Best Recipes Ever

Tag: Training

  • Is Your Customer Service Roadworthy? Fixing the ‘System’ That Leaves Drivers Stranded

    Imagine you're driving to an early morning networking event. You're navigating a familiar stretch of road, only to find it partially flooded. Your wheels are cautiously floating in the water until a massive clunk vibrates through your vehicle. A pothole strikes your front tyre. Fifteen minutes later, the tyre pressure light flashes on the dash—it’s the exact tyre that hit the hole.

    Your journey turns into a test of your insurance provider's customer service. Four calls later, you’re emotionally drained, late for your meeting, and grappling with a system that feels anything but helpful.

    Here’s what went wrong—and what any service-focused company should fix.

    1. Stress and the Human Touch Matter

    When you're stranded roadside, you're not just inconvenienced—you’re anxious and vulnerable. A chatbot or digital form may be efficient, but it cannot soothe emotions. Empathy from a trained person does. Empower your customer-facing team to accelerate the conversation, not deflect it. Listening and reassurance under stress aren’t just niceties—they build trust.

    2. Inclusivity Isn’t Optional

    What if your stranded customer is elderly, dyslexic, or managing a crying child? Digital-first policies may exclude and exacerbate stress—no one wants to complete a fiddly form in that scenario. Customer support systems must be designed for all customers, not just the digitally savvy.

    3. Digital Claims Must Be Trustworthy

    I was told booking online would speed up recovery—but had to be pushed repeatedly. How can you enforce digital-first when your system doesn't work reliably? If you're encouraging online use, it must deliver—or risk destroying trust. Transparency and reliability are everything.

    4. One Task Shouldn’t Mean Four Harrowing Calls

    My experience required four calls and an hour of stress to accomplish what should’ve been simple. That’s not efficiency—it’s friction. Test your processes under real-world conditions. Use approaches like “Appreciative Inquiry” to identify pain points by engaging both customers and frontline staff.

    5. Systems vs. Human Connection

    These issues disproportionately expose two core truths:

    • Your service system must be built for diverse customers under pressure.
    • At times, customers need human connection over automation.

    Your team should know when to streamline via digital tools—and when a human voice is the shortest path to relief.

    6. Empower Your Team—and Your Business Wins

    Training, empathy, and autonomy aren’t just inside baseball—they’re strategic levers. According to Forrester, customer-obsessed companies enjoy:

    • 28% faster revenue growth
    • 33% higher profit growth
    • 43% better customer retention
    • Digital Commerce 360
    • Kate Smiley-Rodgers

    Embedding customer obsession into operations is not a buzzword—it’s a powerhouse growth engine. .Forrester https://www.forrester.com/bold/customer-obsession/ Kate Smiley-Rodgers https://www.krosecreative.com/blog/the-b2b-flight-to-customer-obsession-is-taking-o

    Final Thoughts

    Being stranded on the side of the road shouldn’t expose flaws in your customer service DNA. A system should adapt to your customer—not force them into frustration.

    Empathy, flexibility, and empowerment aren’t just ideals—they’re the backbone of loyalty and business momentum. As a result of this experience, I'm unlikely to renew with this insurer—and I’ve already shared my frustration with friends.

    Call to Action: This isn’t about slapping a chatbot on your website. It's about embedding empathy into every system, every channel, every interaction. Fix the process. Train the people. Empower your frontline—and watch commitment, trust, and profit follow.

  • How Are Your Listening Skills?

    How Good Are Your Listening Skills?

    I like to listen.  I have learned a great deal from listening carefully.  Most people never listen.

    Ernest Hemmingway

    In order to manage the ever-increasing workload, our lives are focused to processing as much as possible in the shortest time,.  This is further compounded by social media – Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and the like, all of which demand time, and to which it is easy to become a “slave”.  How are these demands affecting your listening?  Look over the table below and remind yourself of the difference between poor and effective listening.

