Dave Sewell Ltd - Business Development Specialist, Christchurch » Small Business Consultant and Business Development Specialist providing Management Training

Management Training – Training the Trainers

Dave — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 22:40:17 +0000

Training and developing staff in the work place has numerous advantageous for any business; staff who are continually trained become more knowledgeable, maintain a higher level of motivation, are generally more productive and happy in their work.

Training your staff ensures that you business stays up to date in these areas, with that comes increased efficiency and all going well increased turnover & profit. For this to happen all that is needed is a little bit of time and money to organise and carry out the training, it’s like everything else in the business you put resources in to get more resources out!!

How many training courses have you been on in your life time that quite frankly have not been interesting or maybe you have fallen asleep during them. As a business owner there is no point in investing time and money in training your staff for this to happen, training people, like most other things we do in this world is a learned skill and one that continually changes and improves with use and time. Here are some tips for those business owners who want to continuing training their staff but can’t afford to put them on courses away from the business.

Attention - Help the learner understand why today’s training session is important to them. Why should the learner work hard to master the content of the training; if you can answer that you will be well on your way!!

Information - Most adults have a variety of learning styles so for that reason your training should be delivered in methods that suit the learners. Think of utilising methods like, written, visuals, live action, audio and practice to name but a few.

Process with Experience - All adults compare new information with their previous knowledge and experience. As a trainer you need to give them the chance to reflect, question and compare. Group discussions are great for this process, drawing on experience from several people in the group can really help re-iterate the point of the discussion or put it into perspective for the business.

Conclusion & Understanding - It is the learner`s job to draw conclusions for themselves about how the training will be used. All learners have their own unique perspective, experience, and learning style, and that will affect how they finally understand the training. The trainers job is help the learners move through the material in an orderly and effective way, giving them time to practice new skills, and draw their own conclusions.

Do you want to be able to train your own staff, now you can….

Unique to Dave Sewell Training & Support for Retail & Small Business are a series of management training courses designed to be held at your work premises, each lasting no more than one hour and collectively are designed to take your staff through a broad understanding of management processes, giving them tips and skills to ensure they can maximise the general operation of your business; Training the Trainer is the last of eight modules taking your staff through that process.

Want to know more, contact me for more information and a free consult to discuss your business’s potential needs.

Management Training – Motivating Employees

Dave — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 18:00:08 +0000

Motivating staff can be one of the most challanging aspects of any mangers role, each employee is different and trying to come up with a way to motivate all of the staff all of the time often feels impossible.

I don’t know how many times I here a business owner or manager say “if it wasn’t for the staff this job would be great”, like it or not most of us need staff to complete the work we do for our customers. Generally speaking the type of business owner or manager that comes out with a comment like this usually struggles with the concept and the importance of motivating staff. Think back to a time when you were happy in your job, that may be now or it may have been in a previous job but ask yourself what type of environment did you work in? Did you have a great boss? Did you have a genuine interest in what you were doing? What were your colleagues like, were they more like friends? Did you have a better salary?

Toys are what makes me tick!!

I’m going to stick my neck out on the proverbial chopping block and say that you will have positive responses to all these questions except the last, the pay, thus we break the greatest assumption that money buys happiness in the work place.

Let me give you a couple of example of what I’m trying to get at; other than what I am doing now, my best job was when I was 17 years old, I worked for a sports retailer on a government scheme designed to get school leavers into work, the money was terrible (I was on 50 pence (UK) an hour even in that day it was very poor, so why do I look on it with fondness?

Firstly I had a great manager, Andy Croney, I still remember his name, he was good at managing the store but he kept the atmosphere a happy one, I received a lot of training both in sales and product knowledge which allowed me to develop very quickly, we had a small team but a great team, the dynamics worked well between us which flowed into a good social group out of work. My manager left and his replacement Kenny Donaldson took up where Andy left off and continued in a similar management style, Kenny was a bit more adventurous in some of his methods of stock management which very much rubbed off on me, because of my rate of development Kenny shortlisted me for management training (age 18), I was accepted and within a year was managing my first store.

One of the worst jobs I had was my previous one, the pay was obviously significantly better, but there was no personal development, my manager was never around to pass on his wisdom and advice, I was left to my own devices in an office which surrounded me with staff that had been there for years and never stopped complaining, my bonuses were good but it did nothing to stop me feeling insecure and unhappy in my job.

