Employee performance feedback - who wants it?

Giving your staff negative feedback can be stressful for both you and them. Let’s face it no-one likes being told what they’re doing wrong. And who likes confrontation. 

What if you could use positive feedback to fix an employee performance problem? Sounds a little crazy I know, so I’m going to tell you a little motivational story. 

Giving effective feedback is one of the essential manager skills. If you’re a manager looking to improve employee performance with better communication find out more here: 

This is the common scenario many managers face: Carol, a receptionist, has recently been late for work. 

So this story starts with a minor performance infraction, are you a manager who has experienced something similar? I know I have, and I know that when this happens, I start evaluating my options. Some of the things that go through my head include:

This is a minor issue that doesn’t justify a long performance discussion. I’m busy enough as it is, so I’ll wait and see if it becomes an issue,

Carol already knows what her start time is, she doesn’t need me to remind her and

I don’t want to seem petty, get into an argument and end up with Carol disliking me

In this story what happens is that Carol's manager hesitates to address this (minor) employee performance problem. The “reasons” above become excuses to avoid dealing with the issue. As a result, someone else must stop what they are doing and cover the front desk until she arrives. Her behavior affects members of the team. 

Worse, by not addressing her tardiness, this manager is sending the message that they condone this behaviour.

In a parallel universe, Carol’s manager does something different. No, they don’t undertake the unpleasant task of calling Carol into their office for a serious talking to about punctuality. Instead they does something incredibly easy and simple. They starts giving a particular type of positive feedback when Carol does something right:

“Good morning Carol. I like seeing you at the desk when I arrive because then I know there is someone here to greet our      customers.”

“Good morning Carol, I’m glad to see you on the desk. I want you to know that your work on reception is important to the whole team to keep everything running smoothly. I appreciate that. Can you please keep that up?” 

“Good morning Carol. I’m glad to see you here before start time – now I know I don’t have to worry about covering      reception. Can you please continue with that?”

Hasn’t said anything unpleasant or got involved in an unpleasant confrontation,

Hasn't delayed their feedback until annual performance review and

Hasn't even spent a long time giving performance feedback.

They is using secret ninja manager skills to fix a problem. 

Effective performance feedback. The power of words:

These simple words have a very powerful employee engagement and job satisfaction effect:

Feeling Valued & Acknowledged: The manager has let Carol that they are aware of the contribution that Carol makes, they appreciate the work she does and she is valued, 

Doing Important Work: The manager has told Carol how her work is part of a larger whole. Even though many people might think that a receptionist is a low-level role, the manager is helping Carol to find the value and meaning in her work

A Sense of Belonging: The manager has shown Carol how she is an important part of the team. They have shown her that she has a role that others rely on her to do. This helps people to feel like an important part of a community and to feel accepted,

Increasing Performance: And if you look carefully, you’ll also see that the manager has asked Carol to commit to coming in on time in the future. This isn’t just praise because effective feedback motivates employees to make a positive future change


So what do you think will be the result of these words of encouragement. With that sort of consistent performance feedback, do you think it’s likely that Carol will be late in the future? Based on what other managers have experienced. This sort of positive feedback doesn't just fix individual problems. This positive feedback increases employee motivation, increases employee engagement and employee retention. This is because acknowledgement, feeling valued, doing meaningful work and having a sense of belonging are strong drivers of employee satisfaction, employee engagement and staff retention. 

And by improving employee engagement all aspects of performance improve, not just the little things.

Managing by exception is a management excuse

The “Manage by Exception” management technique is where the manager keeps an eye on things and only performance manages problems. But the problem is if you only give feedback when your employees do something wrong then the only feedback that you give is negative.

All this negative feedback is destroying your employee relations. If you are consistently negative and critical, no wonder employees don't like you or want to listen to you. Dr Gottman's magic ratio for healthy relationships is 5 times as many positive interactions as negative. Healthy employee relations doesn't mean making your employees like you as a friend, Healthy employee relations means respect and good communications. Positive feedback builds employee engagement.

