April 2023 - Page 3 of 12 - BOLLYWOOD SURKHIYAN

Questions to Ask When Goal Setting

Goal setting is a worthwhile business process if done correctly. To develop the best goals, leaders need to work with their teams to agree upon goals that are achievable and challenging. Asking questions during the goal setting process can result in better goals. Consider the following questions during the goal setting process.

At the start of goal setting, ask:

What needs to done right now?
What is the most important thing to do now?
What is the objective or challenge that needs to be reached?
What accomplishment needs to be met ultimately?
What will positively impact business, career, job, task, and so forth?
What results need to be visible at the end of this goal period?
Why are these results important and what are the benefits?
Why does this need to be done and will it get done?
Why is this important right now or in the next few months?
Why invest time and energy into this goal?
Why doe the situation require this particular goal at this time?
Why would this goal relate to purpose, vision, or organizational values?

To establish and plan goals, ask:

Where will the goal and accomplishment of goal take place?
Where does the company, department, or team need to be in the near future?
When should this future be realized and what are the requirements and deadlines?
When will the goal be realized and how will progress be measured?
What actions need to be taken and detailed tasks done to achieve a successful goal?
What is the plan for how often goals should be reviewed against measurement criteria?
Who needs to be involved in this goal process in order to accomplish it successfully?
Who possesses the skills and talent necessary to meet the goal or do we need to train?

If the preceding questions are used in the goal setting process, better results will be achieved. Always consider asking multiple questions to make goal setting and other teamwork processes more worthwhile for the business. When a good goal-setting process is used and agreed upon by leaders and their team members, it will result in goals that are both achievable and challenging.

Regional Marketing Strategies and Master Franchising Conflicts

When entering a master franchise agreement one must pay particular attention to the section on advertising and marketing requirements. Generally speaking franchisors are interested in secure brand name recognition in the assigned master franchise territory (County, State, Country). The franchisor also understands what works best for their business model in attracting new business, and or has probably given careful consideration to how this will affect the master’s franchise sales, and the over-all brand name.

Still, it would be irresponsible to believe that the marketing and advertising that has worked in one region or country will work the same in another. Indeed, there needs to be regional variation’ and often the master franchise buyer will have some decent insight into their own territory. What works one place will not necessarily work everywhere. Therefore the master territory buyer will need to look into the master agreement and may need to negotiate some changes.

Global Franchise had a particularly telling article in their 2016 December issue titled; “Fourteen Questions for a Master Franchisee Buyer” and the well written piece noted that master franchise buyers certainly need to ask themselves; “Who is responsible for advertising in my Territory?” and went on to say: “The master franchise agreement sets forth the parameters of who is responsible for advertising, marketing and related activities. The master franchisee will likely have the obligation to develop and implement a marketing plan for each territory. The franchisor will either require or reserve the right to review and approve the marketing plan and any materials used for advertising purposes.”

One thing I had learned in setting up master franchises for my company was that what worked in California did not work so well in Pennsylvania, Texas, Florida, Arizona or Colorado. The weather was different, the culture slightly different, and the buyers were not always the same types. And mind you, this is all one-country. As I set up master agreements in other countries the regional variation with advertising, branding and marketing got even more diverse, and that was a good thing too. Had it not, or if I’d forced my master partners to do things the way I’d always done them, I doubt they could have succeeded or stayed on schedule as they developed their cluster of franchisees to extend our brand name.

Let’s face it, as a franchisor, the worst thing that could happen would be for a master franchisee to go out of business and then have burned territory and a tarnished franchise brand name in that territory. It’s hard to pick up the pieces when that happens. Suffice it to say it’s better for all concerned when regional variation is in the mix when it comes to marketing and advertising. So, master agreement signers ought to realize that franchisors ‘get this’ and are often willing to negotiate the terms under these provisions. Think on this.

What Are SMART Goals?

Each year many work teams set goals for the coming year and leadership teams determine their objectives for their organizations. During the goal and objective setting process, the term SMART goal is often used without much thought as to what it may mean as an overall working plan. SMART goals are a way to not only decide what to do, but how to do it in a way that can easily be tracked to determine whether or not progress is made and know when the goals are met. In this type of goal, the acronym in SMART stands for: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based.

