By Annmarie Edwards
The value of workforce training can provide benefits to your workers and customers. Workforce training program provides workers with the necessary skills to perform their jobs. Here are seven tips on the benefits of workforce training:
1. Workforce training can act as a motivation for staff in providing skills and knowledge to do a better job. To avoid your staff burnt-out you should make training and development program an essential part of your workforce. This is critical in keeping a motivated workforce.
2. Save time and money. A trained workforce will help your organization save time and money by providing your customers with excellent services. Also, employees morale will go up when they have the skills they need to do their jobs. Training helps to promote efficiency and decrease workers turnover rate.
3. Career development. When you provide workforce training for your workers you are able to promote them by setting up a career path for them at the onset. Workforce training provides you with a lens to what knowledge and skills your workers have and what they lack. A career development path helps workers to advance to the next level in their career. This is what workers need to motivate them on-the-job to take part in training.
4. Training is effective leadership. Workforce training shows how effect a leader is in providing workers with the skills they need to perform their jobs. You should give workforce training your highest priority in building your workforce. Training managers can set up a learning lab and a library on-the-job. These are resources for workers to use as needed.
5. Performance evaluation. Workforce training helps managers track workers performance through performance evaluation. Workforce training provides the lens to how workers are performing. Managers are able to see if production goes up because of training and if their customer satisfaction improves.
6. Build consistency. Training provides consistency to your workforce by keeping workers up-to-date with current trends. Setting a time for training and adhere to that time will help you in building consistency.
7. Build connection. Workforce training helps managers and workers build connection in learning how to do a better job. Making time for your workers in providing answers and support will help you to build connection.
Annmarie Edwards is a workforce trainer who provides businesses with tips on workforce training and issues on her online workforce training blog.
Copyrighted © 2008 by Annmarie Edwards
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Monday, September 8, 2008
Workforce Training: How Senior Management And CEO'S Harness The Power of Chess Part 2
By Efrain Tionko
Development of a Continuous Improvement Culture
Serious tournament players often have their individual (physical and mental) exercise routines and regularly read up on the latest theory to ensure that they stay on top of their game. But what makes a chess player world-class as opposed to just being good is his ability to not just keep up with the latest theory, but to challenge existing ones and potentially contribute new ones.
In chess, we often hear and read about a world-class player introducing a "novelty" into a known system or "refuting" an accepted theory. In business, the application of best practice models is not necessarily enough to gain genuine competitive advantage. What advantage can be had when the competition applies the same principles, gets the same compliance certificates, and recruits the same "black belts" as you?
Genuine competitive advantage can only be had if there are business intangibles that you are able to do and gain that none of your competitors can. A continuous improvement culture, one that always looks for possibilities and is not averse to challenging existing systems, will help the business leader find these intangibles.
Recognition of Key Decision Points
We often wonder how the world's best players can quickly trot out moves in succession, then just suddenly hunker down and think, and not make a move for more than half an hour. One easy answer, especially at the start of a game, is the player is familiar with existing theory and only starts critically thinking when the opponent makes an unfamiliar move.
A more subtle reason is most world-class chess players instinctively recognize, from years of practice and practical experience, key decision points in a game. These key decision points are often situations where there are at least two serious moves consideration and the move that is next chosen can dictate the direction the rest of the game takes.
There are many of these types of decision points in the life cycle of any business: divestment considerations, new business opportunities, interest rate variations, etc. It is important the business leader not only recognizes key business decision points when such arise, but invest necessary resources to ensure that he makes the correct decision.
Taking A Decisive Action
Personally, I believe this is the most important capacity a business leader can learn from chess. A game of chess is complex: Chess players claimed there are far more possible moves in a chess game than there are atoms in the universe. So a chess player can spend all the time that he wants looking as far ahead and considering complex a decision tree as he can handle. Also, after all the time a chess player spent analyzing, it is more likely there are far more moves that he failed to consider than he took. Yet a chess player has to make a move and a quick one at the most in gaining a competitive edge.
Business leaders have to make most key business decisions under similar circumstances. What often sets great business leaders apart are their ability to recognize when they need to take a decisive action, and take this even with limited information.
Playing chess in the workforce is not that hard in grooming workers to take decisive action in their work. Businesses need critical thinkers who have the ability to advance forward even with limited information. Chess develops the mind in using strategies to advance floundering or expanding business. Chess as a part of workforce training will help businesses keep employees challenged for a long time(Annmarie Edwards, Workforce Trainer).
Efrain Tionko is a Senior Consultant at Northgate Arinso Australia. You can learn more about his services @ http://www.linkedin.com/in/ebtionko
Copyrighted (C)2008 by Efrain Tionko
Development of a Continuous Improvement Culture
Serious tournament players often have their individual (physical and mental) exercise routines and regularly read up on the latest theory to ensure that they stay on top of their game. But what makes a chess player world-class as opposed to just being good is his ability to not just keep up with the latest theory, but to challenge existing ones and potentially contribute new ones.
In chess, we often hear and read about a world-class player introducing a "novelty" into a known system or "refuting" an accepted theory. In business, the application of best practice models is not necessarily enough to gain genuine competitive advantage. What advantage can be had when the competition applies the same principles, gets the same compliance certificates, and recruits the same "black belts" as you?
Genuine competitive advantage can only be had if there are business intangibles that you are able to do and gain that none of your competitors can. A continuous improvement culture, one that always looks for possibilities and is not averse to challenging existing systems, will help the business leader find these intangibles.