“About 90% of the things in our life are right. Make sure you don’t overlook the 90% of things that are right because you are focusing on the 10% of things that aren’t.”

Positive feedback isn't only for positive performance

There is a misconception that positive performance feedback is only for good performance. But as I’ve shown above, you can and should use positive performance feedback to also fix employee performance issues. This works for employee performance issues large and small. And regular performance communication is one of the tools that successful managers use to get results. In fact the real technique isn’t just to use feedback when you have a performance problem. As a manager if you communicate regularly and frequently about performance your employees will be more engaged.

Are you a manager responsible for the performance of your employees? Is there a performance issue that you wish your employees would pay more attention to? Find out How to Use Positive Feedback to Fix Performance Problems here. 

I hope that you have enjoyed this motivational story and that you are inspired to use positive feedback with your staff. 

Manager Foundation specializes in the skills that managers need to know to create a healthy, productive and satisfying work environment. Giving effective performance communication is an essential manager skill because it supports you to be an effective manager in your other management duties:

Use performance communication when you delegate to your employees: See the Ultimate Guide to Delegation to find out more

The best place to give performance communication is in your One on One Meetings with Employees

Use positive feedback to keep your employees on track when you are coaching them to improve their skills and abilities

Effective communication is as much listening as speaking. Find out how to use Active Listening Skills to coach your employees to fix their own problems

False

Although adopting and following good ethical practices is vital regardless of the industry, it’s particularly critical for the finance industry. If you have a company that handles investments, banking, loans, or another aspect of this market, there’s no margin for error.

After all, not only does your company deal with people’s money but also their futures. Individuals and businesses that turn to you for assistance depend on the fact that you’ll make the right decisions on their behalf.

Although most companies in the finance industry follow strict internal policies along with government laws and regulations, you know as well as anyone that sometimes, things go very wrong. All it takes is for one employee to make an unethical move to send both the customer and the company spiraling out of control.

Bernie Madoff’s Ponzi scheme is a perfect example. He, along with other members of his staff, became greedy. As a result, they began to do unethical things that resulted in the theft of millions upon millions of dollars from clients, ruined lives, and sent he and his clan to prison. Of course, stealing is just one of the many unethical things that people in the finance industry do.

This story along with many others has created a perception among consumers that the financial industry is unethical. That means you already face an uphill battle in building your customer base and retaining clients you already serve. One of the challenges is this industry encompasses multiple sectors, including securities firms, investment banks, mortgage lenders, insurance companies, mutual fund organizations, and more.

With so many entities making up a massive market, whenever something unethical happens, it spreads like wildfire throughout different news organizations. The other thing to consider is that because the finance industry is so heavily regulated, people quickly identify and report unethical events. 

Before long, people around the world, whether a customer or not, know what happened. As mentioned, there’s no room for error within your organization in that one tiny slip up could prove disastrous. This is why ethical training for your entire staff is crucial.

As part of this industry, it’s imperative that you understand the most common pitfalls. Knowing the difficulties that happen most often will help you and your leadership team stay on top of potential issues, snuffing out fires before they engulf everything. In particular, five things stand out.

Selfishness and Greed – Taking from a quote in the Bible in I Timothy chapter 6 verse 10, “For the love of money is the root of all evil…,” nothing is closer to the truth. Sadly, some people are self-serving, meaning they go after what they want at the expense of others. Once these individuals take that first step toward doing something unethical out of selfishness and greed, seldom do they stop. For people in this category, the goal is to accumulate as much as possible quickly.

Demanding Clientele – Another area in which online training dramatically helps is by defining the responsibilities of your leaders and their staff members. That way, when customers become demanding and push for an employee to bend a little, there’s no temptation. You need a well-defined plan for your organization so that workers know who to turn to when faced with demanding clients. Because there’s a close connection between customers and employees in the finance industry, the goal is to build loyalty from the people who work for your company and gain respect from the clients you serve.