Specific describes the details of what is to be accomplished in a clear and simple way. The goal must be easy to understand and well defined in order to make achieving it possible. Unclear goals are easily misunderstood and therefore typically do not accomplish the desired results. Being specific answers the question of what has to be done so that appropriate actions can be taken.

Measurable uses quantifiable terms in order to compare where the goal is in reaching the desired target. Establishing performance criteria for measuring the goal will allow for changes during the goal period in order to manage the process and stay on track to meeting the target. Utilizing a definite tracking method shows how much will be gained by accomplishing the goal and encourages continued improvement.

Attainable means the goal is within the ability and capability of those involved while stretching their collective talents to reach the most desirable target. It means that the defined goal is both possible and realistic while still being challenging for the organization and its people. Having a goal that stretches people and allows for growth opportunity often leads to very worthwhile business results.

Relevant indicates the goal is not only within reach of skill levels but also has meaning and relates directly to the purpose or vision of those who are responsible for meeting the goal. Relevancy means everyone involved can understand how they influence the goal and how it affects them. When a goal is relevant to those involved it increases commitment and makes meeting the goal a highly motivational tool.

Time-based defines a period for meeting the measurements in the goal or a deadline date for accomplishing the overall target goal. Having a time frame established allows a frequency for monitoring progress, staying on track, making adjustments to meet the overall goal, and gaining momentum with each accomplishment along the goal path. Without a time-based element to the goal, it will be impossible to make a targeted plan.

Use the acronym SMART to establish goals that are: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-based. SMART goals may be used as an effective way to decide what to do in the coming year and where to make changes if the tracked goals are not progressing as desired. During the yearly goal or objective setting process, be sure to use the SMART goal definition when working on a plan for the future of a team or organization.

Project Manager Considerations When Building a Project Team

As a Project Manager, your team may already have already been assigned before you build a project plan. If this is so, it will allow better estimations of resource budget and the team can participate in designing the project schedule. Alternatively, the team may not be approved and build until the implementation phase begins, which means a preliminary plan has been developed. Remember that if the team can help with planning, then they are more likely to be committed to accomplishing the plan and the project goal or objective. In addition, it is less likely that omission of important details from the plan will occur if the team is involved in developing the plan. Where possible, before trying to develop a project plan, assemble a Project Team of people who have something to contribute to the overall project.

These project team members may have expertise in similar projects or be someone with a stake in the outcome of the project. More experienced people will help ensure the project stays on schedule, however working on a project with a mentor or others more experienced can be a great learning experience for those new to this type of work, process, service, or product. Team members may be volunteers or given the assignment to participate on the project. Typically, volunteers make more of an effort and require less supervision than those assigned without asking if they would like to participate. As the Project Manager, you should talk with each perspective member to make sure they understand what their project responsibilities and accountability might be, what challenges they may look forward to, and what value they offer to the team. Additionally, you should note how much freedom each member would have in carrying out their tasks and making decisions related to their assignments.

If the project team members have worked together before, then the project may start well. Team members who have worked on team projects before will already be familiar with team problem solving and participatory decision-making and will see working on the team as a motivating factor in their and others’ contribution to the project. However, if some of the team members have not worked together or been part of a team before, you as the project manager need to consider if there is need for any team training or other team-building activities to help the members work better as a team. If the team has not worked together before, in their first team meeting, you and your team members will need to establish conduct guidelines for personal and group behavior. You may want to establish what types of information sharing may or may not go outside the project team as well. Working as a team and with your feedback, the project members should find they produce better project results in a more effective manner.

If any team members are only a part-time assignment to the project, then you need to determine with them how they will prioritize their work. As a rule of thumb, no one should be working on more than three projects at a time. As your project continues, be sure to give team members feedback on their individual performance. If they need to change the way they are doing something, be sure to explain why they need to make the change as well as what and how to change. Be sure to let team members know that their contribution is valuable to project and team success. If a team member is not willing to work toward the project goal, then they need to be convinced or removed from the project team. Reward both team behavior and individual accomplishments in order to ensure team members work together and value each other’s contributions.

7 SEO Tips for eCommerce Website

Whether we speak of old school shopping or the new in town eCommerce wave, the only way customers can reach the place of business is if they can locate the store easily.

Internet thrives on search. Millions of search strings make their way into the internet ecosystem each day. There’s no point in spending money on a fancy website and stocking up on best products at awesome prices if your site isn’t featuring on the first page in Google.

