Outside Training

 Training as a Communication Strategy

 Learning Objectives

 

 

There are many types of training that are done in-house, but there are several that are very specialized.

Depending on the size of the organization, as well as the products and services it offers, it may make more sense to go to outside trainers or training organizations to have presentations or trainings conducted.  These could be on-site or off-site, local or in another state or country.  

The main thing to remember is to evaluate the training as to how much it will save you time or money, as well as how it might impact your legal liability and quality of work life for your employees.

The following are only a small fraction of the types of training that can be found from outside training organizations, and serve as examples.


1.  Safety Training

There are so many aspects to safety training that you usually need a professional to perform as a safety expert. In the United States it helps if this individual knows all about the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspections, including how to reduce or eliminate fines and citations after they’re received. 

An internal safety expert can determine if outside assistance is really necessary.  They need to remain current on what’s new with safety regulations and how to get all employees and managers to “buy into” safety.  If you have a qualified internal safety professional, you can save money by developing your own safety programs.  A professional will know how to building a proper plan/program.

Proper safety training is the key on avoiding civil and criminal liability for accidents and injuries.  It will educate supervisors and other employees what their responsibilities are in order to limit the organization’s exposure to lawsuits.  It will also define and explain what employee misconduct is.  In the U.S. trainers can actually be held liable for employee injuries.

Perhaps the most important reason to hire outside safety trainers is that they know all about safety regulations and laws. For example, good safety consultants in the United States will know how OSHA Compliance Officers interpret and apply a regulation, understand the Code of Federal Regulations, and know how OSHA would apply regulations to your facility.

OSHA regulations are quite complex.  They cover many different topics, including the following: Civil & Criminal Liability, Safety Training Methods, Safety Plans/ Programs, Safety Self-Inspections, Blood-borne Pathogens, Confined Space Entry, Electrical Safety, Ergonomics, Hazard Communication and Hazardous Materials, Inspections, Citations, and, Fines, Materials Handling, Fire Safety, Record Keeping, and Workplace Violence.

 

 

2.      Workplace Violence

Workplace violence has emerged as an important safety and health issue in today's workplace. Its most extreme form, homicide, is the third leading cause of fatal occupational injury in the United States. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics

 (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), there were 674 workplace homicides in 2000, accounting for 11% of the total 5,915 fatal work injuries in the United States.

Environmental conditions associated with workplace assaults have been identified and control strategies implemented in a number of work settings. OSHA has developed guidelines and recommendations to reduce worker exposures to this hazard but is not initiating rule making at this time.

Between 1993 and 1999 in the United States, an average of 1.7 million violent, but non-fatal, assaults per year were committed against persons who were at work or on duty,

according to the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). The NCVS is the nation's primary source of information on the frequency, characteristics, and consequences of criminal victimization. One of the largest continuous household surveys conducted by the Federal Government, the NCVS collects information about crimes, both reported and not reported to police. The survey provides the largest national forum for victims to describe the impact of crime and the characteristics of violent offenders.

Overall, 18% of violent crimes (22% of all male and 15% of all female violent crimes) were committed while the victim was working or on duty. These acts of non-fatal violence include rape and sexual assault, robbery, aggravated assault, and simple assault. The complexity of training employees in how to minimize workplace violence may necessitate using an outside training organization.

Prevention of Workplace Violence: the OSHA Example

According to the general duty clause of the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970 (the OSH Act, or the Act), "Each employer shall furnish to each of his employees employment and a place of employment which are free from recognized hazards that are

causing or are likely to cause death or serious physical harm to his employees." 29    U.S.C. 654(a)(1).

The guidelines that management should have should contain four basic elements:

1) Management commitment and employee involvement may include simple, clear goals for worker security in smaller sites or a written program for larger organizations.

2) Worksite analysis involves identifying high-risk situations through employee

surveys, workplace walk-throughs, and reviews of injury/illness data.  3) Hazard prevention and control. Calls for designing engineering and administrative and work practice controls to prevent or limit violent incidents.   4) Training and education ensures that employees know about potential security hazards and ways to protect themselves and their co-workers.

Although not exhaustive, OSHA's guidelines and recommendations include policies,

procedures, and corrective methods to help prevent and mitigate the effects of workplace violence. Engineering controls remove the hazard from the workplace or create a barrier between the worker and the hazard. Administrative and work practice controls affect the way jobs or tasks are performed.

Some recommended engineering and administrative controls include physical barriers such as bullet-resistant enclosures or shields, pass-through windows, or deep service counters. Other controls include convex mirrors, elevated vantage points, clear visibility of service and cash register areas, bright and effective lighting, adequate staffing, arrange furniture to prevent entrapment, cash-handling controls, use of drop safes, height markers on exit doors, emergency procedures to use in case of robbery, training in identifying hazardous situations and appropriate responses in emergencies, video surveillance equipment, in-car surveillance cameras, and closed circuit TV.

