Underneath the rock: How to inspire resilience in a pandemic

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Underneath the rock: How to inspire resilience in a pandemic

Underneath the rock

This week, Sonya Law returns with another guest blog for us. Who better than a Human Resources Manager to help us to uncover what is buried underneath the rock, and how we can inspire resilience in a pandemic.

“Developing resilience helps us to overcome obstacles, deal with change and learn from experiences to thrive in the future…”

Gemma Leigh Roberts, Chartered Psychologist, Founder of the Resilience Edge. 

The Pandemic in 2020 will go down in history as a year like no other and we are yet to uncover what is underneath the rock, when it comes to employee’s wellbeing.  The iceberg theory helps us to understand there will be some signs on the surface, that we can observe but it won’t be until we go deeper that we will uncover the real human impact.  How do we inspire resilience in a Pandemic where employees can thrive, not just survive? And why is it valuable to understand the wellbeing of our employees in order to develop a resilient and innovative culture into the future?

As a Human Resources Manager my approach during the Pandemic was to promote positive mental health in our workplace and inspire a culture of resilience and innovation.

We already had a health and wellbeing committee with cross functional representation of employees across the organization and a charter that directed our wellness program.  What we introduced that was new was to educate our managers on how to identify signs and symptoms of mental health in employees, who may be impacted by feelings of isolation, anxiety and fear during the Pandemic. With the knowledge that 1 in 5 employees globally in the workplace will experience a mental health issue at any given time.

Firstly, our frontline managers participated in a facilitated session led by Human Resources on how to have a wellbeing conversation with their employees about their mental health.

Managers were equipped as the first responders, on how to recognize the signs and symptoms of mental health in their employees during the Pandemic and have a respectful conversation about their wellbeing or refer to an employee assistance provider.  In a poll of managers 80% found it easy and essential to have a wellbeing conversation, 15% awkward and 5% almost impossible.  Managers who found it easy and essential understood it takes time to build trust with employees and for employees to open up.  As a manager it’s about respecting that these conversations are personal, private, sensitive and confidential.

For those managers who found it awkward to have these conversations, they were encouraged to express their discomfort about having a wellbeing conversation and to say – I am not the expert in these conversations but your wellbeing is important to me, and I just want to check in to see if you are okay? This approach was very well received because it showed that they too were human.

We learnt that by managers holding a space for employees to be listened to discuss their wellbeing as well as their daily work priorities helped employees to feel supported.  Leading with compassion, showing genuine authentic care and concern towards another human being promotes feelings of safety a fundamental human need, (Maslow’s Hierarchy) without this need being met we can’t achieve higher order needs.  Managers who led with compassion during the Pandemic inspired co-operation amongst their employees.

Secondly, we engaged Melo Calarco a Mindfulness and High-Performance Coach to present to all employees in a lunch and learn Zoom session (60 minutes) on how to develop resilience through a daily self-care practice:

  • Manage stress and anxiety and burnout (exercise program)
  • Better quality sleep
  • Be more engaged and productive
  • Thrive in challenging conditions (resilience)
  • Have more mental clarity and focus
  • Stay positive and motivated
  • Connect as a team
  • Cultivate Gratitude.

We get a hit of serotonin ‘the feel-good hormone’ when we engage in activities, we enjoy which we get from a daily self-care practice.  Serotonin also regulates the gut so we get the added benefit of improving our digestion and gut health improves our mood and protects us against digestive disorders linked to depression.  You can research more into how what you eat can affect your mood – Grain Brain, New York #1 Best Seller – Author Dr. David Perlmutter and Kristin Loberg.

The Pandemic showed us that a successful organization who adapts well to change, is agile and can keep pace in a rapidly changing environment.  Even when there is no blueprint for employees to work off, employees are empowered to think on their feet and solve new problems. It’s essential that leaders develop organizations into the future where people can perform well beyond its boundaries where surprising events occur, where plans and procedures no longer apply.  Described as graceful extensibility, is a positive capability to stretch near and beyond boundaries, when surprise occurs the organization continues to perform during periods of disruption i.e. Pandemic, the behaviors that organizations must exhibit are both resilience and innovation.

For more information on our assessments and classes, please visit us at Learning Without Scars.

