We have ahead of us a year that is going to be challenging to say the least. The focus for 2009 must be on making our businesses and organisations successful, cost effective and sustainable.
Success comes in different forms for different organisations - for some it may be profit, for others it may be service levels or it may be an altruistic outcome.
Cost effectiveness in any organisation - from the independent consultant to the multi-national - is always important. In these days of escalating utilities bills alone, managing costs is crucial to end results.
Making a business or organisation sustainable is a wide ranging challenge - from ensuring you have a succession plan for your skill base to making sure you are in a market that will survive.
Organisations face these challenges on a daily basis. Why am I listing them? Because 'training' is a key ingredient to each aspect.
Success. Train your sales people, train your managers, train your new employees. Reduce mistakes, improve efficiency and productivity!
Cost-effectiveness. Training is a proven motivator and reduces staff turnover. This reduces your cost of hiring and retraining.
Sustainability. By training your people to be better at their jobs, better thinkers and to be more proactive as members of your team they will help you identify sustainability opportunities in a whole host of areas.
When finances are tight training, like marketing, are often shunted down the priority list yet they are both crucial to organisational development during a time of economic pressure.
So make 2009 the year you don't just look at the figures, but look at the outcomes. The challenge for us all is to think beyond the current situation and to see where we will be in 12 months time and even 12 years time.
Will what we offer still be needed? They say that 60% of the children in school today will be performing jobs that don't even exist yet. Can we look ahead too and find out what new businesses and services will be needed as well?
It is hard when the pressure is on financially, but those with courage will survive and prosper. (Oh yes, and those with huge financial resources too!)
Tuesday, 30 December 2008
Monday, 22 December 2008
12 Learning Days of Christmas
From Peter Mayes, of Trainerbase:
THE TWELVE DAYS OF LEARNING
On the first day of learning my trainer said to me:
There is always One thing more that you could know.
On the second day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Two McGregor Types.
And always One thing more that you could know.
On the third day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Three Ego States.
Two McGregor Types.
And always One thing more that you could know.
On the forth day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Four Learning Styles.
Three Ego States.
Two McGregor Types.
And always One thing more that you could know.
On the fifth day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Five Leadership Levels.
Four Learning Styles.
Three Ego States.
Two McGregor Types.
And always One thing more that you could know.
On the sixth day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Six Thinking Hats.
Five Leadership Levels.
Four Learning Styles.
Three Ego States.
Two McGregor Types.
And always One thing more that you could know.
On the seventh day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Seven McKinsey S’s.
Six Thinking Hats.
Five Leadership Levels.
Four Learning Styles.
Three Ego States.
Two McGregor Types.
And always One thing more that you could know.
One the eighth day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Eight Multiple Intelligences.
Seven McKinsey S’s.
Six Thinking Hats.
Five Leadership Levels.
Four Learning Styles.
Three Ego States.
Two McGregor Types.
And always One thing more that you could know.
On the ninth day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Nine Team Roles.
Eight Multiple Intelligences.
Seven McKinsey S’s.
Six Thinking Hats.
Five Leadership Levels.
Four Learning Styles.
Three Ego States.
Two McGregor Types.
And always One thing more that you could know.
On the tenth day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Ten Aspects of Culture.
Nine Team Roles.
Eight Multiple Intelligences.
Seven McKinsey S’s.
Six Thinking Hats.
Five Leadership Levels.
Four Learning Styles.
Three Ego States.
Two McGregor Types.
And always One thing more that you could know.
On the eleventh day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Eleven Steps to Success.
Ten Aspects of Culture.
Nine Team Roles.
Eight Multiple Intelligences.
Seven McKinsey S’s.
Six Thinking Hats.
Five Leadership Levels.
Four Learning Styles.
Three Ego States.
Two McGregor Types.
And always One thing more that you could know.
On the twelfth day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Twelve Performance Measures.
Eleven Steps to Success.
Ten Aspects of Culture.
Nine Team Roles.