No Moral Compass – Whether lacking sound mentoring from parents or guardians while growing up or perhaps having the inability to look past one’s own perceptions, some people in the finance industry have no moral compass. In fact, some of these individuals are so good at convincing others, and they get away with doing unethical things without anyone questioning them.

Internal Conflict – For your company, it’s vital that you have a viable reward system in place. The reason is that if you give kudos that don’t bridge the gap between your staff’s responsibility and company demands, you promote unethical behavior. In simple terms, if your current reward system creates room for cheating, even a little, there’s a chance of someone acting unethically for monetary gain. Instead, you should implement a system that encourages honesty, perseverance, and integrity as opposed to dysfunction.

Moral Versus Legal Behavior – Do you know someone who always runs the yellow light, picks up the tip change left on the table for the server, or behaves poorly in some other way? While perhaps that individual’s actions are not a crime, they do equate to bad moral behavior. One of the benefits of setting up a training program within your organization specific to ethics is it stipulates punishment for illegal behavior. Without consequences, some people will continue to push boundaries.

Remember, unethical acts aren’t always about stealing large sums of money. This could be something as simple as padding an expense report, using a corporate credit card on a personal dinner date, stretching the number of hours worked, fudging on the truth about what your company can deliver, and so on. 

What it comes down to is you have the responsibility to take control over your company’s success by knowing where risks exist and putting a plan of action in place to address them.

Developing and Maintaining an Ethical Work Environment

Kathie Rotz, CPTM Director of Learning at Honkamp Kreuger might have said it best, “A major reason employees behave unethically is because they don’t value company ethics.” If you want people in your organization to stay on the right path, you need to develop and maintain an ethical work environment. By doing so, you foster positive attitudes among your staff.

The thing with training in the finance industry is it touches on every department. You can select the best courses specifically for your sales and marketing team, the HR group, compliance managers, and so on. Using online courses as the groundwork, you set the stage for what the company expects from everyone, including the consequences of unethical acts.

The goal is to change the mindset of your employees, so they focus on providing excellent customer care rather than the outcome of selling a product, solving a problem, or locking in a major investor. Training proves highly beneficial in this area as well. Through a trusted Learning Management System, you can create a customer-centric training program. 

However, for any training to work the way you want, it has to start with your leadership team. After they complete courses, your HR Manager, L&D Manager, Compliance Manager, and other executives can devise the right approach for their respective teams, as well as lead by example. Also, you need to make training an ongoing part of the organization, especially considering how fast things can change in the finance industry. 

One look at the housing market crash in 2008 is enough to understand the devastation that unethical practices unleash on innocent people. Handing out loans to buyers without the necessary qualifications eventually led to a bona fide recession, costing millions of people their homes and leaving them in financial destitution.

Do you remember the statement about starting with your leadership team? If you want an ethical organization, you have to develop ethical leaders. Although there are several different ways to accomplish this, one involves cross-training. Working as a check and balance system, it keeps people honest and makes them accountable.

Not only that but by cross-training the leaders within your company, you provide them with an avenue for identifying alternative solutions. Instead of believing there’s only one way to do something, they begin to see different perspectives. Over time, training helps them develop powerful thinking and processing skills that lead them to make ethical choices.

At the same time, your management team must develop trusting relationships with their staff members. Using various online training courses, your leaders improve on communication, which makes it easier for employees to come forward when they notice something unethical happening in the workplace.

Instead of getting scared of the consequences of being a whistleblower, employees begin to feel confident their managers will maintain confidentiality and handle the situation in the correct way. With so many incredible online courses, the sky is the limit as to the caliber of the program you can implement in your organization.

You want every employee to know that simply turning a blind eye to unethical behavior is never okay. While an issue may appear to affect just one department, the reality is it impacts the company as a whole. For that reason, it’s critical for every person to look beyond themselves and understand that preventing and correcting unethical actions requires the effort of the entire organization. 