 

 

CRM and Dealer Executives

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CRM and Dealer Executives

A new guest blog by Don Buttrey, President of Sales Professional Training. Today, Don shares with us the importance of CRM for Dealer Executives.

Customer Relationship Management is a long way from a salesman having his little black book. This concept causes concern in the executive leadership of the business and the sales teams.

HELP! I’m in CRM hell!

Here are a few of the reasons that dealer principals and leaders are constrained to have a functional CRM solution:

  • Coverage, market share growth, awareness/participation and better service
  • Real time selling information
  • Team selling and strategic growth of key accounts
  • Marketing campaigns (focused mailers, promotions etc)
  • Dealership possession of market and customer information (not out in a salespersons trunk or private laptop)
  • Benchmarking and accountability of activities

Do these points look familiar? How you overcome them and move forward is a critical decision and implementation.

For more information on our assessments and classes, please visit us at Learning Without Scars.

Creating Culture During a Pandemic

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Creating Culture During a Pandemic

Laura Love

Today’s guest blog is written by Colorado entrepreneur Laura Love. A passionate advocate for the culture of her companies, as well as her local community, Laura is joining us today to talk about all of the different ways we can work on creating culture during a pandemic. During a year that has brought numerous challenges to people around the world, this post offers a deeper perspective on the opportunities opening up to us through these times. As you will see when you read further, Laura teaches us what it means to run a business based upon relationships and connection with others. To connect with Laura, please reach out to her via her LinkedIn profile.

I often tell people that I have four children. Kirby, Jackson, Brooks and this pretty amazing baby that magically appeared on the scene when I decided that starting a business in my basement in the middle of a dot-com crash and months before 9/11 would be a stellar idea. This 4th child — GroundFloor Media (GFM) and its sister agency CenterTable which joined the “family” in 2016 – has been nothing short of a wonderful, wild ride these past two decades.

However, this year has challenged us unlike any other year in our 20-year history. Like many other businesses, we are managing the ups and downs of COVID-19, the fight for racial justice, the challenges of employing working parents who are being asked to juggle work while managing remote classrooms (I know first-hand that Google has the answers to everything a 4th grader – and his mom – should know).

When I woke up on Nov. 3, I nervously scanned all of my favorite newsfeeds in search of the latest political news, but I also encountered a silver lining –  we were named No. 2 on Outside Magazine’s Best Places to Work for 2020. That honor marked the eighth consecutive year we were recognized in the Top 10 – the longest run of any company currently on the list.

This award is particularly meaningful this year. I have witnessed team members battling cancer, watching their loved ones pass away from this virus, coping with a spouse losing her job and a team member trying to be the cheerleader to his only child heading off to college in the midst of a not-so-normal freshman year. And each and every one of our team has shown up for one another and for our clients in very big and vulnerable ways.

Yes, I want to toot our own horn for winning this award because I am so proud of my colleagues who make our company such a special place. But more importantly, I want to use this forum to share with other business leaders because this can be a really scary time to be a leader. And if we can share ideas and best practices about how we have all gotten uber creative during these past nine months, we will be stronger together.

So, I will share a bit of our story. In 2019, we moved back into our Downtown Denver office after moving out for 11 months while we completely gutted the building in order to create a modern open-space concept. At the beginning of the pandemic, we once again shut the office down and added walls and glass to allow for proper social-distance practices for those who self-selected to work in the office. (We made the decision to utilize the office as a “mental health break” space for team members who need to work outside of their home occasionally, rather than moving forward with a full re-opening of the office.)

But it was so much more than remodeling our physical space. Our team member’s personal wellbeing is as important to us as their professional sanity and in an attempt to unwind and connect with one another, we’ve added “Get Connected to Stay Grounded” virtual sessions where we held classes including “Sip and Draw,” “Aroma Acupoint Therapy” sessions and a “Virtual Cocktail/Mocktail Class.”

