How to Manage Your People Well: Tips for Managers of Training

As a training manager, there are two important aspects to managing your people well: hiring, supervising, and motivating (managing with your people) and building up corporate support for your department (managing for your people). Unfortunately, training is not well understood by some executives, and its benefits can be hard to assess. Even a good training manager's department risks cuts by cost-conscious administrators convinced that training is an unnecessary expense. In The Secret of My Success, a cinematic fairy tale about life in corporate America, Michael J. Fox gets scolded his first day on the job for speaking to a senior executive: "Never consort with a suit unless the suit consorts with you first." As a training manager, however, you had better be prepared to consort with "the suits" from Day One. Managing for your people is a pro-active strategy that constantly demands selling your department's services and widening the base of organizational support for the training function.

All of our experts agree that the actions of the manager of training are critical to the department's survival, and important for the long-term health and continuity of the organization itself. In an era of cost cutting and corporate mergers/takeovers, a training manager must make sure his or her department is 1) visible, 2) credible and 3) perceived to be as integral to the organization's growth as it really is. This can be accomplished by means of two different approaches that boil down to either response or outreach. Some managers find it effective to combine some of each into a very personal brew. For example, Mary Belle GrosJacques, Trainer Coordinator at CH2M HILL, characterizes her department's approach as essentially "reactive .[We] satisfy needs brought to us" .Yet she also notes that "[we] try to think of needs they didn't bring to us," indicating that it is possible to respond creatively by anticipating future needs, and using the feedback from existing programs to extrapolate new directions. Susan Warshauer, Manager of Training and Development Programs, at M.I.T., acts on the premise that building up organizational support "...takes a conscious strategy. Cultivate relationships with senior people, find out what they perceive as needs, and have a yearly process of needs assessment. Keep in touch with your community and be responsive to them."

Copyright AE Schwartz & Associates All rights reserved. For additional presentation materials and resources: ReadySetPresent and for a Free listing as a Trainer, Consultant, Speaker, Vendor/Organization: TrainingConsortium

CEO, A.E. Schwartz & Associates, Boston, MA., a comprehensive organization which offers over 40 skills based management training programs. Mr. Schwartz conducts over 150 programs annually for clients in industry, research, technology, government, Fortune 100/500 companies, and nonprofit organizations worldwide. He is often found at conferences as a key note presenter and/or facilitator. His style is fast-paced, participatory, practical, and humorous. He has authored over 65 books and products, and taught/lectured at over a dozen colleges and universities throughout the United States.

---

The Art of Motivation and Need Fulfillment

Industrial/clinical psychology and applied psychiatry have made tremendous strides in understanding human behavior. New discoveries and applications toward understanding human behavior are being announced with increasing frequency in these inexact sciences. Still, it... Read More

The Power of ?Ask?

For Call Center managers, it is not a pipe dream to improve employee moral while increasing productivity. It may even come easy to some to find fresh, new ways to reduce performance problems.... Read More

Medical Collection. How Organized is Your Office?

At one time or another, all of us have experienced the frustration of waiting in a doctor's office. It seems as though every time we go to see the doctor or the dentist... Read More

Micromanagement and Delegation

Micro-Management and Delegation Recently I had a long discussion with a friend of mine about Managers and managing. She is a former HR Manager for... Read More

6 Steps To Effective Management During Change

Take the pain out of gain and decrease the upheaval surrounding change by following six commonsense steps to effective management.Step 1: Establish ObjectivesThe process must begin with a clear and detailed statement of... Read More

Great Employees = Passionate Consumers

Companies spend millions of dollars each year identifying their brand, and then communicating their brand promise through various media.Employees are the primary "media" in the majority of brand contacts. Raise your hand if... Read More

Spinning Gold from Straw: Low-Cost Employee Retention and Motivation Tools in a Changing Economy

New York, NY, February 25, 2005 ? Employee retention and motivation?why should employers care? A storm is brewing. National productivity was up 3.9% in the second quarter and 1.9% in the third quarter... Read More

The Golden Key to Meeting Success

We all attend many meetings. I'm sure you have been to some great meetings and some poor ones. Unfortunately for everyone I've ever talked to, the number of poor ones far outweighs the... Read More

