Canadian Management Centre's Training Blog

Workers See a Lack of Development Opportunities

As reported by HRI, many employees see room for improvement in their organization's learning opportunities, found a 2006 survey of 7,700 workers conducted by Harris Interactive. Only 42% of respondents said professional development opportunities were open to them; only 9% had the opportunity to participate in a formal mentoring program. Also, according to Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, "A bare majority expressed any level of agreement (slight, moderate, strong)" when asked to express calibrated agreement or disagreement with the assertion that "top management is committed to advancing the skills of our employees." Fourteen percent strongly disagreed. Employees at large organizations were slightly more likely to have formal learning programs available to them, but were also less likely to believe that management truly cared about skill-building. (Harvard Business School Working Knowledge [Dychtwald, Erickson and Morison], April 3, 2006)

Older Workers Have Higher Levels of Engagement

As reported by HRI, workers ages 55 and over surpass younger employees on levels of workplace motivation and engagement, according to a 2005 Towers Perrin study, which also asserts that such engagement encourages retention as well as a worker's sense of connection to a company's achievements. Though the study found moderate overall engagement levels for the roughly 60,000 workers polled, older workers still recorded higher levels of engagement than younger workers. Industry profiles suggest more stark contrasts in the engagement levels of different age groups, however. Within the energy industry, for instance, older workers showed significantly greater levels of high engagement than workers ages 29 and younger, 22% compared to 8%, respectively. Drawing on earlier academic findings that question the presumed connection between lower productivity levels and advancing age, the study concludes that experience and knowledge can more than compensate for age-related losses of mental acuity. (WorldatWork Journal [Feinsod and Davenport], Third Quarter 2006, pp. 15-17)

Writing Skills and Professionalism Are Lacking Among New Hires

Writing skills and professionalism were the top two areas in which HR professionals identified deficiencies among their newly hired employees in 2006, according to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). A 2006 SHRM survey of nearly 500 U.S. HR leaders found 62% of the respondents citing a lack of writing ability in new workers and 49% indicating a lack of professionalism. Other competencies that new hires lacked were verbal communication skills (noted by 47% of respondents), customer service skills (43%) and analytical skills (40%). ("2006 Access to Human Capital and Employment Verification Survey Report" [Collison], March 2006, pp. 3, 7-8)

Opportunities to Learn New Skills Drive Engagement

As reported by HRI, "The most important element influencing engagement is the possession of sufficient opportunities to learn and develop new skills," reports World at Work, relying on the findings of a Towers Perrin global workforce survey of 86,000 employees administered in 2005. When respondents were queried about the top drivers of engagement, "opportunities to learn and develop new skills" ranked first, while "improved my skills and capabilities over the last year" ranked second. These responses show that development and skill-building has positive results far beyond the immediate application of the skills acquired. Highly engaged employees work harder and are more likely to stay with the company, as other findings from the same survey show. (World at Work [O'Neil and Gebauer], First Quarter 2006, pp. 9, 14)

Most Companies Do Not Train Workers to Work on Virtual Teams

As reported by HRI, although the use of virtual teams is becoming more common, few companies are training their employees to be members or leaders of virtual teams. In a survey of 440 training and development professionals conducted by professors from the Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina and the E.J. Ourso College of Business at Louisiana State University, more than 60% of the respondents indicated that their company had no training for virtual team leaders or members. In fact, only 2% of the sample said that training was provided to a great extent. Among those companies that offered at least some training, only 7% believed their program was either very or extremely effective. Companies with effective programs most often offered cultural sensitivity training (70.6%) and team-building training (70.1%). The most commonly offered content by those with ineffective programs was the use of teleconferences and videoconferences (61%). Effective programs offered this content as well, with 66.2% reporting its use, but they also offered training for team leaders on how to hold members accountable for deadlines (67.7%), how to manage team boundaries (67.7%) and how to track team performance (64.2%). Far less than half of companies that believe their programs were ineffective offered any of this content, or any other for that matter.