We have always been focused on striving for a “work-life blend.” Our autonomous culture allows employees to work when, where and how it works best for their lifestyle (ski lifts and hiking trails included). That includes “Trusted Time Off” unlimited vacation days and mandatory meeting-free time “Zero-Entry Mondays” on Monday mornings before 11am. The advent of COVID-19 may have put a halt on most in-person gatherings, but our weekly (now virtual) beer club gatherings, $50 monthly “Active Lifestyle Allowance” and four hours per month paid time off for volunteering haven’t changed. Because this can be a really isolating and frustrating time, we encourage each member to take care of themselves by prioritizing times to get outside or stretch or meditate throughout the day.

Laura Love

As leaders in the company, we have tried to stay in front of team members with personalized check-ins, sending surprise and delight gifts of lasagna and wine from our friends at Attimo, allowing team members to Choose Their Own Online Adventure including offering a digitally interactive adventure camp for their kiddos through AVID4 or offering an online subscription to MasterClass for six months. We also provided a team of “resilience coaches” from Downstream Partners for all team members to utilize and organized “Pandemic Partners” as a buddy system for mental well-being and allowed team members to change their work status options (100%, 75%, 50% & contractor) based on changing family needs.

As an extension of GroundFloor Media and CenterTable’s Doing My Part Colorado effort, we launched a new podcast series, Good & Grounded, where Jim Licko and I work with our (kick-ass) producer Armand Piecuch to interview dynamic and passionate local Colorado leaders who are impacting our community during this time of uncertainty. I have always loved the quote by Winston Churchill – We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. The leaders whom we speak with are the ones making a huge difference in our state. Had the pandemic not hit, I am not sure we would have slowed down long enough to honor what these selfless leaders give to others during good and bad times.

We are not perfect. In fact, we make a lot of mistakes and the bottom line is this is just hard. But there are silver linings and when I see a ranking like the recent one from Outside, I know that it matters. It matters because it shows that our team members are valued, and that they consider themselves long-term partners at GroundFloor Media and CenterTable. That means that clients have access to our highly talented team members, and that team members with institutional knowledge remain part of their teams for years.

I would love to hear about the other innovative ways Colorado leaders are working to keep their teams connected and inspired. Maybe we can even interview those of you willing to share a few of your pandemic survival ideas with us on an upcoming Good & Grounded episode? If so, drop me a line at llove@groundfloormedia.com. Together, we can get through this.

Please visit us at Learning Without Scars for your employee development needs.

 

 

How to Create Engagement and Empowerment in a Pandemic

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How to create engagement and empowerment in a Pandemic.

how to create engagement and empowerment during a pandemic

Sonya Law, of SL Human Resources Consulting, received her Human Resources Degree from Deakin University and completed her Teaching Degree with Monash University and recently Masters Business (MBA) in 2018, providing opportunities to work and study abroad in Europe and Asia.  Sonya has recruited 1,000’s of people and has a talent for getting the right people on the bus in the right seats and creating a positive inclusive workplace culture for many organization’s in the following industries, Telecommunications, Government, Pharmaceutical, Water Utilities, FMCG and more recently Mining and Construction for Sullair (Hitachi Group Company) where she achieved innovation award in 2020 for solving societies problems for social connectedness during the pandemic.  In 2020 Sonya has returned to consulting to spread her wings and pursue her passion for consulting, to assist companies to develop their human resources and achieve cultural and strategic alignment and high performing organizations. She writes from experience about how to create engagement and empowerment in a pandemic.

Sonya can be contacted on 0421 716 949 or direct message on LinkedIn Profile.

During the Spanish Flu back in the early 1900’s composers created the most beautiful music and artists the most exquisite masterpieces. During the pandemic people fell into two groups: negative doomsayers and those who took the opportunity to be creative, innovative with a journey of self-discovery.

As a Human Resources Manager, I fell into the second group: how do I create engagement and empowerment in a Pandemic?

Firstly, I started with a Pulse Survey, to ask the employees what they felt they needed to be connected and effective in their work. Overwhelmingly over 90% of employees wanted a refresh of the employee benefits and recognition program and the biggest challenge cited was the virtual office. With those working from home, ‘social connectedness’ was the missing link. We discovered as human beings, we are social animals and need to connect with other humans. We weren’t getting our hit of oxytocin the ‘love’ drug and the ‘safety’’ of social bonds. During the pandemic, there was also the financial impact on families with some going to a single income or reduction in earning capacity.

