Monthly Archives: January 2019

employee training and development

Do These 3 Things to Improve Employee Training and Development

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To improve employee training and development there are three things you need to do. This will make sure you achieve the desired results from the training program. This works for any type of training.

  • Set Goals with the Employees Taking the Training

Meet with the employees before the training to discuss the purpose of the training and where they can benefit the most. Relate the skills they will learn to the job. Discuss how the skills will help them be more effective and how it will help you and the organization.

Using the example of management or leadership training, here is a sample list of skills that can be used. Discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the employee for each skill and narrow it down to three to five goals for the training program. This can be done in a group but preferably one on one.

  • Delegation
  • Training
  • Coaching
  • Scheduling
  • Planning
  • Listening
  • Give feedback
  • Meet with Trainees at Midpoint of Training

Meet with the employee at the midpoint of the training to discuss how it is going and address any concerns. If the employee is having trouble learning workout a solution. This can be challenging if the training is over a course of a day or less, but a phone call can be a solution.

  • Measure Results with Follow-up

Schedule follow-up sessions and measure the results of the training. Is the employee now able to apply what they have learned in the training? The follow-up should be done within thirty days of the training and then schedule another follow-up noting any actions required by the employee or by you to provide further support.

Employee training is a crucial component in employee and organizational development and when executed properly great gains can be made in performance.

Follow these three steps when planning your next employee or management training and you should see a noted improvement in results.


improve stand-up meetings

Techniques to Improve Stand-up or SCRUM Meetings

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Daily team stand-up meetings also known as SCRUM meetings have become common in software development and manufacturing companies. People stand-up to keep the meetings short, no longer than 15 minutes.


Here are techniques to keep the meetings effective:

  1. Make sure everyone participates. There meetings are for communication and specifically to inform the team of any issues or problems so, everyone should have a chance to express themselves. Use the round robin method to give each person a turn at communicating.
  2. Use body language to detect if there is an issue that someone may not be expressing. Question that person to find out if something needs to be discussed.
  3. Use non-verbal communication to get consensus on an issue or a decision. Thumbs up lets you know everyone is on board, thumbs down everyone is not.

These meetings are not problem solving meetings and if an issue arises that requires more time, you need to schedule a problem solving session to solve the problem.


healthy and collaborative workplace

3 Things NOT to Do if You Want a Healthy & Collaborative Workplace

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There are three things that you don’t want to do or see your employees doing. They will destroy good leadership and teamwork in your organization. Yet these three things happen daily in every organization and if unchecked will spread a disease called employee disengagement.

  • Don’t Offend Anyone

What we do or say has an impact on people we work with, whether you are the leader or team member. When you offend someone, the impact can be devastating for the work relationship and for employee engagement and motivation. In fact, professor Christine Porath did a study on the effect and cost of being uncivil in the workplace and the results are astonishing. She claims that 48% of people who were treated uncivilly intentionally decreased their work effort. This Harvard Business Review article lists other costs associated with this problem.


The fix is simple, treat people fairly and with respect. Don’t offend anyone and don’t let this type of behavior go unaddressed. To pro-actively prevent offensive behavior hold regular training and discussion sessions on how to treat others in the workplace. Get everyone involved and participating.


  • Don’t Be Offended

Someone is bound to offend you and it is up to you to choose how you respond. You can choose to be offended and coil away or retaliate. The responsible thing is to effectively communicate how you feel and let the person know that what they did is not OK. Then let it go. Of course, if the offensive behavior keeps re-occurring then you need to take more serious action to have it rectified.


  • Don’t Take Revenge

A common response when being offended and especially after repeating offenses is to take revenge. I talked about this in my article and video on the 3R’s, resistance, resentment and revenge. This makes for great workplace drama and of course we see this all the time in our personal lives. TV sitcoms and dramas are built upon people taking revenge and it makes great entertainment.


But it is very toxic and causes negative emotions, fear and employee disengagement. My partner is a psychologist and many of her clients see her due to conflict in the workplace caused by the three don’t do.


Practice Prevention

Be pro-active to prevent people from offending their coworkers and then having to deal with the repercussions. Plan a discussion session by department to have employees talk about their experiences and how to deal with these types of situations and about prevention. Start with you own team and then make sure every department does the same.


Another approach could be to start a task team to implement training and discussion groups and monitor the progress made. The ongoing improvements can be tracked and then communicated to all employees as feedback.


be happy everyday

Be Happy Everyday: The Space Between Reaction and Consciousness

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There is a space between thinking and reacting and that is the key to changing our behavior and thus our outcomes. It is about being conscious and choosing how to respond.  I was reminded of this concept yesterday when the song The Space Between by Dave Matthews came on the radio.


I just set my goals for the year and published my Year in Review Workbook and my key recommendation was to set a behavioral change goal. One of my goals is to be happy everyday and to do this I need to be conscious of how I think, feel and respond to people and situations. It’s also about being aware and responsible for my own state of mind.  


If you want to be a better leader, team member of just feel happier, then the key is becoming aware of yourself and how you can respond more effectively in the moment.


My dog Chief reminds me of this everyday. He is extremely sensitive and the moment I start to curse or get angry about something he wants to hide. Of course, this doesn’t mean we should never get angry, but his reaction puts things in perspective. Am I getting angry for a good reason and how long will it last?


When I see Chief’s reaction to my anger, I immediately question my behaviour and can take responsibility and put things back into perspective.


How can you increase your own space between your reaction to a situation so that you respond positively and effectively? What bugs you that you can’t really change but causes you to feel anger or some other negative emotion that only brings unhappiness?


Whatever it is you want or need to change to be happier and more effective figure out how to create the space between the trigger and your reaction. It starts with self-awareness and that is a journey in itself.