Time management is critical for busy managers who invariably have to accomplish many tasks within a limited timeframe. There are many myths with respect to time management. One of the biggest myths that we have about time is that ‘it can be managed’. What we forget is that time is finite and it is the work that we need to manage as per the available time. There are many other factors which deter us from making proficient use of our time. Let’s look at some of them.

Always in a hurry: Managers rush from one project or task to another or are in a hurry to finish it; taking on more tasks simultaneously. In the end they are left with a feeling of dissatisfaction in the manner in which a particular task has been accomplished. What is important is to prioritize tasks and take them on one after the other unless the situation warrants multi-tasking.

Missing deadlines: Habitually being late for or consistently missing deadlines at the workplace is another indicator of poor time management.. This is largely due to lack of proper planning which results in a task not being completed within the stipulated deadline and resulting in poor performance at the workplace.

Lack of enthusiasm: If the manager is constantly stressed and works under duress, he may lack the enthusiasm to be productive or is too fatigued to make any positive impact in the organization. It is important for managers to de-stress themselves so that they can objectively plan their activities and make themselves more productive instead of allowing their work life to be out of balance.

Impatience or overlooking details: A manager who does not have any eye for detail might overlook aspects which may be very important for a task or project and might lead to wrong decision making. While in a hurry to meet the deadlines, one cannot ignore significant aspects as this might lead to unnecessary re-work and loss of time.

Constant wavering between alternatives: Another factor that contributes to poor time management is the inability to choose between alternatives. Typically, we tend to put off the decision making for a later date when we have to take decisions such as choosing between two options and as a result we may end up being behind schedule for a given job.

Strained relationships: Strained relationships do not help in any way in managing time better. Managers can handle projects or tasks successfully when they have complete cooperation of their team members. If not, it affects their delivery schedules and results in inefficient time management.

Therefore, for effective time management, one needs to ensure that the above factors are not prevalent in the organization. Do you think there are other factors that result in bad time management? Is so, please share your thoughts on the same.

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Systematic training started during and immediately after the world wars, when industrial growth assumed rapid progression and the demand for skilled workers increased with the demand for the goods produced. Pioneers in the field such as Frederick Taylor, who is considered as the father of the scientific management and efficiency movement tried to make training more systematic and scientific for improved efficiency.

Training was more management-centric with the objective to get workers to produce more in less time and with minimal training costs. The Personnel Department, which was primarily responsible for matters pertaining to employees such as recruitment, payroll, labor relations and welfare, was also responsible for training. Training was essential for blue-collared workers in factories and industries where they needed to handle equipment that was unique and demanded specialist skills. Training for white collared employees was typically on-the-job.

However, in the late 80s, employees were being considered as a resource and gradually what used to be personnel departments have metamorphosed to Human Resources Departments. Their responsibilities were not limited to hiring and firing but assumed a wider scope. Organizations realized that it was in their best interests to develop and train employees. Gradually separate training departments were set up who catered to the training needs of organizations. Along with technical skills, employees were provided training in soft skills such as communication skills, leadership skills, team building skills and so on.

Today, it has become common for large organizations to have Learning and Development Departments which are basically responsible for developing the training content that is relevant to employees of the organizations and helping employees to develop skills that are most relevant to their jobs. It stemmed out of the need to keep pace with increased competition in the business environment. Organizations realized that if they needed to increase the value of their business, they should motivate employees in such a manner that they develop themselves from within to achieve their full potential and have a competitive advantage. Training thus became more learner-centric emphasizing on the learning value it provided to employees.

Thus training departments have transformed into learning and development departments focusing on enriching the learning experience of the employees. This not only benefits the employees on an individual basis but also support organizations to improve their productivity.

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Multitudes of products are launched by organizations every day, particularly in high tech and electronics industry. As a result, products have a shorter life. Consider the predicament of a sales guy. Just as he gets comfortable with product features and benefits of one product, another is launched and he now needs to get familiar with the newly released version. He can’t afford to display his ignorance as not being able to answer questions about his company’s products would be construed as incompetence and will affect his chances of impressing a prospective customer in decision-making.

Secondly, products have become complex in nature with various versions making it necessary for the sales person to recall a lot of information. Is it practical to remember the features and USPs of all the products including those of different versions? Too add to this, in addition to his own company’s products, a sales person needs to know about his competitors’ products as well; if he intends to provide better customer value. It is not easy to remember all the features of the product, its comparative features with competing products, value benefits to customers and so on.

