Brinkerhoff and Gill in 1994 estimated that 90% of every training dollar spent was wasted. Other research supported this to a degree, but it doesn’t seem to be quite that bad according to Don Clark at NW LINK. Remember that ISO 9001:2015 clause 7.2 Competence requires that you assess the effectiveness of any interventions you […]
Getting More Out of Your Training Dollars Read More »
In 1980, The American Council of Retailers did some research on why people stopped doing business with various organizations. Here’s what they found in 1980: 64% left because they felt ignored 12% left because they were treated badly (that’s our policy) 11% didn’t feel the organization was empathetic 9% found a lower price 3% moved
Give Me What I Want! Read More »
This is a phrase from one of my favourite practitioners, John Seddon. He’s expressed the importance of customer satisfaction in a way that really drives it home for most people. In the 80s I was working for a retail chain as a trainer and noticed that most of the department managers were telling the staff
Customers: People Who Help You Beat Your Competition Read More »
This is a line from a video I used to show as a college professor back in the 80s. It has stuck with me ever since and I say it quite often. ‘Communication’ is getting harder with more distractions. Cell phones abound – most of the participants in training courses that I deliver have 2
Communication is a Synonym for ‘Life’ Read More »
We all give training to new managers. It seems weak at best, and might even make things worse in some cases. Disengaged employees as a result of poor management may be costing your company as much as 34% of your wage costs in lost productivity. This figure comes from an article posted by Katy Tynan
Why Management Training Doesn’t Work…and what to do about it… Read More »
This is Deming’s 12th point – another great idea that can improve the work environment in any organization! Start with a few questions and see what emerges… Question: Is management REALLY listening? Or are people feeling like no one’s responding? Management Question: Can people improve their own processes? Question: Can people inspect their own work?
Promote Pride in People Read More »
John Seddon, Vanguard Consulting, published a book in 2005 called “Freedom from Command and Control”. Definitely worth reading if you’re interested in tapping the vast potential of any workforce. One of his interesting ideas is ‘Learn to see, learn to lead’ and it made complete sense to me. What a leaders learn from looking at
Learn to ‘See’… Learn to ‘Lead’ Read More »
Three more keys to improve employee engagement… 1. Improve Communications All organizations can afford to improve communications. In fact, a video I used to show in College included the line, “Communication is a synonym for ‘Life’.” So true… Sending an e-mail is NOT communication! ‘Communication’ has two components – 1. Send the message…2. Ensure that
More Employee Engagement! WIIFM – Part 2 Read More »
This topic has been batted around for over 30 years, since the first version of ISO 9001 was released. For organizations that like LOTS of documentation these words open up a whole world of possibilities for mountains of documents. The fact of the matter is, ISO allows for any type and amount of documented information.
Process vs Procedure – the battle continues! Read More »
If you look up the definition for ‘communication’ you’ll see that it involves sending a message then having the sender ensure that the message was received and understood the way the sender intended. ‘Sending an e-mail’ is NOT ‘communication’. It is simply ‘sending a message’. E-mails are often misinterpreted and if action is required by
Communication: Is Anyone Listening? Read More »
