One aspect of the ongoing workforce development challenges that will continue to unfold in the coming months and years is the need for supervisors, managers, and leaders to understand the ways they can foster an effective workforce optimization in pursuit of business goals.<\/p>\n
From a training perspective, the softer skills\u2014effective team leadership, workforce optimization, and others\u2014bring significant value. This training often takes place at three distinct levels: among supervisors, managers, and leaders.<\/p>\n
For the purposes of this article, supervisors<\/em><\/strong> will refer to those individuals operating in front-line, shift-supervisor and similar roles; managers<\/em><\/strong> are those who may have hourly workers reporting to them, as well as supervisors and other professionals. These managers are often responsible for converting the company\u2019s strategic vision into a work plan for those who will carry out the work.\u00a0 Leaders<\/em><\/strong>, on the other hand, create<\/em> that strategic vision and guide those in management roles.<\/p>\n Not surprisingly, although the lessons are similar among all three groups, as individuals progress through the ranks, the training becomes more nuanced.<\/p>\n Donna Butchko, DVIRC strategic partner and President of Leadership Systems, Inc., brings her decades of training expertise to bear on each of these training programs. She says that two of the primary features of the training are communication and feedback\u2014elements of personnel management that can have a dramatic effect on workforce effectiveness.<\/p>\n \u201cThe need to communicate effectively doesn\u2019t change as you work your way up, but the message can change, as does the audience,\u201d Donna says. \u201cAt the supervisor level, communication is straightforward. Supervisors assign tasks and responsibilities as simple as who works on what machine or product line. At the other end of the spectrum, leaders are tasked with communicating the strategic vision. That\u2019s a much more abstract concept.\u201d<\/p>\n At any level, clarity can be a challenge, and Butchko says a great deal of this training deals with the need to communicate in ways that enable solid understanding. \u201cWe spend a lot of time discussing the most effective ways to convert ideas\u2014whether they are process or strategy-related\u2014into a clear message that can be passed on.\u201d<\/p>\n The training also includes a discussion of tools to determine the best means of communication, (written vs. verbal) for a given individual or group. \u00a0\u00a0\u201cWe discuss this in Management Development training in particular,\u201d Donna says. \u201cWe know that people need to hear something seven times before they truly understand it. So how do you express something so that the message is received in the right ways and often enough that the audience knows you are serious about it?\u201d<\/p>\n From a leadership perspective, Donna says the issue of communication deals more with the impact on people. \u201cLeaders are discussing topics like retention and succession planning. Those topics must be communicated in such a way that the workforce understands your level of commitment.\u201d<\/p>\n Feedback is another key aspect of these training programs. Donna says that even though giving feedback is a critical skill, it\u2019s something many new managers\u2014and more than a few experienced ones\u2014struggle to do well.<\/p>\n \u201cPeople often give positive feedback that\u2019s too vague, and they avoid giving negative feedback at all, because they don\u2019t want to deal with the reaction,\u201d she says. Perhaps to a greater degree than other aspects of communication, how feedback is presented<\/em> is a significant part of how it\u2019s received<\/em>.\u00a0 Negative feedback that conveys a belief that the recipient can do better can actually inspire improvement.\u201d<\/p>\n In the management class, students learn strategies to give effective feedback and build their ability to leverage that process to engage reports and make them more committed.<\/p>\n \u201cIf you don\u2019t train and empower workers, every day you\u2019re letting their skills and contributions walk out the door without contributing to the company\u2019s forward motion.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Donna builds much of the training course as it relates to building engagement from Patrick Lencioni\u2019s book The Truth About Employee Engagement<\/em>. Previously titled The Three Signs of a Miserable Job<\/em>, she says one of the signs of misery is not knowing if one is performing well in a given position.<\/p>\nWorkforce Development for Varying Levels of Seniority <\/strong><\/h2>\n
Providing Feedback \u2013 a Struggle at all Levels<\/strong><\/h2>\n
Building Engagement <\/strong><\/h2>\n
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