Eight Multiple Intelligences.
Six Thinking Hats.
Five Leadership Levels.
Four Learning Styles.
Three Ego States.
Two McGregor Types.
And (as you know by now) always One thing more that you could know.
Thank you Peter! Season's Greetings to you all
THE TWELVE DAYS OF LEARNING
On the first day of learning my trainer said to me:
There is always One thing more that you could know.
On the second day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Two McGregor Types.
And always One thing more that you could know.
On the third day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Three Ego States.
Two McGregor Types.
And always One thing more that you could know.
On the forth day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Four Learning Styles.
Three Ego States.
Two McGregor Types.
And always One thing more that you could know.
On the fifth day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Five Leadership Levels.
Four Learning Styles.
Three Ego States.
Two McGregor Types.
And always One thing more that you could know.
On the sixth day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Six Thinking Hats.
Five Leadership Levels.
Four Learning Styles.
Three Ego States.
Two McGregor Types.
And always One thing more that you could know.
On the seventh day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Seven McKinsey S’s.
Six Thinking Hats.
Five Leadership Levels.
Four Learning Styles.
Three Ego States.
Two McGregor Types.
And always One thing more that you could know.
One the eighth day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Eight Multiple Intelligences.
Seven McKinsey S’s.
Six Thinking Hats.
Five Leadership Levels.
Four Learning Styles.
Three Ego States.
Two McGregor Types.
And always One thing more that you could know.
On the ninth day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Nine Team Roles.
Eight Multiple Intelligences.
Seven McKinsey S’s.
Six Thinking Hats.
Five Leadership Levels.
Four Learning Styles.
Three Ego States.
Two McGregor Types.
And always One thing more that you could know.
On the tenth day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Ten Aspects of Culture.
Nine Team Roles.
Eight Multiple Intelligences.
Seven McKinsey S’s.
Six Thinking Hats.
Five Leadership Levels.
Four Learning Styles.
Three Ego States.
Two McGregor Types.
And always One thing more that you could know.
On the eleventh day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Eleven Steps to Success.
Ten Aspects of Culture.
Nine Team Roles.
Eight Multiple Intelligences.
Seven McKinsey S’s.
Six Thinking Hats.
Five Leadership Levels.
Four Learning Styles.
Three Ego States.
Two McGregor Types.
And always One thing more that you could know.
On the twelfth day of learning my trainer said to me:
There are Twelve Performance Measures.
Eleven Steps to Success.
Ten Aspects of Culture.
Nine Team Roles.
Eight Multiple Intelligences.
Six Thinking Hats.
Five Leadership Levels.
Four Learning Styles.
Three Ego States.
Two McGregor Types.
And (as you know by now) always One thing more that you could know.
Thank you Peter! Season's Greetings to you all
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Christmas in the office
One of my first jobs in the early 80s was with an FMCG company and every Christmas each member of staff would get a Christmas hamper full of goodies including wine, spirits and the ubiquitous jar of pickled walnuts.
We had an annual Christmas Ball - one year at the Inn on the Park (and someone from our party stole the doorhandles which had to be found and returned!). The budget spent, all in all, must have been in the hundreds per employee even in those days.
We probably had a few drinks back in the office too, with more than one colleague getting rather 'well oiled' and a little emotional.
Looking at articles on the internet about 'The Christmas Party' they are now nicely Politically Correct, Health and Safety conscious and all about responsible behaviour. As they should be, of course!
I don't recommend going back to the days of the backside on the photocopier, illicit snogging in the stationery cupboard or even the huge budgets spent per employee, but what I fear we do miss these days is the feeling that Christmas was a time of celebration. Not religious celebration even, but a culmination of everyone working hard for a year, of people joining and leaving, personal and business achievements. It was a time when we let ourselves appreciate that we had worked hard and got some recognition for it.
So here are my top tips for Christmas in the office:
Say thank you. Acknowledge and appreciate the help you have had from colleagues.
Say thank you again. Say thank you to your clients and suppliers as well.