    Poor v. Effective Listening Behaviour

    The Poor Listener:

    Is distracted by work, other people, interrruptions, noises etc

    Body is oriented away from the speaker 

    Gives no feedback (facial responsiveness, or other appropriate response 

    Ignores speaker’s non verbal communication

    Interrupts and waits to speak 

    Jumps to conclusions – focuses on symptoms and quick fixes

    Takes criticism personally

    Blames others.  Becomes defensive about the organisation or self and is judgemental and punishing when someone complains 

    Blames the organisation.  Takes the side of the person complaining

    Is thrown by stressed-out behaviour of others, and may become stressed-out in turn, Often lacks control of the situation

    Judges others by opinions – prejudices, shuts down listening

    The Effective Listener:

    Focuses on the speaker and what is being said

    Body is oriented towards the speaker 

    Gives feedback and participates appropriately 

    Tunes into the speaker’s non verbal communication

    Occasionally reflects and clarifies.  Allows the other person to finish what they are saying 

    Is patient.  Sees complaints and negative criticism as opportunity for problem solving and learning.  Focuses on underlying causes

    Avoids taking criticism personally 

    Suspends judgement as to who is to “blame”.  Has attitude to focus and find solutions which is seen as being more important than judgement

    Doesn’t blame.  Seeks solutions, is proactive for the future, not seeking revenge for actions in the past

    Realises the other person must have had to “psych up” to make a complaint, and has respect.  Makes allowances for the other person’s behaviour while listening

    Suspends judgement on others – listens to what is being said, not who is saying it

    Listens with head and heart

    Skilled Listeners:

    • Pay attention – focus to the speaker
    • Indicate interest
    • Listen without judgement or prejudice
    • Observe and notice others’ body language and vocal usage
    • Ask questions to expand the other person’s thinking
    • Use the feedback loop to check understanding and show listening

  • How to Take Responsibility of Your Life

    Winston Churchill once said, “The price of greatness is responsibility.”

    How does this phrase reflect what is meant by ‘taking responsibility’?

    As defined by the English Oxford dictionary, responsibility is:

    • The state or fact of having a duty to deal with something or of having control over someone. Example: “a true leader takes responsibility for their team and helps them achieve goals”.
    • The state or fact of being accountable or to blame for something. Example “the group has claimed responsibility for the vandalism of …..”

    RESPONSIBILITY IMPACTS RELATIONSHIPS

    By definition there is an understanding that responsibility lies with an individual or a group/team.  Responsibility whether you take it or not has a direct impact on relationships – can you be relied on to do what you say you will do, and therefore, is there trust in that relationship?

    Responsibility in one’s personal life is the same as in a business world, whoever you might be – husband, wife, mother, friend, subordinate, manager or leader.  Each one of these roles, and many others, encompasses the need to take responsibility for what you are doing, or what you have done. Firstly being answerable to yourself and secondly to others involved in the commitment to do something.

    HOW IS TAKING AND SHOWING RESPONSIBILITY MANIFESTED?

    We show our ability to take responsibility:

    • By doing what we say we will do.  Not only that, but by doing it by the agreed time.
    • By admitting we have made a mistake, if indeed that is the case, and not blaming someone or something for the mistake.  Being honest with yourself and admitting a mistake, means you can learn from it and move on. 

    Just because no one takes responsibility for the mistake does not mean the mistake did not happen.   Spending time and energy blaming someone else for the problem is counter-productive to empowering others as well as the end result.

    How to take responsibility of your life4 TIPS TO TAKING RESPONSIBILITY

    TIP 1.  DO WHAT YOU SAY YOU WILL DO AND BY WHEN YOU SAY YOU WILL DO IT.

    What happens if you committed to doing something and unforeseen circumstances occur, meaning you will not be able to deliver as agreed?

    Of course, life throws curve balls at us on occasions, which lead to circumstances that we firstly did not seek, and secondly do not want.  Such circumstances are seldom the norm, and if you are a reliable, responsible person, this can be handled by explaining the situation and agreeing a “Plan B” once you know that you cannot deliver.  Do not delay, thus limiting the opportunity for the other party in finding an alternative solution in a timely manner.