So, given these two problems of social connectedness and financial impact, we engaged ‘Reward Gateway’ a company that works with companies too create a digital platform that connects people socially and provides shopping discounts to everyday purchases of groceries and petrol. Bolting on an e-card that recognized employees working from home, birthday’s and work anniversaries, shared social news, photos and wellness tool.  The employees were involved in look and feel of the wireframe, e-card design and naming of the platform – RAZZLE, connect, celebrate and reward.

The program was inclusive, all year round and benefited not only all employees but their families. Making it a positive story around the dinner table during an overload of bad news stories during the pandemic, employees spoke proudly of their workplace to friends and family and above all felt valued.

Managing Directors and CEO’s became panicked about productivity and performance and so presented the challenge to Human Resources Leaders, how do we ensure productivity doesn’t drop during the pandemic with employees now working from home?  The answer, is employee engagement, provide an environment where people feel safe, cared for emotionally and physically, as a leadership team, our role shifted to leading with empathy, kindness and compassion.  Emerged the empathetic listener, we educated our managers on “How to have a mental health conversation,” to be able to provide support, listen without judgement, encourage action and check in on employees during isolation and lockdown periods during the pandemic.

The Australian Institute of Management (AIM) polled participants in a workshop during the pandemic and interestingly 13% found it easier working from home, but majority found it harder 27% and 60% same but different, requiring them to adapt to new ways of working which was stressful for most. The arising issues were an ‘over attendance’ employee, who were working longer days, struggling to balance home and work life which blurred into literally ‘ground hog day’ for most.  It became evident to leaders the need to ask employees about their ‘self-care routine’ how are they going balancing their family and work commitments, are the getting quality sleep, are they better to have a ‘doona day’ (Aussie Speak for down day) a day off where they don’t have to show up on ZOOM, to rest and recover in what was a very busy and stressful period for employees.

Employers and leaders who recognized this and genuinely cared for their employees and found new ways of connecting virtually, won their people over in a wholistic sense. They weren’t just the worker bee, they were a human being, not just a number.  And they saw their manager in a new light, often appearing more casual in ZOOM meetings in their home environment which included guests’ appearances by family and their pets, helped employees to see their leaders as human just like them.

The senior leadership team, emerged with a new skill as the empathetic learner, people managers who listened to what their people needed to perform and supported them by removing roadblocks and trusting them in this process.  We’re being informed by the thinking and opinions of the people who matter most employees who need to be trusted to get the work done whilst balancing the business needs of the organization and navigating tricky conversations on the profitability to shareholders. Businesses who found new ways to connect virtually and developed their empathetic leadership style successfully navigated the pandemic whilst maintaining productivity at least to same level as last year, and for those who were opportunistic and quick to adapt, growth in some areas of business.

Some employees describe a sense of belonging, a renewed sense of commitment and purpose to the cause and empowered to make decisions impacting their work.  The pandemic hit the stop button for a lot of businesses but in doing so this reset and recalibration has given us new ways to collaborate and connect virtually and flexibility to working families whilst still achieving the strategic vision.

For more information on our learning programs, please visit us at Learning Without Scars.

 

Help! I’m in CRM Hell!

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Help! I’m in CRM Hell!

Help! I'm in CRM Hell!

Don Buttrey is the president of Sales Professional Training Inc., a company that offers in-depth skill development for sales professionals and sales support. He has trained thousands of salespeople over 25 years and clearly understands the selling environment of equipment dealers and manufacturers. His curriculum is comprehensive and proven! Don is also the author of “The SELL Process”, a foundational how-to book on effective sales interactions. He is beginning a series on Customer Relationship Management with “Help, I’m in CRM Hell!”

Don can be reached at (937) 427-1717 or email donbuttrey@salesprofessionaltraining.com. 

Check out this website link salesprofessionaltraining.com  for more information – or to purchase online sales training.

Help! I’m in CRM Hell!

For the next few weeks, we will discuss Customer Relationship Management. This has become a real hot button particularly with the current pandemic and economic conditions.

What does it mean to be trapped in CRM Hell?