Work. If you have to work over Christmas try and keep a positive attitude. You will have some quality time without the usual interruptions!
Stop. Stop working, go outside and look at your world. Whether it's the view of the factory next door, the buildings of your town, rolling fields, the neighbour's curtain or an endless sea of offices. Don't have any preconceived ideas of what to think about during this time. Just look.
Be social to the level that you are comfortable. Show up at the office party, but if you hate office parties, then don't sit there looking resentful, make it known that parties aren't your thing and leave after a couple of mince pies with a smile on your face. If you love parties, then go for it! But remember the good sense rules of not doing anything you wouldn't be completely happy doing on any normal working day.
Use the quiet time. If your business is quieter during holiday periods, put that time to good use and catch up with those jobs that you like to defer, delegate or simply not do.
Things to avoid:
Phoning clients up when you are drunk
Sitting on the mince pies
Spilling any kind of drink on the laptop
Getting locked in the office over the holiday
Giving someone 'knickers in a tin' for Secret Santa
We'd love more Christmas tips from our readers, so please contact us if you have ideas/stories/advice to contribute.
Wishing you the best for the festive season.
We had an annual Christmas Ball - one year at the Inn on the Park (and someone from our party stole the doorhandles which had to be found and returned!). The budget spent, all in all, must have been in the hundreds per employee even in those days.
We probably had a few drinks back in the office too, with more than one colleague getting rather 'well oiled' and a little emotional.
Looking at articles on the internet about 'The Christmas Party' they are now nicely Politically Correct, Health and Safety conscious and all about responsible behaviour. As they should be, of course!
I don't recommend going back to the days of the backside on the photocopier, illicit snogging in the stationery cupboard or even the huge budgets spent per employee, but what I fear we do miss these days is the feeling that Christmas was a time of celebration. Not religious celebration even, but a culmination of everyone working hard for a year, of people joining and leaving, personal and business achievements. It was a time when we let ourselves appreciate that we had worked hard and got some recognition for it.
So here are my top tips for Christmas in the office:
Say thank you. Acknowledge and appreciate the help you have had from colleagues.
Say thank you again. Say thank you to your clients and suppliers as well.
Work. If you have to work over Christmas try and keep a positive attitude. You will have some quality time without the usual interruptions!
Stop. Stop working, go outside and look at your world. Whether it's the view of the factory next door, the buildings of your town, rolling fields, the neighbour's curtain or an endless sea of offices. Don't have any preconceived ideas of what to think about during this time. Just look.
Be social to the level that you are comfortable. Show up at the office party, but if you hate office parties, then don't sit there looking resentful, make it known that parties aren't your thing and leave after a couple of mince pies with a smile on your face. If you love parties, then go for it! But remember the good sense rules of not doing anything you wouldn't be completely happy doing on any normal working day.
Use the quiet time. If your business is quieter during holiday periods, put that time to good use and catch up with those jobs that you like to defer, delegate or simply not do.
Things to avoid:
Phoning clients up when you are drunk
Sitting on the mince pies
Spilling any kind of drink on the laptop
Getting locked in the office over the holiday
Giving someone 'knickers in a tin' for Secret Santa
We'd love more Christmas tips from our readers, so please contact us if you have ideas/stories/advice to contribute.
Wishing you the best for the festive season.
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
'Tis the Season to be 'JOLLIE' - six sales tips for Xmas
Yes it is that time of year again, and as salespeople you will have a lot of things to do before the end of the calendar year. However it is also the time to start thinking about the year ahead and my acronym may help you to allocate some time in getting some of the things that are often forgotten about until well into the New Year.
January is just around the corner; traditionally this is a quiet month for many sales people and customers may not be keen to see you. But have you thought about what sales you are likely to bring in during January? Have you factored that into the following months? More importantly have you thought about how best you can use you time? You can be highly productive in January, using this ‘quiet’ time as a launchpad for the rest of the year. Are there any areas of improvement you need to address? Are there any gaps in your product knowledge or your competitor’s product knowledge? Do you have any specific training requirements or other development needs? Get it done in January when it won’t impact your sales as much.