Just take the example of Lenovo’s recent press release in which they have announced new products for the year 2012. There are about 16 products under 8 different categories. Each category has a name and under each category there are different model numbers. This could be very beneficial to customers as they are offered a wide choice, but it means that much more information needs to be processed by a sales person. Imagine how much his life gets complicated. It looks like every month one additional model is getting launched along with the existing models. He will have the pressure to approach new market segments and compete with new competition. As the range of products increase, so does his sales targets. We never hear of reduced sales targets for sales persons. Targets always keep increasing quarter by quarter, year by year.

Therefore, one of the biggest challenges faced by sales training managers is to provide product training where too much information needs to be assimilated in very short time. How do you think this can be done? What the different ways that we can address this situation? It would be interesting to hear your experiences and view on this subject.

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Attitudes stem out of personalities of individuals and are the result of the choices they make; it is rather difficult to change them. However, in the context of the organization, it is important for employees, and particularly sales people, to have a positive mental attitude. This becomes essential if they need to be successful. Helping sales people develop a positive attitude is not easy but it does not mean that it is impossible. There are four key factors that are involved in attitude training.

The communicator who is providing the learning experience should be a person of substantial authority who will command the attention of his learners. The communicator should also be honest and trust-worthy for learners to completely accept and get engaged with training.

Secondly, the method that is adopted to help form an attitude also influences the extent to which the session is successful. A lecture method would be ineffective in achieving the desired results. Training has to be interactive and engaging to ensure maximum participant involvement.

The third factor is the sales person who is the learner in the program. The learner needs to be receptive and committed to learn and willing to accept the need for an attitude-shift for which the training is being imparted.

Lastly the environment in which the learning happens is equally important. If it is a classroom setting, the team dynamics and the interpersonal relationships play an important role. The instructor in this situation has to be sensitive while delivering his training program. If it is an eLearning or online program, the individual sensibilities and sensitivities have to be kept in mind while designing such courses.

Keeping these factors in mind, here are a few ideas that could be incorporated in a sales training program that could help in developing an attitude that is most conducive for a sales person.

Share stories or anecdotes about how a positive attitude changes situations: Everybody loves to hear interesting stories and anecdotes. Boring sessions suddenly become interesting when the trainer shares an anecdote or a story. Including interesting short stories that demonstrate the positive affect of acquiring a particular attitude could be very effective in bringing about an attitude change in an individual.

Give exercises to develop positive vocabulary: Learners need to be sensitized about the importance of building a positive vocabulary as a part of their daily practice. The power of positive affirmations has helped many to develop the necessary attitude to lead successful lives. Replacing statement such as “I better not be late for my appointment with my client” with “I reach on time for my appointment with my client”. Get your learners to list down what is called “toxic phrases” that they use on a regular basis and replace them with positive statements. Alternatively, you could provide a list of toxic phrases that are generally used in the sales domain and get participants to change them to positive statements.

Role plays and games: Role plays and games can be effectively used to reinforce the attitudes required for a sales person. Typically, role play situations can be something such as ‘difficult customers not willing to give appointment‘ or ‘addressing an sales obstacle‘. What are the various possibilities in which one can react to such typical situations? The best and perhaps the effective method could be highlighted during such role plays or games.

Attitude is not just positive thinking. It is the outlook that you wear perpetually on a regular basis. Helping learners develop an attitude that benefits them in their jobs will in turn benefit the organization in the long-run. As William James of Harvard University said “The greatest discovery of my generation is that human beings can alter their lives by altering their attitude.”

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Organizational or corporate culture reflects the attitude of the people who build an organization. A healthy and strong organizational culture allows employees to remain connected to the bigger picture and share a common sense of purpose. A strong organization culture helps to integrate the organization’s mission and goals in a positive way such that it creates a pleasant working environment. This in turn is likely to make employees enjoy their work and strive to be more productive.

Let’s examine the elements that help in forming a company’s philosophy.

1) A clear mission and purpose statement represents one of the major elements of strong organizational culture. A defined mission statement which is easily understood by everyone in the organization is a sign of a strong culture. Without a guiding mission statement, organizations will have to struggle to accomplish or find an identity of their own.

Examples:

a) If the organization emphasizes on establishing a strong orientation toward stakeholder value, then that should be stated in the mission statement.

b) If the organization wants to make social responsibility as a part of its culture then employees should be encouraged to participate in community betterment.

2) Another important indication of a strong organizational culture is the respect among employees and culture of support. An organization comprises of employees who work together for a common goal. Now if the top management treats employees at all levels with care and respect it is likely that employees are happy in their jobs. The respected employees tend to perform better and are more actively engaged in their jobs. Thus a supportive organizational culture offers re-training instead of re-primands, encouragement instead of disappointment.