That is where SEO efforts come into the picture. People are more likely to find you, if you have a higher search rank. And the more traffic, higher the probability of making sale.

When it comes to SEO for an online shop, “one size fits all” strategy does not work. Online shopping websites need to carefully assess the needs of their business and plan accordingly. Here are a few tips to help towards making that all-important decision.

The effective keywords

Invest some time and money to identify the most appropriate keywords for your online store. Users tend to be very specific while doing a keyword search. Ensure that the keywords used in your online shopping website’s SEO aren’t too generic. Or else, visitors simply won’t be able to find you.

No duplicate content

Be as original as possible in your product descriptions tags. That’s probably the most important step in eCommerce SEO. Since content duplication in eCommerce stores is inevitable with product descriptions and lists, it is advisable to look for ways to reduce redundancy.

Don’t copy-paste the manufacturer’s product description, take some time to build your own. It may give you a mild headache, but it will save you a migraine later. Ensure that each product description is unique and search engine friendly.

Pay Per Click

Pay per click is the necessary tool in the SEO of online shops. However, it is advisable to not rely on it entirely to create visibility. PPC costs continue to rise with each search and as soon as you stop paying for placement, your online presence disappears. Some customers do not trust sponsored links, banners, and other ads. Therefore, organic SEO is essential along with PPC for online shopping website to improve visibility.

Strengthen your content strategy

Keep adding unique and high quality content regularly to your eCommerce Portal. It will help with your search engine ranking, and an added value for users. Consider having a blog and add relevant content that’s related to products and services on your website.

Optimize images

Use ALT tags liberally on your website. Image search function has gained a lot of popularity and people are using it to find products. Your eCommerce SEO strategy needs to incorporate related keywords for ALT tags of every image on the website. Don’t stuff keywords; ensure that every keyword used is directly relevant.

Meta descriptions for webpages

For onsite eCommerce SEO, use a different meta descriptions for each page. Meta descriptions are written for humans with the purpose of helping to get visitors to your online store once it shows up in search engines.

Remember to optimize anchor text

Use keywords for internal links on your website. This will help enhance your visibility in search engines. Consider doing the same for product descriptions by linking them to other similar products on your website.

Improve Your Productivity When Focus Is Optimized Operating in Short-Bursts

If you have actually ever before dealt with situations where you may lose focus on a project or task, possibly a business associate or even a good friend has actually stated that you ought to attempt working in short-bursts as opposed to completing your job or project at one time. Even if you think this concept is strange, it isn’t necessarily a bad recommendation. There are three major advantages to working in short bursts.

1. You Will Be Less Tempted By Distractions

When you work in short segments, it lets you to be less tempted by interruptions. When you recognize that you can delay addressing interruptions or even ignore or at least just review the interruption in a few minutes, you lose the necessity to check it out right away and subsequently complete the task more efficiently.

2. You Can Plan Your Job Better

When you work in brief bursts, you can plan what you intend to do with each of your 15- or 20-minute work sessions. Since you can just fit so much work into one segment, planning these short work bursts makes it less complicated to decide what to do. It focuses you on concentrating on the essentials. It likewise assists because planning a 20-minute work session seems much less serious than planning a whole day, so you will not feel stressed out choosing what to spend your time working with during each short burst.

3. You’ll Be A lot more Concentrated, And Also Your Mind Will Be Clear

A Research study shows that the human mind can only concentrate at its maximum for around 20 mins each time or interval between a short break. This fact implies that you are combating or even overworking your mind when you try to concentrate for longer durations. When you take regular breaks from your job, like those detailed in the short burst work approach, your mind will obtain the break or rest it requires between tasks. Thus, every single time you start a brand-new burst of tasks, you will certainly be starting with a fresh mind that can stay focused for the whole project.

No matter exactly how you look at it, working in brief work sessions is really the way to go. It will allow you to be much less sidetracked, extra focused, a lot more concentrated as you function, and also you will not be as worn out. So when somebody recommends the brief burst method, listen to that person seriously and think about applying this strategy to your following project.

The Right Career Choice – Starting Or Changing Careers!

Choosing the Right Career: And how to make a smooth career change!

Choosing a career or changing from one career to another can be a daunting task. However, with some well thought out career planning you can start in the right job field or make the transition into another career field with a minimum of fuss.

