September 23rd, 2010 by Robin Green

When an employee begins a new job, it’s critical to start off on the right foot. Employee turnover is a wasteful, costly phenomenon that happens to too many organizations. It isn’t necessarily true that you’re hiring “bad employees”, but that once they are hired, the motivation element in the workplace may be lacking.

How can you ensure that the employee you have hired fulfills the expectations and the work that you have for him/her? The answer is in the first few weeks of an employee’s new term–during training.

Dynamic and effective training ensures that employees understand their tasks, gives them the practice and theory they will need to do their job with excellence, and creates a greater sense of team spirit in the workplace. In fact, there is a growing trend to nurture the team spirit and true engagement aspects of training.

With a learning management system (LMS) online training that treats training as a game and the participant as a motivated and interested learner, (which everyone is at the onset of a new job) Using an LMS, you can create dynamic, face-to-face training that has a game-like element, which engages and teaches at the same time.

In fact, the beginning of a new position isn’t the only time to implement an LMS online training course. If you have staff who are not living up to their potential and/or your standards, it might be a good time to introduce an online course. You can make the LMS online course dynamic and fun, and allow employees to complete some activities and lessons independently, while working with coworkers on other activities.

Coggno is now offering a free trial for performance review training creators on its learning management system. Create an online course for free, whether it be for internal use, for inclusion in Coggno’s E-learning Marketplace, or for outside syndication on hundreds of websites.

—————-

Coggno.com offers a range of world-class LMS platforms.

September 17th, 2010 by Robin Green

I’ve already mentioned employee dread of performance reviews; but what about the managers giving the reviews? Surveys report that managers also harbor a strong dislike for performance reviews, oftentimes because an organization’s employee performance development is often lacking. Oftentimes, supervisors have a difficult time remembering the major achievements of each employee in a given year, let alone their goals, development, and other contributions.

Short memories on the managerial end and insufficient time spent on goal-setting and performance assessment throughout the year often make annual reviews unfair, inaccurate and worst of all, ineffective. Lack of preparation for a performance review communicates that you do not take the review seriously, and you can safely assume that neither will the evaluated employee.

Why are performance reviews important in the first place? Study after study shows that successful organizations are the ones whose employees have a sense of “we”.  It’s like what the poet William Butler Yeats once wrote: “Because I helped to wind the clock, I came to hear it strike.” People want to feel useful to and part of an organization, and recognized for their contributions. A one-sided lecture based on vague ideas about each employee (this is some managers’ idea of a performance review) is likelier to do much more harm than good for employee development.

A learning management system (LMS) can help solve this problem. LMS performance management removes the focus on the performance review itself. Instead, it places an emphasis on the whole picture, beginning to end, of performance management and improvement strategies. These include employee training and cross-training, dynamic lessons and assignments, employee performance improvement, performance development, comprehensive feedback and performance feedback.

The cost of using an LMS to manage performance development and feedback is low and even free in some cases, but the value is great. An investment in systematic performance development is an investment in your most precious resource–your people.

Coggno is now offering a free trial for performance review training creators on its learning management system. Create an online course for free, whether it be for internal use, for inclusion in Coggno’s E-learning Marketplace, or for outside syndication on hundreds of websites.

———————-

Coggno.com provides world-class online educational training.

September 8th, 2010 by Robin Green

With the economy on the upswing, you may find it the right time to finally approach your manager about a pay raise. A great context in which to do so is during a successful performance review. If your performance review is less than sparkling, it may not be the best time. So how can you nail your performance review?

Go in prepared. You might first consider taking a brief LMS preparation course. By doing so you’ll not only learn all the tips on how to have a successful interview, but many LMS courses also provide practice reviews and checklists to help you prepare.

You’ll find out the answers to questions such as: What control can I exercise during my performance review? What will the review cover, and what time periods will be reviewed? How can I showcase my accomplishments from the past year? The more prepared you go in to the interview, of course, the more successful you will be. The response your pay raise appeal receives is also likelier to be positive the stronger case you present for yourself.

Just how likely is it that your boss actually grants you a pay raise? Surveys show that pay raises are back on the table for many companies, although they may be modest ones. According to one Massachusetts-based survey, about 65% of the 476 U.S. business leaders surveyed are considering pay increases this year. Why? One reason is to prevent a potential flight of top talent once the economic situation has clearly improved.

Among the pay incentives employers are considering, merit increases are one reported by 66% to be most likely to occur. Therefore, one way to prepare for your performance review is to highlight the last year’s accomplishments. Your boss is most likely only vaguely aware of all the things you have accomplished in the last year. Remember that your performance review is the perfect time to point out the achievements that you believe are worthy of attention.

Be sure to mention anything extra that you think was above and beyond your regular responsibilities. Also don’t be afraid to point out times you took on extra tasks, put in overtime when not asked, worked to resolve work-related disagreements, or made your voice heard.

To demonstrate that you are a good candidate for a raise, take an LMS prep course and come prepared with a mental list of your accomplishments and behaviors worthy of brownie points.