The challenge is that in some instances, an individual who spots someone doing something unethical either feels frightened to come forward or like a disloyal friend. Building confidence in your employees will help give them the courage needed to report suspicious things as they happen. Fortunately, a trusted Learning Management System has a massive library of topics to develop people into strong, dedicated, and confident employees willing to protect the business.

As someone in the finance industry, you probably know all about the Chinese Wall theory. With this, you segregate different divisions within the organization to prevent sharing insider secrets that could shake the company to its core. Instead of having various professionals caught in the middle of a security breach, you protect different areas of the company.

You can think of the Chinese Wall theory as a virtual information barrier that separates employees who have and don’t have information unavailable to the public. As for training, you can provide the same opportunities for every employee, yet at the same time identify courses most beneficial to each separated division.

The last thing you want is for your company to become a headline. As the number of stories breaks about unethical practices in the finance industry, you need to do everything possible to prevent chaos. Because unethical behavior is often the result of a lack of education and knowledge, training is at the heart of the solution.

As an example, when you onboard new employees, not everyone has years of experience working in the world of finance. For that reason, those individuals create some degree of risk. Implementing a training program for all new hires is an excellent way to teach them the basics of finance. You can then rely on your leadership team to offer more training opportunities as the need arises.

With so many courses available on the right Learning Management System platform, you can provide training to every employee, regardless of current understanding and knowledge. While focusing on the fundamentals for your administrative staff, you would hone in on more complex topics for analysts, financial advisors, lenders, and so on.

When talking about the basics, both new and long-term employees should understand the meaning of non-public information. They need to know that sharing employee earnings, talking about bonus programs, and revealing products under development is not just a big “no-no,” but unethical. Keep in mind that people without any experience in the finance industry would have no idea unless you inform them.

A young woman went to work as a bookkeeper for an insurance company. Although she had never worked in this capacity before, she was intelligent and willing to learn. Her husband worked for an agency that did business with this company. While sitting down at dinner one night, the husband made a flippant remark that the wife’s boss should give her a good Christmas bonus because the company did so well that year. 

Keep in mind the husband never mentioned a dollar amount. Without proper understanding and knowledge of the finance industry, the wife shared the comment with her boss the next day at work. Within an hour, the company fired her. Although the husband didn’t lose his job, he came close. One simple comment that contained no hard facts did a lot of damage.

In addition to the wife becoming unemployed and the husband embarrassed, the agency and insurance company’s relationship fell apart. One innocent statement damaged the trust to the point of no return. Had this woman received proper training at the start of her new career about sharing non-public information, she would have laughed things off with her husband and never said a word. While unintentional, what the wife did was unethical in the eyes of her employer. 

For all the training material you need, visit the Go1 website. We offer a comprehensive library of information, prepared and often presented by experts on the topic of ethics in the finance industry.

Why ethics training is critical in the finance industry

For a long time, first-aid training wasn’t even an option. Then, as the need for programs increased, various organizations began developing them but only for people working in the medical field. Today, virtually anyone can learn how to save lives. Even better, individuals can complete courses and receive a first-aid certification through online courses.

One of the best things you can do for your organization is to offer first-training to every employee. When you consider that courses are easily accessible and cost little to nothing, it makes no sense for you not to provide your staff with an incredible gift.

Keep in mind that for some industries, first-aid training is not merely an honor but also mandated. Under the Occupational Health and Safety Administration, or OSHA, the requirements for this type of training depend on standards, regulations, and statute. For specific industries, companies must provide both first-aid and CPR training to their employees. Otherwise, these organizations become non-compliant. These include: 

Permit-Required Confined Spaces (1910.146)

Electric Power Generation, Transmission, and Distribution (1910.269)

Appendix B: Logging and Operations (1910.266)

Construction Subpart V, Power Transmission, and Distribution (1926.950)

According to OSHA’s laws and regulations, “The employer shall ensure the ready availability of medical personnel for advice and consultation on matters of plant health.” This means a company must have fully trained personnel on-site to provide medical assistance when needed to remain compliant.