Why do so many end up choosing a career that is less than satisfying and some find themselves in careers where they are downright miserable? The short answer is many think they know the correct way about picking a career, yet there are a number of myths associated with choosing a career that you need to know about.

The number one myth about choosing a career is that the process is simple, takes little time and

once the career choice is make the book is closed. Actually, selecting the right career for you should be an ongoing process that involves career and employer research, learning about yourself and effectively using all the available career and job hunting resources available to you.

Career Planning for Great Future Results

Once you recognize career planning and selection is an involved process you need to spend the appropriate amount of time to get the best results.

Career ideas can come from many sources. Don’t let a career counselor or a friend tell you what career is best for you. They can give you a level of guidance on new career ideas but it’s never wise to rely entirely on their advice.

For example, many times you’ll get advice from professionals and friends that you can’t make a living from your hobby. In reality, this is the one area to start looking how you can take your skills learned from the hobby to a profitable career. Either, self-employed or working in the field for another employer can be an excellent career choice.

In addition, a part-time hobby that can be turned into a small money making business, while working full-time, can provide you with an additional level of financial security.

Learn about a Career without working in it

Many think the only way you can really learn about a career is to work in it. Not true. If you find a career that interests you, do the research to find others working in the field. Contact them to see if you can arrange a short interview. Or have questions ready for a short phone interview. Many times these discussions will lead to other valuable resources regarding the career. All will assist you in making the right career decision.

Another area where many go wrong is to only look at careers on the latest “hot careers” list. These are top ten lists of the hottest current and projected future jobs. Although interesting and a possible source for further research you need to focus on your skills, what are your top interests and what excites you about a particular career and not what someone predicts will be the outlook for a specific occupation.

Career Change is in your Future

In the course of a lifetime, if you are typical, you will change jobs and careers several times. The secret of making a successful career change is to spend time every week and month is career planning. A well though out plan researching jobs and employers will keep you attuned to changes in the economy, new careers in which you may qualify and other income opportunities.

Developing career related skills through training and self-study will make you more valuable in your current career and prepare you to open future doors of yet undiscovered career ideas.

How to Find Success in Business, No Matter What Business You Are In

After thirty-five years of running my company, Mid-Hudson Marketing, I’ve come to realize a few truths about what brings success in business. Regardless of what business you are in, if you give the clients what they want, the clients will be happy. And happy clients come back. They also refer other clients to you.

Now, you would think that in a marketing business, a client would come to me in order to bring him business. But, ironically, when a client comes to me for marketing services, there is a lot more to what the client wants than is obvious on the surface. Clients need confidantes. Clients need friends. Clients need reliable helpers to do the things they themselves cannot do, and to do them well. Clients need dependable business partners they can lean on in times of need to provide them with guidance and advice. Clients need all of this but do not want to be overcharged for it. And clients need these things exactly when they need them, at the precise moment they ask for them, without having to wait their turn. After all, clients are busy people with many important tasks at hand including making a success of their own businesses. It is a rare client that recognizes that you and he or she have that in common.

No, clients by definition are usually quite selfish with only their own concerns in mind. When they call you, they need you. Otherwise, they don’t call. Of course, in the present state of the economy, getting a call from a client in need should be regarded as a blessing if you are running a business. This is your bread and butter. And furthermore, the reason they can be excused from their myopic vision is that they are paying you to help them. Not the other way around.

Never mind that they may be interrupting you from serving the needs of other important clients whose calls may have come in first. It is an exercise in tact and diplomacy that provides you with the right things to say to satisfy the demands of all clients within the time constraints given. No single client wants to be told that he must wait, and all deserve your very best efforts to perform whatever it is they expect of you.

Luckily, the laws of probability usually dole out these calls in a rather random fashion so you are not overwhelmed with immediate urgency that is impossible to deliver on. And in a business like marketing, there are a multitude of different tasks clients may need, all requiring different skills, allotments of time, and expectations for completion.

And of course, not all projects come in as phone calls. Many come in as emails in today’s world. But in either case, an immediate reply is the most important course of action for you as business owner, to provide the solution each is looking for. I find that most clients just want to know that they are important to you and that you are grateful for their call, and that you intend to address their requests right away. This is usually accomplished by a prompt call back or email reply confirming receipt of their message and how you intend to fulfill what they need. I also always promise to confirm when the job is completed. Having done this, my stress level for the moment is reduced because the immediacy of the demand has been taken care of. However, as anyone running a business knows, chronic stress is part of being successful, since it drives us to do the work the clients ask for, as quickly and expertly as possible!

