If you haven't already done so, I urge all of our members to visit our Web Polls page and vote on our two topics for October: New Manager Training and Flexible Schedules. You can also view the results of past web polls and our analysis of the results, based on respondents from our audience of small and midsize business owners, leaders, managers, HR professionals and others interested in creating a winning workplace.
Regarding October's web polls, take a close look at the New Manager Training poll. You'll see that the current results show that out of the 84 respondents (a record number since we began these polls in July 2006, by the way), over half (52 percent) say their employer does not offer training for new managers. We see this statistic as a bit of a red flag for several reasons.
First, training for new managers ensures that everyone at the manager level (and, thus, those they supervise) are on the same page. Whether a person joins the company at the manager level based on his or her previous experience from outside the company, or a person is promoted from within to become a manager, training for these folks serves as a golden opportunity to reaffirm the organization's mission and core values. In turn, the new manager will most likely be reinvigorated when it comes to his or her team. Training at this crucial juncture can even serve to realign teams, which can be particularly beneficial at times like the end of the fiscal or calendar year.
In addition, if there's one thing our Best Bosses recognition program for owners and leaders of exceptional small organizations has taught us, it's that any excuse for additional staff training should be carefully considered. Often, these can serve to improve staff commitment and, in many cases, the bottom line. One need look no further for evidence of this than one of the 18 organizations whose owner we recently honored as a 2006 Best Boss: SmartPak's Paal Gisholt.
Although he studied business at Harvard, the president and CEO of the Massachusetts-based retailer of equine and small animal products admits that he's a "notable non-rider" among his staff of about 70 employees who were hired largely because of their academic and real-world experience in the feeding and care of horses and other animals. But beyond the qualities that earned his staff a place at SmartPak, Gisholt places a high premium on frequent and effective training. He tells us he uses a dedicated staff and training room to improve his employees' knowledge of the company's products and horse nutrition. Gisholt says this allows his staff to be more effective consultants when they interact with their customer base, which includes barn managers and horse owners as well as veterinarians.
The end result, as you might have guessed, is an extremely knowledgeable staff that can handle customer inquiries more readily. This, along with an innovative product in the form of SmartPak supplements, helped the business achieve a 50 percent increase in growth in 2005. You can read more about SmartPak's training and other best practices in the upcoming November 2006 issue of our e-newsletter, Winning Workplaces Ideas. Look for it November 6.
Obviously, effective staff training benefits everyone. Yet, it can double in importance when it is used to align, or insome cases realign, managers' daily work with an organization's mission and values.
Owners and leaders: What forms of manager training do you use? How do you help new managers to find their way? We welcome your thoughts and tips.
— Winning Workplaces, October 25, 2006 | Add your thoughts