I come front and center with CRM (Customer Relationship Management) issues with every construction equipment dealer I train. I personally have not researched or compiled any conclusive data as to which products are most used or which are best suited for construction equipment dealers. I have observed however, that every dealer has their own unique goals, budget, size/scope and ‘people culture’ to consider. The product options are there, and it takes research and careful consideration to select a product or CRM service that is the right fit.

The dealers that address the core issues first (noted in this blog) – and that involve all levels and departments in the CRM vendor selection process seem to be the most successful.  Conversely, those that invest in a CRM system without a broad involvement and buy-in, and then demand conformance to its use, have the lowest adoption rate and effectiveness – from my observations.

For more information about our training programs, please visit us at Learning Without Scars.

Embarrassed Not to Have Parts

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Embarrassed not to have Parts (ENTH)

Goals and Targets

Clearly these are the parts you are embarrassed not to have when your customer comes calling.  They include: filters, fluids, hardware, o-rings, GET for machines you sold, hoses (a subject of its own), keys, and any part for a machine you sold that your customer can get today at Walmart, NAPA or the local farm store.  If you don’t have a part that he can get TODAY from somebody local, you have probably lost that customer for that part forever.  Think automobile dealers.

Virtually every machine we sell has lots of hydraulics and thus lots of hoses.  You can’t stock all the hoses for a machine.  They age poorly and have very erratic sales.  Most manufacturers make hoses non-returnable.  When a customer blows a hose, it is the kind of repair he can do quickly.  He is not going to wait three days for a hose.  I like hose shops in my branches.  It requires lots of management focus to pull off effectively since you will be competing with people who do this type of thing exclusively.  It is worth it if you can devote the time.  Throw away your turn criteria here for fittings.  Your perceived availability will go way up in the customers’ mind.  This is very hard to pull off without lots of top management focus.

I include new product introduction parts in the ENTH category.  Make sure that your branches, central inventory control and equipment sales are communicating.  You don’t want to have somebody who just purchased a machine from you to come in and you don’t have his GET or filter.

Almost all ENTH parts have very good turns so don’t be afraid to have a little safety stock here.  Run reports on these parts to make sure you are hitting your target.  I think anything less than 99.9% availability is unacceptable here.

Your customer doesn’t really expect you to be stocking an engine or sheet metal and certainly not at the branch level.  He fully expects you to have ENTH parts.  He will be mad and disappointed if you fail in this area.  He won’t forget.  He will tell his friends.  Your Inventory group should spend lots of time getting this right.

For more information on how we can help you excel at Inventory Management, please visit us at Learning Without Scars.

The Return on Investment

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The Return on Investment

This week brings our fourth blog post from Don Shilling.

Don Shilling

As we continue the discussion on “Growing Your Own” employees probably one of the most asked questions I get is if our company invests in a tuition reimbursement program for a sponsored future employee or in an Apprenticeship or Mentorship Program what is my return on investment (ROI)?

Business logic tells us that there is a defined cost in everything we do and the better we are at recovering those costs the better the chances are we can show a profit in what we do. Everyone’s formula for this calculation might be different so I would like to answer this a little more generically

ROI In this situation is hard to measure because every situation is different. But I usually answer the question with a question. What does turnover cost you? For every position that is measurable. When you lose an experienced employee, the costs associated with that ranges today from 1/2 of that position annual salary or more. Today filling a skilled position can take 3 months or more. Then after recruitment costs, placement fees and On Boarding and Training expense it can really cost you much more than that 1/2 years annual salary projection.

For our companies skilled positions we fill with either an apprenticeship or tuition reimbursed positions we see direct costs of the entry level salary, the cost of the pay back on the tuition reimbursement or the apprenticeship mentoring. These costs are significant there is no doubt, so typically we amortized these costs over a 3 to 5-year period.

Because these positions start as “entry level” we see an initial lower salary cost but it is important to continue wage reviews and increases with these individuals as their skill levels increase. Typically, by the end of the three to five year pay back on the tuition or apprenticeship periods this employee is at a salary level equal to market value for their skill level. This is important, keeping this employee is critical, also showing this employee he has value by doing wage reviews as they progression of their education adds to that since of pride or accomplishment for each individual.