Next step for the business owner is the prioritization of tasks at hand. I approach this by figuring out how many steps there are in the process, how long each will take and how soon I can get them done while working on a multitude of jobs simultaneously. For the small business owner, or people who run their businesses single-handedly (like me), this usually means being a workaholic and working morning, noon and night, 24/7. That is not an exaggeration. I work every moment I can, subtracting out time for personal hygiene, eating, sleeping, and an hour of daily exercise every day, without fail! Of course, I admit I am very robotic about everything in my life which serves me well in business. The reason is that I can multi-task easily without breaking my concentration from the most important application of my attention.

An example would be answering the phone with my standard greeting without missing a beat, while using any one of my many software programs to design, write, produce, enhance or convert any number of the many jobs I juggle on a daily basis. People often comment that I sound like a recording. We laugh about that and move on. Not only is my predictability beneficial for my business, it is appreciated by my clients who are able to reach me on one or two rings without having to wade through the muck and mire of phone prompts or receptionists to try to speak to me directly. Sure, they sometimes get my voice mail but I always call right back and never keep them waiting.

I must reveal, though, that prior to a couple of years ago, when I maintained a formal business suite of offices in the largest city nearby, my working hours were quite different. Time to commute even on the worst days in winter ate up a good chunk of my availability to keep plowing through my workload. I used to believe that such time was well spent… as a “creative pause,” as one German professor of music I had at Bard College used to say. Time to reflect, plan strategy, get an overview of business as a whole. Now, however, since I was prescient enough to realize that closing that overhead-heavy office I had taken pride in for a 35-year career was an unaffordable luxury in today’s economy and moving home was the best alternative for many reasons, my time is much better appropriated.

First of all, I now have a life! How, you may ask, can I possibly have a life if I work 24/7?!! Well, since I love what I do for a living, I definitely enjoy working from home. Here are the major differences:

Instead of getting up at 4 a.m. to get dressed to the business hilt, reading several newspapers while eating breakfast and driving an hour to work, I now get up at 8:15 a.m. and run up and down my staircase for exercise for 20 minutes (2500 steps in all!) and make a small breakfast I eat as I check my email in my comfy office off my dining room wearing my shorts, a t-shirt and socks. My work day usually begins about 9 a.m. which is the norm for the majority of office workers.
Instead of having to wear high heels while driving to and from occasional client meetings which also killed a good portion of the day (not to mention my feet!), I now stay at home and avoid meeting anyone altogether. I am totally accessible by email and phone and seeing me in person is unnecessary in this day and age of Internet access and video-conferencing.
Instead of leaving the office late in a rat-race-paced drive home to cook supper after having stopped at the grocery store, a gas station and navigated through the occasional traffic jam and subsequent longer-than-usual detour, I now take a twenty-minute walk with my husband around 4:30 every day and after continuing to work until 6:30, begin making supper after a productive 9-hour day. I am lucky to have a retired husband/life partner who now does all the shopping.
Instead of ending my day at 9:30 p.m. so I can try to get enough sleep to wake up at 4 and start all over again, I now get to watch the end of the Yankee game most nights if they’re still playing around 10 p.m. which is when I stop working after dinner to enjoy a little TV exposure and eat an apple. Bedtime for the robot is now about midnight, giving me about 8 hours of sleep each night vs. my previous 5.5 hour average. That in itself has given me back my life!

But lots of things have changed in business since the economic downturn. It is not a surprise to hear of people working from home. Having an office was wonderful for many years when people would come in for frequent conferences or to check proofs. There was a time when I spent entire days doing high quality on-site photography, sometimes from helicopters, using gyroscopes and expensive rented long lenses while flying through now forbidden air space over Manhattan! Times have changed and my industry with it. We’ve become an online culture with everything accessible through affordable high quality digital photography and emailed PDF proofs. People are more conservative about business expenses than they ever were and the cost of gasoline and of everything has curtailed how we all do business. And, as a result, how much we charge has become an issue of sensitivity as well.

