Maximizing Your Employee Talent

Written by Jamie Franzman, COO, LearnKey, Inc.

We all have employees of some sort. They may be actual employees, independent contractors, or even subcontractors and every one of them affects your business’s bottom line. Too many days off, personal issues, unmotivated, poor skill levels or lack of good customer service skills cost your company money. Low production or poor production is money down the drain that can’t be recovered or reclaimed. Sometimes we, as business management, may even be part of the problem and not realize that our lack of direction or leadership is allowing or procuring the issues.

There is nothing like a good employee - one who comes to work on time with a good attitude, has a productive day and is eager to take on new challenges. So what does it take to get this type of employee? Obviously there are tons of books and training on this specific topic, but how does someone really get that program implemented? We all know they won’t implement themselves. It takes team work, organization, follow-up, and rewards.

So what do we do here at Learnkey? We have training right at our fingertips, and yet we suffer all the same issues every other company does. But, because we have so many great courses in leadership, communication, and organizational skills, we can easily and quickly recompose, literally overnight, and renew by morning when we know we are off course. It takes less than 60 minutes for any of our employees to get back on track. Sometimes it’s self-directed, but many times it occurs when a specific problem arises.

I’ve used our “Negaholics” course in many situations, and yes, it makes a big difference. For those of you who have had the opportunity to work around a negaholic you know it can change the whole team’s dynamics – and not for good. However, if there is an employee who shows some initiative in any area of the company, my first reaction is to get them additional online training to reinforce their direction and let them know I can see the efforts they are putting into their job.

Have a team who’s out of round? The “Handling Conflict and Confrontation” course is a great ticket. Need to push a leader to the next level? Any of the leadership courses will do the trick. Executive and Team Leadership courses illustrate a new perspective of why they are the right person to be in the driver’s seat.

Training is my way of quickly acknowledging and directing employees to new levels. Of course there is follow-up and mentoring to take place, but I’ve got them heading in the right direction and being accountable for their own outcomes of the problem or issue. Through easy, well-directed training, I can simply “empower” my teams, which in fact, empowers me to do the things I need to do. They learn and grow, and the company benefits from positive attitudes, a “can do” morale, and increased productivity which in turn, affect the bottom line - this time for good.

LearnKey’s Personal Productivity online training courses make learning new skills and tasks easy for new employees or employees changing roles by making information accessible when needed. LearnKey’s Employment Law Compliance training can also be used as a company’s standard policy and procedure training, and as a proactive or reactive solution.

Call 1.800.865.0165 to begin a FREE, 10-day trial of our “Leadershift” course. You’ll gain a new perspective in about 30 minutes!

Find out more about our Personal Productivity courses at http://www.learnkey.com/Personal_Productivity.