Among the companies that offer team training, team leadership skills training was deemed the most valuable. Training on how to lead a virtual team meeting was considered very or extremely valuable by 71% of the respondents. How to coach and mentor remotely was deemed valuable by 69.5%. Training on monitoring team progress and diagnosing and correcting problems was considered valuable by 68.1%. The researchers also determined that team leadership training was best delivered prior to the formation of a team, while team member training was best offered on an as-needed basis. Ironically, the majority of virtual team training was offered via a traditional classroom, because the employees might not yet be conversant in the technology needed for virtual learning. (Human Resource Management [Rosen, Furst and Blackburn], Summer 2006, pp. 230, 234-239)

Some Conflict Is Actually Good for Teams

As reported by HRI, according to a study by two researchers from the University of Amsterdam, conflict is essential in an effective team as long as it is the right type and in the right amount. The study breaks down conflict into two types - task conflicts and relationship conflicts. Task conflicts are disputes over resources, procedures and policies, and fact interpretation. Relationship conflict involves issues with personal taste and style, political views and personal values. Both types of conflict can be dealt with in one of four ways - contending, conceding, avoiding or collaborating. Relationship conflict is rarely beneficial to the team, and the authors of the study recommend that avoidance is actually the best way to deal with it. Task conflict is the type of conflict that generates creative thinking and problem-solving. Research shows that teams are most effective with a moderate amount of conflict. Too little and there is inactivity and avoidance, too much and the team can lose focus and stop generating ideas. How people deal with conflict depends on their personality and the situation. When people have a high concern for themselves and little concern for others, they tend to contend, or force their will upon the other team members. Those with opposite concerns will most likely concede or give in. Some team members have low concern for both themselves and others, and they will be the ones most likely to avoid conflict. Team members with high levels of self and other concern are the ones who are the best collaborators, the researchers found. (European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology [De Dreu and Beersma], 2005, pp. 106-108)

Team Skills Training Increases the Chances of Success

As reported by HRI.  Research shows that generic team-skills training greatly increases a team's success. The core competencies necessary to team success are conflict resolution, collaborative problem-solving, communication, goal-setting, performance management and planning and task coordination. Researchers have found teams that receive team training show greater proficiency in all of these areas than teams that do not. Another benefit to generic team-skills training is that it can be used over a broad range of employees and involve very little retraining. The research also shows that a team's success rate can be improved even if only the most task-critical team member receives the team training. (Personnel Psychology [Ellis et al.], 2005, pp. 641-672)

Board Members Themselves Seldom Receive Risk Training

As reported by HRI, "Just 14% of board members are confident that their organizations' boards understand, and will respond correctly to, risks facing their foreign operations," declared a 2005 report on risk management from the insurance firm Lloyd's of London and the London business analysis firm the Economist Intelligence Unit. Ironically, the survey of more than 100 business leaders in international organizations found that fewer than one in three respondents provided board members with risk management training or thought that risk management skills were important. Eighteen percent of the respondents indicated that their board members had risk management training. Said David Foreman, chief underwriting officer of Wellington, a Lloyd's insurer, "Whether the lack of preparedness to anticipate and deal with risk reflects misplaced confidence or ignorance is debatable. But until boards start to tackle these issues, risk management is likely to be seen by senior management as a constraint on their business, rather than the source of competitiveness it should be." (Best's Review [Green], December 2005, p. 113)

Top Grad Schools Offer Short Sessions to Appeal to Women

As reported by HRI, top business schools are wooing career-resuming women, according to the Wall Street Journal: "Seeking to tap a pool of professionals who are of increasing interest to employers, Harvard, Dartmouth and other graduate business programs are launching executive-education courses geared toward women who have put their careers on hold to raise families and are ready to return to the professional world." The courses are often short - Dartmouth's is 11 days, Harvard's a week, while Babson College is offering "a program of four half-day sessions." Even so, tuition costs are high, and "one concern school administrators face is whether women who aren't working can pay thousands of dollars." (Wall Street Journal [Chaker], May 10, 2006)

High Engagement Correlates with Better Business Results

As reported by HRI, "A well-researched and substantiated relationship exists between employee engagement ... and business results," according to the research and consulting company ISR. The firm studied 41 global organizations that it classified as either "low engagement" or "high engagement" on the basis of employees' belief in the firm's values, their pride in their association with the firm and their commitment to it. After examining the companies' performance over a three-year period, ISR concluded in 2005 that "the high engagement companies realized a 5.75% [positive] difference in operating margin and a 3.44% [positive] difference in net profit margin versus the low engagement companies." According to ISR, workers' perception of the abilities of their organizations' leaders was the factor with the greatest influence on engagement levels. ("Effective Execution - How Leadership Impacts the Bottom Line" [ISR]. Obtained June 1, 2006)