3) Another common thread that exists among organization with strong cultures is open communication. If organizations implement an open door communication policy it will help the employees to avoid conflicts in the workplace. Therefore, a strong organizational culture should give emphasis on transparency of information.

Thus, a mission statement followed by a culture of support and practice of open communication are the three main elements that lead to the formation of a strong organizational culture.

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Product training is one of the most important objectives of sales training. It is important because it equips the sales staff with adequate product knowledge that enables them to handle customer queries objectively and convincingly. A company can have a great product to offer, but if the sales people are not trained to market the same to prospects it may not obtain the intended market penetration. In order to make product trainings more successful, one needs to keep in mind few critical aspects. Let’s review some of them here.

Product training is important but product selling is essential: Product knowledge is very important for sales people as they use this information to help prospective customers make favorable decisions. Training managers need keep this aspect in mind. The problem comes when product trainings are focused about the product and not about how to sell the products. Sales people find it easy to understand the functioning of a product. The difficult part is to be able to sell it. This is the area where the training needs to focus on.

Customer value is the key to selling: Product training often focuses on product features and benefits and does not really bother about the value the product provides to customers. It is not adequate to provide the sales person with all the facts and figures that indicate how the product fares in terms of customer value. Information may be obvious but training should put the same across in a logical manner so as to be convincing to a potential customer. Training sales people about customer value addition of the products in a logical way ensures that there is uniformity in the way sales people represent the company and product in the market and this would greatly increase credibility of the product as well as the company.

Product information needs to be taught in the context of industry and market: It does not really help a sales person if he is given just the product information in isolation. Sales personnel need to get a perspective about the industry in which they are operating. There are times when market scenario and economical fluctuations might influence buyers in their decision making. Sales people need to be adaptive to such situations and should be equipped to modify their selling techniques accordingly. This needs to be reflected in product training sessions.

Develop job aids wherever possible: It is not adequate if product training is confined to just annual sales meets or workshops. It is not possible for a sales person to absorb so much information at a single go and recollect it when needed. Therefore, product training should be available just-in-time when the sales person needs it. Job aids in the form of PDF files or short videos should be made available to the sales person in a format that is easy to access. Multiple delivery formats such as podcasts, webcasts, videos and so on would be very effective information resource for sales personnel.

Product sales training would be better appreciated by sales people when it is tuned to address their needs rather than merely disseminating information about products. Do you agree with me? If you have any other ideas please share the same with me.

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Safety training need not be a boring, obligatory session that fails to inspire employees. You can make these sessions fun and interactive. The challenge is to design a training program that is fun while being educative and informative. Here are some ideas to make safety training fun for learners.

Use Various Media: Using different media during the presentation keeps the interest of the learners alive. With some imagination and creativity, you will be able to come up with many options.

• Hand-outs: Hand-outs can be used to give detailed information that has been covered in the training program for future reference. Avoid lengthy explanations. A few simple do’s and don’ts will be helpful.
• Posters: Posters using cartoons or caricatures can serve as a quick reference that the employees can use at their work place.
• Short Videos or Animations: Bite-size animations or videos can be used as reminders to follow safety procedures. A step-by-step procedures or a quick check list in a form of an animation is bound to generate interest among the employees

Safety Activities: Activities that simulate actual situations are very effective. Participants can be divided into small groups and a series of games or activities can be conducted. Let’s look at some of the games that can be used in a safety training program.

• Role-Plays: Role plays are ideal for introducing real-life situations and can be used to encourage employees to think of the best possible practices in the given situation.
• Skits: Participants can be divided into groups and encouraged to perform skits to explain key safety-training messages such as emergency procedures or hazard identification. The messages will thus be retained for a longer period.
• Treasure Hunt: You can get employees to find key safety equipment such as fire extinguishers or first aid kits which are located at their designated places. This helps the employees to know the location of important safety equipment in a fun manner.

Safety Games: Familiar games can be used to solicit participation from all members.

• Trivia Games or Quizzes: Trivia games or quizzes can be used to test the knowledge that has been acquired during the training program. Hangman for safety is one such example. Most employees are familiar with the game ‘Hangman’ and this could be effectively used to emphasize the importance of safety equipment or the correct sequence of procedures in an organization.
• Announcing a prize: If it’s an ILT, one way to get the participants engaged is to announce a prize for correct answers at the beginning of the session – this may encourage participants to pay more attention during the training program.

Safety training activities that are fun and interactive are bound to be well received by employees. Also, it will naturally have a positive effect by way of meeting the training objectives as well.

