Recruit, Inspire & Retain Newsletter -- Training Systems, Inc.

Do You Have a Leader Role Model?

Incredible inspiration can be found in a leader you admire. I use my leader role model particularly when I’ve done something I’m less than thrilled about. I look at how that person handled situations where they failed and/or weren’t pleased with their actions — and I then apply their lessons to me.

How to choose you leader role model? Be sure you’ve taken the time to look at:

Who to Choose	Benefit
People you know personally	can ask them questions about how they handled a situation can watch them everyday as they lead their lives
Media, sports, or public figures	can watch them everyday ast they lead their lives can read about them and some authors have written “How-To” steps

Media, Sports, Public Figure Examples
Mother Teresa, Nobel prize winner Martin Luther King Jr., civil rights Billy Graham, evangelist, leader The Dalai Lama, spiritual leader Henry David Thoreau, writer Prince Frederik of Denmark Margaret Sanger, women’s advocate Franklin D. Roosevelt, U.S. President Dr. Albert Schweitzer, Nobel Prize winner Mikhail S. Gorbachev, former Soviet Union president Carol Bellamy, executive director of UNICEF Dr. Albert Sabin, developer of oral polio vaccine Lucretia Mott, Quaker lay minister & abolitionist Vidav Havel, former president of Czech Republic Desmond Tutu, Anglican Archbishop William Jennings Bryan, statesman & orator Sir William Deane, Australia governor-general Diahne Feinstein, U.S. senator Bill Frist, M.D., U.S. Senate majority leader Hans-Dietrick Genscher, German foreign minister Donna Shalala, M.D., U.S. Secretary of Health & Human Services Margaret Thatcher, U.K. prime minister Thomas A. Edison, inventor Warren G. Harding, U.S. President	Charles A. Lindbergh, aviator Thomas Mann, novelist & critic John J. “Black Jack” Pershing, U. S. Army general Clarence Birdseye, developer of quick-freeze food process Winston Churchil, UK prime minister Douglas MacArthur, U.S. Army general Dr. Karl Menninger, psychiatrist Carlos P. Romulo, UN General Assembly president Earl Warren, U.S. Supreme Court chief justice J.C. Penney, founder of department store chain Neil Armstrong, astronaut Gerald R. Ford, U.S. President Sir W. Hudson Fysh, founder of Qantas Airlines Thor Heyerdahl, explorer & oceanographer Duke Kahanamoku, Olympic swimmer Emilio Pucci, designer Charles R. Walgreen Jr., chair of Walgreen Drug Co Ronald Reagan, U. S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower, U. S. President John F. Kennedy, U.S. President Condoleezza Rice, U.S. secretary of state
Add your own.

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Get more tips on inspiring great employees from TRAINING SYSTEMS.

**TOOL BOX**


●	Learning From Our Lives: Using Educational Biographics w/ Adults, by Pierre Dominice

Tools: Recruit Inspire Train Retain

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TRAIN SO THEY’LL LEARN

Evaluating the Results of Training

Determine how the learning objective(s) and the organization objective(s) will be measured.

We all say training is an investment. We all know training is an investment, but most of us don’t actually measure how much our return is — is it a good investment? The biggest reason is that we do it after the training is over and it’s very time consuming. Try planning how you’ll measure now, just after setting the Organization and Learner objectives, and they're still fresh in your mind. Actually plan the measurement into the training design, so it feels like part of the learning to the Learner and those who'll be involved in the measuring.

Plan to Measure All the Outcomes

When & Where to Measure	What to Measure	How to Measure
During the Training On-the-Job at Predetermined Times	Reaction (Learner satisfaction with the training)	● Paper & pencil forms or computerized method for feedback on what they learned, what they still need, & ease of learning from Learner materials and Facilitator’s skills ● Verbal comments given to the Facilitator and the supervisor at the end of training
	Planned Actions (what Learner(s) plan to do with their new Knowledge, Skills & Attitudes)	● Learner(s) completes Learning Action Plan at completion of training and shares with their supervisor or co-worker, so they can follow up with the Learner. Also gives Learner a to-do list. Give back to them later to check their implementation of their planned actions ● Learner(s) writes planned actions on a postcard that’s mailed to them at the appropriate time in the future, so they can check their implementation of their planned actions *For both of the above – have Learner(s) share how they’ve been implementing their planned actions with the training department or manager in writing or meeting.
	Actual Learning (achievement/changes in Learner(s) Knowledge, Skills & Attitudes)	● Demonstrating Knowledge, Skills & Attitudes during simulation, role play, application project ● Answering processing questions correctly during training ● Paper & pencil post-tests ● Implementation of planned actions ● Follow up training ● Weekly supervisory meetings
	Application of Learning (achievement of Learner(s) objective on-the-job)	● Surveys of Learner(s), supervisors, co-workers, customers, vendors ● Observer checklists and instructions for use by Learner(s), supervisors, co-workers, customers, vendors ● Focus groups of Learner(s), supervisors, co-workers, customers, vendors ● Performance appraisal process ● Pre/post video of person doing skill
In the Organization at Predetermined Times	Organization Results (achievement of organization objectives)	● Use existing reports to capture data ● Create reports to capture data ● Focus groups to capture data ● Surveys to capture data ● Company and/or department measurement of strategic goals
On Paper Throughout	Return on Investment (compares Organization Results, converted to monetary values, to expenditures on the training)	● Convert Organization Results data to monetary values and collect all expenditures of training using Excel spreadsheet, paper & pencil, or Ten Steps to Determining the Return on Your Training Investment worksheets

