Carol Bartlett is a senior level executive with broad experience in the oil & gas and transportation industries who manages more than $200M in annual sales. Using a combination of proven techniques, Ms. Bartlett focuses on growth results. She bridges theoretical business principles and philosophies to strategic actions that give profitable results. By deploying integrated proven strategies, she adds value to companies that want to grow sales and increase profits.

Jol Hunter has spent a large portion of his career as a partner with the national firm of chartered accountants and business advisors. In the past few years, with three other gentlemen, he has owned a substantial Atlantic Canadian business and so he is experiencing the joys and challenges of the ownership and operation of a medium-sized business.

Chris Spurvey spearheaded the growth of Plato Consulting to the point that it was acquired by KPMG, one of the largest management consulting firms in the world. In his time there, he sold more than $300 million in consulting services. After the acquisition, Chris changed his focus to helping other "non-sales sellers" find a way to grow revenue in a consistent, stress-free manner. He published It's Time to Sell: Cultivating the Sales Mind-Set, founded Make Sales a Habit University, and became a growth advisor to business owners and their management teams throughout the world.

 

This week, we talk about ways we can train our employees and ensure their long-term development. These methods include courses, conferences, conventions, coaching, and mentorship. We also talk about how effective these methods can be in improving our employees and our businesses.

The goal is to help you evaluate where you should allocate your resources, including your time, to help your employees and your business.

 

Why Conferences May Not Be Helpful

I suspect we've all been guilty of this: We go away to a conference on a Thursday and Friday and get excited and inspired. But then, by 10 o'clock on Monday morning, the realities of the world have kicked in and we're trying to catch up on the things that we didn't do while we were at the conference. All of the learning and excitement goes out the window and we sink back into our familiar ways.

The issue isn't that that the conference was poorly done—that the content wasn't relevant or presented well. The conference may have been wonderful. But conferences don't include mechanisms to help you apply their content in the workplace. Most people have fun at conferences but don't get much career benefit from them.

 

Ensuring That Development Programs Contribute to Employee Growth

For long-term growth, I think it will be helpful to learn about how adults learn things. The second thing would be supplementing those programs with mentorship, executive coaching, and by giving feedback—and doing them effectively. 

When you take a course, keep in mind the aspects of the course that inspire you and that you think are relevant. Talk about those aspects with your employees, focusing on how they can be applied, and then build those aspects into an ongoing supportive process with accountability.

 

Benefits of Taking a Course Along With Your Employees

Taking a course along with your employees can be beneficial if the course is consistent with your organization's strategy. Having taken the same course, you and your employees can work together to find ways to apply what you learn from the course. The key is to set up an ongoing process that includes accountability so that you can evaluate whether you have applied what you've learned and whether the learning is still relevant to your business and its goals. With such processes in place, we and our businesses can be successful.

 

To learn more about these topics, listen to the episode.