Saturday, March 21, 2020

The Training of Staff in the Modern Business World

The Training of Staff in the Modern Business World The modern business world is fast paced and as such firms need to keep innovating new products and services so as to keep up with the changing business landscape. One of the ways through which firms can keep abreast with the ever changing business environment is through training of staff. Firms must not only train staff to equip them with new skill and knowledge but must also train them in order to spearhead innovative growth within the companies.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Training of Staff in the Modern Business World specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Training of a firm’s staff does not occur in a vacuum. It is a proactive process with explicit goals and in this case, training for innovations. This means that the human resource training development managers have a direct role to play in facilitating their firms to embrace innovations that will bring about much desired change. The human resource train ing development managers will attain this through developing programs that train employees on how to embrace and drive innovation. Furthermore, these managers need to focus on developing the employees to acquire innovative behavior. The development of staff cognitive abilities is one such method through which training professionals helps staff to acquire innovativeness. Such firms accrue such benefits such as competitiveness, enhanced business strategies and customer satisfaction. Therefore, training professionals play a leading role in innovation and change for business success. Professionals take the process of professional training and development as a continual process. This assertion is founded on the assumption that informal training occurs within the daily work flow. Professionals argue that the need for continued training and development is necessitated by many factors, among them technological changes in the work place, which require the acquisitions of new skills and knowl edge’s (Armson 2008, p. 23; Poell et al 2006, p. 175). While little (2010, p. 38) argues that it is important for employers to train employee’s competences, Emsley, Nevicky and Harrison (2006, p. 244) assert that it is important to train professionals with the aim of achieving a balance in both radical and non-radical innovation. Moreover Bondarouk and Looise (2005, p. 162) assert that human resourced developers need to promote human-centered IT based innovations which will not replace human but support employee’s basic skills. In addition, training and development of professionals within a firm is creatively undertaken at individual levels since it is individuals who instigate successful innovations (Reilly 2010, p. 10).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In this regard, it becomes important for human resource developers to focus on developing th e cognitive abilities of individual employees. Emsley, et al’s assertion on the development of employees cognitive abilities is informed by the fact that cognitive development is a prerequisite to the acquisition of innovative behavior (2006, p. 245). Innovative behavior is necessary for the development of the right environment for innovation, which creates the necessary space for innovative creativity (Armson 2008, p. 20). Therefore, training professionals have to develop employee’s competent innovative behavior, which is vital for firm’s attainment of competitive edge in the global market (Little 2010, p. 39). Human resource trainers and developer acknowledge that training does not occur in a vacuum. This implies that effective professional training has to be modeled along given training model for it to be effective. As Reilly (2010, p. 22) explains training of employees in the job place is necessitated by a number of reasons, and as such it is integrated with in a firm’s employee development plans. This implies that employee training and development is an ongoing process (Emsley et al. 2006, p. 262) and that many human resource trainers run the risk of making it a long arduous process. This need not be so. Training professionals need to be creative with their training programs. Reilly (2010, p. 10) explains that firms which have attained successful training of employees to drive innovation have modeled their training programs creatively to avoid boredom. This is attained through breaking down training content into small digestible and interesting-to-deliver bits. Furthermore, successful professional in efforts to achieve creativity avoid making training programs too technical, meaning that they allow for spontaneity (Armson 2008, p. 20). The implementation of creative employees training program means that firm’s must have the necessary resources at their disposal. As Armson (2008, p. 22) argues, firms must see training prog rams as some of the risk prone activities and as such provide the enough human, financial as well as infrastructural resources. While the author above have not identified the role of formal and informal professional training programs, Poell et al. (2006, p. 176) asserts that formal training programs play very limited roles in development of quality employees to bring about innovative changes. The best training program designs are informal and are also delivered informally.