Recognition of Key Decision Points
We often wonder how the world's best players can quickly trot out moves in succession, then just suddenly hunker down and think, and not make a move for more than half an hour. One easy answer, especially at the start of a game, is the player is familiar with existing theory and only starts critically thinking when the opponent makes an unfamiliar move.
A more subtle reason is most world-class chess players instinctively recognize, from years of practice and practical experience, key decision points in a game. These key decision points are often situations where there are at least two serious moves consideration and the move that is next chosen can dictate the direction the rest of the game takes.
There are many of these types of decision points in the life cycle of any business: divestment considerations, new business opportunities, interest rate variations, etc. It is important the business leader not only recognizes key business decision points when such arise, but invest necessary resources to ensure that he makes the correct decision.
Taking A Decisive Action
Personally, I believe this is the most important capacity a business leader can learn from chess. A game of chess is complex: Chess players claimed there are far more possible moves in a chess game than there are atoms in the universe. So a chess player can spend all the time that he wants looking as far ahead and considering complex a decision tree as he can handle. Also, after all the time a chess player spent analyzing, it is more likely there are far more moves that he failed to consider than he took. Yet a chess player has to make a move and a quick one at the most in gaining a competitive edge.
Business leaders have to make most key business decisions under similar circumstances. What often sets great business leaders apart are their ability to recognize when they need to take a decisive action, and take this even with limited information.
Playing chess in the workforce is not that hard in grooming workers to take decisive action in their work. Businesses need critical thinkers who have the ability to advance forward even with limited information. Chess develops the mind in using strategies to advance floundering or expanding business. Chess as a part of workforce training will help businesses keep employees challenged for a long time(Annmarie Edwards, Workforce Trainer).
Efrain Tionko is a Senior Consultant at Northgate Arinso Australia. You can learn more about his services @ http://www.linkedin.com/in/ebtionko
Copyrighted (C)2008 by Efrain Tionko
Workforce Training: How Senior Management And CEO'S Harness The Power of Chess Part 1
By Efrain Tionko
A business practitioner views on chess
As a keen tournament chess player, I believe chess offers genuine life skills learning, especially for the young. Some examples include problem solving, planning, pattern recognition, and critical thinking.
How Chess Skill And Competency Applied In Real-world
One can write a book about how chess skill and competency applied in real-world business environments. In fact, former world champion Garry Kasparov did just that, in his book "How Life Imitates Chess." I haven't personally read the book, but I can share some thoughts based on my personal experience as a chess player and business practitioner.
Best Practice Application
Chess theory, especially on opening play, has been developed over many decades of tournament application. The chess theory that we know today based on endless analysis on games played over the years. The best chess tournament performers are often those who are up-to-date on current theory and know how to apply these in practice.
It is the same with business. Business principles developed through the years have given us the various best practice models that we know about today. It is important for the business leader who wants to get ahead to understand and be able to apply these best practice models.
Seeking a Competitive Advantage
Management theorists have long supported businesses seeking and preserving a competitive advantage over their competitors. While models and frameworks have suggested and debated on how businesses can keep the competitive advantage, business leaders agree that a business that does not have competitive advantage cannot survive.
The game of chess is all about competitive advantage. The opening stage of a chess game sees two opponents jostling for the advantage. The middle game often sees one getting the advantage while the other seeks counter play. The endgame shows whether a player can successfully press his advantage to win the game.
The chess idea of "seeking counter play" is relevant for business, especially when one works in a mature industry with powerful market leaders. Does one price match? Is it possible to be a niche player? Can a business leader create a new or alternative market? Stay tuned for part 2 where I will discuss the development of a continuous improvement culture.
Efrain Tionko is a Senior Consultant at Northgate Arinso Australia. You can learn more about his services @ http://www.linkedin.com/in/ebtionko
A business practitioner views on chess
As a keen tournament chess player, I believe chess offers genuine life skills learning, especially for the young. Some examples include problem solving, planning, pattern recognition, and critical thinking.
How Chess Skill And Competency Applied In Real-world
One can write a book about how chess skill and competency applied in real-world business environments. In fact, former world champion Garry Kasparov did just that, in his book "How Life Imitates Chess." I haven't personally read the book, but I can share some thoughts based on my personal experience as a chess player and business practitioner.
Best Practice Application
Chess theory, especially on opening play, has been developed over many decades of tournament application. The chess theory that we know today based on endless analysis on games played over the years. The best chess tournament performers are often those who are up-to-date on current theory and know how to apply these in practice.
It is the same with business. Business principles developed through the years have given us the various best practice models that we know about today. It is important for the business leader who wants to get ahead to understand and be able to apply these best practice models.
Seeking a Competitive Advantage
Management theorists have long supported businesses seeking and preserving a competitive advantage over their competitors. While models and frameworks have suggested and debated on how businesses can keep the competitive advantage, business leaders agree that a business that does not have competitive advantage cannot survive.
The game of chess is all about competitive advantage. The opening stage of a chess game sees two opponents jostling for the advantage. The middle game often sees one getting the advantage while the other seeks counter play. The endgame shows whether a player can successfully press his advantage to win the game.
The chess idea of "seeking counter play" is relevant for business, especially when one works in a mature industry with powerful market leaders. Does one price match? Is it possible to be a niche player? Can a business leader create a new or alternative market? Stay tuned for part 2 where I will discuss the development of a continuous improvement culture.
Efrain Tionko is a Senior Consultant at Northgate Arinso Australia. You can learn more about his services @ http://www.linkedin.com/in/ebtionko
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