Objectives – Have you set your objectives for the coming year? It amazes me how many people fail to hit their sales target in one year and then think that by doing exactly the same thing next year they will have a better chance! Remember to use SMART objectives and to make sure you include some degree of stretch; you do want to be a better salesperson next year don’t you?
Look closely at your customer base, have you got appropriate plans in place with you major accounts? Have you compared sales results with last year at account level? Are you losing business to competition? How much business is at risk? What are you doing to ensure to retain that business? Are you growing your business in the accounts where you forecasted some uplift in the business? Do you have sufficient prospects being developed to ensure you exceed next year’s targets?
Look at your total operation, are you penetrating your territory as well as you could? Are you maximising the sales potential within your area? What can you do this year that will enhance your performance over last year?
Invest your time in the areas and activities that will give you the best return. Remember, time is like money, you can save it, invest it, waste it and spend it, but remember, you can’t get a refund on your time!
Enjoy what you do – as opposed to, do what you enjoy! Most salespeople will customise their operation around what they enjoy, and consequently spend most of their time in their ‘Comfort Zone’. Star performers tend to establish exactly what needs to be done in order to achieve the results they insist upon and stretch themselves to work outside of their comfort zone and end up enjoying more of what they have to do.
Article by Tony Dimech, Appleton Associates and provider of Telesales Prompt Software.
January is just around the corner; traditionally this is a quiet month for many sales people and customers may not be keen to see you. But have you thought about what sales you are likely to bring in during January? Have you factored that into the following months? More importantly have you thought about how best you can use you time? You can be highly productive in January, using this ‘quiet’ time as a launchpad for the rest of the year. Are there any areas of improvement you need to address? Are there any gaps in your product knowledge or your competitor’s product knowledge? Do you have any specific training requirements or other development needs? Get it done in January when it won’t impact your sales as much.
Objectives – Have you set your objectives for the coming year? It amazes me how many people fail to hit their sales target in one year and then think that by doing exactly the same thing next year they will have a better chance! Remember to use SMART objectives and to make sure you include some degree of stretch; you do want to be a better salesperson next year don’t you?
Look closely at your customer base, have you got appropriate plans in place with you major accounts? Have you compared sales results with last year at account level? Are you losing business to competition? How much business is at risk? What are you doing to ensure to retain that business? Are you growing your business in the accounts where you forecasted some uplift in the business? Do you have sufficient prospects being developed to ensure you exceed next year’s targets?
Look at your total operation, are you penetrating your territory as well as you could? Are you maximising the sales potential within your area? What can you do this year that will enhance your performance over last year?
Invest your time in the areas and activities that will give you the best return. Remember, time is like money, you can save it, invest it, waste it and spend it, but remember, you can’t get a refund on your time!
Enjoy what you do – as opposed to, do what you enjoy! Most salespeople will customise their operation around what they enjoy, and consequently spend most of their time in their ‘Comfort Zone’. Star performers tend to establish exactly what needs to be done in order to achieve the results they insist upon and stretch themselves to work outside of their comfort zone and end up enjoying more of what they have to do.
Article by Tony Dimech, Appleton Associates and provider of Telesales Prompt Software.
Friday, 12 December 2008
Managing Training Costs
I've recently agreed to sell a new software programme via the Complete Trainer, called Course Manager. It's a comprehensive system for running your training courses. Which although I have never used such a system, I can certainly see the benefits.
When I worked within a training provider, they ran many open programmes but frequently found that tracking the real ROI (for promotional events) and the profit on pay programmes was a challenge.
Yes, there are great tools out there like Course Manager (which cost money and the ROI on such systems should be calculated too), but I think really understanding the true costs of running a training programme is crucial, even more so during these cash-strapped times.