    TIP 2.  TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR MISTAKES, RATHER THAN CASTING BLAME

    Considering responsibility from a leader’s perspective is no different to responsibility in our personal lives, with the exception that we are part of and therefore committed to a team, thus having responsibility to each and every team member.

    Responsible leaders develop trust through doing what they say they will do and taking the blame; by admitting your performance is the reason why the team has not succeeded, rather than looking for someone to blame.  An effective leader will take responsibility for the mistake and admit he or she did not prepare enough, give enough guidance, or support, etc…

    Leaders are the ones who have ultimate responsibility for decisions taken, whether right or wrong.  President Harry S. Truman had a sign on his desk in the Oval Office with  “The Buck Stops Here”.  This phrase refers to the fact that the President had to accept the ultimate responsibility for decisions taken in his team.

    TIP 3. EMPOWER YOUR TEAM TO SHARE THE RISKS & RESPONSIBILITIES

    Empowerment of people goes a little further by expanding on the notion of taking responsibility.  A leader who is able to create an empowerment culture within the team and the organisation, gives out responsibility and power.  “Empowerment is the creation of an organisational climate that releases the knowledge, experience and motivation that reside in people.” (Ken Blanchard, Leading at a Higher Level)

    Empowering subordinates is easier said than done for many reasons, including subordinates themselves misinterpreting the term “empowerment”, often mistaking it for freedom to work as they please whilst making decisions around their own job.  Empowerment requires direct reports to embrace the freedom and in doing so participate fully in sharing risks and responsibilities.  This commitment to increased responsibility to achieve full empowerment engages direct reports and gives them a sense of fulfillment, ultimately leading to greater organisation performance.

    Does empowering others to take responsibility really work?

    There are numerous organisation studies that demonstrate the benefits of empowerment including an increase in return on sales between companies that empower and companies that do not empower.  Edward E. Lawler III, Professor of Business at the University of Southern California, Marshall School of Business, found the difference to be 10.3% versus 6.3% increase on return of sales.

    TIP 4. AS A DIRECT REPORT, COMMIT TO TAKING A FULL SHARE OF THE RISKS AND THE RESPONSIBILITIES.

    “In the long run, we shape our lives and we shape our ourselves.  The process never ends until we die.  And the choices we make are our own responsibility.”  ~ Eleanor Roosevelt 

     

    References:

    Oxford English Dictionary

    Leading at a Higher Level, Ken Blanchard

    Edward E. Lawler III, Professor of Business at the University of Southern California

    Originally published on Up Journey May 29 2019  https://upjourney.com/ways-to-take-responsibility-for-your-life 

     

    Rachel ShackletonRachel Shackleton is an entrepreneur who owns and manages Green Key Personal Development and Green Key Health. Working with local and multinational organisations, she is a public speaker and trainer in the spheres of leadership, communication and customer excellence. She ensures sustainable productivity and profitability through healthy self-management and leadership practices, ensuring a focused and successful workforce.

  • Ignoring Bad Leadership is Damaging your Business

    We have all had at least one experience of poor or bad leadership. I could add “unfortunately” at the end of that sentence? In most cases it is a learning lesson for the employee to avoid such leaders and their behaviour in the future. In other words, it teaches a very good lesson and makes us wiser in our future job searches and appointments. What about the organisation, is it unfortunate for them? The answer is most likely “yes” for the obvious reasons such as loss of good employees, poor morale that leads to low employee engagement, low productivity and ultimately increased sickness and absenteeism. The 2022 Gallup poll stated that “60% of employees are disengaged at a cost of US$8.8 trillion to business globally.” If that doesn’t make your ears prick up or hair stand on end, then I don’t know what will.

    What are the top-rated worst leadership behaviours according to a survey conducted by Bamboo HR of 1000 employees:

    Your boss takes credit for your work 63%
    Your boss doesn’t trust or empower you 62%
    Your boss doesn’t care if you are overworked 58%
    Your boss doesn’t advocate for you when it comes to compensation 57%
    Your boss hires and/or promotes the wrong people  56%
    Your boss doesn’t back you up when there is a dispute  55%
    Your boss doesn’t provide proper direction on assignment/roles  54%
    Your boss micromanages and doesn’t allow you freedom to work 53%
    Your boss focuses more on your weaknesses than strengths  53%
    Your boss doesn’t set clear expectations  52%

    On top of these reasons, Gallup together with Workhuman in a survey conducted in May 2023 established an extensive connection between employee recognition and wellbeing, finding that “employees who receive the right amount of recognition for the work they do suffer from lower burnout, enjoy improved daily emotions and stronger relations with their co-workers.”

