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Author: Evan Hackel

A dynamic, innovative, thoughtful and inspiring leader with 30 years of experience in franchising, distributed networks and cooperatives. Successful history of: (i) turning around a $700 million distressed franchise system into a $2.0 billion revenue business in four years, (ii) reviving and re-energizing a $3.5 billion revenue franchisor and (iii) founding three franchise systems. Experienced corporate board member.

Currently, a consultant to some of the largest franchise systems in North America. A franchise industry leader, widely published, keynote speaker, member of the New England Franchise Association Board, and Co-chair of the International Franchise Associations Knowledge Share Task Force.|A dynamic, innovative, thoughtful and inspiring leader with 30 years of experience in franchising, distributed networks and cooperatives. Successful history of: (i) turning around a $700 million distressed franchise system into a $2.0 billion revenue business in four years, (ii) reviving and re-energizing a $3.5 billion revenue franchisor and (iii) founding three franchise systems. Experienced corporate board member.

Categories
Growth Human Resources Management Personal Development

Why Job Reviews Are Still Critical . . . But Be Sure to Do them Right!

It is very important for you to assure that the people in your organization understand your expectations and your opinions about how they are doing. The most effective way to communicate that information is to conduct regular reviews throughout your organization.

I do not have firm data to back this up, but I believe that regular reviews are strictly used in Fortune 500 businesses – the kind of organizations that have big HR departments – while reviews are not regularly given in smaller companies.

How are you doing in this regard? If you are not using regular reviews, you could be causing more problems with your team members than you realize. Why? One reason is that, in my opinion, people tend to believe the worst, not the best, if they are kept in the dark about your evaluation of them.

Two ways to conduct reviews . . .

Two-part reviews, in which the manager and the employee each fill out a review form, then meet to compare and discuss their comments. I have observed that when the people who will be reviewed write down self-evaluations ahead of the review session, they do not hesitate to be critical of themselves. They tend to bring up areas that you as a manager wanted to talk about, and when you then explore those topics, your review is less harsh; After all, you are exploring topics that the employees brought up themselves.

360° reviews, in which each employee is reviewed not only him or herself and a supervisor, but by a group of people with whom he or she interacts on the job. My preferred way of conducting these reviews is to have people submit their evaluations of the team member who will be reviewed, then to sort the comments into categories on one master form. That prevents the employee under evaluation from trying to guess the identity of his or her evaluators. And 360° reviews can be very effective. If an employee sees that a number of people are focusing on an area that needs improvement, those comments will be more credible than those that came from one supervisor.

Some insights from a sample 360° review . . .

To show you how revealing and motivating a 360° review can be, I would like to share some of the comments that I have gotten about my own strengths and areas for improvement when I was the subject of one of them.

“As a leader, Evan is first-rate. He is respectful of people and solicits opinions. He also does a good job of keeping management in the loop on high-level strategic thinking and direction.”

“Evan is a strong leader with a vision. He manages different people differently according to their personalities and needs. He is very responsive to staff and to members. He is very good about communicating and sharing what’s going on with staff and members. He is a very hands-on manager. He is also a very inclusive manager and one who wants to get both staff and membership more involved (e.g. many councils, monthly staff meetings).”

“Evan wants to drive the car and will not take a back seat to anyone. He can be very demanding and can dominate a meeting when he feels he is right. Because he has the confidence and the experience of running a large division, he has earned the respect and the right to take control when he feels the company is straying. He has a great ability to stay on topic and to keep others focused. He is learning how to ask more questions to let others get to the right answers instead of trying to manipulate issues toward what he feels is the right path. If I were going to war, I would want Evan as a General.”

“Spend more time communicating upfront. This was done very well with the five-year plan, but it could be extended further. Also, I believe Evan is one of the most compassionate leaders that I have met, but this does not always come across with members and some staff members. It would be helpful if he would take the time to explain things with a little more clarity.”

So as you can see, 360° reviews communicate a depth of information that can be eye-opening. I know that I have used comments like those to discover areas where I need to devote attention to my own interpersonal and management development. I believe that these reviews can energize your staff members too, and encourage the process of consistent improvement.

Add a plan to take reviews one step further . . .

Reviews are more than scorecards. They provide an opportunity to build a plan with each employee. What are the key things that this person should be doing in the next year, for example? What is he or she doing well that can be built upon? What is a weakness to address in the next 12 months? When you agree together on such goals, set check-in points, and incorporate them in a training and growth plan, you can turn regular reviews from demotivating routines into exciting action plans for learning and growth.

Categories
Growth Leadership Personal Development

Don’t Just Rely on Your Employee Handbook for Onboarding Training

Are you using your employee handbook to train a group of new employees? It seems to make sense. After all, you should make sure new hires understand the nuts and bolts of what your company expects from them – how many sick days they are entitled to every year, how your company health plan works, and other basics.

