Gone are the days when simple advertising in the local publication, national press or even television was enough to build customer loyalty. We live in an information age where the internet has revolutionised the way we reach the marketplace.

The internet and the way it’s used for marketing is constantly evolving. When the World Wide Web was just becoming popular, having a website akin to a company brochure was useful. It’s not any more. Content is not enough. You need to work harder to compete against the plethora of pages that are just a click away.

Marketing and sales training courses recognise these challenges and opportunities and devote an increasing amount of time to advising you how to build a better presence for your company online.

Out of every hundred pence spent by Mr or Mrs Consumer on retail products, seventeen pence is spent online. Analysts predict this percentage is going to rise dramatically. Indeed, studies suggest that by 2010, £72bn will be spent by consumers shopping online.

It doesn’t matter if your company doesn’t sell directly on their website. What is important to understand is that technology and the growth of high speed broadband in the home and office is giving you more marketing opportunities than you could ever have imagined possible even a few years ago.

Are you maximising your online potential?

As a manager, you can get a job done well if you do it yourself. If you delegate once, and delegate well, you can get literally hundreds of jobs done at the same time. Sounds simple, but some managers struggle to let go and get the best out of their team, and may not even be looking in the right direction themselves.

Those who invest in management training learn how to maximise their own potential and that of their employees. Modern management thinking acknowledges the importance of encouraging employees to take initiative and to get actively involved in the working and functions of their job and their company. Essentially it’s a paradigm - a concept of belief.

Management and employees generally ought to take on board the following ideas:

- If a job’s not being done well enough, it’s either a problem of motivation or capability
- Managers must create an environment where motivation can blossom
- Personnel and performance reviews are vital
- Consider what you need to do today, to stop difficulties tomorrow
- Give your colleagues the same level of service you would give your best customers
- Try and plan ahead a week at a time, focusing on your core goals and values
- Excellence cannot exist within a poor communication environment
- Implement coaching and mentoring among company hierarchy
- Say ‘yes’ when you can and ‘no’ when you can’t. If you say ‘no’, communicate your challenges clearly and seek advice from the proposer as to how to remedy the situation

This list is by no means exhaustive.

Outcomes are dictated by what you do, not just what you believe.

Any successful manager will tell you the importance of investing in your employees to get a good return. As such many enrol in management training courses to learn about motivational techniques and systems that will improve the size and quality of output from their staff.

One topic likely to be on the syllabus of a good management training course is employee empowerment. A lot of companies may say that it’s a philosophy they believe in, but few actually take clear steps to carry it out. It’s a concept that can differentiate companies that grow and succeed, from those that stagnate.

Here are some pointers you can use to implement employee empowerment:

-    Give your employee as much information and communication as you can. Too much is better than too little
-    Deal with your employees with the respect and trust that you expect to receive yourself
-    Investigate their soft skills training requirements. Give them the opportunity to gain new skills and resources, which will enable them to reach your collective goals
-    Be clear in the roles, responsibilities and expectations of performance that you expect of them
-    Give them as much authority and freedom of choice as possible to get on with the job
-    Allow them some personal influence on the type of job they do and they way they do it

Many managers attend management training courses in order to try and get the best out of their employees. Evidence suggests that as staff motivation increases, absence levels decrease.

According to the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), absenteeism costs UK industry over £11bn pounds a year. The Royal Mail is painfully aware of the problem of attendance. Staff absenteeism was costing them over £300 million pounds a year, with up to 12,000 people being off work at any one time.

They came up with a communications and incentives strategy.  Employees were written to, and explained the challenges and repercussions their employer faced as a result of work absence. They also announce that an incentive scheme would be put in place where staff that had a 100% attendance record over a six month period would be entered into a prize draw.

Not only were they given the opportunity to win shopping vouchers, but a brand new motor car, courtesy of The Royal Mail. The scheme has proved a huge success; over a recorded three year period, staff absence decreased from 7% of its workforce to only 5%, estimating a saving of over £200m.

It’s an interesting strategy, and a great example of a win-win. It may become a philosophy adopted by other employers with a staff absence problem.

If your employee hasn’t responded adequately to the initial Informal Verbal discussion mentioned in a previous article, you may need to consider taking the following escalating steps:

Verbal Warning

This is a formal step and could be recorded on the employee’s personnel file. This should be used when the initial informal chat has failed to yield results and/or the situation has deteriorated unacceptably. You should clearly state that you’re issuing a ‘verbal warning’, and work out further signs of improvement that you expect to see. Explain that failure to rectify the issue may result in a further escalation to:

Written Warning

Again, this is a more serious step than the previous measures. It should be formulated, discussed and delivered to the employee by his or her supervisor or manager responsible for the action. This should definitely be recorded in the personnel file, which may affect the employee’s future work prospects. It ought to explain why the action is being taken, and what measures of improvements are expected and when.

At all points during the disciplinary process, consider whether there is a gap in the employee’s soft skills training or personal development, that you could be responsible for rectifying.

This article is intended is for general information and should be regarded as a guideline only. If you are carrying out serious disciplinary action, it is recommended that you seek legal advice and further assistance from an advisory service such as ACAS or attend an appropriate management training course.