If you are offering funded training that costs your delegates nothing, you still have to examine the cost of sale for your organisation. This will include the marketing, delivery costs, administrative support and - as in some funded training - ensuring that your client fills in all the forms, talks to relevant brokers, that all your paperwork is submitted and that you get paid.
Understanding the hidden costs is important; whether you are a sole-trader trainer or part of an in-house training team. Venue costs, equipment hire, cancellation fees (for venues and trainers), materials, no-shows - all of these must be considered.
A software programme is a great way of tracking your costs (and a good spreadsheet can be too), but managing your ROI may be more of a challenge simply because of the time scale involved.
On a simple '£ per delegate' programme you can calculate a 'recruitment/delivery' cost and look at your profit at the end of delivery, but if you are running a promotional event to demonstrate a training product or service, then your ROI may not occur for months, or even years, after the event.
I know of an NLP company and a coaching company that run free two-day workshops as introductory programmes in expectation that they will convert delegates to full practitioner/accreditation courses which, of course, are high value to them. But it may take one or two years for their initial delegates to convert to fully-paying clients. In between times they maintain contact, offer other events and support delegates in their learning and development. This is a long-term investment and it builds loyalty and a goodwill network (getting more contacts). And, of course, it must convert a sufficient percentage of delegates to be profitable.
Likewise with business clients, you may well be talking about relationships that last years (according to your product). And decision making may be a far more convoluted process, involving others who are in charge of budget, but who do not necessarily understand the service/benefits offered. Keeping that relationship with the client may be frustrating when business is repeatedly stalled, postponed or redesigned, but (and you must still manage your cost of sale) by maintaining the relationship, you will increase your chances of being the provider of choice when decisions are actually made.
Some tough decision making must come into play when you've worked with a client for a long time but, by the time they've changed the delegate list six times, asked for different modules from what they specified, asked for a different venue and changed the dates three times (yes, it has been known), you have to make sure the price you charge this client still makes a profit.
Selling training is not, on the whole, a 'shifting units' game. There are some business models which operate on that basis (such as Croner and Reed who have national coverage and large marketing budgets), but mostly it's about managing your operation effectively and taking on the long-term commitment to your client. Crucial to this is managing your costs, whether you use bespoke software, off the shelf databases, spreadsheets or good old pen and paper. Make sure you really know what a programme costs you to run.
When I worked within a training provider, they ran many open programmes but frequently found that tracking the real ROI (for promotional events) and the profit on pay programmes was a challenge.
Yes, there are great tools out there like Course Manager (which cost money and the ROI on such systems should be calculated too), but I think really understanding the true costs of running a training programme is crucial, even more so during these cash-strapped times.
If you are offering funded training that costs your delegates nothing, you still have to examine the cost of sale for your organisation. This will include the marketing, delivery costs, administrative support and - as in some funded training - ensuring that your client fills in all the forms, talks to relevant brokers, that all your paperwork is submitted and that you get paid.
Understanding the hidden costs is important; whether you are a sole-trader trainer or part of an in-house training team. Venue costs, equipment hire, cancellation fees (for venues and trainers), materials, no-shows - all of these must be considered.
A software programme is a great way of tracking your costs (and a good spreadsheet can be too), but managing your ROI may be more of a challenge simply because of the time scale involved.
On a simple '£ per delegate' programme you can calculate a 'recruitment/delivery' cost and look at your profit at the end of delivery, but if you are running a promotional event to demonstrate a training product or service, then your ROI may not occur for months, or even years, after the event.
I know of an NLP company and a coaching company that run free two-day workshops as introductory programmes in expectation that they will convert delegates to full practitioner/accreditation courses which, of course, are high value to them. But it may take one or two years for their initial delegates to convert to fully-paying clients. In between times they maintain contact, offer other events and support delegates in their learning and development. This is a long-term investment and it builds loyalty and a goodwill network (getting more contacts). And, of course, it must convert a sufficient percentage of delegates to be profitable.