When it comes to staff it is essential that the business owner of manager understands what motivates in and outside work, this information can be used to devise incentives, it may be used to help develop them further within the business, it will lead to a happier work place, increased sales and a lower staff turnover thus costs to the business.

Let me be very clear about something, the manager or business owner that thinks giving a staff a pay rise is the best way to motivate them, is wrong, a pay rise is only good for about one month, why, because the vast majority of us adjust our life style to suit our means and once that adjustment has been made the novelty of the pay rise disappears.

In my experience the best way to keep your staff motivated is to identify what makes them tick, is it money, do they have a specific interest, do they want rise through the ranks in your company, maybe they are about to buy a house (stability of job may be the key motivator), may be they are about to start a family (flexible hours may be their key motivator), what ever it is there is a duty to all managers and business owners to find out what they key motivator is. Once it is identified then training programs, incentive schemes, working hours and general work conditions can be refined to ensure your staff are happy and motivated and most importantly loyal.

Want to know learn more about techniques to motivate your staff …………..

Unique to Dave Sewell Training & Support for Retail & Small Business are a series of management training courses designed to be held at your work premises, each lasting no more than one hour and collectively are designed to take your staff through a broad understanding of management processes, giving them tips and skills to ensure they can maximise the general operation of your business; Motivating Employees is the seventh of eight modules taking your staff through that process.

Want to know more, contact me for more information and a free consult to discuss your business’s potential needs.

Management Training – Time Management

Dave — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:00:20 +0000

Does the clock on your office wall have an hour hand on it that feels like it moves in seconds? Are you always battling with a lack of time to do everything that needs done? Do you feel you are always chasing your tail? Yes to one or all of these statements could indicate that your practical use of your time may not be as good as it should be. Don’t worry, most (if not all) managers have gone through (maybe still do) this stage but a few simple pointers in the right direction will help you manage your time for efficiently which in turn will have a positive affect on your stress levels!!

Time Management is the art / skill to make the most of every minute of every day; by prioritising what needs to be done to generate success; the ultimate Time Manager will strive to ensure every minute of their day is a productive minute.

Time management in the working environment is all about focusing all your available resources in proactive activity to ensure the continued success of your business and minimising down time and non productive activity. It is readily accepted that many people spend their days in a frenzy of activity, but achieve very little, because they are not concentrating their effort on the things that matter the most. This is nicely summed up in the Pareto Principal or the 80:20 Rule. This says that typically 80% of unfocussed effort generates only 20% of results; which means the remaining 80% of results are achieved with only 20% of the effort. The ratio may vary but this broad pattern of a small proportion of activity generating non-scalar returns recurs so frequently that it is the norm in many situation.

By applying the time management tips and skills you can optimise your effort to ensure that you concentrate as much of your time and energy as possible on the high pay off tasks. This ensures that you achieve the greatest benefit possible with the limited amount of time available to you.

Want to know learn more about effective time management …………..

Unique to Dave Sewell Training & Support for Retail & Small Business are a series of management training courses designed to be held at your work premises, each lasting no more than one hour and collectively are designed to take your staff through a broad understanding of management processes, giving them tips and skills to ensure they can maximise the general operation of your business; Time Management is the sixth of eight modules taking your staff through that process.

Want to know more, contact me for more information and a free consult to discuss your business’s potential needs.

Management Training – Delegating – It gets work done!!

Dave — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:00:44 +0000

“I just never have enough time to do what needs to be done in a day”, a common statement uttered by business owners and managers across every industry so what can be done about it? Delegate, spread the work load, maybe even give the job to someone who is more qualified that you, “but I’m the business owner no one knows more than me” …….. as a business owner if you have surrounded yourself with people that know less than you in every facet of your business you need help in recruitment!! The whole idea of having staff is to make you the business owner or manager’s life a little bit easier by being able to share the workload, otherwise why bother having staff?

There are certain rules to delegating that you need to think about:

Am I the right person for the job?
Who is the right person for the job?
How much is that person doing already?
Can I train a lesser skilled person to do this job?
Will I have time to evaluate the job?

Delegating is about better utilising your resources to improve efficiencies within your business, it should not be used so you the business owner / manager can have time off.

By choosing the right person for the right job whilst ensuring they have the time to carry out the extra task you will find more can be done and your stress levels will not need to go through the roof during the process!!

