Training and Development

It’s hard to imagine during these tough economic times that anyone would turn away a piece of business, but it happens.  A lot.  And it might not be for the reason you think…some might say that price drives this decision but it’s really talent.

Could your employees be a reason that you turn down a sale?

Well, the answer hit me while I was sitting in Charlotte, North Carolina at Count Me In’s Make Mine a Million event.  I’m proud to say that I was there to be recognized as one of the Sam Walton Emerging Entrepreneurs.  During the event, they interviewed several women business owners about their greatest successes and biggest challenges.  One common theme was ‘invest in your people’. 

And, then someone said it.  They had to turn down a major project because they didn’t have confidence that their team could pull it off.  Ouch!

I’ve said it before.  Now is not the time to cut back on customer service.  It’s also not the time to cut back on quality.  People are willing to spend money…on a quality product or service.  Is your customer base putting more emphasis on getting a quality return on their investment?  Are they being pickier about who they do business with?  You bet they are!

Yes it’s difficult right now…but our economy will survive all of this.  And, when we start to pull out of the hole we’re in…will your organization be ready to service customers and deliver quality?

Think about the things you can do to ensure success.  Whether it’s employee training or just fixing that systemic problem that’s been driving everyone crazy, those efforts will not only make your organization stronger now but it will prepare you to make a lot of money in the future.

It’s Martini Friday so let’s have a little fun to get a jump start on the weekend!

We have a fascination with ‘what’s in and what’s out’.  When something is popular, we call it the ‘new black.’  Whether it’s with colors - brown is the new black - or trends like being frugal is the new black, something is out there that we latch onto and embrace at least for a while.

In social networking, it used to be LinkedIn.  Now LinkedIn is still very important…I’m not recommending that you delete your account.  But the über-cool place to be right now is Twitter.

What’s Twitter you ask?  Well, it’s a micro-blog.  A blog, like HR Bartender, allows me to convey my thoughts, ideas, and feelings as often or as little as I like in as many or as few words as I like.  Twitter allows you to convey those same thoughts and feelings…but you have to do it in 140 characters or less.  That’s where creativity kicks in and you have to be succinct in your tweets (that’s the Twitter word for what you write in your updates.)

You can follow people to read their tweets and they can follow you.  While that might appear on the surface like cyber-stalking…it’s no different than subscribing to someone’s blog.  And, if you already have a blog…you can cross-reference your posts in Twitter for a little extra marketing boost to your blog traffic.

But social networking and marketing aside, it’s just plain fun!

So, when you get finished inviting everyone you know to LinkedIn…come visit me and my Tweeps in Twitter.  You can follow me at Sharlyn_Lauby or HRBartender.  See you in Twitterland…

I recently spoke to a group of students at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.  While I was there, I started thinking about some of the presentations I’ve sat through over the years.  Not all of the memories were pleasant.

According to the Wall Street Journal, over 30 million PowerPoint presentations are done each day.  Yep - 30 million.  If that many presentations are happening it only seems logical to me that, somewhere along the way, people would spend some time to learn how to use PowerPoint as an effective presentation tool.  Because that’s what it is…a tool.

PowerPoint is not a substitute for learning the material before you present, not a stand-in for handouts, and not an alternative for taking meeting minutes.  PowerPoint is something that can add polish to your presentations and make them come alive . . . but only if solid content and presentation skills are already there in the first place.

Want to make the most of your next PowerPoint presentation?  Here are 4 tips to consider.

1. Guy Kawasaki offers a great suggestion for using PowerPoint called the 10/20/30 Rule.  No more than 10 slides, that last no more than 20 minutes and contain no smaller than 30 font.
2. Gordon Smith from The Conglomerate says lesson numero uno is ‘minimal text.’
3. Mike Freeman tells us in MaineBusiness.com to add lots of photos.
4. And, Andrew Ferguson dot NET pleads with us to use appealing backgrounds and themes.

The key to developing a PowerPoint presentation is to put yourself in the seats of your audience.  That is, if you had to sit and listen to you…with your PowerPoint.  Would you be sitting up attentively listening and taking notes?  OR would you be slouched over tweeting your peeps about how your left cheek is starting to fall asleep?

Companies, and the designated presenters within them, could really do themselves a favor by adhering to the ‘less is more’ philosophy when it comes to PowerPoint.  If you aren’t going to put time and thought into your PowerPoint, then I recommend you follow Seth Godin’s advice and don’t use it at all!

