can be included in a salary package. The baseline salary, however, can be seen as an indicator to the employee of the value you place on their position.

Retaining leaders within an organization requires planning and effort. The investment, however, pays off. Increased employee engagement, the retention of leaders and increased profits are all directly affected by organizations that actively work to motivate and engage employees.

Michele Bailey is president and CEO of Blazing Agency and My Big Idea™. These two lines of business work congruently to support her clients’ success.

Employees are often referred to as a company’s most important asset.

Over the last 70 years, business leaders have been surveyed regarding what they thought employees value the most in their job (keep in mind, this includes attitude from years gone by). Consistently, the top three results have been: 1) salary, 2) job security and 3) advancement opportunities.

During that same time period, employees revealed what they value the most, and the results may surprise you. According to employees, they prioritize 1) appreciation for work done, 2) being “in the loop”, and 3) sympathy for personal situations. Job security ranked 4th, salary was 5th and advancement opportunities was 7th.

To your employees, what you think of them, and how you show it, means more to them than their paycheck. Want to increase employee engagement and improve the culture of your workplace? Find ways to affirm the importance of your employees – both as a group and as individuals.

How can you demonstrate that you value your employees?

Be Specific With Praise

Everyone likes to receive verbal recognition for a job well done. A general “Great job!” can be an effective confidence booster. For demonstrating that you value each employee individually, however, you’ll need to get specific.

Commenting on a specific task lets the employee know that you recognize their individual contribution to the company and appreciate their efforts. “Your presentation during the team meeting was excellent, thanks for your hard work!” can instill confidence and encourage the employee to continue working hard.

Communicate Regularly

One of the best ways to show employees that you value them is to establish regular communication avenues. Use technology to your advantage (particularly with millennials) as part of your communication process. I really like “old-fashioned” hand written thank you cards, but understand those aren’t entirely the best option for all situations.

Chat platforms, video conferencing, text messaging or mobile apps can all be used to convey information in a meaningful way. Don’t overlook the power of face-to-face meetings, even a quick “watercooler” meeting can be powerful.

Not every interaction has to be business related, either. Showing an interest in the employee as a person is a powerful way to demonstrate that you value who they are, both personally and professionally.

Include Employees When Sharing the Company Vision

Share with your employees the importance of their work to the overall mission of the organization. Tie their work to corporate goals - this allows them to see the impact their efforts have on the company’s success. Provide opportunities for employees to share in the big wins and be honest about corporate setbacks.

Be Transparent

Employees value transparency. Rather than hiding problems or keeping employees out of the loop on upcoming changes, be upfront and honest. A willingness to share information can help to build a stronger relationship between employees and the corporation and demonstrates to employees that the corporate leadership is being transparent.

What you think about your employees matters. Whether you know it or not, it is communicated both verbally and non-verbally on a daily basis. Show your employees that you recognize how essential they are to the success of the company on a regular basis.

Not only will it help them to feel valued, it will increase employee engagement, which can in turn, improve corporate success. Businesses that value their employees generate up to 22 percent more revenue than those that don’t. Want to increase your company’s revenue? Don’t just look for a new sales program – look for ways to appreciate your employees.

Michele Bailey is president and CEO of Blazing Agency and My Big Idea™. These two lines of business work congruently to support her clients’ success.