It’s tempting for many organizations to think that they’re already providing good training because they give their employees thorough manuals. However, those handbooks are only one piece of the puzzle. They let employees know how to meet basic job requirements and, on another level, serve as a tool that helps a company document when those employees are not meeting expectations, and maybe even when they should be let go.

But problems can arise. Instead of training your people to deliver a powerful brand experience, you train them to simply “check boxes” off their to-do list. To understand the difference, consider the contrast between these two approaches to training for the same job.

Example: Training Food Service Workers to Make Sandwiches

Here are basic instructions like those you might find in an employee manual . . .

• Place the bread on the counter, cut it at a 35-degree angle, insert the customer’s selection of meat, cheese, and condiments, and serve.

And here is a set of instructions for that same task that includes instructions on delivering a strong brand experience . . .

• Remember that every sandwich you make is an opportunity to make a customer’s day. You’re making an artisan lunch and sending them off with a smile on their face. Your goal is to give them an experience so memorable that they can’t wait to come in again or tell a friend about their time with you. Make eye contact, comment on the freshness or flavor of the bread and ingredients, personalize the presentation by letting the customer add condiments and extras, and send the customer off with your best wishes for a happy or successful day.

The first is operations-based, and the other is experience-based. An employee can complete the first task with a blank stare and a bad attitude, but cannot complete the second set of instructions in that way.

A great brand experience begins with a training process that provides your people with the “what” (what we’re trying to accomplish), the “why” (why it’s important), and the “how” (how you get the job done). Once training is done, it is up to you to reinforce those principles on a regular basis.

About Evan Hackel

Evan Hackel, a 35-year franchising veteran, is a nationally recognized expert and speaker on franchising. Evan is founder and CEO of Ingage Consulting, and CEO of Tortal Training, a leading training development company. Evan is an active advisor in the C-Suite Network. He is also author of Ingaging Leadership Meets the Yourger Generation, and host of “Training Unleashed,” a podcast covering training for business. Contact him here, follow him at @ehackel, or call 781-820-7609.

Categories
Growth Leadership Personal Development

Ingaged Leadership: A New Way to Build Employee Satisfaction and Organizational Success 

What is Ingaged Leadership? It is a new leadership practice in which leaders invite everyone to not just work hard, but to commit their best ideas, ambitions, emotions, and even their hearts to a new kind of partnership with the companies they serve.  

How is Ingaged Leadership practiced? Perhaps the best way to explain is to profile two executives.  

Executive A  

This executive didn’t like to ask for advice, help, ideas, or input from anyone. He summed up his leadership philosophy to me when he said, “I have to have all the answers because that’s what people look for in a leader. I am not supposed to ask; I am supposed to know. Acting otherwise would only weaken my ability to lead.”  

He told people how to do their jobs. He prioritized their tasks, offered incentives, and promoted employees who did want he told them to do. He also disciplined people when they didn’t hit the targets he had set out. Sometimes he fired people and believed that doing so would “send a message” to other people to deliver what he demanded.  

Was Executive A successful? According to some yardsticks, he was. He had held a top leadership position in his company for more than two decades. He was often able to hit sales quotas and deliver measurable results. But at the same time, he had learned to live with certain chronic problems in his unit. Work for most people was repetitive. Turnover was high. The people he supervised worked in an overly politicized climate where they competed instead of cooperated. People withheld their best ideas – who was listening? – and hoped to use them later in their next jobs. Things were getting done, but overall performance was far from optimized. 

Executive B  

Executive B had also worked for more than 20 years in top executive positions. Yet she summed up her own leadership in terms far different from those used by Executive A. “At a certain point, I came to realize that the best ideas flow not from the top down, but the other way around. I now believe that the more I can question my own perspectives, listen to people, and let them do what they really believe in, the more success will follow.” 

Was Executive B successful? Yes, she was. She had won the hearts and loyalty of many people – those she supervised, but also her peers and the company’s founder. Retention rates were high, expectations were exceeded, and people liked working in her unit because something new was always happening.  

Was everything perfect? No. But as she summarized her situation, “I’m a work in progress, but I expect other people to be works in progress too. We’re all in this process together. We succeed, fail, kick around big ideas, and come to work energized because we are all engaged in an exciting, shared process.” 

Ingaged Leadership Is Progress, Not Perfection 

It seems that nearly every week I get a stream of emails from high-energy authors and consultants offering instant formulas for achieving personal or organizational success. Let me stress that Ingaged Leadership is not an instant anything. It is a process that leads to a new way to lead but it is not always easy, and rarely fast. But it is highly worthwhile even from day one because even small increases in a leader’s level of Ingagement yield outsized returns.  