Also, under OSHA’s laws and regulations as outlined in 29 CFR 1910.151(b), “In the absence of an infirmary, clinic, or hospital in near proximity to the workplace, which is used for the treatment of all injured employees, a person or persons shall be adequately trained to render first aid. Adequate first aid and supplies shall be readily available.”

However, even if you have a business whereby OSHA does not require first-aid training, this is something that everyone would benefit from, making it an excellent choice. Unfortunately, you never know when an accident will occur, or someone will become ill. Whether from a fall, heart attack, chemical exposure, or something entirely different, investing in online first-aid training is one of the best things you can do for your company and your workers. 

Although not always, it has become quite common for first-aid training to include CPR. When researching different providers with outstanding programs, you should seriously consider selecting one that has coverage in both areas. In fact, a lot of the programs also include information and guidance of using an AED in the event someone suffers a heart attack.

The best training providers have a comprehensive program, which typically covers the following:

Of all medical procedures used, cardiopulmonary resuscitation, or CPR, is the most critical. This is why selecting a first-aid program that includes this is vital to your organization. After all, if a person suffers a heart attack during which time the heart no longer pumps blood, without CPR, that individual will die.

However, with CPR performed, or in some instances with the use of an automated external defibrillator (AED), an individual has an excellent chance of not just living, but after receiving proper medical treatment, living a long and healthy life.

Over the years, CPR has gone through several significant changes. For that reason, even if your staff took CPR training before, they should complete a new course based on current standards. As for an AED, if you don’t have one at your company, now is the time to purchase a device and provide your employees with training on its proper use.

For any wound, whether big or small, controlling the bleeding is an essential part of first-aid. In particular, more significant lacerations that lead to a lot of bleeding can cause a person to go into shock and even die. Especially if your company requires workers to handle sharp objects, this part of training is crucial.

The first thing a training course on treating burns teaches is to stop the burn as quickly as possible. Some examples include wiping off the skin of someone suffering a chemical burn, running cold water over a burn caused by heat, and turning off the source of electricity for an electrical burn. Through online courses, your employees will know the best way to respond based on the specific type of burn.

A qualified first-aid training provider teaches people what they should and should not do if someone breaks a bone. As an example, rather than straighten the limb, a fracture requires stabilization by creating a padded splint. Also, instead of placing a cold pack directly on the break to help with swelling, the limb needs to be elevated. 

While sprains are not as serious an injury as a fracture, they still cause significant pain and can leave a person immobilized. Because distinguishing one from the other is often a challenge, sprains receive virtually the same treatment as breaks.

Sadly, the latest polar vortex to sweep the country took the lives of several people. With online courses for first-aid training, your employees will learn how to recognize this problem and treat it. Without quick and appropriate action, frostbite can do severe damage to the skin’s tissue, causing it to die.

Along with the bigger problems, first-aid training covers an assortment of less risky incidents such as blisters, jellyfish stings, nosebleeds, bee stings, and more. Of course, depending on the injured party and the degree of the injury, even something minor can quickly become a major issue.

Regardless of your specific industry, it never hurts to know how to treat both common and uncommon injuries. 

Although you could set up a training program with a reputable organization like Blue Cross or the American Heart Institute, that would require you to pull several people away from their responsibilities to attend class. Even if people go to a designated location, you might receive some pushback because it takes time away from work and home.

That is not to say that your staff doesn’t want to learn everything that first-aid training provides, just that it can be difficult due to their schedules and responsibilities. For that reason alone, providing your entire organization with online training makes far more sense. 

Have your HR Director, Compliance Manager, and L&D Manager review various courses, followed by selecting those that best serve your specific company. From there, you can have your employees complete the online courses during normal business hours or in the comfort of home.

Remember, the best providers have courses that usually take less than an hour to complete. Therefore, you don’t have to worry about disruption at work. As for your employees interested in completing the training at home, you might consider offering some type of small incentive or pay them for the time it takes to complete each course.