Want to know learn more about effective delegation …………..

Unique to Dave Sewell Training & Support for Retail & Small Business are a series of management training courses designed to be held at your work premises, each lasting no more than one hour and collectively are designed to take your staff through a broad understanding of management processes, giving them tips and skills to ensure they can maximise the general operation of your business; Delegating – It gets Work Done! is the fifth of eight modules taking your staff through that process.

Want to know more, contact me for more information and a free consult to discuss your business’s potential needs.

Management Training – SWOT Analysis

Dave — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:00:28 +0000

If you are thinking walking down the path of Management, whether you are an owner of a business and wanting to improve your management skills or whether you are an employee looking for an opportunity to climb the management ladder one of the tools you will use regularly throughout your management career is the S.W.O.T analysis.

What is a SWOT Analysis?

A S.W.O.T analysis looks at the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats of any subject within the business. Too often a business owner / manager will use a SWOT analysis in their core product only; if your business is selling fizzy drinks then generally you will only conduct a SWOT analysis on your fizzy drink but a SWOT analysis can also be used for your business location, your staff as a whole, your competition, individual staff members in relation to the team and of course this list is not difinitive. SWOT analysis can be and should be used across many parts of the business to help identify and promote it’s strengths whilst identifying and then addressing it’s weaknesses.

Referring back to my blog “Identifying Unique Selling Points” I use the SWOT analysis to help develop the key message any business wants to send to it’s chosen market. As part of this process I identify the business strengths and it’s opportunities with regards to selling into specific markets and combine that with the business Unique Selling Point (USP) and the image the business wants to portray it can create a very strong message designed for it’s target market. Once this message is created it can then form the foundations of everything else the business does regarding marketing itself.

“This is exactly what my staff need but it’s too expensive to send my staff on training courses, I can’t afford to have them off the job”

Unique to Dave Sewell Training & Support for Retail & Small Business are a series of management training courses designed to be held at your work premises, each lasting no more than one hour and collectively are designed to take your staff through a broad understanding of management processes, giving them tips and skills to ensure they can maximise the general operation of your business; SWOT Analysis is the fourth of eight modules taking your staff through that management process.

Want to know more, contact me for more information and a free consult to discuss your business’s potential needs.

Management Training – Problem Solving

Dave — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 01:00:21 +0000

Throughout your management career (and indeed your personal life) problems will rear

their ugly head and stop you in your tracks, add a good dose of stress and usually finished

off with some sleep deprivation. Of course as well as the problem, the general symptoms

don’t make it easy for a person to sort through the problem effectively. The trick with all

problems is to tackle them in a logical manner gather the facts and try and gain an

understanding of how the problem happened

Throughout your management career (and indeed your personal life) problems will rear their ugly head and stop you in your tracks, add a good dose of stress and usually finished off with some sleep deprivation. Of course as well as the problem, the general symptoms don’t make it easy for a person to sort through the problem effectively. The trick with all problems is to tackle them in a logical manner gather the facts and try and gain an understanding of how the problem happened the chain of events that lead to that problem.

The process is called cause & effect something happens (the cause) which leads to a series of events that creates the problem(s) (the effect(s)). The problem we all have is that the effects are often very obvious to us and we more often or not think that the effects are the real problem thus never truly identifying the cause and thus never really solving the problem.

Once the process has been clarified and the REAL problem identified it is time to put an action plan into place to rectify the immediate problem and also to ensure the same problem does not happen again. Of course there is no point in doing any of these processes if there is no feedback at the end to ensure the same problems don’t arise in the future!!

“This is exactly what my staff need but it’s too expensive to send my staff on training courses, I can’t afford to have them off the job”

Unique to Dave Sewell Training & Support for Retail & Small Business are a series of management training courses designed to be held at your work premises, each lasting no more than one hour and collectively are designed to take your staff through a broad understanding of management processes, giving them tips and skills to ensure they can maximise the general operation of your business;Problem Solving is the third of eight modules taking your staff through that management process.

Want to know more, contact me for more information and a free consult to discuss your business’s potential needs.

