Articles – HR Management – Page 27

People Development and Career Path

Executives play a powerful role in people development because virtually every decision has development implications. The strategic planning process, budgets, organization structure, promotion and career pathing practices, company policies, management systems, management style all of these business terms bring to mind the value of human resources, while setting the boundaries and tone for employee growth and development.

In most organizations these boundaries need to be carefully reexamined for their effects on productivity, satisfaction and development. Executives who do not respond to this challenge risk losing their best people and stifling the creativity and commitment that make organizations great. For very practical reasons, new human resources management and development practices are needed in most organizations: Continue reading →

How to Develop An Effective Mentoring Program – Mentoring Skills

Thirty professionals, ages 28 to 65 and with incomes from $20,000 to $100,000, took part in the TRAINING 79 session on mentors led by Richard C. Grote, president of Performance Systems Corp., Dallas, TX, and Kaye Stine, director of training and management development for Blue Cross/ Blue Shield of Colorado.

You can download excellent powerpoint slides on HR management, business strategy and personal development HERE.

All 30 participants reported that having a mentor had been instrumental in their careers. They attended the session because they were curious about the importance of a mentor’s influence on career success in general and because they were interested in exploring the possibility of formal mentorship programs in their organizations, according to Grote and Stine, who asked the group to define the characteristics of a good mentor. Continue reading →

Product Knowledge Training for Sales Reps

Most companies do a superb job in training their new sales representatives in the technical aspects of the products they sell. Companies have management, scientific and engineering personnel who “know” their products. For this reason, they can easily overtrain sales people in the area of product knowledge.

You can download excellent powerpoint slides on HR management, business strategy and personal development HERE.

Salespeople should understand the products they sell well enough to be able to converse intelligently about them with their customers. They should be able to answer routine questions and know how to get the answers to complex ones. In other words, sales trainees should acquire a thorough knowledge of their products, but not at the expense of sales skills. The salesperson’s technical knowledge need not be at the expert level. Continue reading →

Preparing and Developing Great Presentation Materials

Nitpick your presentation – and all the components – to death. You may have conducted the best study in the world and developed strong, compel¬ling results and findings, but you won’t gain a grain of favor if your presentation has halitosis.

You can download excellent powerpoint slides on HR management, business strategy and personal development HERE.

Using sharp word-processed copies of written materials instead of poor photocopies or mimeos, packaging written materials in attractive binders and the like, and using professionally prepared visuals gains points important credibility points. Likewise, making certain that presentation rooms are the right size for the group, appropriate AV equipment is on hand and functioning, chairs and tables are appropriate to the group, and the room itself is clean and temperate are examples of nitpicking that gain credibility points for a face-to-face presentation. Continue reading →

Writing Training Evaluation Report

We pilot test training, don’t we? Isn’t an evaluation study or a needs analysis just as important to our success? Get your research team, your department’s two biggest nitpickers and the coordinator from your client department together and do a dress rehearsal.

You can download excellent powerpoint slides on HR management, business strategy and personal development HERE.

Only during a dry run will you find out that your findings aren’t as crystal clear as you thought or that “MBO” or “TA” or “Behavior Mod” are taboo words in the client organization while “goal setting,” “interpersonal communication” and “performance management” are not. You’ll also get a test of the sell-power of your presentation from the client rep. Continue reading →

Training on Communication and Presentation Skills

Most results presentations follow the rule of tradition: We do what we’ve seen others do and hope it works. If our organization traditionally writes 200-page reports, we write 200-page reports. If most presentations are verbal, to small groups, we follow this organizational family formula as well. In reality, a two-day presentation and a 200-page report may be too little for some groups and studies; a two-hour presentation and a 20-page report too much for other circumstances.

You can download excellent powerpoint slides on HR management, business strategy and personal development HERE.

The trick is to tailor. If your report is to be made to six people, find out as much as you can about the communication and organizational needs of those six people. What issues are sensitive to them? What vested interests do they have that relate to your study? What are their communication styles? What outcomes do they expect, and what unexpected results might be rejected out of hand? Continue reading →