Likewise with business clients, you may well be talking about relationships that last years (according to your product). And decision making may be a far more convoluted process, involving others who are in charge of budget, but who do not necessarily understand the service/benefits offered. Keeping that relationship with the client may be frustrating when business is repeatedly stalled, postponed or redesigned, but (and you must still manage your cost of sale) by maintaining the relationship, you will increase your chances of being the provider of choice when decisions are actually made.
Some tough decision making must come into play when you've worked with a client for a long time but, by the time they've changed the delegate list six times, asked for different modules from what they specified, asked for a different venue and changed the dates three times (yes, it has been known), you have to make sure the price you charge this client still makes a profit.
Selling training is not, on the whole, a 'shifting units' game. There are some business models which operate on that basis (such as Croner and Reed who have national coverage and large marketing budgets), but mostly it's about managing your operation effectively and taking on the long-term commitment to your client. Crucial to this is managing your costs, whether you use bespoke software, off the shelf databases, spreadsheets or good old pen and paper. Make sure you really know what a programme costs you to run.
Thursday, 4 December 2008
Values at work
I’ve been reading about Value Theory. There’s an excellent article in People Management* , by Julian Bazley, which has provided much enlightenment, but also prompted me to ask more questions about values as a business concept.
If I had been asked what my core work values are, I would say immediately honesty, integrity and respect. But as an individual I hold creativity, sociability and family closest to my heart. Some of these transcend into a work of course, and indeed I would say that honesty, integrity and respect are personal values too. So there is no strict differentiation, but perhaps a difference in priority. I had a little trouble defining the difference between values as beliefs, behaviours and attitudes. But a simple explanation was forthcoming from some values research in the book Line Therapy and the Basis of Personality (Tad James and Wyatt Woodsmall).
If you look at behaviour as the ‘output’, all actions are processed by the brain which operates on emotional response filtered by values, beliefs and attitudes. And, with recourse to the accepted wisdom that we delete, distort and generalise information we process, then our behaviour is influenced by many layers before the output – our behaviour – manifests.
In a leadership training session a few years back the trainer mentioned personal values and how easily they can be challenged. She said “If I say that respecting all life as sacred is a value of mine, and I believe it passionately, you accept that, and I believe it. But if you threatened my children, for example, and my only way to protect them was to kill, I would kill. So – is respecting life really one of my core values?”
She challenged whether our values would remain intact under extreme pressure. Now, on the whole we won’t experience life-threatening behaviours in our daily work environment (though there are many who do in professions such as the military or police force), but we may well experience pressures that challenge our work, and personal, values.
If your employer decides that it wishes to sell widgets to the oppressive regime in some far away land that has fundamentally different political, religious or social ethics to your own, by challenging your values as an individual, does it not also ask you to challenge your employer’s values? This is where values start to wander into the territory of ethics.
The difference between ethics and values is another conceptual challenge for me. Wikipedia talks of Values Theory in the following terms:
“Value theory encompasses a range of approaches to understanding how, why, and to what degree humans should or do value things, whether the thing is a person, idea, object, or anything else. This investigation began in ancient philosophy, where it is called axiology or ethics. Early philosophical investigations sought to understand good and evil, and the concept of "the good". Today much of value theory is scientifically empirical, recording what people do value and attempting to understand why they value it in the context of psychology, sociology, and economics.”
So the line between ethics and values is a blurred one: I may adhere to an employer’s stated values, but I could disagree with their ethics. For example, a corporate value may be client related which is hard to argue with, yet the Board of Directors may have no qualms whatsoever with investing profit in an arms company, which may clash with my personal values.
The article by Julian Bazely focuses on the communication of corporate values, of cascading those values through the organisation into belief and behaviour (broadly speaking) and the benefit this can bring the employer and the employees.
One thing that is clear from the article and from the light research and reading I have done, the important issue with corporate values is to communicate them and to understand how values can work as motivators – and demotivators.