Having arrived at a place in my life where money is no longer a matter of life or death, sink or swim, I am fortunate to have the freedom to negotiate agreeable rates with long-term clients I respect who have expressed anxiety over loss of revenue due to the business reduction everyone has felt. Once you hit a certain age, you realize that life does not go on forever and it is more important to live life for the pleasure it can bring than for some arbitrary dollar figure to which you once may have aspired. Since my house and cars are all paid for and I have the security of some relatively satisfactory investments, it is more important to me to have clients who seek my intelligence and skills, and keep me busy with interesting work, than to try to amass a fortune doing it. I am also lucky (and have been for the bulk of my career) that I don’t ever have to look for work. It just comes in as it always has from clients with whom I’ve been working for most of my life. Those clients refer others. And, there are always new clients who find me through my website. Yes, my office was a beautiful representation of my polished business image, my brand…but I have achieved the same thing through my website, at a greatly reduced cost!

I have written this article, which is really more of a glimpse into my life, for the purpose of sharing the kinds of things that bring success. Not so much for the specific information, but for the attitudinal and philosophical truths that shape a person’s life. Always putting the client first; doing the best work you possibly can; respect for the client’s needs and timeframe; being frugal with spending; and above all, being fair in every way; these are the ways I’ve found success in my life. It doesn’t take a lot to make me happy, thank goodness. Not being destitute, having a perfectly ripe avocado available, a good apple, my favorite balsamic vinegar, skim milk, oats, walnuts, my Taster’s Choice decaf. These are things that make me happy. And, a kind word from a happy client now and then! Do I mind working entire holiday weekends keeping up with client deadlines and work goals? Not at all. I thrive on it. And this I would define as success in business.

The Feasibility of Social Media Marketing and Consulting

A lot of research is undertaken regularly to determine new trends and developments in the online business. These exciting occurrences are conveyed to industry players and the general public as well. The online advertising market has grown enormously through the years and this growth is not at all waning.

Social media marketing and consulting has been acknowledged as one of the most viable online business opportunities. You just have to do three things to make it click.

You need to take care of the business painstakingly to make it grow and succeed for the long-term. Begin with a practical and realistic business plan. Be careful with your implementation and network with possible clients. Make sure that your customers are satisfied with your deliverables. Start slow by getting one client at a time until you are able to perfect the system and have the competence to take on many clients.

Teach a business organization to become more personal and put in place the effective foundation for success in any online venture. This concept makes it much easier for neophyte entrepreneurs to know more about social networks and brand conversations.

Give emphasis to the importance of the brand and crucial aspects in internet marketing like blog writing, put together strategies, outreach projects, brand analysis, profile enhancement and web software design.

Here is a useful advice if you want to go into this business as a competent Social Media Marketing Consulting Firm and provide professional help to new industries.

The Social Media Marketing Consulting provider must be capable of attaining the three things mentioned earlier and achieve satisfactory results. The brand becomes popular and benefits about this brand are immediately spread around because of this technique. Information is passed from a single individual to hundreds and even thousands of people. Positive information saturates the search engines and the result is website traffic shoots up. With the help of the experts, it becomes easier to acquire more customers. Converting them into loyal and satisfied customers become very manageable. These companies adhere to ethical practices and make use of effective systems to give the bets coverage for a particular business. The Social Media Marketing Consulting Company continuously upgrades its programs in enhancing awareness and upgrading the websites of their clients.

Your endeavor being one of the most feasible online business opportunities can support all types of businesses in their effort to propagate research and development, marketing promotions and advertising. These are the search engine optimization authorities that are committed in providing internet advertising and social marketing techniques as well as SEO that will surely enhance the online undertaking. Of course, the unique strategy of employing social media networking to reach out to more audiences should not be forgotten.

Social Media Marketing is now widely used by enterprising and inventive businesses. Social media has become very useful to most marketing campaigns. Business owners acknowledge the fact that this line of attack is capable of penetrating a wider audience. This technique is exciting and creates fresh opportunities to generate more visitors and inbound sales.

Workforce Development is More Than Just Training

“Why should I train employees for my competitors? They’ll just leave after I invest in their training. I’m smarter than that: I focus on hiring people who are already trained for what we need!”

I am sure my jaw hit the table when I heard that executive’s view of training during a break at a Chamber of Commerce meeting. How could he NOT do everything possible to maintain his biggest asset (and expense) – his workforce and their payroll?

