Articles

The world is constantly in flux. Changes are occurring so rapidly now that a company like MySpace can have a 75% share of the social marketing world and one year later be completely surpassed by Facebook. Companies have to be constantly looking for paradigm shifts. They need to constantly change to survive. Every available resource needs to be focused on innovation and changing paradigms. This is accomplished by leaders within an organization taking advantage of resources and diversity to find and innovate new ideas.  Leadership training in every organization should include innovation and the study of paradigms.

Hostile Environment Sexual Harassment is the most common harassment to occur in the workplace today.  Companies need to be cognizant of this type of harassment and make sure that their sexual harassment training covers every aspect of it.  Here are some facts about Hostile Environment harassment.

There are two types of Sexual Harassment - Quid Pro Quo and Hostile Environment. Both types are illegal in the workplace and both types require sexual harassment training to insure that your organization is not liable in a sexual harassment complaint.

Quid Pro Quo occurs when a manager or supervisor withholds or awards job benefits on the basis of sexual favors. Quid Pro Quo literally means "This for That” in Latin.

Customer service is the easiest way to get an edge on the competition. Studies have found that every disappointed customer tells an average of 10 people about their experience and that people are more likely to leave a business because of service rather than product. Customer service training for your employees will help you hold on to your customers and offer a superior experience over your competitors.

The famous futurist Joel Barker says, "A Leader is someone you would follow to a place you would not go by yourself." Being a leader doesn't necessarily mean that you have been given the title of manager or supervisor. Leaders are people who look to the future and inspire people to follow them. They can come from any part of an organization as long as they innovate, embrace change and look to the future. Yet, people and organizations tend to group the titles manager and leader as if they were one and the same. There are several important differences between a leader and a manager. Manager and supervisors need to recognize the difference between the titles and embrace both roles.  Leadership training on this topic is crucial.

So management has asked you to do sexual harassment training and make sure the policies are adhered to with the employees you manage. It's not an easy task and not a comfortable one either. Here are a few tips to make sure that your policy is implemented and adhered to.

You probably have an employee in your work group that is highly focused and productive and has risen above the rest of the group in terms of value. If you do, this type of success-driven individual has specific things that motivate them and you should endeavor to meet these needs.

Companies spend thousands, if not millions of dollars on advertising and customer service training to promote their extraordinary service and yet if the service department isn't on board all of this time and money is wasted.

About a month ago I took my lawn mower in for servicing at a local power tool and lawn mower company. The man in the service department told me the mower would be ready in 7-10 days and that they would call when the mower was ready. After 12 days, I hadn't heard from them so I called to find out about the status. I was told that it was going to be serviced that afternoon. The next day I showed up to pick the mower up and found out that it wasn't done, but would be done later that day. When we called the next day, the mower wasn't done but would be done that afternoon. To make a long story short, this happened again and again for the next week until we finally got the mower - ten days late.

Recently, I went to my favorite ice cream shop and nearly pulled my arm out of my socket trying to open a locked door. The strange thing was that the store wasn't closed. For some reason, the double glass doors were only open on one side. Earlier in the day, I had gone to a local hardware store. (Yes, I know what you are thinking. Believe it or not there is still an independent local hardware store open in my city.) The hardware store also had this strange one door open, one door shut issue. Just like the ice cream shop, I nearly pulled my arm out of the socket on the locked door. These two establishments started me thinking. I realized that half of the stores I went to had a locked door when they were open. I also realized, as I looked back on it, that every single time I grabbed one of these locked doors I twinge of anger shot through my body and I entered the store annoyed.

In a recent survey one hundred people were asked to describe the moment in time when they were most motivated to succeed. The overwhelming response for all the men and women surveyed involved a team. Sometimes it was a sports team, other times it involved music with a band and other times involved a work or community project. Why is this? Why do people work harder and become more motivated when they are part of a team? The answer is simple but at the same time extremely powerful. When people are part of a team they simply don't want to let their teammates down and when people are part of a group working together to reach a common goal they get caught up in the momentum of something bigger than themselves.  Motivating employees at work can be accomplished through the team effect.