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Training of Staff in the Modern Business World specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Bondarouk and Looise (2005, p. 162) asserts that the best approach for human resource developers is to adopt human-centered IT based innovations which will not replace human but support employee’s basic skills. Therefore the success of training programs depends on the approach adopted by human resource program developers. Aust ralian banks take the developed innovation in their training and development programs. The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is ranked number two in terms of size and also in providing financial services. In order to drive and develop for innovation the bank has identified two major resources that it need to attain this objective. These are physical resources, within which training materials are included, and intangible resources, within which training of employees is included. One of the avenues through which the bank aims at providing its client with valued added services is through innovations. Innovations are attained through the banks intangible resources especially the human resources training (Commonwealth Bank of Australia n.d., p. 5, 9). Similarly St. George Bank, in efforts to boost productivity, sees its development of human resource through outsourced training program. The Bank’s human resource development managers see the need to equip all employees with skills that will enable the bank have a competitive edge in the financial services sector. As such, St. George Bank outsources its services from Workplace Australia Group (DEEWR 2011, n.pag.). There are similarities in the way the two banks approach training for innovation. Both Commonwealth Bank of Australia and St. George Bank model their training program with the innovation of new financial products and services in mind (Commonwealth Bank of Australia n.d., p. 9; DEEWR 2011., n.pag.). As such the two banks see training their employees not only as the key the development of innovative products but also as a mean of establishing a competitive edged in the fast paced Australian banking sector. Furthermore, the two banks design their training programs with the aim of innovative products and services for customer satisfaction. At St. George Bank, staff development programs are directly connected with business success as well as customer satisfaction (Liquid Learning Group 2007, p. 2). Similarly, Commonwealth Bank of Australia approach to training is attained through the innovation of better communication tools that engage that give its customer a satisfactory banking experience (Commonwealth Bank of Australia n.d., p. 14).Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Moreover, the two banks approach training for innovativeness as part of the banks’ business strategies. While the Commonwealth Bank of Australia aims at training its employees to expand the bank’s physical border as well as products and services range, St. George Bank interrelate its training program with innovative leadership, business success and customer satisfaction (Liquid Learning Group 2007, P. 2; Commonwealth Bank of Australia n.d., p. 11, 12). On the other hand there are differences in approach to training between the two banks. At St. George Bank, training is an ongoing formal process that is deeply integrated into the bank’s daily work flow. Furthermore, the bank prefers to outsource the training program from Workplace Australia Group (DEEWR 2011, n.pag.). The Commonwealth Bank of Australia has developed an inbuilt training program, and provides its own training materials which are part of the banks physical resources. As such, the bank is self relian t when it comes to training its employees. Regardless of the dissimilarities the two banks have successful training programs. In summary, training professionals play a leading ole in preparing firms to embrace innovations and change. This is attained through tailor-made training programs which are aimed at addressing the particular firm needs. The two types of training methods, formal and inform have be found to work well in specific companies. Informal training is spontaneous and has the capability of addressing needs as they arise, while formal training is structural and rigid. Furthermore, training professionals have different approaches through which they approach training of staff. For instance, at St. George Bank, training of employees is an ongoing process mostly reliant on outsource service, while at The Commonwealth Bank of Australia is an inbuilt capacity within the bank. All these approached have one aim in common: to make the firm’s innovation and change complaint . It can therefore be concluded that training of staff within firms is only effective if it is done with the goal of helping individual employees acquire innovative behavior. Furthermore, informal training, which is spontaneous, creates more room for creativity, a condition that makes training innovative in itself. Reference List Armson, G. 2008, How innovative is your culture? Coaching for creativity in the workplace Training Development, pp 20-22. Bondarouk, T and Looise J 2005, HR contribution to IT innovation implementation: Results of Three Case Studies,  Creativity and Innovation Management, vol. 14 No 2, 2005. Commonwealth Bank of Australia n.d, Commonwealth Bank of Australia, Harvard paper sample. Web. DEEWR 2011, St. George Bank employees study for Certificate III in Financial Services retrieved https://www.training.com.au/ Emsley, D Nevicky, B and Harrison, G 2006, Effect of cognitive style and professional development on the initiation of radical and non-radical manage ment accounting innovations Accounting and Finance, vol. 46, pp 243–264. Little, Bob 2010, Competency capers, Training Journal, pp 38 – 39. Liquid Learning Group 2007, Strengthening the linkages between leadership, culture and performance. 4th Annual Asia-Pacific Leadership People Development Summit , pp 2. Poell, R et al 2006, Roles of informal workplace trainers in different organizational contexts: Empirical evidence from Australian companies, Human Resource Development Quarterly, vol. 17, no. 2, retrieved DOI: 10.1002/hrdq.1168 Reilly, V 2010, Getting creative with technical training, Training Development In Australia, pp 10 – 22.

