In “Challenging Times” supervisors and managers don’t have much to ‘reward’ even the best people. Training is often an early casualty of an economic downturn. That’s too bad, because lack of training consistently shows up as a top reason for leaving a job. This shows people want training (in theory and in their real work time) and often aren’t getting any. This is especially true of the “best people” who are “always busy and overloaded”. There’s a trade you can make with your vendors and suppliers that can help them strengthen their relationships while rewarding your employees.
Five steps to “how”
Pick a challenge where ideas and training are likely to help
Pick an outsider who’s willing to offer 1-2 hours on the video to “train” about the challenge and their approach to a solution
Execute the training session
Follow up with the vendor
Follow up with the staff
First, pick a challenge the staff is seeing. Data integration with a supplier? Integrating processes where staff turnover has changed the players? Reconciliation is a pain with changes in logistics.
Next, pick a productivity or services vendor in the space. Is there an outside consultant whom you have used before? Has a new account rep/manager been assigned from the vendor? Those are candidates for short 1–2-hour sessions for “training”. Offer them an opportunity to meet with people and groups to whom they have little access. (Trade access for time)
The session's agenda should be one the supervisor or manager carefully sets up to address the challenge identified in step 1. A give-and-take set of emails can set up the challenge and provoke the outsider to spend 10 minutes thinking about your context. The real value comes from establishing the session looking at a “training” for your staff – and it has to have that value.
A sharp outsider, vendor, or consultant will often be happy to provide a 1–2-hour session of “training” to understand the account better and be in the position of providing expert looks and solution ideas for your challenge. Properly done this is a good exchange for you and them.
There are only a couple of outcomes. The training is a bust with little value for your staff (outside of the fact you tried). A bust is not an uncommon result of a lot of training sessions – and it will tell you a lot about the quality of your vendor. A great outcome is a new insight or mindset about the challenge! Perhaps a short training identifies a magic feature in the software, product, or service you already have. Alternatively, a short session may offer some solid ideas of how to better address the challenge or your staff gets familiar with a new solution space. Even if the outside folks just provide a fresh set of eyes and ideas you haven’t wasted time focusing the team and people on getting a solution to the challenge.
Vendors who are trying to expand their footprint in your organization will gain The vendor follow-up and staff follow-up will follow naturally.
If you are advocating for ideas like this for your organization you can find more ideas on the topic here – www.ekalore.com/hunt-for-talent
Or if you'd like to talk directly about how you can do this in your organization, reach out to us at sales@ekalore.com
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