Key Activities of Ingaged Leaders 

Here are some key practices of Ingaged Leadership. I would encourage you to start with one or two that you feel have the potential to yield the most improved results from your leadership. You can add more. But let me say again that the results you achieve may be greater than you anticipate. 

  • Accept that other people’s ideas can be as good, or better, than yours – even though you are the nominal leader. Strive to find ways to prove other people right . . . not wrong.  
  • Acknowledge and use ideas from people at all levels in your organization. You cannot use every idea or suggestion, but when people know they have been heard, they are more likely to become invested in their work. As a result, your entire organization will improve and grow.  
  • Allow people to try things that they believe deeply in, even if you have doubts. The most important thing is for your organization to be right . . . not for you to be right.   
  • Consider sharing all company financial data – both good and bad – with everyone in your organization. When people know it, they are more aware of your current challenges and often offer deeper support. I have even seen times when people are willing to make sacrifices to support the greater wellbeing of their organizations.  
  • Cultivate the ability to ask for help when you need it. And offer help freely when you see the need.
  • Go beyond being a good listener and strive to really hear the meaning of what people are saying. In my own leadership journey, that meant I had to stop listening for what other people were saying that was wrong and start listening for things that were right. It was a subtle, yet profoundly transformative, step in my own journey to leadership.  
  • Have everyone in your organization – including company leaders – take part in 360ᴼ job reviews in which they are reviewed by their peers and the people they supervise. Share that feedback with everyone in your organization.   
  • Introduce new ways for people on all levels to share ideas on an equal basis, such as open meetings where ideas are captured, developed, and put into practice when possible. 
  • Invite everyone to contribute to, define and refine your company’s mission and vision. I especially like to start meetings by asking people to state the company’s vision, using their own words. In this way, people become invested in what your company is and in what it is becoming.  
  • Surround yourself with people with different skill sets and who have the ability to challenge you. Also, avoid the temptation to build a team of “yes people” who only tell you positive things about your ideas and plans. The right kind of disagreement brings greater progress. 
  • Invest lavish labor to build a positive company culture where people respect each other, expect the best, and communicate in ways that convey the underlying belief that, “We can do this.” Attitude is a multiplier. One person with a negative attitude can literally cripple your company. But even one person with a positive outlook can help lead your organization to new levels of achievement, profitability, and success. 

About the Author   

Evan Hackel, the creator of the concept of Ingaged Leadership, is a recognized business and franchise expert and consultant. Evan is also a professional speaker and author.  

Evan is Principal and Founder of Ingage Consulting, a consulting firm headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts. A leader in the field of training as well, Evan serves as CEO of Tortal Training, a Charlotte North Carolina-based firm that specializes in developing and implementing interactive training solutions for companies in all sectors. To learn more about Inage Consulting and Evan’s book Ingaging Leadership, visit Ingage.net  

 

Categories
Growth Management Personal Development

The Art of Communication . . .  Why it’s time to break the mold 

I was visiting the office of a franchise owner a few months ago. While we were chatting, he happened to be checking his email. I noticed that he ignoring some messages, opening others for a quick look, forwarding some without looking at them, and deleting others. In other words, he was processing the contents of his in-box just like you and I do.  

But then I started asking about the messages he was getting from franchise headquarters.   

  • “Why didn’t you open that one?” I asked. He answered, “They’ve already sent me four emails reminding me to set up my new store displays, why bother to read one more?” Well, okay. But what if there was other information in that email too?
  • He opened another one from the home office and closed it in about one second, then explained, “It starts with the words, `Effective immediately . . .’ So effective immediately, I am postponing reading it until later in the day.” Again, the person who had sent that email was not connecting with the reader. 
  • When he didn’t even open another email, he explained, “I’ll open that later. All I get from the head of marketing is, `Everybody needs to do this . . . everybody needs to do that!’”

Problems like those are not uncommon in franchises. And let me say, they represent serious issues because communication is the lifeblood of every franchise system. If your messages don’t get through and you’re not truly being heard, your business – and theirs – will suffer.   

That’s why it’s time to break the mold. My goal in this article is to help you turn communications from your biggest headache into your most important asset. Here are solutions that are not theoretical – I have seen them work.  

Send Fewer, Better, Shorter Emails  

People today are bombarded with more and more information than ever before, thanks to emails, Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and websites. In an effort to be heard, it is tempting to respond by sending more and more communications. The problem is, your franchisees will become more overwhelmed and tune you out.  

One solution is to post detailed information on your company intranet. Then short emails from headquarters can simply say, “Click here to learn how.” You can even track how many people click through and know how many of them have actually looked.    