I’ve figured out what’s wrong with the economy - vanilla creamer.  Well, maybe vanilla creamer isn’t solely responsible for all of our economic problems, but the bad economy is definitely tied to vanilla creamer.

Let me explain.   Dedicated foodie that I am, I really enjoy drinking my morning coffee with fat-free vanilla creamer.  I buy the Coffee-mate brand every time because it tastes much better than the International Delight variety.  That is, when I can get it.  You see, 9 times out of 10, my local Publix will be out of the Coffee-mate brand so I have to buy International Delight.

What’s that got to do with the economy?  The Coffee-mate brand costs nearly 50¢ more.  Yep, I actually want to spend more money, but my local Publix won’t let me.  If it happened once or twice I could understand.  But almost every time I go to the store, it’s out of stock.  Now, multiply that times all the other shoppers who want the more expensive brand of an item, times all of the stores in the country, times shopping 1.5 times per week and it adds up to some serious money that’s not being put into circulation.

Okay, so maybe it’s possible that this issue is limited only to Publix and maybe it’s only the store near me.    But, I bet it’s not an isolated case.  I would wager you can find some form of this issue in nearly every company in America.  It’s a matter of accountability.  Someone needs to hold themselves accountable for knowing what their customers like, knowing their buying patterns, and maintaining inventories to satisfy demand.  Then they need to hold their employees accountable for embracing the corporate vanilla creamer philosophy, and making sure their actions support it.

The sad thing is the training that could make the vanilla creamer philosophy happen is usually a front-line budget casualty when the economy is bad.  Companies will spend money on hiring warm bodies who throw any old item on the shelf just so they can get their eight hours in.

It’s usually not catastrophic circumstances that cause big financial problems for most businesses.  It’s the small things.  If a company has the vision to fix their vanilla creamer problem, they might just excel in this shaky economy.

A new season of “Dancing with the Stars” is upon us, which means only one thing.  Lots of talk about stepping (literally!) outside of your comfort zone.  That’s the whole premise of DWTS.  Successful, accomplished celebrities taking on the new challenge of dancing in the hopes of winning a gaudy disco ball trophy.

One of the reasons that DWTS is so popular is because it shows us that successful people don’t know everything.  But they are willing to try.  All it takes is a realistic plan, a positive attitude, and the understanding that sometimes you just might fall down.

As business professionals we need to realize that, to stay fresh and ‘in the game’, we have to step outside of our own comfort zones.  I can’t tell you how many times I hear my fellow HR peeps say that they ‘aren’t numbers people’ or they ‘don’t like to sell’.  The bottom line is to be successful in HR you need to sell and you need to know numbers.  So it’s time to step outside your comfort zone to get familiar with it.

Here are two tips to get you started:

Be Proactive - If there is something you need to try to help you grow as a professional, when the opportunity presents itself…go for it.  Maybe it’s an assignment at work or an educational seminar that you want to attend.  When I first started in human resources, I sometimes had to personally pay to attend conferences.  The company would give me the time off, but they couldn’t afford the registration fee. If you always wait for the perfect moment to do something, it might never arrive.

Use Volunteerism to Gain Experience - You can use volunteer opportunities to gain valuable experience.  Want to learn more about technology? Volunteer to be the webmaster for a local non-profit.  Looking for more hands-on financial experience or selling experience?  Offer to help as a treasurer or making phone calls to raise money.  You might even have committees within your own company that you can sign up for to expand certain skills.

As far as DWTS goes, I’ve never really been a devotee of the show but did watch on/off last season because (then) local football hero Jason Taylor was a contestant.  But, I might have to check out this season to see how Chef Rocco DiSpirito does…now that’s stepping outside of your comfort zone!

National Punctuation Day is September 24.  According to their website, NPD is a “celebration of the lowly comma, correctly used quotes, and other proper uses of periods, semicolons, and the ever-mysterious ellipsis.”

Now, you might be saying to yourself, “How Silly.  Do we really need to have a national day dedicated to punctuation?”  My vote is yes (with an exclamation point)!

The purpose of NPD, now in its fifth year, is to educate children about the importance of good writing skills and literacy.  It’s to heighten awareness that punctuation mistakes, like a missing comma, could completely change the tone and intent of a message.  We have become a society of text messages, emails, tweets, etc.  As we become more high tech, communication has become abbreviated.  Business writing is quickly becoming a lost art form.

Looking for something that will set you apart in the business world?  Learn how to write - and write well.  And show everyone your skill in everything from emails to reports and presentations.

So, let’s support proper grammar and punctuation.  The future business leaders of this world need to know it.