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Simulations make learning experiential as the learner is actively engaged in the process. They provide“real-life” situations to learners in which they can connect with a platform and experiment with different options. Simulations can be used for technical training such as software training or for helping an employee to learn about the correct procedure to accomplish a task.

We at CommLab handle four different levels of courseware development services. The instructional strategies used to engage the learners are different at each level. Level 1 courseware is simple with minimal learner interaction. Level II courseware refers to courses which focus on simple skill development which may be achieved with very basic animation or simulation with very limited complexity. However, level III courseware is very interactive with extensive practice sessions or complex self-assessments which could involve more than 20 steps. Advanced simulations fall under this category of courseware. Broadly speaking, you need to make sure of the following while reviewing a simulation that is part of an eLearning course:

• A simulation should map to respective learning objectives.
• Every step should be explained, perhaps through callouts and the learner should have enough scope to go through the steps to perform the action.
• Ensure that the screen is not cluttered with text.
• An introduction page should be given for the Watch, Try and Do scenarios, along with the respective instructions.

Simulations can enhance the learning experience of the learners. However, quality analysts need to make sure that they are effective in providing the required learning experience. You could check out some of our previous blogs that provide checklists and guidelines for the quality assessment team in different scenarios such as the watch scenario, try scenario and do scenario.

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Employee empowerment as the name implies, involves giving powers to employees. It enables employees to set their own goals and to solve work related problems by themselves which are within their purview and authority and finally to make decisions autonomously. By empowering employees, a leader does not renounce his/ her own power- instead he/ she shares with others.

The aim of employee empowerment is to increase employee’s responsibility, morale and quality of life. It has been observed that when an employee is vested with more authority, he tends to be more productive, confident and loyal.

The three keys to employee empowerment include:

1. Sharing of Information: Sharing all the relevant information with employees in a transparent manner is the first key to employee empowerment. Leaders willing to share information earn the trust and commitment of their employees.

2. Giving Autonomy within Boundaries: Employees should be given autonomy to do their jobs in a manner they deem fit. However, they also should be aware of the boundaries within which they need to function so that organizational interests are not compromised. Once employees are clear about the parameters of autonomy, they can plan the best possible ways to function in a given situation. Authority instills a sense of responsibility and employees are more likely to act responsibly while doing their tasks.

3. Encouraging Self-Managed Teams: In the past, as a part of the old hierarchy, there were a few employees who took responsibility to solve a problem in an organization. Therefore, these employees had control over the organizational process. Today, employee empowerment necessitates replacement of this old hierarchy by self directed teams wherein the team members are offered greater flexibility in terms of managing projects and resolving issues. Each team consists of a group of employees who share the responsibility for the entire process. They plan and manage the work accordingly from its beginning to the end. As a self-managed team, they share the leadership and take decisions and handle conflicts as a team.

Employee empowerment provides employees adequate resources and opportunities to deliver the best output. With empowerment, it helps them understand stages of group development and the kind of leadership it requires to allow teams to function as desired.

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Lectora is a very user-friendly authoring tool, used to develop rapid, highly engaging and interactive eLearning courses. What is good about it is that it is not a plugin but an authoring tool that is self-contained and functions independently. It may appear to be complex for a novice, but once you are familiar with the interface and tools, you will be surprised at the extent to which you can customize your eLearning course.

The main advantage of developing courseware with Lectora is that it does not require programming skills such as HTML, CSS or Javascript to develop the courses. If you have creative designers in-house Lectora provides all the features where they can put their creativity to good use. The latest version C.6 has a tool that makes it even easier for designers to create online courses such as websites or presentations.

eLearning courses developed and published in Lectora are supported by multiple browsers and can have multi-lingual support. With a publishing option in the newer version, it is easy to prepare material that is compatible with section 508. All video controller buttons can now be read by screen reading software. There is also another feature where one can check if all images and buttons have alt tags.

One of the biggest benefits of using Lectora is that it has highly customizable Templates, Interactivities and Quizzes. It comes with additional tools such as an image editor, audio and video editor, making you less dependable on external software resources such as those provided by Adobe.

It is also very easy to integrate and control flash interactivities through Lectora. Lectora also makes it easy to publish content in dynamic html which may be the limiting factor in other authoring tools. Lectora delivers all formats of eLearning such as SCORM, AICC, which can run successfully on any learning management system that complies with the required standard. No additional programming is required.

Most developers feel that Lectora has a very low learning curve and an average instructional designer or developer can get comfortable with using the tool in less than a week. In short, Lectora scores high on the fact that it is easy to develop a course that is compatible with all industry norms and it is easy to integrate existing content in any format such as ppt, swf or images.

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