Recently I facilitated the ‘Life Lines’ game with a team including a trainer and two coaches. The group do not work as a team except in general terms within the company. The game gives you a huge range of values to choose from so it was not surprising that only one value was shared by any of the delegates (passion, as it happens). What was interesting is that, knowing the delegates, I could easily map their values to the individual’s character. There were some surprises, but on the whole the team demonstrated ‘authenticity’ – they behave as they believe. However, this doesn’t mean that everything is perfect in the garden. One of the teaser questions in the game asked whether you might peek into a private diary or not? This provided interesting additional insights to the personalities around the table. The outcome of the game was, in my experience, a reinforcement of their integrity. This is only in my opinion as facilitator; the outcome was also boredom for one and a happy distraction from work for another.
The value of the values game? It provided some useful insights and helped explore some interesting areas of the company’s values – ones which are communicated regularly (through team meetings) and, mostly, demonstrated in behaviour. I do think, however, that this is possibly a more typical outcome from a group who work in L&D than perhaps in other sectors.
Of Julian’s summary of key points, the most important in my opinion was quite simply ‘Reinforce your values through consistent action and communication’. An employer could have the most effective set of values in theory, but unless the employees know, understand and demonstrate those values, they are not even worth the paper they written on.
* Article originally published in February 2008. Please note that People Management require registration on their site to access archived materials.
The Complete Trainer Ltd also sell the Values-based team game ‘Life Lines’ from Chilli Training. This game is ideal for understanding individual and team values and for cascading corporate values. Please visit the website for more information.
If I had been asked what my core work values are, I would say immediately honesty, integrity and respect. But as an individual I hold creativity, sociability and family closest to my heart. Some of these transcend into a work of course, and indeed I would say that honesty, integrity and respect are personal values too. So there is no strict differentiation, but perhaps a difference in priority. I had a little trouble defining the difference between values as beliefs, behaviours and attitudes. But a simple explanation was forthcoming from some values research in the book Line Therapy and the Basis of Personality (Tad James and Wyatt Woodsmall).
If you look at behaviour as the ‘output’, all actions are processed by the brain which operates on emotional response filtered by values, beliefs and attitudes. And, with recourse to the accepted wisdom that we delete, distort and generalise information we process, then our behaviour is influenced by many layers before the output – our behaviour – manifests.
In a leadership training session a few years back the trainer mentioned personal values and how easily they can be challenged. She said “If I say that respecting all life as sacred is a value of mine, and I believe it passionately, you accept that, and I believe it. But if you threatened my children, for example, and my only way to protect them was to kill, I would kill. So – is respecting life really one of my core values?”
She challenged whether our values would remain intact under extreme pressure. Now, on the whole we won’t experience life-threatening behaviours in our daily work environment (though there are many who do in professions such as the military or police force), but we may well experience pressures that challenge our work, and personal, values.
If your employer decides that it wishes to sell widgets to the oppressive regime in some far away land that has fundamentally different political, religious or social ethics to your own, by challenging your values as an individual, does it not also ask you to challenge your employer’s values? This is where values start to wander into the territory of ethics.
The difference between ethics and values is another conceptual challenge for me. Wikipedia talks of Values Theory in the following terms:
“Value theory encompasses a range of approaches to understanding how, why, and to what degree humans should or do value things, whether the thing is a person, idea, object, or anything else. This investigation began in ancient philosophy, where it is called axiology or ethics. Early philosophical investigations sought to understand good and evil, and the concept of "the good". Today much of value theory is scientifically empirical, recording what people do value and attempting to understand why they value it in the context of psychology, sociology, and economics.”
So the line between ethics and values is a blurred one: I may adhere to an employer’s stated values, but I could disagree with their ethics. For example, a corporate value may be client related which is hard to argue with, yet the Board of Directors may have no qualms whatsoever with investing profit in an arms company, which may clash with my personal values.
The article by Julian Bazely focuses on the communication of corporate values, of cascading those values through the organisation into belief and behaviour (broadly speaking) and the benefit this can bring the employer and the employees.