Open Each Communication with a “Why” and “What’s in It for Me?”   

Avoid opening emails with “effective immediately” or “do this” and trumpet a benefit that readers want and need. One example? Your reader will increase store-wide profits by $100,000 a year because you are offering a training program that has already achieved that in every store and region where it has been tried.    

Communicate in an Energized and Positive Way  

Information and instructions come to life when you don’t just deliver. The key is to communicate your “Why” and “What’s in it for Me?” in positive ways that deliver excitement.   

Before you send each communication, review it and find opportunities to express more excitement. I have recently found that videoconferencing (such as the Zoom.com platform) offer a real opportunity to tell exciting news in energizing face-to-face to people. They see you and can feel your excitement directly.    

Cultivate a More Positive Company Culture  

You can’t fake a positive company culture. To supercharge the effectiveness of your communications, concentrate on building a company culture that is genuinely positive.  

Over the last few years, I have discovered an approach to becoming more positive that I call “The Three Things.” I first started using it in my family. I asked each person in my family to come to dinner prepared to talk about three things that happened during the day that made them feel happy. At first, my kids resisted. So did one of their friends, who happened to be staying with us. But then we began to notice that as we went through our days, we were on the lookout for good things to talk about at dinner. That process of always looking for good things, not bad, got us to begin to see the world in positive and motivating ways, not negative. The results exceeded all expectations, and I believe that similar approaches can reorient company cultures.  

Ingage Everyone in the Process of Change  

I would like to conclude this article with a case study. Back in 2013, the managers of a national consumer brand approached me. Their annual convention was coming up, an event attended by owners of their brand-specific stores across America. The executives were planning to unveil a new store design, and they wanted me to help them increase attendance at the convention.   

In previous years, only about 20% of storeowners had attended. And it was a very big priority to get as many of them as possible to attend. Without their buy-in on the new store design, its adoption and use would not be as successful as the company leaders were hoping.  

Company leaders were hoping that I could get as many as 40% or 50% of all store owners to come to the convention. But I surpassed that number and was actually able to get more than 85% of them to be there.  

How did I help this company achieve those dramatic results? I asked management a simple question. Instead of simply pulling the curtains off a new design at the convention, would they consider bringing three or four designs in progress and then allowing franchisees to make suggestions about them? Management agreed and showcased several new designs. After franchisees reviewed them, we encouraged them to make suggestions and refinements.  

In that way, I was able to shift the dynamic from, “They’re going to talk to me” to, “They’re going to talk with me.” That changed the whole meeting from “95% listen and 5% contribute” to “50% listen and 50% contribute.” What a difference. 

The result was not only a good design but also one that reflected the front-line, real-world intelligence that only storeowners could provide. People who provided input were excited about the design that resulted because they had enjoyed a role in creating it. I predict that as stores roll out the new design, their customers are going to love it – and that profits will increase. Great results like those can happen when you strive to communicate with people, not to them.  

About the Author  

Evan Hackel, the creator of the concept of Ingaged Leadership, is a recognized business and franchise expert and consultant. Evan is also a professional speaker and author.  

Evan is Principal and Founder of Ingage Consulting, a consulting firm headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts. A leader in the field of training as well, Evan serves as CEO of Tortal Training, a Charlotte North Carolina-based firm that specializes in developing and implementing interactive training solutions for companies in all sectors. To learn more about Inage Consulting and Evan’s book Ingaging Leadership, visit Ingage.net 

 

Categories
Growth Leadership Personal Development

Attitude Is an Amplifier

If you say the word “attitude” to people in the training community, most of us will think about presenters who burst into a room and knock trainees over with high bursts of energy. That’s not a bad image. Energy is absolutely part of attitude. Yet attitude is a lot more too.  It is a force that amplifies training, improves performance, and leads to greater success.

Some very high-energy people have great attitudes. But attitude has been the motive force behind many kinds of people. Rosa Parks was a quiet woman, but she had the attitude to take on bigotry. Winston Churchill was not a showman who sought the spotlight but he rose to the challenge and his “never, never, never give up” attitude led his country to victory in World War II. Stephen Hawking, with his physical limitations, is not equipped to bowl people over with high energy, but his great attitude has enabled him to lead a very full life and expand the horizons of physics and science.

People of all shapes and sizes have put the power of attitude behind their success. And you and I can too, no matter your field of endeavor.

What Is Attitude?

Here’s an analogy that helps explain what attitude is.

Attitude is like STP, the popular oil additive. People who love STP say that when they add it to the oil in their cars, their engines run more smoothly, produce more horsepower, and deliver better gas mileage. Attitude is like that. You pour it into whatever you do, and performance improves.