Coggno is now offering a free trial for performance review training creators on its learning management system. Create an online course for free, whether it be for internal use, for inclusion in Coggno’s E-learning Marketplace, or for outside syndication on hundreds of websites.

——————

Coggno.com offers world-class LMS platforms.

September 3rd, 2010 by Robin Green

Do you have an annual performance review coming up? An LMS prep course could help you make it a success.

Oftentimes people dread performance reviews for all the wrong reasons. You might be unfamiliar with the process, or haven’t taken the time to reflect on the work year, or create professional goals for the future. You might believe it’s time for a pay raise, but you aren’t sure if it’s the right time to ask.

The trick is to go prepared. Keep in mind that workplaces do performance reviews differently. While some require that you take time to assess yourself, and later use that assessment as the basis for your review, others focus more on the future, or the past. Find out from your boss before the review for some specifics on how the process works.

Besides finding out the structure of the performance review, pick up an LMS online course or information guide to prepare you for the review. An LMS online course in performance review can help you answer questions such as: How do I prepare for my performance review? What is its purpose, and what can I achieve during the review? What will take place during the interview, and what will it cover? (You may also ask your boss this question.) Can I ask for things I want, for example, LMS training and further education? What is a good review? What rights do I have? Is it an appropriate space to complain about problems I’ve been experiencing at work? What is my role in the interview? And more.

Once you’ve answered these questions for yourself, you’ll realize that there’s no reason to dread your performance review; in fact, you may even look forward to it and take advantage of the space it provides for you to speak with your employer.

Coggno is now offering a free trial for performance review training creators on its learning management system. Create an online course for free, whether it be for internal use, for inclusion in Coggno’s E-learning Marketplace, or for outside syndication on hundreds of websites.

——————–

Coggno.com is a leading provider of high-quality LMS.

August 26th, 2010 by Robin Green

Annual performance review time is often an unpleasant and dreaded date on the calendar. Why is this the case? Oftentimes, it has to do with training.

If you know your annual performance review is approaching, it might be a good time to review your LMS training experience with your employer, point out any extra courses you’ve taken to enhance your professional skills, or discuss plans to enroll in outside training courses.

After all, a performance review is meant to provide a space not only for your manager to give you feedback on your performance, but for you to reflect on the year of work and get to the root of the reasons you might not be working to the best of your ability. Your manager will appreciate your proactive plans and your desire to improve your skills.

Furthermore, he or she may empathize when you relate the challenges you’ve faced in your job and during training. Management training, after all, is one area with a serious deficit.

From the highest executives and downward, one of the most common complaints about job training is its inadequacy or even the lack thereof. According to the 2010 IRS Line Manager Training Survey, areas like staff development, absence management, recruiting and retention, and grievance handling are just a few in which management training is reported as inadequate.

One hundred and twenty-three HR professionals were surveyed. Nearly two-thirds (60%) of those polled reported that their management training was encumbered by poor organizational backing (53%), financial limitations (50%), and poor attendance (45%). Eight in 10 of the managers polled advocated training and believed it should be compulsory.

Author of the report Charlotte Wolff said: “Line managers are increasingly expected to take on more responsibility in some crucial areas of people management, yet it appears that the training is not evolving at the same pace.”

With higher quality and greater accessibility of job training offered online, as well as increasingly internet-savvy employees in the business world, more and more companies are opting to include cost-effective and customizable LMS instruction in their training. However, you yourself may or may not have had a robust training experience.

Perhaps your training course was dry and uninteresting, non-compulsory, or maybe it was too fast or rushed through. Any of these factors are bound to have an enormous impact on employee performance long-term. As Wolff noted, “In areas such as absence management, where good practice can directly help the organization save on costs, I would have thought that investment in the relevant training would be clearly worthwhile.”

Even if effective training was lacking as part of the introduction to your current job, and perhaps this lack is reflected in your performance review, this is a good time to show your employer that you are proactive and search for LMS training that will enhance your professional skills.

Coggno is now offering a free trial for management training program creators on its learning management system. Create an online course for free, whether it be for internal use, for inclusion in Coggno’s E-learning Marketplace, or for outside syndication on hundreds of websites.

—————–

Coggno.com provides high-quality online education worldwide.

August 19th, 2010 by Robin Green

Are you in the process of implementing change in your company? Change management training could save you a massive amount of time, money, and hassle. A Learning Management System (LMS) is the most effective and prevalent method of providing change management training to your management team.

Change management skills are critical for any company undergoing changes, small or large. Company changes may include processes, policies, or environment. Without strong change management, whatever initiative you you are implementing is likelier to fail. Employees won’t accept the change and and the desired results will either not happen or take ten times longer than they should to occur.

An LMS course in change management can train managers to manage and implement change, which includes educating and guiding employees during the transition period. A good LMS course will teach managers that the first tenet of change management is selling the idea of change to employees.

In order to manage and implement change, some basic marketing skills should be learned.