Without question, your best option for training is through a respected and trusted Learning Management System (LMS). That way, everyone has access to the best courses available, developed and often presented by qualified experts in the field of first-aid, CPR, and AED utilization.

Have your leadership team explore the possibilities with an excellent LMS and make sure they look for specific things to confirm that LMS has the first-aid training courses that you need and want for your organization.

While all first-aid training courses share similarities, preferably look for one with customized solutions. What that means is that beyond the more generic topics on the subject, you have the opportunity to use custom content that really drives the lesson home. Ultimately, this ensures your employees receive the precise training needed to comply with OSHA or your company policies.

When it comes to online first-aid training courses, the last thing you want is something so difficult that your staff absorbs none of the information covered. Therefore, select an LMS that is easy to access and use from virtually anywhere, even mobile devices.

Something else to consider is that because this type of training allows your workers to complete courses at their leisure, they can work through each topic quickly but without missing anything. If you offer your staff a platform that is hard to follow, it will take them significantly longer to finish the training. At the same time, they will begin to feel frustrated and disinterested.

Even for first-aid training, receiving detailed reports is essential. In fact, reporting is a key element of any LMS worth using. Focus on a platform that offers built-in training so that you can keep track of what each employee accomplishes. This is especially important if you choose an LMS without integration possibilities. 

If your company needs to remain compliant on multiple things, you could use the same LMS for first-aid training and other mandates by OSHA. That will help your HR Director know what each person has completed and will make it easier for your Compliance Manager to stay current on all compliance issues. 

Although not a “make it or break it” requirement, it would be ideal to use an LMS that you can integrate with your company’s internal systems. For example, this would make it easy to store information as to what courses each employee took and when. With that, your HR Director could formulate a plan to keep everyone current on training.

As with system integration, while not vital to your first-aid training, it’s highly beneficial. With a built-in assessment tool, your employees can perform an assessment whenever they complete a course. Considering they work at their own pace, this helps tremendously. Also, this eliminates the need to coordinate group assessment sessions, which would take time away from production.

Best of all, online assessments get pulled into the reporting feature automatically, again streamlining the overall training process.

Whether your company needs to meet strict compliance laws and regulations or you simply want to create a safer and healthier work environment, you don’t want to pass up the opportunity to provide your staff with online first-aid training. 

Especially if your business falls in a high-risk category for injuries, this type of training becomes critical. Another factor is the location of your company. If you have a rural address, it’s going to take first responders longer to reach an injured person to perform possible life-saving measures.

 Regardless of your situation, there’s no time to waste in implementing a program into your operations. Along with initial training, it’s just as important that you provide this opportunity ongoing. Again, you would need to do this to remain compliant but even without that, you want your teams to have access to the most advanced and current processes available throughout the year.

Along with online first-aid training, be sure you place several well-stocked first-aid kits around the building. Everyone who completes courses should know the location of the kits, as well as how to properly use each item included.

If you have a larger company, consider appointing several people to respond to medical emergencies to serve as the lead. Those individuals need to complete as many courses as possible, even earning a first-aid certification.

While there’s no minimum requirement set by OSHA, this government entity does reference ANSI Z308, I-2003, which states what you should have as far as the number of kits and their contents. 

Along with the more basic topics covered with first-aid training are some specialty courses that your designated medical response team needs to take. For instance, there are courses that teach people what they should and shouldn’t do when exposed to, or they come into contact with, potentially infectious materials, including blood, diarrhea, vomit, urine, and stools. For this, create an exposure control plan based on the courses available through a trusted LMS.

 Typically, organizations designate an infectious disease officer when an exposure risk exists. Through the proper training, that individual can quickly adapt to every scenario yet take the appropriate measures to protect one’s self, along with other company employees.

As part of that person’s responsibility, he or she would become educated on topics such as the following:

Using barrier devices, including eye protection, gloves, and masks

Washing hands after any contact with potentially infectious body fluids

Preventing injuries caused by needles and other sharp objects, as well as disposing of any object that would put another person at risk

Gathering and disposing of any contaminated items such as clothes and towels

For superior online first-aid training courses, Go1 is your best source. As a leader among LMSs, we offer an abundance of topics to prevent injuries and illnesses in the workplace, as well as for those treating the injured or sick individuals.