Some other analogies come to mind too. One is that attitude is like a guitar amplifier. You can make very beautiful music on an unamplified acoustic guitar. But when you plug that guitar into an amplifier, your music fills large spaces and reaches more people without any more effort on your part.

Attitude is like an electric light bulb too. As soon as Edison began to sell electric light bulbs, people were able to read and learn during the evening hours, work longer days, and achieve logarithmically bigger things in their lives. Attitude is like that. It lights up the world and empowers people to achieve more than they ever thought possible.

How Can You Put the Power of Attitude to Work?

I am still working this out – it is a very big issue. But here are some observations from my own life in business that I know to be right:

  • A great attitude starts with great listening, because attitude flows from other people to you – and not the other way around. When you become immersed in other people’s ideas, needs, concerns and inspirations, your attitude soars, and people sense that.
  • Being open to new ideas is the cornerstone of a great attitude. I have noticed confusion in this area, because some people seem to think that attitude means having emphatic opinions and trying to convince other people that they are right. A great attitude, in contrast, means trying to discover where other people are right and honoring them for that.
  • People who inspire you can help you build a powerfully positive attitude. If you apply life lessons from people who had great attitudes, you will take on some aspects of their greatness. When you study exceptional people, they will always be at your side in a sense. They might be your parents or other family members, business leaders you admire, historical figures, your minister or imam or rabbi – or anyone else whose life inspires you.
  • A great attitude is something that gets things done in the real world, not just in theory. If you go into a room and charm people and then nothing changes after you are done talking, you are not really tapping the power of attitude. Attitude does not stop as soon as the words are said. If you want to wield its great power, follow through and follow up and bring change to other people’s lives and to the world.

 About Evan Hackel

 Evan Hackel is a 35-year franchising veteran as both a franchisor and franchisee. He is CEO of Tortal Training, a leading training development company in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Principal and Founder of Ingage Consulting in Woburn, Massachusetts. Evan is the host of Training Unleashed and author of Ingaging Leadership. Evan speaks on Seeking Excellence, Better Together, Ingaging Leadership and Attitude is Everything. Evan is an active member of the C-Suite Advisors Network. To hire Evan as a speaker, visit www.evanspeaksfranchising.com. Follow @ehackel.

Categories
Growth Human Resources Personal Development

Training on Smartphones: Five Critical Questions to Ask Before You Begin  

There are many compelling reasons to deliver your training directly to your employees’ cellphones. To cite just a few . . .  

  • Mobile training can be conveniently delivered to large numbers of employees who work in multiple locations 
  • There is no hardware cost, and no need to install a training center for employees to use 
  • There is no need to hire a trainer every time you want to start a training class for new employees, salespeople, or anyone else 
  • Employees can complete different units and modules whenever and wherever they prefer 
  • Millennials and other younger employees really like their mobile devices and are therefore more likely to enjoy and complete training 
  • You already have older computerized training materials – or even older printed training manuals – that should be easy to convert into mobile training programs

Those are all very good reasons why you should be thinking about mobile training. But are there other issues to consider before you move ahead? I asked Dan Black, former Vice President of Client Engagement at my company Tortal Training. Dan, who is a master training designer, recommends asking these questions before making the decision to distribute some or all of your training to your employees’ mobile phones. 

 Question One: What percentage of your employees have smart phones? 

 If most of your trainees already have them, that is one thing. But if not, how will you deliver your training to those who don’t? You will need to provide tablets or laptops that can be used by them in the office. That could mean designing several versions of your training materials for different platforms. So be sure to look before you leap.  

 Question Two: How will employees be compensated for training when they are not at work?  

If employees will complete training when they are not at work, you will have to compensate them for the extra time they spend. You will have to have them track and report those extra hours. Another option is to require them to complete their training at work.  

Question Three: Is mobile connectivity easily accessible while your employees are on the job? 

This is another question that some companies overlook as they rush to mobile. What, for example, is the state of Wi-Fi connectivity in all your work locations, stores, etc.? If it’s not already there or if it is sub-par, what will be cost of setting it up across all your locations? If your trainees will be accessing your materials while they are not at work, can you expect them to shoulder the usage costs? 

Question Four: Do your employees in the field have mobile–enabled tablets? 

Many companies are discovering that mobile training works best when delivered on tablets, not smartphones. But they are also finding that few employees have tablets that are part of their mobile plans.  

Question Five: Is your training the kind of training that works well on mobile? 

Dan Black maintains that mobile devices are best for delivering what he calls “performance support,” which means training that is delivered to employees after they’ve gone through a larger and more detailed learning interaction. 