 

Stress Management

Today's economic upheavals of downsizing, layoffs, mergers, and bankruptcies have cost hundreds of thousands of workers their jobs. Millions more have been shifted to unfamiliar tasks within their organizations and wonder how much longer they will be employed. Adding to the pressures that workers face are new bosses, computer surveillance of production, fewer health and retirement benefits, and the feeling they have to work longer and harder just to maintain their current economic status. Workers at every level are experiencing increased tension and uncertainty, and are updating their resumes.

The loss of a job can be devastating, putting unemployed workers at risk for physical illness, marital strain, anxiety, depression, and even suicide. Loss of a job affects every part of life, from what time you get up in the morning, to whom you see and what you can afford to do. Until the transition is made to a new position, stress is chronic.

A feeling of powerlessness is a universal cause of job stress. When you feel powerless, you're prey to depression's traveling companions, helplessness and hopelessness. You don't alter or avoid the situation because you feel nothing can be done.

Secretaries, waitresses, middle managers, police officers, editors and medical interns are among those with the most highly stressed occupations marked by the need to respond to others' demands and timetables, with little control over events. Common to this job situation are complaints of too much responsibility and too little authority, unfair labor practices, and inadequate job descriptions. Employees can counteract these pressures through workers' unions or other organizations, grievance or personnel offices or, more commonly, by direct negotiations with their immediate supervisors.

            Stress management training can help employees cope with the complexities and difficulties they encounter on the job.

 Time Management

Time management is all about deciding your work priorities: finding out what to spend your time on. Some people work very hard all day doing little jobs that do not actually affect the quality of their work.

For effective time management you should concentrate on three areas - clarifying what you enjoy, understanding what your strengths and weaknesses are, and working out both what your job is and what constitutes excellent performance.

It is important for your own quality of life that you enjoy your job. If you know broadly what you like and dislike, you will be more able to move your job towards doing things that you enjoy. This is important, as you are much more likely to do your job effectively if you love it than if you loathe it. All jobs have tedious or unpleasant elements to them, but it is still important that these parts are done properly.

One excellent way of ensuring that you concentrate on the right things is to agree on them with your boss! You should ask the following questions: 1) What is the purpose of the job? 2) What are the measures of success? 3) What is exceptional performance? 4) What are the priorities and deadlines? 5) What resources are available? 6) What costs are acceptable? 7) How does this relate to other people?

A good tool for tracking your time during the workday is an activity log. Keeping an activity log for several days helps you to understand how you spend your time, and when you perform at your best. As well as recording activities, note how you feel, whether alert, flat, tired, energetic, etc. Once you have logged your time for a few days, analyze the log. Activity logs are useful tools for auditing the way that you use your time.

Time management training can give employees tools that will help them more effectively perform their jobs.

 

 

Conflict Management

We generally do not look at conflict as an opportunity -- we tend to think about conflict as unpleasant, counter-productive and time-consuming. Conflict that occurs in organizations need not be destructive, provided the energy associated with conflict is harnessed and directed towards problem-solving and organizational improvement.

However, managing conflict effectively requires that all parties understand the nature of conflict in the workplace, which is where training is crucial. 

There are two ways of looking at organizational conflict. The dysfunctional view of organizational conflict is imbedded in the notion that organizations are created to achieve goals by creating structures that perfectly define job responsibilities, authorities, and

other job functions. This traditional view of organizations values orderliness, stability and the repression of any conflict that occurs.

To the "traditional" organizational thinker, conflict implies that the organization is not designed or structured correctly or adequately.   Common remedies would be to further elaborate job descriptions, authorities and responsibilities, increase the use of central power   (discipline), separate conflicting members, etc. Trying to "structure away" conflict and disagreement in a dynamic environment may suppress any positive outcomes that may come from disagreement, such as improved decision-making and innovation. 

The functional view of organizational conflict sees conflict as a productive force, one that can stimulate members of the organization to increase their knowledge and skills, and their contribution to organizational innovation and productivity.

If you can train employees to subscribe to a flexible vision of effective organizations, your task becomes managing conflict so that it enhances people and organizations. 

 

Negotiation Training

Negotiation is something that we do all the time and is not only used for project/programme purpose purposes. For example, we use it in our social lives perhaps for deciding a time and place to meet, or where to go on a rainy day, or which movie to see. Negotiation is usually considered as a compromise to settle an argument or issue to benefit ourselves as much as possible.

Communication is always the link that will be used to negotiate any issue whether it is face-to-face, on the telephone or in writing. Remember, negotiation is not always between two people: it can involve several members from two parties.

There are many reasons why you may want to negotiate and there are several ways to

approach it. Training can help you understand and become more adept at using the negotiation process.

If your reason for negotiation is seen as 'beating' the opposition, it is known as 'Distributive negotiation'. This way, you must be prepared to use persuasive tactics and you may not end up with maximum benefit. This is because your agreement is not being directed to a certain compromise and both parties are looking for a different outcome.

Should you feel your negotiation is much more 'friendly' with both parties aiming to reach agreement, it is known as 'Integrative negotiation'. This way usually brings an outcome where you will both benefit highly.