I will admit it was very tempting to ask, “What happens if you don’t train them and they stay? Then what will you have?”

But, before I could say anything, he went on to top himself when a manager sitting next to him asked, “But as fast as technology and knowledge is changing, how do they keep up if you don’t train them?”

“I don’t worry about it. I pay them to stay productive. If they want to keep their jobs by being productive, it’s their responsibility to stay current!”

Unfortunately, his attitude of ‘why-train-them-for-my-competitors’ is fairly common when training is viewed as a unique event that disrupts productivity.

That is why workforce development means so much more than just training. ‘Developing the employee’ means that you are going beyond teaching job skills. You are also developing character, emphasizing values, and shaping attitudes about how they view themselves, their employer, their peers, and their future.

If an employer wisely spends money on maintaining equipment, software, buildings, and customer base to protect their investment in those costly categories, why not also invest (not ‘spend’) in maintaining the expensive workforce that is the source of their corporate income?

The old Army recruiting slogan, “Be All You Can Be” was an earlier way of describing workforce development. It is all about encouraging employees to expand their career horizons. It is saying, “Now that we have taught you how to do the basic job, we want you to figure out how do it more efficiently and increase your value to the company.”

‘Workforce development’ in its best sense means:

We conduct needs assessments to develop our training curriculum so the employees always support the business mission.
We do not conduct a training class if there is not a clear and distinct link to a business reason to do it.
We do not conduct training classes without having specific, behavioral, or objective outcomes defined first.
We have low tolerance for supervisors who discourage employees from attending valuable training classes.
We have taught our leaders how to reinforce the skills taught in any of our courses.
We view our training function as a valued business partner, not as a cost center.
Before sending employees to a class, we require leaders to tell us first how they will work with the employee to reinforce the application of it AFTER the training event because we know that training without reinforcement is a waste of resources.
Before sending employees to a class, we require leaders to review the learning outcomes most associated with the employee’s job, meet with the employee to be sure they learn them, and schedule a post-class opportunity for the employee to share those learning points with other employees in a departmental learning moment. This provides added value to the supervisor for the training.
Every department has an orientation and training program that insures new hires (or transfers) become as productive as quickly as possible. It isn’t the same program for all departments but one that is tailored to their unique functions within the organization.
Each employee can explain the difference between being ‘productive’ and simply ‘busy.’
We have a program to develop leadership skills in our current supervisors and managers as well as a program to identify and develop future leaders.
We know how to measure and manage performance in all job function so employees are assured that their work products are measurable and they are fairly compensated.
We know how to develop and apply fair and measurable methods for determining “soft skills” performance such as communication, teamwork, and customer service.
We have skilled employees sharing their knowledge with peers so that every employee becomes a trainer to some extent.
We have a ‘measurement culture’ that is so focused on performance skills that diversity-related issues almost never come up.
We teach employees to examine their work processes for opportunities to reduce cycle time, waste, or inefficiency.
Each employee can explain how his/her job supports the mission of the employer.
We have a performance assessment process that managers use as a tool to manage performance and employees see as a means of managing their self-development.
Employees are self-directed because their leaders have done an excellent job of communicating expectations and there are processes to provide performance feedback.
Tardiness, absenteeism, and turnover are very low because employees fell they “get to go to work”, not “have to go to work.”.
Employees at all levels see real opportunities for self-fulfillment.
We teach fundamentals of project management to line employees to teach “big picture’ thinking, process improvement fundamentals, and begin the development of future work leaders.
Our employees would be pleased to tell friends about job openings in our organization they could fill.
We teach the lowest level of supervisors how to collect and use historic data for measuring production capacity and forecasting potentials for staffing and productivity.
We teach the lowest level of supervisors how to collect data to prepare a budget and monitor their group’s expenses.
We teach our leaders at all levels how to lead a multi-generational workforce
We help our workforce expand their range of skills to broaden their career opportunities instead of just focusing on “moving up”

There are probably many more activities we could add to what “workforce development” means but I am sure you get the sense of how it is so much more than just a training event.

I doubt that executive at the Chamber’s meeting will ever change and I also doubt whether he will be an executive much longer. That kind of thinking drives employees away and creates high (and expensive) turnover ratios. I can visualize him being shown the door muttering how you just can’t find good help any more!