One thing that is clear from the article and from the light research and reading I have done, the important issue with corporate values is to communicate them and to understand how values can work as motivators – and demotivators.
Recently I facilitated the ‘Life Lines’ game with a team including a trainer and two coaches. The group do not work as a team except in general terms within the company. The game gives you a huge range of values to choose from so it was not surprising that only one value was shared by any of the delegates (passion, as it happens). What was interesting is that, knowing the delegates, I could easily map their values to the individual’s character. There were some surprises, but on the whole the team demonstrated ‘authenticity’ – they behave as they believe. However, this doesn’t mean that everything is perfect in the garden. One of the teaser questions in the game asked whether you might peek into a private diary or not? This provided interesting additional insights to the personalities around the table. The outcome of the game was, in my experience, a reinforcement of their integrity. This is only in my opinion as facilitator; the outcome was also boredom for one and a happy distraction from work for another.
The value of the values game? It provided some useful insights and helped explore some interesting areas of the company’s values – ones which are communicated regularly (through team meetings) and, mostly, demonstrated in behaviour. I do think, however, that this is possibly a more typical outcome from a group who work in L&D than perhaps in other sectors.
Of Julian’s summary of key points, the most important in my opinion was quite simply ‘Reinforce your values through consistent action and communication’. An employer could have the most effective set of values in theory, but unless the employees know, understand and demonstrate those values, they are not even worth the paper they written on.
* Article originally published in February 2008. Please note that People Management require registration on their site to access archived materials.
The Complete Trainer Ltd also sell the Values-based team game ‘Life Lines’ from Chilli Training. This game is ideal for understanding individual and team values and for cascading corporate values. Please visit the website for more information.
Monday, 1 December 2008
Effective Role play in Learning and Development
By Edward Harbour
Creative Director, AIM Associates
Role play has been around as a learning tool for a long time. Without defining it as such, many of us use role play as a basic tool of life. Whenever we project into the future in a kind of ‘what if’ scenario, we are indulging in a role play; we are projecting ourselves into an imaginary situation where we can ‘rehearse’ our performance in order to influence the outcome.
In a learning environment, role play can be a very flexible and effective tool. The tenet ‘I hear and forget, I see and I remember, I do and I understand’ is very applicable here. Role play is often used as a way of making sense of the theory, of gathering together concepts into a practical experience. And yet, it often goes wrong. Why? Because like so many things which are simple in concept, it can become complicated in reality. If used badly in a training environment the role play tool can be ineffective and some times even damaging. One of the main complicating factors surrounding role play is the attitude or emotional state of the people taking part. Quite frankly, many people are nervous - even terrified - at the prospect of participating in a role play.
For the purpose of this piece I am defining a role play as an experience around a specific situation which contains two or more different viewpoints or perspectives. The situation is usually written as a prepared brief and the different perspectives on the same situation are handed out to the participants. Each person will have a particular objective/objectives they want to fulfill which may well be in conflict with their fellow role player or role players. It is how each role player or role players. It is how each role player handles the situation that forms the basis of skills’ practices, assessment and development. The situations will be realistic and relevant to the role players and the most successful ones will be focused on developing a particular skill set.
So how can we take the fear out of the role play experience?
Here are some guidelines that you might like to think about when planning your next session.
Objective
Briefing
Observing and feedback
Basically the rules are simple, role plays must be focused, the objectives must be clear, instructions must be clear, feedback needs to be specific, relevant, achievable and given immediately. Crucial to learning and developing options of behaviour- knowing what works, what doesn’t work, the range of behaviour available to an individual is the opportunity to go back and have another go (or several goes) at bits of the role play and/or the whole role play.
This article has been directed principally to the use of role play by non-professionals, i.e. those without an acting background. The best professions use their expertise in role play in the ways described above and bring their knowledge and expertise to bear on the design of the use of role play, as well as the writing and delivery.
For a more detailed version of this article please visit: http://www.blogger.com/www.aimass.com or email drama@aimass.com
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