Performance support is like a reminder. You know that sign in your company bathroom that reminds employees to wash their hands before returning to work? That’s an example of performance support, which can also be defined as essential, bite–size pieces of information that you deliver where and when they can affect employee performance.  

Some examples are: 

  • Overviews of product features and use 
  • A review of how to handle a customer-facing process or procedure 
  • Quick instructions on how to fill out a form that documents a service call or a sale 
  • Simple videos on cleaning, troubleshooting, or performing preventative maintenance

The bottom line is that mobile training should be short, sweet, and to the point. Think about YouTube, the largest training resource on the planet. If people don’t know how to do something, they find out how on YouTube! Think that same way for your employees. The idea is to provide information that reminds them how to handle a process or procedure – info that they can access where and when they need it. 

In Summary . . .   

Yes, mobile is great, but it’s not great for everything. Used properly, it can be a powerful tool in your organization’s arsenal if you use it in combination with the full suite of technology, classroom, and other training that is available to you. 

About the Author  

Evan Hackel is CEO of Tortal Training, a firm that specializes in developing and implementing interactive training solutions for companies in all sectors. Evan is also a recognized business and franchise expert, a professional speaker, and author. He created the concept of Ingaged Leadership and is Principal and Founder of Ingage Consulting, a consulting firm headquartered in Woburn, Massachusetts. Evan is an active advisor in the C-Suite Network. To learn more about Inage Consulting and Evan’s book Ingaging Leadership, visit Ingage.net  

 

Categories
Growth Human Resources Personal Development

: Don’t Avoid Making Trainees a Little Uncomfortable

In a Breakthough Ideas in Training webinar that Anthony Amos gave for us at Tortal, he made a comment that we’ve been thinking about ever since . . .

“Good training coaches people to move through discomfort.”

The more we think about that comment, the more we realize how wise Anthony is. After all, discomfort is one of the main reasons people silently resist training . . .

  • Sales trainees learn your company’s strategies and scripts for structured selling . . . but some never admit that they feel uncomfortable about “asking for the buy” and closing sales.
  • Some mature trainees who are returning to the workforce might be reluctant to admit that they feel insecure about using new technologies.
  • Executives in your leadership training programs take part in workshops that encourage them to work closely with other departments . . . but some of them secretly feel defensive about sharing too much information with the heads of other divisions.
  • Some of the phone representatives who you are training to make cold sales calls never admit they hate to pick up the phone and call people they don’t know.

Dealing with Discomfort

Before you can overcome discomfort, you have to find ways to uncover where it lies. Here are some effective ways:

  • Start asking for “mood feedback” as soon as training begins. Asking a question like, “everybody good with that?” or, “anybody got a problem with that?” consistently through training can set up an atmosphere that encourages trainees to open up about any areas of discomfort. If you keep the mood lighthearted and fun, trainees will be more likely to say what is on their minds.
  • Anticipate and deal with possible “hot button” issues when designing your training. If you think about who your trainees are and what you would like them to learn, you can often identify areas of discomfort ahead of time and teach to them.

Effective Coaching Techniques for Areas of Discomfort 

  • Use simulations. If a trainee for a calling center job says that she fears dealing with angry customers, let her handle two or three simulated calls from dissatisfied customers. (Other trainees can play the part of the callers.) Once she sees that she can handle those calls well, she will gain the confidence she needs.
  • Use videos in your training. If you can show employees dealing with situations or issues that you expect will cause trainees discomfort on the job, you can proactively train employees to perform better.
  • Let trainees break into small sub-groups to discuss what they are learning. Trainees who are reluctant to air fears or concerns before a room full of other trainees are often willing to share their feelings in small groups of their peers. One good technique is to ask each group to appoint a leader to collect comments and then report them to the entire training class.
  • Consider using anonymous feedback. You can ask trainees to anonymously write down their areas of discomfort on index cards, or have them text the training leader. Once those comments are collected, your trainer can talk about them openly with the entire group.
  • Be respectful of trainees’ feelings. You want to keep the mood light, but resist the temptation to poke fun at trainees’ fears. If a trainee opens up about something that is on his or her mind – something that is a concern – part of a trainer’s job is to discuss the issue respectfully and carefully.

About Evan Hackel

Evan Hackel, a 35-year franchising veteran is a nationally recognized expert and speaker on franchising. Evan is the founder and CEO of Ingage Consulting, and CEO of Tortal Training, a leading training development company. Evan is an active advisor in the C-Suite Network. He is also author of Ingaging Leadership, and host of “Training Unleashed,” a podcast covering training for business. Contact him here, follow him at @ehackel, or call 781-820-7609.

 

 

Categories
Growth Leadership Personal Development

Are You Making Faulty Assumptions about Millennials?