For more insights, subscribe to the Go1 newsletter to stay on top of all the latest L&D trends. Or, you can book a demo today to find out how Go1 can help with your team’s learning needs.

How to choose a first-aid training provider

When it comes to training, we often talk a lot about the importance of learning and acquiring new skills. 

But it can be just as important for your career to continually build on and develop your existing skills. 

You might be thinking it’s a waste of time learning about something that you’re already good at? 

However, think of it this way: would you expect a surgeon to stop their education once they’ve graduated from university? Or once they’ve reached a certain age? Surely not. 

 In a less ‘life or death’ scenario, would you hire a graphic designer who only uses tools from the last decade? They might be an awesome creative, with excellent design and communication skills, but outdated tech training is bound to let them down. 

 The fact is, learning should be a life-long process, for all professions. 

 All skills can be enhanced and improved upon, to help you become even better at your job. 

Brian Fetherstonhaugh, worldwide chief talent officer at The Ogilvy Group, believes happiness lies in finding your career sweet spot.  

“Your career sweet spot is the intersection of three things: what you’re good at, what you love to do, and what the world values.”

Continually enhancing your skills (even those you’re already good at) allows you to be the very best you can be, so you can make your own positive contribution to the world. 

Professional Development Needs to Be Ongoing

 Let’s look closer at why training and development should be ongoing for all careers. 

 We live in a world where new technologies are being released daily. New discoveries are being made. New knowledge is now available. 

For professionals working in fast-paced industries such as technology, it’s particularly important to stay up-to-date and aware of industry changes. 

Taking the time to invest in your professional development is one of the best things you can do for your career. By taking charge of your own development, you can make sure you’re filling in any skills gaps and keeping up-to-date with current knowledge in your industry. 

Enrolling in regular training for your role and industry will help you further enhance the skills you’re already good at, while also having the opportunity to acquire new skills and knowledge. You’ll also feel more in control of your own happiness and direction.

On that note, there’s another reason why setting aside time for ongoing professional development is so important: learning for its own sake brings its own advantages. 

 Making a commitment to life-long learning is known to:

Make us less risk averse and more adaptable to change when it happens

Help us achieve a more satisfying personal life

By taking part in ongoing training and committing to life-long learning, you’ll be keeping your brain sharp and healthy. 

You’ll also be showing employers (current or prospective) that you’re motivated to continually learn and improve professionally, which is a very valued trait in any team member. 

Why You Should Be Developing Your Soft Skills

Many employers these days are placing great emphasis on soft skills – those skills that help us become better communicators, leaders and team players.

So it’s not just technical skills that you should be focused on developing. 

In today’s workforce, hiring managers place a lot of value on employees who possess a good combination of technical ‘hard’ skills and less tangible ‘soft’ skills. In fact, it’s often the soft skills that matter when employees are being hired and fired. 

Let’s say you’re faced with two employees with the exact same set of technical skills. Yet these two individuals may be very different when it comes to attitude or the ability to communicate and work as part of a team. 

Which person will you hire or promote to a higher level – the candidate with the good attitude who is always willing to pitch in, or someone who has a track record of being negative and difficult?

Unlike intellect, soft skills such as emotional intelligence and communication can be developed and expanded – so why not invest some time in honing and developing your soft skills?

How to Enhance Your Skills with eLearning

So you’re ready to get to work on improving your existing skill set?

Many employees rely solely on the training provided by their employer for their career development – but there’s nothing stopping you from spending your own time learning and developing new skills. 

Think about the gaps in your skill set that are preventing you from achieving your goals. It’s very likely that you can find high-quality eLearning courses that provide training in those areas.

Employers – make sure you’re giving staff the opportunity and resources to continually learn. 