Adapted from Donald Kirkpatrick’s 4 Levels of Evaluation & Jack R. Phillips’ 5 Evaluation Levels

excerpted from Creating Highly Interactive Training Quickly & Effectively, by Carolyn B. Thompson

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Get more tips on training great employees from TRAINING SYSTEMS.

**TOOL BOX**


●	Ten Steps to Determining the Return on Your Training Investment (worksheets), by Carolyn B. Thompson

●	Creating Highly Interactive Training Quickly & Effectively, by Carolyn B. Thompson

Both available at http://store.fastcommerce.com/trainingsys. (10% off by typing “RIR” in Special Instructions) Or e-mail books@trainingsys.com.

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RETAIN THE BEST

Replacing Employees Costs A LOT!

A variety of numbers have been tossed around designed to scare us into believing that it costs a lot to replace an employee. No matter which number you believe they’re all more than we should be spending. And the scaring should be working!

Here’s one from Bill Bliss, Bliss & Associates:
“Executives need to care about employee retention, because replacing employees costs on average a whopping 150% of the worker’s annual salary. The cumulative cost of lost productivity, distractions, work reallocations, hiring, and training really adds up & doesn’t even include the cost of hiring a corporate recruiter or headhunter (calculations which are based on research and tested on roughly 5 dozen companies). Smart corporations can head off this occurrence by:

1.	making sure their incentive and recognition programs keep employees satisfied with their jobs. There are all kinds of rewards and recognition that aren’t monetary. Many are low-or no-cost.ont>
2.	having a positive company culture also contributes to better retention rates.”

And another idea from Martin, Coaching Business to Business Success:

1.	“People stay because they are enjoying their work, which needs little bursts of challenging in an encouraging culture. They stay because the conditions of work are palatable.
2.	They stay because they know they contribute and, in many different ways, are acknowledged by those they believe are judging their performance ( I know that judging is not a great word, but my experience is that this is what employees so often feel).
3.	It’s a lot more efficient to work a little better with the people you already have, shift your own beliefs and behaviors, than it is to blame the world for your people’s lack of commitment – and then spend a lot of time, energy, and money recruiting/retraining and losing business whilst new people come on stream.”

And if you really want to keep them, Brian Lowenthal, the Benchmark Partners, says:
“Exit interviews with employees who have decided to voluntarily leave an organization provide valuable insights into the effectiveness of HR policy, practice, and procedure. Exiting employees are much more likely to tell the truth about what's really going on in the organization. Without the fear of retribution, exiting employees are more willing to speak about unethical co-worker behavior, workplace abuses, or failure of corporate initiatives. Exiting employees are also more willing to discuss practices that work and why.

To enable exiting employees to feel comfortable revealing workplace realities, it is best to use an objective third party. Outsourcing the Exit Interview Process is the most effective way to insure employee anonymity and openness.

One of the unique ways to get usable info is to use a double rating either in an in-person conversation or an online or paper survey. By asking what is important to the employee and how the organization is performing, you get a unique insight into employee motivation and performance.

A common concern voiced by HR regarding the use of surveys has been that surveys raise the expectation that the organization will have to act on employee feedback! Exiting employees do not have this as an expectation. When the purpose and importance of the exit interview is properly communicated to the exiting employees, they have been very willing to provide actionable information. In one instance, an exiting employee made it very clear that she only had 10 minutes to spare for the interview. After 45 minutes of questions and honest answers, she was asked if she needed to go. She said yes, but there were a few more things she wanted to say.

Another valuable use of exit interview data is as a lead indicator in the HR measurement system. The reasons employees decide to voluntarily leave an organization can be seen as early indicators of a disengaged workforce. Disengaged employees are very costly to organizations. They are less productive, produce more errors, have higher health care costs and higher absence rates. Understanding what has led to “disengagement” is an important first step in retaining top talent.

The exit interview is an excellent tool to enable you to not only understand what your ex-employee will be saying about your company, but more importantly to enable the employee to leave with positive feelings and kind words.”

Email us with your ideas for Retaining Employees & we’ll put them in Retain Tips on our website.

**TOOL BOX***


●	Straight Talk for Employers: Recruit, Inspire & Retain The Best Employees (2 tape audio set), by Carolyn B. Thompson @ www.trainingsys.com

●	Managing Employee Retention, by Jack Phillips & Adele Connell

Tools: Recruit Inspire Train Retain

Recruit, Inspire & Retain

Job Simulations: Best Predictor of Candidate Performance

Make a Mnemonic

Do You Have a Leader Role Model?

Evaluating the Results of Training

Plan to Measure All the Outcomes

Replacing Employees Costs A LOT!