 

One of my colleagues recently attended a panel discussion about millennials. A business professor and two millennial-aged entrepreneurs were on the panel. There were about 25 people in the audience.

“The conversation was pretty academic until the topic of sexism came up,” my colleague tells me. “At that point, three women in the audience began a heated discussion of how entrenched sexism is in their companies. One woman said that men’s ideas about marketing, product development, technology and more, were always valued more than women’s. Another said that she was having a hard time supervising millennial-age men, who did not take her seriously. There were more stories. The eye-opener for me was that these women were working for and with millennials. I thought that millennials were more enlightened.”

Questioning Our Assumptions

Did my colleague think that old-school sexism had disappeared in companies where millennials work and lead? Apparently, he did. I could accuse him of being naïve. But aren’t we all being naïve in some of the assumptions we make about millennials?

It is a topic that I plan to explore more, by asking questions like these . . .

  • Are millennials really more tech-savvy than members of other generations? When you sit in a meeting with a group of people from several generations, do you reflexively turn to millennials when issues of technology arise? Do you pay less attention to the views of other people in the room? If so, you could be overlooking the viewpoints of tech-savvy baby boomers and elders who might know just as much, or more, than the millennials in the room.
  • Do all millennials have less company loyalty than members of other age groups? Many people assume they aren’t as loyal as members of other cohorts are. But I have noticed that many factors (education, economic circumstances, and cultural or national background, to name a few) exert a big influence on individuals’ job loyalty. The year when someone was born is only one factor of many – and arguably not the greatest. Plus, I have noticed that millennials are often highly loyal when they understand what it takes to be valued and promoted in a company. If you provide each of them with an individual, understandable career plan, they will value your organization more.
  • Do millennial business owners practice more enlightened leadership than others? Like Barry, I think that a lot of people tend to assume that younger company owners have set aside negative leadership practices like sexism, prejudice against members of certain groups, favoritism, and even dishonesty. But as recent news stories have shown, that assumption is misleading. Millennials, just like members of other generations, can be good leaders – or bad.
  • Are millennials always good colleagues to other millennials? People who are older than they are – like me – tend to look at them and think, “They must all be getting along pretty well, they’re all about the same age.” How illogical is that? I have seen and heard about plenty of instances of millennials who steal other people’s ideas, play hard at office politics, and worse. Some people just behave that way at work. And then there is the fact that some millennials, just like everyone else, are prejudiced against members of certain ethnic and religious and racial groups, against members of the LBGTQ communities, against women, against men . . . you name it. Prejudice did not vanish the day the first millennial was born.

About Evan Hackel

Evan Hackel is a 35-year franchising veteran as both a franchisor and franchisee. He is CEO of Tortal Training, a leading training development company in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Principal and Founder of Ingage Consulting in Woburn, Massachusetts. Evan is the host of Training Unleashed and author of Ingaging Leadership. Evan speaks on Seeking Excellence, Better Together, Ingaging Leadership, and Attitude is Everything. Evan is an active member of the C-Suite Advisors Network. To hire Evan as a speaker, visit www.evanspeaksfranchising.com. Follow @ehackel.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Categories
Growth Leadership Personal Development

How to Set Powerful Goals for Your Franchise that Get Results 

 

January is the month when people everywhere make resolutions. Franchise professionals like you and I do it too because the start of a new year offers a clean slate that we can fill with new plans, achievements, and success. 

But have you ever set New Year’s goals and then realized in June or December that they never really happened? That has been an issue for most of us, so don’t feel guilty about it. More importantly, don’t stop making goals because they haven’t lived up to your hopes in years past. Success doesn’t result from living in the past, it happens when we take new steps to create a productive new future. 

The Whys of Goal Setting 

Why shouldn’t you give up on goals? Let’s review. 

  • Achievement. People who set goals get a lot more done than people who don’t. They become more successful. That’s been proven, and there’s no denying it.  
  • Clarity. Well-defined goals help you focus on what you want to accomplish. 
  • Leverage. The power of your goals is multiplied in franchise systems because you aren’t only setting goals for yourself, but for all your franchisees. Results can improve even more if you set goals for the entire system, franchisees set goals for their own locations, and you monitor all goals as part of an overall plan. In that way, even small amounts of progress can achieve phenomenal results. 
  • Motivation. When you set goals and share them with others, they help you achieve them by taking take part, checking up. keeping you on track, and taking other steps to keep the process moving forward. 

 The Five Keys to Effective Goal Setting 

The most effective goals are SMART goals, which means they are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. Let’s explore those traits further.  

 Specific – Express your goals in simple clear words, put them in writing, and share them with others.  

Measurable –  Key your goals to specific metrics and benchmarks that you can quantify and track. As the old business saying holds, “What gets measured, gets done.” 