Thursday, March 5, 2020

Earning Trust vs. Learning Trust How Are You Doing

Earning Trust vs. Learning Trust How Are You Doing â€Å"Stack Trust† I remember a body work session, specifically a Network Spinal Analysis (NSA) session, that I had many years ago. Donny Epstein, the founder of NSA, positioned my head and made contact with a specific point in my spine. â€Å"Stack trust,† he said. I don’t know if it was the point he touched or the command he gave me to â€Å"stack trust,† but felt a huge shift and broke out in tears. Trust is a big deal. I have always thought of myself as a trusting person, willing to share things about myself with strangers. I don’t expect people to cheat or lie and I have done things like rent my apartment to Airbnb guests, leaving them alone in my house with all my belongings. When a friend doubted whether I was telling the truth in a recent situation, I was hurt and angry. Not only do I trust people to tell the truth about things, but I also like to think people trust my word. Learning to Trust Can trust be learned? The answer, apparently, is yes. I recently received a link to what I thought was an article about how to teach trust. It turns out it was an advertisement for a Franklin Covey training, leading me not to trust Franklin Covey all that much for having misled me. Nevertheless, the idea that trust can be taught is fascinating to me and rings true. Google searches for â€Å"Harvard Business Review Trust and Teams† and â€Å"Harvard Business Review Teaching Trust† gave me a plethora of information on how we become trusting and on how to build trust in a business. I must confess that there are some areas where my trust level is very low, and where I have some definite growing to do. When I am in charge of a project, for instance, and ask someone to take responsibility for something, I often don’t trust them to perform. If they do the job and do it well, great. They have â€Å"proven themselves† to me. But if they don’t do the job or do it well, my first instinct is that I can’t rely on them and need to do it myself. If it’s something I don’t know how to do, I easily become scared and angry. I was amazed on a recent project that when a team member did not do a task, all I had to do was write him a note and he did it immediately! I had made up that because this person was usually very responsible, and had a ton on his plate at the time, he was overloaded and would not be able to it. Where was my sense of trust? I’ve had multiple opportunities to practice trust as my new website has launched, along with a new email and client management system, Infusionsoft. As many of you have experienced, we faced many breakdowns in the implementation process. Incorrect and duplicate emails went out to my list members. Pages on my site had missing and incorrect content. New clients were directed to pages where they received 404 errors instead of the documents they needed. Leaning In While I have admittedly done my share of stressing out and blaming about all these breakdowns (my web developers can â€Å"trust† me to do that), I have also leaned on the people who can fix the issues. They have come through for me every time, including going the extra mile to give my clients assistance on weekends and on short notice. I’m learning, slowly but surely, that when someone doesn’t do something they said they would do, or doesn’t do it well, the first step is to ask them to do it or coach them to do it better. It’s amazing how well that works! Commensurate Trust Of course, some people truly are not trustworthy, and those are the people not to do business with or form close relationships with. The term â€Å"commensurate trust,† which I learned recently, tells me that one trustworthy person in a relationship, whether business or personal, does not a trusting relationship make. Both parties must be able to handle a commensurate level of responsibility, truth, and vulnerability for the relationship to work. I will be working probably for the rest of my life on my own process of â€Å"stacking trust† – becoming trusting myself, and demanding trustworthiness of others. As I have discovered, I have a lot to learn.