Manager Training:
Is Leadership Training
More Important Than Flowers?
By Liz Weber
I just got off the phone with a prospective
client. They have serious employee and management retention issues. They
have few managers with the right skills to be effective managers, let
alone develop into effective leaders, they have a multitude of staff
with less-than-effective front-line customer service skills, they are in
an industry that is growing by leaps and bounds, and their reputation
for less-than-stellar service is starting to spread.
So why are they calling my office? They've used a
series of trainers with no continuity between programs, no effective
reinforcement of training concepts, and less-than-effective programming.
This training is mandatory for all supervisors and managers and it's not
been effective. Senior management's not happy. I don't blame them.
However, when I raised the issue of funding a
revamped training and management performance program to address their
needs, I was told, "We'll probably be able to find some money but we've
already spent a lot of money on this." Excuse me, but were you expecting
my company to provide these services free?
Well, Liz being Liz, I had to ask, "Just out of
curiosity, what do you think your company spends annually on the flowers
you put on the dining room tables each night?" "Oh geeze - a lot!" was
the answer. I replied, "What do you think is more important to the
long-term profitability of your organization: pretty table flowers or a
well-trained management team?"
I only share this story with you so you can ask
yourself a similar question: When it comes to investing in your business
what makes more sense: investing in your employees to ensure they are
better able to serve your customers now and into the future or investing
in "flowers" that your customers may not even notice?
Copyright 2007 - Liz Weber, CMC -
Weber Business Services, LLC. WBS is a team of Strategic Planning and
Leadership Development Consultants, Trainers, and Speakers. Liz can be
reached at liz@wbsllc.com or (717)597-8890. Additional articles on
strategic & succession planning and leadership can be found at
http://www.wbsllc.com/articles.shtml
or
http://www.liz-weber.com/articles.php
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