Management Training – Which Management Style Should I Use

Dave — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:00:33 +0000

What is a management style and more importantly to the employee, what is a good management style? We have all come across good managers and bad managers, managers that get things done and other managers that appear not to be able to make any decisions, some of them make our lives easy at work whilst others make work unbearable. There are many ways that we come to the conclusions we reach about our managers, ultimately the best managers are the ones that can use a particular style to suit the situation; there are three main types of management style, all have their place and all are relevant to running a business from day to day.

As a business owner or manager responsible for other employees it’s very important that you are aware of the three main management styles know when they should be used (and when they shouldn’t) and incorporate them into your day to day management practices.

Do you or your staff know when to use a Laissez-Faire style of management and when would you only ever use an Autocratic style of management?

Most employees get upset with their line managers and/or business owners because “of the way they run the business” bearing in mind that the employee sees how a business is run by how it affects their working day, where problems arise is when a business owner / manager’s management style does not suit a situation and they cannot change; this inevitably increases the stress levels of both the owner / manager and the employee(s) as any given situation could become worse before it gets better.

To give an example of the point I am trying to get across, in my early management years I used to have a manager that everyone viewed to be “as hard as nails” cross the guy and he’s liable to sack you than to talk to you; most of the staff lived in a quiet fear of him; he was the type of manager that walked into a room and everyone went quiet. This same person also was well respected by the staff because they knew that if anything went wrong (and it often did due to the nature of the business) he would get it sorted quickly and efficiently. This manager’s style was highly Autocratic “it’s my way or the highway” was his motto; did it lead to a happy environment to work in, no not really and he did have a high turnover of staff.

“It’s too expensive to send my staff on training courses, I can’t afford to have them off the job”

Unique to Dave Sewell Training & Support for Retail & Small Business are a series of management training courses designed to be held at your work premises, each lasting no more than one hour and collectively are designed to take your staff through a broad understanding of management processes, giving them tips and skills to ensure they can maximise the general operation of your business;Management Styles is the second of eight modules taking your staff through that management process.

Want to know more, contact me for more information and a free consult to discuss your business’s potential needs.

Management Training – Prioritising Your Day

Dave — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 18:00:53 +0000

When embarking on a career in management one of the earliest skills that should be developed is that of being able to prioritising your day, there will be lots of demands made of you in your supervisory / management role and being able to prioritise what needs your attention and when, is a skill that will not only ensure your business runs that bit smoother but it will also ensure your stress levels are also maintained at a manageable level.

Many business owners tell me “I’m not a born manager, I just can’t do it” and I always respond by telling them that I liken management skills / experience to driving a car, if you never learn how to drive you may still be able to jump in a car and get from A to B, it may take you a good bit longer, there may be a bit of carnage on the road but 9 out of 10 times you will get to your destination. To me management is no different, many business owners finds themselves in the role of management purely because they have started their own business but unless they have been taught how to manage they inevitably will be like a learner driver with no lessons.

Being able to prioritise your day will benefit every part of your life, not just your working day and career. Being able to organise your day, prioritise your work load and identify tasks that need to be actioned (goal setting) on a daily basis will ensure your stress levels are kept to a minimum. The biggest issue the work place has today is lack of productivity and an excess in procrastination from the employees and management all of which can be avoided if everyone’s time is managed correctly. Yes prioritising is a skill and as such can be learnt, there are a great number of techniques that can improve anyone’s ability to prioritise their day, from schedules, task lists, the ability to delegate to name but a few.

“It’s too expensive to send my staff on training courses, I can’t afford to have them off the job”

Unique to Dave Sewell Training & Support for Retail & Small Business are a series of management training courses designed to be held at your work premises, each lasting no more than one hour and collectively are designed to take your staff through a broad understanding of management processes, giving them tips and skills to ensure they can maximise the general operation of your business;Prioritising Your Day is the first of eight modules taking your staff through that management process.

Want to know more, contact me for more information and a free consult to discuss your business’s potential needs.

The use of good time management skills will benefit every part of your life, not just your

working day and career. Being able to organise your day, prioritise your work load and

identify tasks that need to be actioned (goal setting) on a daily basis will ensure your

stress levels are kept to a minimum. The biggest issue the work place has today is lack of

productivity and an excess in procrastination from the employees and management all of

which can be avoided if everyone’s time management skills are up to speed. Yes time

management is a skill and as such can be learnt, there are a great number of techniques

that can improve anyone’s time management and this module will cover two of what I

deem to be the most important; Planning You Day and The Ability to Prioritise.