Before you decide to negotiate, it is a good idea to prepare. What is it exactly that you want to negotiate? Set out your objectives. You have to take into account how it will benefit the other party by offering some sort of reward or incentive.   Also, do you know what is involved, in terms of money, sales, time, conditions, discounts, terms, etc.? Although you are not aiming to give out the maximum, it is worth knowing so that you will not go out of your limits.

Know what your opposition is trying to achieve by their negotiation. This is useful information that could be used to your benefit and may well be used to reach a final agreement. Your power will come from your ability to influence. Also, it is always important that you keep the negotiation in your control.

Training employees in negotiation skills helps them not only interact more effectively on the job, but in all of their relationships.


Selling Skills

Before you start selling, you should ask questions designed to find the action sponsor/beneficiary's want and/or problem. By finding this, you will know how to slant your presentation to hit the action sponsor/beneficiary's hot button, and which benefits of your product or service will solve his problem. Eighty percent of your presentation should be geared toward the action sponsor/beneficiary's main buying motive. When you do this, the action sponsor/beneficiary is easy to close because you have raised his desire high enough that he wants to buy from you. Also, since 80% of sales is emotion, you must get the action sponsor/beneficiary excited enough to make the sale easy to close.

Try to uncover or eliminate objections up front, before you start your presentation. A good way to do this is by asking a lot of questions. This should be done before the action sponsor/beneficiary can get power by saying the objection first. Get the action sponsor/beneficiary to commit to buying from you if you can solve their problem. When you close after solving his problem, eliminating their objections and showing them value with benefits, the action sponsor/beneficiary is open to buying.

You may wish to ask questions before you start your presentation such as: 1) Describe your typical beneficiary; 2) What do you want from our service?   3) What is the biggest problem you currently face? 4) What other problems do you have with that product or service? 5) What do you like most about the product or service you are now using?; and, 6) What would you like to change? Write down any answers the action sponsor/beneficiary gives you that fit the benefits of your product or service, so when you give your presentation, you are not pushing the action sponsor/beneficiary into what he does not want. You are instead simply giving him what he already said he wanted.

     Remember, listening to the action sponsor/beneficiary shows that you care about his problem. People are starving to find someone to talk to about and who can help solve these problems.

Sales and listening training can work hand-in-hand to make employees better at any job they do.

 

 Presentation Skills

Your boss, staff, and fellow employees need to see evidence of decisive planning and leadership.  They need to be motivated and inspired to undertaking the tasks that you are presenting. Project leaders from other sections need to be persuaded of the merits of your project and to provide any necessary support. Presentation skills training can help you get your ideas across more effectively and thus enhance your credibility.

It is difficult to over-estimate the importance of careful preparation. Five minutes on the floor in front of senior management could decide the acceptance of a proposal of several months’ duration for the manager and the whole team. With so much at stake, the presenter must concentrate not only upon the facts being presented but also upon the style, pace, tone and ultimately tactics, which should be used. As a rule of thumb for an average presentation, no less than 1 hour should be spent in preparation for 5 minutes of talking.

Suppose you have a talk to give, where do you start?  The starting point in planning any speech is to formulate a precise objective. This should take the form of a simple, concise statement of intent. The best approach is to isolate the essential objective and list at most two others which can be addressed providing they do not distract from the main one. If you do not focus upon your objective, it is unlikely that the audience will.

The next task is to consider the audience to determine how best to achieve your objectives in the context of these people.  Essentially this is done by identifying their aims and objectives while attending your presentation. If you can somehow convince

them they are achieving those aims, you will find a helpful and receptive audience.

All speeches should have a definite structure or format. However, if it is too complex, too convoluted or simply too noticeable the audience will be distracted.

Outside training and coaching employees in presentation skills can reap large benefits for them as individuals and for the organization as a whole.

 

Team-building

A group is more than two people who are interdependent and who interact to reach a common purpose.  A team is a group that shows a spirit of cooperation and coordination, enhanced by their mutual support (both practical and moral). It is common to view the development of a group as having four stages: Forming, Storming, Norming, and Performing.

Forming is the stage when the group first comes together. Everybody is very polite and very dull. Conflict is seldom voiced directly. Since the grouping is new, the individuals will be guarded in their own opinions and generally reserved.

Storming is the next stage, when factions form, personalities clash, and no one concedes a single point without first fighting tooth and nail. Most importantly, very little communication occurs since no one is listening and some are still unwilling to talk openly. Often, cliques or sub-groups appear.

At the Norming stage, a new spirit of co-operation emerges, and every member begins to feel secure in expressing their own viewpoints, which are discussed openly with the whole group. People actually start to listen to each other.

Performing is the culmination, when the group has settled on a system that allows free and frank exchange of views and a high degree of support by the group for each other and its own decisions.

In terms of performance, the group starts at a level slightly below the sum of the individuals' levels and then drops abruptly to its bottom until it climbs during Norming to a new level of Performing which is well above the start. This elevated level of performance is the main justification for establishing a group instead of just using staff.

Because members of the training department are still identified with the organization, it is often useful to have outside training to help build effective teams in the organization.