An LMS course will teach managers to educate all employees who will be affected by the initiative in a way that creates a desire for the change. The towel initiative of hotels across the globe is a good example of this strategy.

The signs in hotel bathrooms provide a short description of a problem (water scarcity) and a way to help mitigate it. The signs ask guests to save water by throwing the dirty towels in the bathtub, and leaving the rest untouched. The effect is that the guests feel a desire to respond positively to the iniative. Everyone wins; the hotel saves money and the guest leaves knowing that they have taken an environmentally friendly action. In the same way, managers must learn how to sell the idea of change to employees by first educating and then explaining the end objectives and ultimate rewards that employees can look forward to.

It’s a well-known fact that human beings are resistant to change. We resist all kinds of change, but obviously the kinds of negative change that affect us directly or indirectly are the most fought against. The way a manager handles change and educates employees about it can make or break the initiative. People still may not like the change but at least they will understand it and why it is happening, and perhaps be able to deal with it in a more constructive way. Furthermore, even though the short-term situation may seem difficult, the end result which benefits the company should also benefit them in some way.

Coggno is now offering a free trial for management training program creators on its learning management system. Create an online course for free, whether it be for internal use, for inclusion in Coggno’s E-learning Marketplace, or for outside syndication on hundreds of websites.

—————

Coggno.com is a provider of world-class online training.

August 13th, 2010 by Robin Green

“ I walked into the conference room,  there were 8 team members sitting there waiting for me. I didn’t know who knew what, who was supposed to be doing what, and worst of all, hardly knew their names”.

When managing a team, particularly a team that is new to you one critical factor is evaluating their capabilities. Often, when taking over a group or a project, there is not much data or documentation that tells you about the capabilities of its members, and this can lead to serious problems when you begin to try and delegate responsibilities in an effective manner.

Often the previous manager, team lead, or director, was quickly moved, and left little or no notes pertaining t team members. So its left to you, the team lead to sort out how to effectively transfer knowledge, who has what strengths, and how to best capitalize on them.  Getting the soft skills evaluated can be easier; a group session by an intuitive manager can lead to some significant insights about his or her team. You can quickly become familiar with personalities and communication styles.  It’s the hard skills, the operational, or technical, performance abilities that are difficult to evaluate. This can be particularly critical when a group has been together for a long period of time.  Often team members will compensate for one and others strengths and weaknesses leading to a scrum of activity that makes it particularly difficult to evaluate who is doing, and responsible for what exactly.

An excellent way to avoid situations, and quickly and transparently asses and measure what everyone knows and what their strengths are is to deploy a pre meeting assessment on a hosted Learning Management System like Coggno.com .  By using an online learning platform, you can quickly and easily upload and deploy the quiz or test, and because you are not present while they are completing it, you don’t have the awkwardness inherent in an instructor lead evaluation, your audience won’t  feel judged. The evaluations also go a long o set a sense of inherent expectations, and project a measure of management discipline that you may be seeking when taking on a new team.

Using the Learning Management System at www.Coggno.com is a great cost effective way to facilitate this. The tools are intuitive and easy to use, there is no set-up fee, and best of all, the per-use system make it extremely cost effective.

The evaluations you create will go a long way to setting up a sense of inherent expectations, and project a measure of management discipline that you will be seeking when taking on a new team.

———————–

Coggno.com provides world-class online education.

August 4th, 2010 by Robin Green

Simple and effective LMS training on both managerial roles and staff mentoring strategies are a huge asset to organizations. Mentoring helps to naturalize the kind of staff communication and dialogue which will ultimately benefit your organization’s bottom line.

The Kaizen philosophy of continuous improvement relates not only to your entire organization and relations between managers and staff, but it also applies to your employees themselves. One important managerial duty is to aid in the professional development of your staff. As a manager and/or LMS training administrator, how can you aid staff development?

One idea is to match your staff with senior staff members, and create a time and space for dialogue. Call a meeting or simply send an email letting staff know that mentoring is being offered. Inform them that they will be matched with an in-house mentor who will meet with them to help them plan to reach their career goals. Encourage employees to consider what they would like to develop, and remind senior staff members that they can also benefit from the mentoring relationship from the introduction to new ideas which are often stimulated by a junior colleague’s fresh outlook and approach.

The meetings can be informal dialogues over lunch or coffee. These provide a space for senior and junior staff members to exchange past experiences and future goals, generating the flow of a fresh exchange of ideas. It doesn’t matter how long or often the meetings take place, but that both parties learn something from the other and dialogue is opened up.

LMS training on mentoring practices may be a great asset to your organization. Senior staff mentoring can strengthen communication, generate new ideas, and promote a more satisfying and positive work environment.

Coggno is now offering a free trial for management training program creators on its learning management system. Create an online course for free, whether it be for internal use, for inclusion in Coggno’s E-learning Marketplace, or for outside syndication on hundreds of websites.

————————

Coggno.com is a leading provider of high-quality online education.