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Improve Team Performance & Morale

Someone just emailed me a good question. Here is my response….

“What would you say is the single most effective tactic a leader can implement to improve their team’s performance and overall morale?”

I see a couple of actions a leader can take to improve team performance and overall morale:

Communication. Keep your team in the know. Communicate how your team is performing as a whole on your KPI’s . Communicate when your team or individuals on your team have performed very well. Communicate where the company is heading and how your team plays its part for the overall success of the company.

Connect the Dots. Your team knows their individual responsibilities. But do they know how it fits into the overall success of the company? Help them understand the purpose behind their work. Show them how they contribute to the work community.

Coaching. Spend intentional time coaching individuals. Don’t assume they are heading in the right direction. Talk with them. Listen to them. Give them guidance. Hold them accountable. Document your coaching sessions (i.e. OneNote). Remember the great things they’ve done.  

Culture. Praise people in public. Counsel them in private. There is no reason to ever belittle a team member. Be open, honest, and direct when they get off track. Give specific praise. This creates a “power follow-up” for them (https://www.issa.com/articles/power-follow-ups)

Author: Jim Johnson is the VP of Business Development with CVC Communications in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

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Training Engagement – try Poe

Last year, I was a contract teacher at a small country school district. I taught 7th grade Language Arts. I loved those kids. Junior High students make me laugh, think, and many times they make me want to pull my hair out!

One day, we were working our way through a lesson on identifying the tone and mood of a piece of literature. It can be a difficult lesson to read and understand the difference. So on this day, I not only had the students read to find the tone and mood, I presented something for them to hear the difference.

I read to them “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allan Poe. They read along with me. They had not been exposed this great story. I read it as dramatically as I could. Together we searched for examples of tone and discovered how the mood changes – especially when the police showed up. The students liked this.

Then I played for them a musical adaptation of this story as written and produced by the famous British rock band, The Alan Parsons Project. Decades ago, they produced an entire album on the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe entitled “Tales of Mystery and Imagination“. If you are a Poe fan, an Alan Parsons Project fan – you must listen to this. The “Tell-Tale Heart” begins at 7:45 in the video below.

We listened to the song once. Then I played it again, and we talked through the opening tone that the music was creating. They felt the mood change as the police showed up and the man began to panic.

As my sixth period class was exiting my classroom, one rowdy boy gave me a high-5 and said, “Best class ever, Mr. Johnson.”

Why did he say this? I engaged him.

Question: If you are a trainer at your company, how are you engaging your workforce in your training? I can guarantee my students will remember this lesson for a long time. Will your workforce remember their training by the time they return to their desks or to the manufacturing floor?

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Remote Workforce Training

Do you have a remote workforce that is spread across a region, the US/Canada, or around the world?  Do you struggle with training in any of these areas?

  • Consistency of training delivery
  • Onboarding new hires anywhere you have locations
  • Safety training
  • Technician training
  • Sales training
  • Customer Experience/Service
  • Leadership development

CVC Communications has been partnering with companies to address these issues.  We would love to partner with your company.  We customize online training that is trackable, measurable, and can be produced in languages other than English. Our training solutions can be accessed anywhere, at any time, and on any device.

Schedule a time with us at: Book an appointment

Learn more at:  https://www.businessstorytellers.com/

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Personal Update

About a month ago, I began a new role at CVC Communications in Fort Wayne, Indiana. I am the new VP of Business Development. CVC has been in business for over 40 years. We specialize in creating customized online training solutions for companies in the US, Canada, and around the world.

What topics can we cover? Well, we create customized training that is done in partnership with our client’s subject matter experts. We have covered training topics such as:

  • Sales
  • Customer Service / Experience
  • Company Culture
  • Safety
  • Maintenance
  • Technician training
  • Leadership Development
  • and many more

We have worked with very familiar brands such as: Pepsi, Lilly, Stanley, Bosch, Johnson & Johnson, Siemens, GE, Discover, Kubota, just to name a few.

We have worked with companies whose workforce is spread across the US, Canada, and around the world. We can deliver training anywhere, at any time, and on any device. We can deliver in multiple languages. And it is all trackable and measurable.

I am excited to be with CVC Communications. Visit us at: www.BusinessStoryTellers.com

I would love to partner with your organization!

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How to Grow in a Business

So you’ve been hired into a new company. How do you now grow in this company? Don’t make these common mistakes:

  • Assume that someone will ask you to grow
  • Assume that someone will ask you to post for a new position
  • Live up to the least common denominator (doing the bare minimum)
  • Merely “meet expectations”

If you want to make a positive impact in your company, follow the suggestions in the graph I’ve provided. Don’t follow the crowd. Be a positive influencer. Take your career into your own hands and be determined to grow and progress.

As I have written about in my book, The Path to Promotion, you need to be the right person who is doing the right things at the right time.

Go, leader, grow!

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New Job!

After nearly 16 months of unemployment was a short stint at Southwest Allen County schools, I am excited to announce that I am the new seventh grade language arts teacher at Norwell Middle School. This is not a temporary job. I just attended the board meeting where it was approved. I start on Monday, October 24.

And special thanks to my wife, Laurie, who has been so supportive and encouraging throughout the entire process. Emotionally and mentally I would not have done well without her support and love.

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Becoming Better is the Way

Don’t invest time in trying to prove to yourself how wrong “they” were. Or how far “they” fell from excellence.

Prove to yourself how committed you are to become better. Grow in your strengths. Overcome your weaknesses. Run for the prize. You set your standards. Keep them high.

Live with no regrets. Push yourself towards excellence. Discipline is not easy or joyful – but it will set you apart.

Don’t look back to “them” for validation. Don’t look back and fret. You’re not going that way any longer.

Set your goals high. Becoming better is the way.