Training Needs Analysis No 2: Know Thy Change

With all training needs analysis it is often some change or reorganisation that prompts the analysis.   Could be a merging of departments or companies.  Could be a new piece of software or an upgrade.  Could be a new process or way of working.  Whatever it is:  Decide, Define and Deliver what that change means to your community.

How and what you communicate  is very important.  How you deliver the change to its end point is also important. The old-fashioned Features and Benefits has to figure in this equation.  Selling the change.  Making life better.

A consultation with users/community is a great way to get buy-in and understanding.  Although not always possible it does give you a better success rate statistically.  If change is delivered quickly  time doesn’t always permit such a luxury.

Discussion and visibility of the change can be managed through media which we all work with daily: Outlook, PowerPoint presentations, seminars or webinars, brown bag lunches!  The level and rate of communication is up to you knowing your Staff (No 1 tip!).

What will the change mean for the business build a strategy for business continuity with staff engagement and realistic timescales.  Has enough system testing been done?  Has the process been thoroughly explored?  Do we have enough bottle washers if we made folks redundant.  Only you can know because it is your Change.

Training Needs Analysis No 1: Know Thy Staff

How do you communicate with them (daily, face-to-face,  email, meetings, visits, communicator, webinars, and social media: LinkedIn/Twitter)

What do they like to do?
DO they read the paper, do they like presentations?  Do they like to connect together as a group  e.g. social evenings?  Are they playing  games on their Phone?

Do they have small children and would like to nip off 30  mins early and then would they read your communication at home for 30 mins?

Do you have regular training sessions?

Some people do not fill in training needs analysis  information and so observation of how they work is very important.

When you are making changes in your company you want to  engage with your staff as quickly as possible so that they buy-in to the  changes.   They understand the changes that are coming  and what it will mean to them.  They are
positive with the changes and you know it is for the best reasons.

They have been consulted at the start and can take some ownership  of the new system or the new processes.

Tip No 2 is coming along.

Work Life Balance

The question has to be “Do you have work life balance”?  With so many of us working in the virtual world we are “in contact” 24/7 now.   Are you on information overload?  Are you networked out?!  I think a good place to start is to focus and get clarity on what you want.

I have been doing some serious work in coaching with Jo James of Amber Life and Rachel Elnaugh with her magic workshops.   We should all do that once a month, sit down and think and plan.  Start each week with the plan and stick with it.

Build in people who inspire, motivate and who can assist you along the way with your plans.  Share the load and build in some “ME” time.  If you are too tired because you have worked 7 days a week for a few weeks you cannot think straight and it is not good for you or your Brand.  Buy yourself time and energy.  Get some Work and Life Balance.

Coaching could be key to career bounceback

Reading the Trainingzone article posted on 18 April made me review events in my own life.  Senior managers being made redundant in the 49-62 age range suffer the most.   The spectrum of “life after successful careers”, from trauma and depression, to let’s get on with it  and do something else with those in the middle who believe it is a temporary blip.

My husband was made redundant at a difficult time in his life having been very sick.  He was indeed devastated.  He had only had two jobs in over 30 years so it goes without saying that he was and is highly conscientious, excellent at his job and a jolly good egg.

But he adapted, I had/have a business where he could participate more fully and with some coaching help he has become a changed man.  Now when we meet old peer group chums he does say I should have got out sooner!

If you are in this situation do get some help and TZ says

“Those who coped most successfully, …, were able to see the situation as a new chapter in their lives and took on part-time work, became self-employed and/or started studying and volunteering.”

Go Guys and Girls it is in your hands and enjoy it.

Business coaching and mentoring do they work?

There are times when we all need some extra support and if you can get some excellent coaching and mentoring.  For those who say to me I cannot afford it, I say you cannot afford not to do it!  Like a good accountant it will save you money in the end and the journey will be amazing.

Be prepared to work hard.  Be prepared to be challenged.  Be prepared to act not think about it and do nothing.

Be prepared to be happy and then not so happy as it dawns on you what you should be doing and haven’t been doing!

I had a marvellous chap in Lawrence McNulty but then he retired, he took us on a stage but now we are more than ready for another stage and I went to the Women Unlimited Conference (Julie Hall you are the biz) in March http://www.women-unlimited.co.uk/women-unlimited-conference-2011-ready-to-take-on-the-world-2/ and who should I meet but Rachel Elnaugh http://www.rachelelnaugh.com/ and I signed up immediately and highly recommend it.