    What does Gallup consider to be wellbeing? This is divided into different aspects of wellbeing:

    • Community
    • Social
    • Financial
    • Career
    • Physical

    I agree that wellbeing is not just physical, wellbeing is much more than that, infact it is holistic just as Gallup has highlighted. The way I explain wellbeing is physical (vitality, energy, strength) mental (clarity, cognition, concentration), emotional (resilience, inner balance, positivity, self-compassion), and spiritual (purpose, alignment, integrity). In the Gallup survey these different aspects of wellbeing, in turn are placed into three buckets:

    • Thriving Wellbeing – High wellbeing across most elements
    • Suffering Wellbeing – A mix of high, medium or low elements
    • Struggling Wellbeing – Low wellbeing across most elements

    What then is the link between leadership and thriving employee wellbeing? According to Gallup and Workhuman – it is what they term “Strategic Recognition”. This is the ability to use the technique of giving genuine recognition to all employees. To be strategic it needs to:

    1. Meet employee expectations. In other words, be given in a timely manner and for the work that the employee thinks deserves recognition.
    2. Be authentic and genuine and not something that is simply on a to do list to be done every day.
    3. Personalised – given fairly to all without showing favouritism.
    4. Equitable – taking the needs of each individual into consideration rather than a one size fits all.
    5. Is part of the organisation culture and is lived throughout the organisation by all in everything they do.

    The interesting point here is that giving recognition to an employee for doing a good job, costs nothing, there is no pay check attached, bonus or increase of some kind. It is a simple act of human, respect, gratitude and quiet celebration of an individual’s performance. The result when recognition is given authentically is an employee who feels valued for what they do, resulting in willingly doing more of the same. This in turn leads to increased engagement and productivity, less employees actively searching for a job and therefore increased retention, not forgetting the ultimate aim of decreasing sickness, both mental and physical, and absenteeism because employees thrive within the organisation culture.

    So what you might ask? A Harvard Business Review survey on the impact of poor leadership behaviours revealed that:

    • 48% of employees intentionally decreased their work effort.
    • 47% intentionally decreased the time spent at work.
    • 38% intentionally decreased the quality of their work.
    • 63% lost work time trying to avoid the offender.
    • 66% said that their performance declined.
    • 78% said that their commitment to the organization declined.
    • 25% admitted to taking their frustrations out on customers.

    Give me an example of any organisation leadership that would not want to turn employee performance around to stop damaging their business? I hope that all organisations would want to turn this around and create a thriving workforce who love what they do. This requires a change in leadership behaviour to those that embrace their employees and encourage top performance through strategic recognition. Does this mean that all employees perform well? Probably not, but that doesn’t mean that a manager and leader should see this as requiring discipline, severe correction or even some kind of abuse. It is an opportunity to understand why and consequently turn the employee’s performance round to one of excellence. In my opinion there are no such thing as bad employees, only bad managers.

    What behaviours do managers and leaders need to increase? Start by giving genuine authentic feedback and strategic recognition. This means “managing by walking about”, a concept that I learned in my early 20’s. By doing this you become human and approachable, you also know your employees by name and see how they perform, at the rock face while experiencing their daily work lives and not just seeing their names on a report or computer screen.

    Not all managers and leaders have received appropriate training to know when and how to deliver feedback. Ask yourself: “What is the damage and cost to your business for not investing in your leaders to provide the necessary training in leadership and these vital skills?

    Start the leadership training today, let’s talk.

