TrainingABC Blog

A true story about a national sandwich shop that needs to completely revamp its  customer service training.

The world that we live in has never been more diverse and as a result workplaces have never had more of a need for tolerance, understanding and communication. One of the best ways to address this issue is through diversity awareness training with diversity videos. Video training is one of the most effective tools in adult learning and these training packages include leaders guides, participant materials and in some cases Power Point presentations - every thing you need to facilitate a training session.

Much of the problem with sexual harassment in the workplace lies in the fundamental difference in perceptions that men and women have of appropriate words and behavior. What men think is appropriate is many times completely opposite of what women think is appropriate. Misconceptions and misunderstandings lead to behaviors that are construed as hostile work place harassment. There are several specific behaviors that remain pervasive in the workplace.

There are too many workplaces that are full of negative, fear-based management practices. Managers feel like their employees are "under-achievers" who need a "kick-in-the-butt" in order to achieve. They have low expectations in their employees and therefore their employees live up to these expectations. Dennis Franz who plays Sid in The Sid Story is just this type of manager. He yells and rants and treats his employees like children. He also consistently has the worst production numbers in his company. As the film progresses, Sid find that his management strategy has led to his poor numbers and he changes as a manager and a person.

The basketball player stands at the free throw line and he just can't stop thinking about how he all his shots have been short today and sure enough the ball clanks off the front of the rim. The actor stands on the stage and all he can think about is how he is going to forget his lines, even though he has them completely memorized, and sure enough he can't remember them at the most important moment. The man steps up to the podium to give a speech scared to death that he is going to stutter and sure enough he does. The mind is a powerful thing and seems to be able to affect our actions whether positive or negative. This is widely known as the Pygmalion Effect.

Interviewing and hiring is a dangerous legal area for managers. Even questions asked with the best intentions can be considered illegal and open your company up for lawsuits. It is critical for managers to understand exactly what they can and cannot ask in an interview. Questions that are illegal in nature don't usually provide much valuable information anyway and in general are a waste of time from a hiring perspective. Make sure that you give yourself adequate preparation, so that you don't accidentally ask an illegal question.

Behavioral interviewing is the most effective way to hire a qualified employee. It takes gut feelings, stereotypes and biases out of the process and allows you to look at candidates in more scientific terms. The process is called behavioral because it uses behaviors presented in the past to predict future behaviors. The process sounds easy but it takes practice and persistence.

The world is a colorfully diverse place and so are our workplaces. Diversity is an economic and legal priority in business. It increases the bottom line, jump starts innovation and keeps businesses out of legal jeopardy. Managers, supervisors and employees at every level of a company need to find ways to embrace and respect diversity in their departments and the organization as a whole. Here are ten ways to get started.

Sexual Harassment. Everyone seems to know what it is and yet the stories in the media of its occurrence seem to be unending. The latest high profile alleged perpetrator is Herman Cain, but Mr. Cain is in a long line of men and women who have had their careers jeopardized by sexual harassment charges. So why does it still occur if most people are educated on it. There are many reasons, but the most prevalent are a sense of invincibility due to power, the belief that by the perpetrator that he or she is different than others and simple ignorance. The effect of all three of these reasons can be mitigated by organization-wide sexual harassment training.

Recently, I went shopping for dog food and went to a local pet store in my neighborhood.  This particular store obviously does a large amount of customer service training.  They always welcome me into the store and always ask if they can help me find something.  There seems to be a well-trained system of working with customers in the store.  Sounds great, doesn't it?  A well-oiled customer service machine dedicated to providing optimal service to the customer.  However, there is a problem mixed into this brand of service - not every customer is the same and not every customer appreciates the same type of customer service.