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Recently in Training Category
Deborah Mackin, renowned team-building author, will be presenting on Building an Innovative, Multi-Generational Workplace in Tech Valley for the Saratoga Economic Development Corporation (SEDC) Breakfast Leadership series on Thursday, May 30th, 2013 at Empire State College from 7:30-9:00 am.
To register, visit The SEDC Website
Building an Innovative, Multi-Generational Workplace in Tech Valley will be the second out of four presentations. The topic to be discussed: how do we get all three generations of our workforce working together effectively? What does it take to lead Baby Boomers, to groom Gen X and to build the leadership skills of Gen Y or Millennials?
Since the professional world has become a mix of generational knowledge, few have stopped to try and understand what assets they have by having all these generations in one area. Many find that the differing generations butt heads; however Mackin will be presenting on how to get these generations to work together to create more organizational leaders. Joining Mackin this time around is newcomer and fellow leadership author, Matthew Harrington, who will add a Gen Y twist to the presentation. Harrington is seen as a subject matter expert in the field of Millennial workers having presented and written on the topic extensively.
Mackin states, "Managing a diverse workplace can be difficult at times. Finding the key to using every generation's strengths can make the workplace more productive and less tense. I find that in order to keep the harmony going among those of the Baby Boomer generation, Gen-X and that of Generation Y, you need to find the skills that are divergent and develop them for the benefit of the organization."
Date: Thursday, May 30, 2013
Time: 7:30 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
Location: Empire State College's Center for Distance Learning
113 West Avenue
Saratoga Springs,
NY 12866
Cost Per Person: $20.00
Originally published in March 2009:
Q: I am currently working with a small corporation and have been given the responsibility in training supervisors. The supervisors are very different in their backgrounds; some with extensive work experience in a leadership role and some very new to the responsibilities. In seeing the differences in their personalities and leadership abilities I have specialized the training sessions for each supervisor. At this point I am working on having each supervisor focus on their strengths and weaknesses, core values and short-term/ long-term goals with the company. My real challenge is keeping them all positive and motivated to improve personally and professionally, modeling this for the employees working with them. What successes have you found that would help in this situation?
A: I have found what is successful in working with new managers coming on board has been a multi-faceted approach.
1. Lining them up with a mentor in the operation to supplement the work you are doing with them.
2. Focus on growing their strengths, which will often eliminate most if not all weaknesses. For their weaknesses, use those opportunities to find ways that these managers can find those same weaknesses as strenghts in others to fill in the gaps.
3. Encouraging the new leaders to develop processes that seem natural when it comes to adapting to the culture of the organization as well as its employees. One of the things that has worked well for me in the past is to have regular informal and formal meetings with staff members to encourage free discussion.
Workforces are growing more diverse every year, so it is important for businesses to train their workers accordingly. Diversity training provided by human resources ensures that all workers appreciate others' strengths and talents without focusing solely on their own differences. Diversity training does this by attempting to increase employee awareness about differences throughout the workforce, along with the effect that diversity has on the employees' performance. Also, diversity training can prevent potential problems with workforce diversity, such as hurtful stereotypes. Stereotypes lead to prejudice, which leads to discrimination, which leads to trouble as many laws, such as EEOC laws, have been put into effect prohibiting discrimination.
A few ideas for diversity training include retreats, identity explanations, and surveys. Retreats will provide time for the employees to interact with each other outside of the workplace. This will enable the employees to get to know one another's personality, background information, and what they may have in common. Identity explanations would also help the employees to learn more about one another concerning ethnic background, age, sexual orientation, and marital status. These explanations could also satisfy the employees' curiosity if there is any. Conducting surveys is an easy way to collect opinions about the workplace and share them throughout the business. Surveys would help to give the employees an idea about how well they are working together. In addition, surveys would provide details on what needs to be improved.
Markeeta Gaynor is a virtual intern for Braathe Enterprises
Delegate or die sounds quite foreboding, but for most businesses and businesspeople, it is a choice that needs to be made.
Many people are unwilling or unable to let go of work that could easily be done by others.
In order to avoid this do or die proposition, you need to look at how you manage your time and how you can delegate better.
We hope you can join us in May for one of our Time Management and Delegation workshops in Saratoga Springs
For more information, visit http://saratogacollege.eventbrite.com
In high school, when I was working at Copps Hill Shell in Ridgefield, CT, we were one of the first gas stations in the area to get credit card readers at the pumps for customers to pay at the pump. The learning process for the customers was a bit haphazard, but one of our jobs working there was to introduce the service to customers as they arrived for the first 4-6 weeks of the new readers being in place.