Four Steps to Better Performance Reviews

Direct reports-people who need direction and leadership-rely on their leaders to give them feedback and mentoring, not just management and evaluations. However, these people who most need their boss's help frequently lack the... Read More

CEOs And Boards Are Locked In A Spiral Of Doom

American CEOs are dropping like flies. Boards, armed with new federal rules and stock exchange requirements coming in the wake of the corporate scandals of the past few years, are getting rid of... Read More

Conquering the Number One Problem in Business--Poor Communication

The Number One problem in business is poor communication: between coworkers, with clients, across functional areas, up the food chain. When I ask anyone I meet "What's the one thing that causes problems... Read More

People Literacy

Every Manager has experienced the frustration of not understanding why one management approach that works beautifully with one employee is ineffective with another. That's because what we think would be motivating isn't always... Read More

Improving Your Inter-Company Communications At No Cost

It's all very well having a flashy (and expensive) advertising campaign, backed up by a wealth of positive PR, but if your staff are not all pulling in the same direction this could... Read More

Innovation Management ? Diversity Can Make All The Difference

Companies are welcoming a diverse range of employees (The Sunday Times, April 10 2005). Doh!It is incredible that this concept is getting coverage in 2005. I mean, how many new ideas, novel ideas... Read More

Islam in the Workplace

Suggested practice for HR personnelMuslims now form one of the largest religious groups in the UK. At a time when great misunderstandings and stereotypes circulate the media and society regarding the religion, it... Read More

Middle Managers Behaving Badly ? How To Stop This Damaging Your Results

More and more I hear and read about a looming crisis of leadership at the middle management level and the inevitable resulting increase in, poor performance, accidents and production mistakes and hence declining... Read More

Managing Change - Get it Right

In any event, getting the process right is a vital component. The credibility of the change managers will be scrutinised closely enough on the issue itself, with all processes in place. If process... Read More

Is Your Business Healthy?

Most business owners I work with want to grow their businesses. I guess this probably applies to most businesses in general. But growth for the sake of growth alone is not always healthy... Read More

Communicating CEOs

I see a PR firm has done a survey on the amount of time Canadian CEOs spend on communication, and found they spend almost half of their time on communication.I think we're supposed... Read More

Don?t Get Down ? Manage Up!

"Experience is not what happens to a man; it is what a man does with what happens to him." - Aldous HuxleyEver have one of those supervisors that just didn't quite get it?Perhaps... Read More

Being a Great Boss

Are you one of those bosses that people just love to hate? Maybe successful, maybe very intelligent, maybe organized and moving forward but just can't get along with people. Communication and other people... Read More

Conference Calling Can Save Your Sales OrganizationTime and Money!

Conference calling can save you money. There is no doubt that in the sales business, every second counts. Whether it be training, sales meetings, or other needs, pulling your employees away from the... Read More

Business & Family Safety and Health Rating

For good reason, practically every endeavor in life is rated. I've seen ratings on who or what's #1 in business, industry, NFL, NBA, MLB, person of the century, athlete of the century, technology,... Read More

Toxic Bosses

What's everyone's favorite topic around the water cooler? Bad bosses! You know, the ones who make life in the office unbearable? Here are some of the more common varieties you'll find.1. The Screamer.... Read More

Performance Appraisal - Ten Stupid Things Managers Do To Screw It Up

Performance appraisals aren't fun. But a lot of the time they are agonizing because managers do really dumb things, ending up destroying a process that is important to everyone (or should be). Appraisals... Read More

Preparing For ISO 9001 2000 Registration

The steps need to be taken to prepare an organization for ISO 9001 2000 registration:Whilst the following text is not exhaustive in its content it should give you a reasonable idea of what's... Read More

What Makes A Good Media Story?

Media relations can be difficult, but also rewarding. And the lessons we learn from working with newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and online publications should increase the effectiveness of all our communication initiatives.That's because... Read More

Build Your Business (On A Shoestring): Hire a College Intern

Starting up a new venture or business can be one of the most exciting times of your life. It can also be one of the most stressful. In the early months, or even... Read More

Talent Recruitment Challenges of High Technology Companies

As a result of the dot com meltdown and the decline of the NASDAQ in 2001, many organizations had no alternatives but to lay off many talented IT professionals. Currently, the pool of... Read More