Attainable – There is no point in setting goals that are so ambitious that they cannot be reached. There is much more power in setting smaller goals and increasing them according to a plan.  

Relevant – The most effective goals are those that will impact on processes which, if improved, will produce meaningful improvements in key operational areas. So take time to define them carefully. 

Time-Bound – A calendar can be your greatest ally when it comes to achieving your goal. So create a date-specific action plan, share it with your team, and check it every month to be sure things are on track.  

 About the Author 

 Evan Hackel is a franchise industry leader, a widely published writer, a keynote speaker, a member of the New England Franchise Association Board, and Co-Chair of the International Franchise Association’s Knowledge Share Task Force. He is also the author of the new book, Ingaging Leadership: A New Way to Lead that Builds Excellence and Organizational Success.  

A consultant to some of the largest franchise systems in North America, Evan is also Founder and Principal of Ingage Consulting, a consulting firm focused on improving the performance of franchises and all business organizations. In addition, Evan serves as CEO of Tortal Training, a firm that specializes in developing interactive eLearning solutions for companies in all sectors.  

Evan received an MBA from Boston College and a BA in Economics from Colorado College. He resides in Reading, Massachusetts with his wife, Laura, and three children.  

 

Categories
Growth Human Resources Personal Development

Boredom Is Bad for Training

by Evan Hackel

Boring training is bad training because people who are bored tune out and do not learn. That could explain why so many professional trainers like to exhibit such high levels of energy. They burst into a training session at the start of the day with so much oomph that it is hard to imagine how one ounce of boredom could remain in the room.

Yet boredom is sneaky. Even if training gets off to a rousing start, it can sneak back in and infect trainees.

Boredom Is Serious

Boredom, which has been defined as “an unpleasant state arising in monotonous situations,” does more than just limit people’s ability to pay attention. In studies, it has been linked to serious problems. When people are chronically bored, they are more likely to drive too fast, to become negative or depressed, and to engage in dangerous activities like smoking and drinking alcohol to excess.

In 2014 Colleen Merrifield, a doctoral student at the University of Waterloo in Canada, wrote her thesis about boredom. Entitled “Toward a Model of Boredom: Investigating the Psychophysiological, Cognitive, and Neural Correlates of Boredom,” it makes for very useful reading for training designers.

“Despite the breadth of research related to boredom,” Dr. Merrifield writes, “surprisingly little research has been devoted to understanding the psychological, behavioral, physiological, and/or neural underpinnings of the construct itself. Without this understanding, it is difficult to establish criteria to identify and measure the experience.”

Chasing Boredom from the Training Room

If even the most energetic trainer cannot banish boredom from training, what can? Let’s look at some strategies that work.

  • Deliver information in visual, aural, reading/writing and kinesthetic formats. You can learn more online about those styles, usually grouped under the VARK acronym. In practical terms, that means designing training that includes videos, moving around the room, reading and written exercises, as well as compelling slides and visuals. Training that utilizes the four VARK aspects is less likely to become boring.
  • Design training that doesn’t conflict with trainees’ energy highs and lows through the day. These highs and lows, also called circadian rhythms, cause most people to have high energy during the morning hours, followed by a slump after lunch and then another uptick in the mid to late afternoon. In designing your training day, you should avoid reading, taking tests, or listening to talks right after lunch – a time when energy levels fall. Engage your learners in work simulations, games, or interactive exercises instead. If you have a quiz or evaluation for trainees to complete, schedule that first thing in the morning, when energy is high. Timing your training around circadian rhythms decreases boredom and boosts receptiveness to learning.
  • Invite trainees to decide what they will learn. During the planning process, for example, you can ask your salespeople to submit their top frustrations and roadblocks – then design training to explore them and provide solutions. Or if your trainer is agile and resourceful enough, trainees can suggest topics to explore while training is taking place. If you can keep training grounded in what people genuinely want to learn, boredom doesn’t have a chance to intrude.
  • Let trainees complete some materials on their mobile phones and tablets. After all, not every unit must be completed in a face-to-face training session, or even in a company’s computerized training room. Some materials, including interactive quizzes and videos, can be delivered to your employees over evenings or weekends. Mixing these options in with classroom training can provide variety that keeps training engaging and vibrant.

About Evan Hackel

Evan Hackel, a 35-year franchising veteran, is a nationally recognized expert and speaker on franchising. Evan is founder and CEO of Ingage Consulting, and CEO of Tortal Training, a leading training development company. Evan is an active advisor in the C-Suite Network. He is also author of Ingaging Leadership Meets the Younger Generation, and host of “Training Unleashed,” a podcast covering training for business. Contact him here, follow him at @ehackel, or call 781-820-7609.