There were a handful of customers who still preferred paying inside of the building, and we didn't discourage customers from paying that way, as it enabled us to capture some sales inside of the convenience store.
Some of the learnings we took out of this were that there is no simple way to train the same way in every situation without having a good system in place. We set up a basic system to follow.
1. Greet the customer with a hello and telling them about our new card readers
2. If the customer said they'd rather pay inside, we'd show them how to do it so they'd become more comfortable the next time around
3. For customers paying cash, we'd also show them how it worked in case they wanted to change their payment method in the future.
Following these procedures got us to know our customers better, educate all customers regardless of whether they'd use the technology or not, and enabled us to be more than just the guys who worked at the gas station.
I have professionally fallen in love with a few businesses and businesspeople in my time. I'm not talking about the romantic, touchy feely, lovey dovey kind of love, but more of an overarching admiration and respect for the totality of another business person or business.
You know the person or business I am talking about; the business or person representing a business who loves what they do, cares about their clients or customers and is extremely passionate in their belief in their products and their belief in you.
Have you professionally fallen in love with anyone?
Here are signs that you are professionally in love
1. You wouldn't think about buying or working with anyone else.
2. You go out of your way to talk to others about how great they are.
3. You actually believe your life has been changed because of your experience.
Sounds a lot like romantic love, doesn't it?
Get people to fall professionally in love with you and your business, and you will never be short of customers, business, or momentum.
I remember the fun I had working at a gas station growing up and the people who would come in and treat me as if I didn't have a brain. Apparently, to many of the customers, it wasn't logical that a college kid with a high IQ could possibly want to work behind the counter of a gas station on weekends to pay for college.
I learned a lot about Human Resources and motivation in my time at the gas station. It was funny to see the interactions between people who were getting their car worked on and the mechanics and service manager. It was also rewarding to be able to manage kids my age in terms of writing their schedule and training them.
Next time you are in a gas station, convenience store, or other "service" establishment, engage the person working there in a conversation; you'd be pleasantly surprised with what you may find out about them in the discussion.
Likewise, if you work in a position at one of these establishments, look beyond the stereotypes of the role and find ways to make the work interesting, as well as opportunities to engage your customers in friendly dialogue (in fact, many of the people I talked to in my time at the gas station are clients or friends today, some 20 years later!)
This free hour-long interactive presentation and Q+A session will show you how to create your profile, optimize it, and use LinkedIn as a networking tool in order to improve your job or internship search. Presented by Robert Braathe, founder of Braathe Enterprises, and Kelsey Weiss, Skidmore College '12 and intern for Braathe Enterprises
Skidmore College - Palamountain 202 - Wednesday December 14th
To RSVP, visit the link below or email robertjbraathe@gmail.com
LinkedIn Presentation by Braathe Enterprises - December 10th in Saratoga Springs
We have already awarded two 12 week online interactive business classes to two Capital Region residents seeking to take the next step in their career, whether it be start a business, find a new job or career, or learn something new to help them in their existing situation.
We are delighted to be offering these free courses for 12 lucky recipients this holiday season in the spirit of workforce development, business startup incubation, and career training for those who have been let go or downsized.
To enter for a spot in the 12 Classes of Christmas contest, send an email to info@saratogacollege.com with your request for a free course, why you want to take the course, and what you hope to learn as a result of it. The courses included Modern Marketing Methods, Exceptional Human Resources and Entrepreneurship, among others.
The first 12 submissions will very likely also be the 12 recipients (the first two were inspiring people so we selected them right away), so get in your email request today!
Does your staff know what Small Business Saturday? Founded in 2011 by American Express, Small Business Saturday has become one of the new shopping phenomenons along with Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
Small Business Saturday is designed to encourage people to shop small businesses for holiday gifts on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. On November 26th, Braathe Enterprises will be offering discounts on Apple computer training, business courses through Saratoga College and more. Stop by anytime from 8am-4pm at our office on 12 Circular ST in Saratoga Springs, NY.
If you are a small business, make your staff aware of the importance of this day to the health of your business. Take advantage of all the free tools at the American Express Small Business Saturday website. Use Small Business Saturday as a way to really push your business to the next level and create customers who will return time and time again. By encouraging your customers to shop small, you can create great relationships with your customers, fellow small businesses, and perhaps even larger businesses looking for that personal touch.
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