On revenue side we of course cannot charge customers full charge rates on apprentice or school to work employees but we can recover some of their costs. Typically, that is 10 to 20% initially and steadily increasing as the employee’s skill levels increases. If you graph this out the lines between the salary cost and recovery probably intersect about 1.5 to 2.0 years into the process and usually by the third or fourth year the revenue and profit generated by that employee has normalized. That of course is good news.

Better news is the fact you have taken a potential employee and turned them into a skilled employee who has been integrated into your system, bought into your company culture, is a loyal employee, has spent three to five years becoming part of the “family” and understands that he or she has chosen a career that is meaningful and rewarding. Bottom line the turnover we have experienced with these “Grow Your Own” employees has been very low. Thus, we enjoy savings for many years of not have to fill and re-fill those positions. It adds stability to the employee base plus with less turnover being able to grow your business because of this stability is critical and well worth the effort.

Bottom line is the ROI is gradual but worth the time and efforts. Again, sighting our company, where we engage a lot in promoting from within, we really know these individuals we understand their strengths and their loyalty is undiminished. We are engaged in Filling Careers not just Filling Positions.

I grew up in a construction family and worked for my Dad several summers during and after high school. Then while working on my degree at North Dakota State University I was hired by a construction equipment dealership. I started in their service department part time until I finished college. Then full-time service employment for a couple of years then transitioned into sales management. During the recession of the early 1980’s myself and three other managers started General Equipment & Supplies, Inc.

First as Sales Manager and eventually as President we grew our business from one location and 20 employees to 10 locations in four states and two Canadian Provinces and over 250 employees. Along the way we developed relationships with area Technical Colleges and created a College Tuition Reimbursement Program where today we Recruit a handful of new technicians annually into that program. Our company has also developed two Department of Labor Certified Apprenticeship Programs to fill hard to find skilled positions. I am currently semi-retired as Chairman of the Board.

For more information on how we can help with your employee development, please visit us at Learning Without Scars.

 

 

Avoiding a Mutiny

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Avoiding a Mutiny

Don Buttrey is the president of Sales Professional Training Inc., a company that offers in-depth skill development for sales professionals and sales support. He has trained thousands of salespeople over 25 years and clearly understands the selling environment of equipment dealers and manufacturers. His curriculum is comprehensive and proven! Don is also the author of “The SELL Process”, a foundational how-to book on effective sales interactions. He is able to negotiate restructuring while avoiding a mutiny.

Don can be reached at (937) 427-1717 or email donbuttrey@salesprofessionaltraining.com. 

Check out this website link salesprofessionaltraining.com  for more information – or to purchase online sales training.

Avoiding a Mutiny

QUESTION 3: How can I make some necessary territory changes and restructure the sales department without a mutiny? Also, how can we implement technology such as CRM when it seems to be resisted for numerous reasons?

Don Buttrey:  Believe it or not, I suggest laying tough issues like this out on the table with your salespeople. Teach them the realities and the issues that you see and face as a leader – with a larger perspective. Sell to them the importance of changing. You are not the enemy – the competition is! I am a believer in getting the solution, buy-in and ownership from the salespeople themselves. If you jam it down their throat – they will not do it anyway – at least not with the heart that would be needed to succeed. My training is effective at showing them the disciplines and the activities that they must be doing as professionals. I am confident that once they see and learn the stuff of professional selling – they will be convicted about how far they are missing the mark. From there a ground level of support can help you restructure your sales department and make needed changes.

Then, to implement, it requires top leadership commitment with firm execution of necessary strategic changes. Change your system! Otherwise, if you show the slightest lack of authority or conviction – it will get overturned, ignored or “waited out”. Michael Gerber put it this way, “If you tell people to do the right things and your system tells them otherwise…the system will win every time.”

Leadership with a clear mission—along with persuasive “selling” (versus “telling”) of the required changes—are the keys to necessary restructuring.

For more information on avoiding a mutiny, please visit us at Learning Without Scars.

Grow Your Own

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Grow Your Own

This week brings our third guest post from Don Shilling. Now it is time to talk about how to “grow your own” workforce.

Don Shilling

I grew up in a construction family and worked for my Dad several summers during and after high school. Then while working on my degree at North Dakota State University I was hired by a construction equipment dealership. I started in their service department part time until I finished college. Then full-time service employment for a couple of years then transitioned into sales management. During the recession of the early 1980’s myself and three other managers started General Equipment & Supplies, Inc.