The content is a fabulous mix of practical, business savvy and magic.  The background work that Rachel has done makes it  even more special.  Going to buy several books today which have been recommended including Purple Cow and Rachel’s Seven Circle of Influence http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3KFHvsn3lc.

It is the magic which I so look forward to every day, here is to your magic today.

Interesting times call for interesting solutions

Solutions to needs or requirements.  As a husband and wife team with around fifty associates we have two training divisions: IT and People skills.  We are able to add value to our services due to the diversity of our offerings.  Our capability to resource well and be a one-stop shop.

We work with each organisation individually to determine the most effective and efficient media for training offering flexibility and high quality with real cost benefits.  We offer a realistic and holistic approach to learning and development.  We have developed our own tools based upon the wealth or experience and hundreds of years’ of experience.

With these interesting times we provide interesting and lasting solutions.

Which method of training is best for each learning style? And what style are you?

Are you a hands-on person, be shown and do?  Do you like to be in the driving seat?  Or do you prefer to watch and observe, taking in what others are doing and saying?  Or do you reflect on what is happening and see what worked and what didn’t work?

As trainers we develop materials to cater for all learning styles.  IT/Application instructor-led training lends itself to many styles.

For the visual learner, they see the application on the pc screen, see the written word and can make notes.  The auditory learner can listen to the instructor and take part in discussions.  The Tactile/Kinesthetic can do the exercises and tasks.  They are great discovery learners.

Exercises are designed to reflect the task or topic which has been introduced and lets the learner do what they have just seen demonstrated and talked about.  Perhaps they have done a walkthrough with the instructor so this is repetition.

Matching information in columns or a quiz are good ways to remember key points working for visual and auditory plus discussion works for the tactile community.

It is really important to have an exciting mix of activities.  With the infrastructure so strong now the virtual classroom is a breakthrough for delivery.   Webinars make sense for short sharp pieces of content allowing the user to go away and practice via exercises on email.

Applications for the phone are brilliant too provided they work effectively and the organisation culture supports it.  Strong statistical analyses makes this last option very interesting and just look at the people on your journey home on public transport  – all on their phone!

SO which one are you?  Or are you a mix?  Think about the words you use in your daily conversation to find the most prominent.  I see what you are saying, I hear what you are saying or I feel that what you are saying…all giveaways.  Enjoy your learning in the future with a good mix of new media.

The Write Stuff

Reading The Director magazine (from the IOD) I was very interested in Nick Parker’s article who is the Creative Director of The Writer, a business language consultancy.   “Jargon, corporate-speak, dull, long-winded formality”. This is what he said about business writing.  His top ten tips are great.

1. Think like a Reader
2. Small words can make a big difference
3. Practice what you preach
4. Get everyone to swap notes (I have a writing buddy Eddy of www.eddy.co.uk)
5. Read out loud
6. Have fun (debate and play…yes please)
7. Train your writers (I love it…and as part of the induction process!)
8. Start a library (good writers are “always” avid readers I AGREE completely)
9. Measure your new words
10. Don’t ban anything

Well he should talk to some of our writers.  And to Jacq Burns of course as she know a bit about writing.  Not only is she Publish a Best Seller but she is also the London Writers’ Club.  Her courses are second to none. http://www.publishabestseller.com/london-writers-club/

Social Media and new statistics

Knowing as we do how well social media is taking off  I was surprised that only 23.27% of companies let their staff access social networking sites during office hours.  So a staggering 60.82% say No and 15.91% only at certain times, according to a mini poll by the CIPD.   True it is very important for online reputation management that all staff are on message and on the same page but there are security settings.

I think for corporates and professionals LinkedIn is an essential.  Twitter also has its place.  I just love the fun and engaging content. Knowing gurus like Mark Williams on ETN Training and Mark Shaw of markshaw.biz I think we just need to be guided and trained to use social media in the best way possible.

More female partners in law than accountancy

I am catching up on my reading! People Management News is a real source of information and ideas.  Law firms work together to retain female talent, the top 10 legal practices are working collaboratively together.  Carole Wilson, head of diversity and corporate responsibility at Eversheds says it is all about retaining top talent.  Flexible working patterns and changes in attitude have made a senior law career more appealing.

And great news from one of my clients Osbornes is that Lisa Pepper made partner at Christmas.  Well deserved for a fabulously talented woman.

And the law sector has an average of 20% female partners which is ahead of the accountancy that stands at 15%. There is still room for improvement. Great news for everyone.