With so many online courses and eLearning solutions available, there’s never been a better time to explore options for professional development training. 

How to enhance what you're already good at – with eLearning

In today’s fast-paced and competitive business environments, innovation is critical for success. 

So if you want your organisation to stay ahead of the competition and achieve growth, you need to foster a workplace culture of innovation. 

But how do you go about doing this? It’s easy to say “let’s be more innovative!” but what steps can employers take to make this happen?

In order to be truly innovative, employers need to create a working environment where staff are encouraged to generate and develop ideas. 

Team members who are able to come up with new concepts, or streamline old processes and solve old problems, will always be an asset to any company. And the ideas generated by these employees are what’s going to give your company a competitive edge. 

Here’s how to help encourage a culture of innovation, growth and new ideas in your workplace.  

More and more companies are setting up physical spaces to encourage greater creativity and innovation in the workplace. 

Intel, for example, has built an innovation Open Lab to facilitate and enhance open research and innovation opportunities for the company.

Martin Curley, director of Intel Labs Europe, describes the kitchen in the innovation lab as having whiteboards from top to bottom, all over the room, “so people can improvise and create prototypes in real time.” 

“There is a certain ambience in the room which lets people know they have permission and license to innovate,” he says.

Vodafone has also moved away from traditional office layouts and meeting rooms, focusing more on the creation of central areas where people can relax, have coffee and brainstorm. 

According to Rachel Mooney, Vodafone Ireland HR director, “different areas of the business were working in silos [which] tended to hold back new ideas and creativity.” 

The new working environment led to greater communication and innovation, by creating opportunities for conversation between everyone – not only across different departments but most importantly at different levels. 

In addition to giving people the right working environment and space to flourish, it’s also important to make sure employees have time to be innovative. 

Many workers are flat out getting through the everyday tasks and functions of their job. Especially if they’re running between back-to-back meetings. There often isn’t much time to come up with new strategies and ideas – strategies and ideas that could have the potential to really grow the business. 

In order to combat this, Google has created a “20%” program that gives its developers permission to spend 20% of their work hours on a creative project of their own. 

More workplaces are thinking like this, taking steps to ensure staff are given the time they need to come up with the big ideas.  

Don’t just listen to new ideas – use them

So you’ve taken steps to help your employees become more innovative and creative. 

But there’s no point encouraging employees to brainstorm and generate new ideas if they’re never going to be taken on board. 

When someone comes up with a great idea, use it! Listen to the fresh ideas your team members come up with – then implement them. 

Journalist Pamela Newenham, writing for The Irish Times, believes, “ideas have to be implemented or they’re not worth anything. To truly innovate, companies need to ensure a culture that supports new ideas and new ways of doing business efforts, but also execute those ideas.” 

This might sound a bit odd at first, but a huge part of innovation is about taking risks. 

That’s why it’s important to let employees know that failure is okay. After all, not every new idea is going to be a big hit or huge success. But how will you know, if you don’t try? 

If employees are too scared to speak up about a new idea, or worried about losing their jobs if it fails, things will just stay the same. Without innovation, there is no growth. 

As Laura DeCarlo, business success coach at Career Directors International, says:

“To learn to fly we have to test our wings… In the workplace, you either let them try to express their creativity or you will kill their drive and desire to contribute.” 

John McSweeney, head of innovation at EBS, has similar words on this topic:

“People shouldn’t be afraid to challenge the status quo. In an atmosphere of fear you will never get innovation.”

Within your company, let people feel safe to speak up about their ideas and concepts. Treat people’s new ideas gently and with respect. Some of these ideas will be responsible for taking your business to the next level.

Supporting growth and new ideas in the workplace

Welcome to our first episode of The eLearning Assist Podcast for 2019!

In this episode, Go1’s VP of Marketing Scott Cooper talks to Louise Nott about all things onboarding. 

Louise is a member of the Employee Experience team at Amicus, who recently won a ‘Best Training Project’ award from LearnX for their awesome onboarding program. 

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