First as Sales Manager and eventually as President we grew our business from one location and 20 employees to 10 locations in four states and two Canadian Provinces and over 250 employees. Along the way we developed relationships with area Technical Colleges and created a College Tuition Reimbursement Program where today we Recruit a handful of new technicians annually into that program. Our company has also developed two Department of Labor Certified Apprenticeship Programs to fill hard to find skilled positions. I am currently semi-retired as Chairman of the Board.

In my previous blog I talked about “High Demand Jobs” and the need to Grow Our Own by recruiting for skilled positions we need filled. It is possible to use the Local, State and Federal Programs that exist today to help underwrite part of the cost of educating our new workforce and/or developing our workforce. . .. That is quite a mouthful but if you break it down it is fairly simple.

Our Federal, State and Local governments are really beginning to understand how the shortages of skilled workforce is impacting our economy. They are all scrambling to help find solutions and frankly they are also looking for your guidance and input.

Because of Covid 19 we are hearing a lot of talk about “re-tooling” our workforce so that people who were employed found themselves suddenly unemployed by what became an unstable and perhaps unskilled career path. These workers are looking to make a change and find a new career that will add stability to their families and futures. Our Adult Learning Centers are going to become busy places as these programs expand and flourish.

Business and Industry are being called on to help support these expanding programs and if you think your business can benefit then you better be seeking out these opportunities. In many cases State or Local dollars are being matched with private sector dollars to bring these programs to life.

What does that mean for you and your organization? It means you might end up hiring or supporting an older than average person(s) who wants and needs a new career. You will help develop this person, first with initial training and inevitably additional continuous training until you have a strong and highly competent employee. That is:  Growing Your Own.

This initial Education coupled with Continuous Training builds your staff in a very positive way. The training starts with a comprehensive On Boarding process as they first report to work. Then things like safety training and specific work center orientation. These new employees don’t know what they don’t know so don’t skip steps. These Employees that you have Grown on Your Own will recognize their new skill sets which creates positive attitudes for all and at the end of the day the customers you serve will see this positive influence. There is no real down side to Growing Your Own!

For help in growing your own workforce, please visit us at Learning Without Scars.

Skilled & Knowledgeable Employees Pay for Themselves

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Skilled and Knowledgeable Employees Pay for Themselves.

You Have to Keep Moving Forward

During this difficult time, the ability to restrict discretionary expenses has been quite easy. Stop it. Go back to 2019 and you will also find an attitude of restricting the investment in employee development other than for technicians. We forget that skilled & knowledgeable employees pay for themselves. This with many OEMs is encouraged as they affect the reimbursement of warranty expenses. What about all of the other employees in the company? Do their jobs stay the same from year to year? Do what customer’s need and want remain static or do they also evolve?

As a general rule that might be a reasonable choice. It was clearly the truth at most dealerships. Technicians yes everyone else we should hire the skills and that is that.

There could be nothing worse in my opinion.

I will explore inventory management as an example. The traditional world looks at inventory from the perspective of parts availability and asset turnover. I agree. The standards we teach have asset turnover greater than 5 times a year with parts availability greater than 98% for stock items. How do you stack up to those standards?

Today with stock order replenishment for the major OEMs less than a week the turnover should exceed 12 times a year and still hold 98% availability.

Do you know how to do that?

There is a financial measure called Return on Capital Employed (ROCE). If we look at that financial measure from a gross profit perspective then the calculation is gross profit times parts inventory turnover.

Start with a turnover of 5.0 and a gross margin of 35%. The ROCE is 175%. That is a very good number. You receive back in a year 175% of the capital you employed. Now take the turnover to 10.0 and hold the gross margin at 35%, The ROCE is 350%. Or look at it another way a gross margin of 17.5% delivers a ROCE of 175%. Let’s think about this from a different direction – your parts pricing can be influenced by your asset turnover. Lower the fast movers parts pricing from a 35% gross margin to 20% gross margin. Will that give you the opportunity to increase market share of the fast-moving parts. Of course, it will.

The time is now.