The level of disciplinary action that a manager needs to take relating to an employee, will depend on the level of the employee’s offence or misdemeanour. The response or action should be appropriate.

This requires some discretion on the part of the manager. The most long term effective, people-focused managers will see disciplinary procedures as an opportunity to work on the soft skills development of the wayward staff member. The goal should be a win-win for both the employee and the organisation.

It’s generally accepted today that disciplinary procedures should be carried out on a progressive scale, a scale on which the manager can escalate steps depending on the severity of misconduct or the level of poor performance.

Let’s look at the first step of the disciplinary scale, beginning with the least severe:

Informal verbal

This is an opportunity for you to express your initial concerns in an informal way. You could look at it as a feedback meeting. This is fine for very minor issues and is a chance for the line manager, supervisor or manager to express their concerns, and gain a better understanding of the employee’s situation. Often, for low level issues, this is the only step you’ll need to take.

Disciplinary procedures for staff should not be regarded as a last resort; they represent steps to correct action or behaviour for the good of both the employee and the organisation, and should be seen as an opportunity for the employee’s personal development, not just a castigatory initiative.

However, the growth in the topic in management training courses suggests that many managers need to improve their understanding of the process. If an employee is falling far short of expectations, the worst thing a manager can do, is do nothing.

Misconduct is perhaps the most serious reason as to why you may discipline an employee. Potential examples are vast, and each may require a different level of reaction from management.

For example, disciplinary action as result of an employee ‘borrowing’ a ream of paper from the stationery cupboard for personal use may require a different level of corrective action than an employee who has displayed a physically violent outburst. The first example may justify and informal discussion, the latter may lead to immediate dismissal.

It’s important for any organisation to have a conduct of conduct which clearly states what it is expected from employees and the employer. This is an ideal insertion into a company handbook of policies and procedures.

Remember, retaining and turning around an employee can save the organisation many direct and indirect costs, as opposed to termination and recruitment.

One main reason why a manager may need to bring about disciplinary action with their staff is for:

Inadequate Performance

An employee may be expected to reach and maintain a certain level of performance. This may be in the form of a sales target, a manufacturing target, even customer service target and more.

If the employee falls below these expectations the manager will need to take corrective action.

However, it is important to remember, the targets and expectations placed on the employee should have been made clear beforehand. They should have been specific, measurable and timed.

It is very difficult to discipline a poor performance by an employee, if the standards have not been explicitly set earlier on. They ought to have been written down and not in the form of a psychological contract.

A good manager will, after discussion with the employee, do their upmost to investigate possible indirect reasons why targets have not been met. This will include, if appropriate, consideration as to whether they were fair and achievable to begin with.

The manager should also agree with the employee an appropriate and measurable improvement required, and within an agreed timescale. Opportunities may be made to provide the employee with support and mentoring to achieve to achieve this target. The disciplinary procedure should be looked at as an opportunity for the employee’s personal development. What if the poor sales performance can be traced by to an inadequate sales training course?

Once the targets are back on track, a manager should formally review the success and confirm with the employee that this represents a closure of that disciplinary procedure.

Sometimes, regardless of what you try and to get the best out of an employee, and try and get them to some kind of level of acceptable standard, they will fail to meet your expectations. This is the point where as their manager you need to ask yourself the dreadful question ‘What action should I take now?’

Disciplining staff one of the most difficult challenges the modern manager faces.  Once the process of corrective actions begins, there is no guarantee of success, and ultimately you may have to reach the point of no return: dismissal.

Not only can it be a personally uncomfortable experience, but it can also be a legal minefield, leaving the company potentially exposed to employment tribunals brought about by disgruntled staff.

Dismissal is not only detrimental to the employee, but can affect the company morale and cost your organisation more time and money in recruitment costs.

This is why it is so important why management understand the key principles and practices of staff disciplinary action, and explains the huge growth in books and management training courses on the subject.

By careful consideration and use of the disciplinary process to effect a positive change, you can turn around the fortunes of the wayward employee.

This is the last in a series of articles on the way the unconscious and conscious mind applies itself to new learning. It is a very useful paradigm to help you achieve your personal development targets in all aspects of your life, but especially in business. The next time you attend a sales training course, or a management training course, having this understanding of how your mind works will help you achieve your overall desired outcome.

The overall goal in learning is to reach a level of Unconscious Competence in the target area you have chosen to learn. Thus, in effect, your highly effective behaviour becomes habitual. A habit is the representation of the operation of our unconscious mind which affects everything we do.

We tend to incorrectly have negative connotations with the word ‘habit’, but in actual fact, the habit can be our best friend and our most powerful tool. Thanks to the brilliant work of business development gurus such a Stephen R Covey (author of the 15+ million selling book The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People) we are beginning to see the power of the ‘good’ habit.

However, even the best experts in their field have gone through this process of learning with a certain mindset or belief system which they later have identified has held them back.

You may have heard of top level snooker players or golfers who have decided to change their playing style. In order to ‘get back to the drawing board’ they decided to go back to Key Stage Two - Conscious Incompetence, where they learn the most and move through the next two stages to complete their new growth.

If you’re looking at your own training and development or that of your staff, it would be useful to identify at what stage of learning you or they are at, and whether you or they need to go back to Stage Two to implement a positive habitual change.

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