    References:

    https://www.workhuman.com/resources/reports-guides/from-thank-you-to-thriving-workhuman-gallup-report-emea/?utm

    https://newageleadership.com/poor-leadership-behaviors-its-collateral-damage/#:~:text=Poor%20leadership%20behaviors%20and%20bad,root%20cause%20%E2%80%93%20bad%20leadership%20behaviors.

  • Does your employee appraisal process need an appraisal?

    “The most basic problem is that performance appraisals often don’t accurately assess performance.” – W. Edwards Deming (Founding Father of Total Quality Management)

    We traditionally rely on employee management performance systems / performance appraisals to give feedback to our employees. In most organisations this is a yearly ritual after having completed the statutory probation period. If you are lucky, it might be twice yearly. How do manager’s typically view this? Do they look forward to spending valuable and productive time with an employee listening to how they feel they have performed and opening up discussion if for some reason it differs from the manager’s view. Or does the manager provide a monologue of feedback according to the question and rating on the form in some kind of awkward manner in the hope that the employee firstly understands and secondly agrees with what is being said. If the manager orients towards the autocratic style, what the employee thinks or agrees with is probably highly irrelevant. The box gets ticked, and the employee goes back to what they were doing muttering on the way about the “BS” that he or she has just been subjected to.

    I remember many years back when my then manager called me at a random time when I was travelling home from work on a Friday, having been away on the job since the previous Sunday afternoon to give me my appraisal. “Give” was the appropriate word as 10 minutes later after listening to him, he ended the monologue with “Have a good weekend.” My emotions? Disbelief, disappointment both of which later developed into anger due to the shear disrespect I had been shown for working 12 hours a day, 5 days a week while living in a hotel and eating pub grub or take aways for the entire week. Was he interested in my thoughts, questions or comments? Definitely not! The fact that he did not even have the respect to organise the call in a proper way giving me time to prepare myself. Perhaps that was what he was afraid of? It’s no surprise therefore that I managed a year before departing for greater things.

    What does the employee think about the performance management system and their appraisal? Is this recognised as an opportunity to talk openly about what they are doing and how they feel they are doing or is it something that they dread knowing that their point of view will likely be ignored or brushed off like a piece of dust on a dark-coloured jersey?

    Every organisation needs a method of understanding how an employee is doing, how they are feeling about their current role and what it is they are interested in growing into. After all this is the foundation to succession planning and can help not only the department manager, but the employee, HR team and General Director in a smaller operation saving large sums of money on search and recruitment fees.

    The best performance appraisal is one that is no surprise to the employee because they have received ongoing feedback, both positive and negative as and when required, making the formal “meeting” almost a summary of their performance and an opportunity to open up discussion around future plans and to agree a way forward to assist that employee to grow and develop their potential to be ready to assume a new position as and when it appears.

    Information gained from such a conversation has much more value to enable for succession planning and facilitate an understanding of the positions that will need recruiting in the future, linking to HR planning. It also provides information for the manager to ensure that he/she takes an active interest in his/her employees, organising and delegating accordingly to facilitate learning, helping to keep individual employees engaged and motivated as well as loyal. The latter being especially important at this time when there is a shortage of people in the market. Learning and development that cannot be facilitated through delegation of skills, role rotation and so on might need to be addressed by organised learning through courses that meet the specific skills need whether face-to-face, virtual or through specialised digital courses. Again, knowledge gleaned from the appraisal process is fed into HR or Learning and Development to enable yearly budget planning for company employees’ training and development needs according to demand for particular skills courses whether it be leadership, communicating with customers, delegation or computer skills.

    There is a standard approach to conducting appraisals that any manager needs to know, but there are also critical skills to conduct a performance appraisal effectively, including:

    • The ability to ask questions that develop open discussion and probe to understand fully and clearly.
    • The ability to listen effectively not only to the answers, but tone of voice and body language behind those answers.
    • To use appreciative enquiry to build trust, respect and openness in all aspects of the conversation.
    • To lead the discussion in a positive manner that includes all aspects of performance, while not being afraid to address issues in performance where the employee is not performing at their best.
    • To help the employee identify how they can improve their performance through invitation to help them find their own answers.
    • To encourage engagement of the employee to want to improve where required while at the same time motivating change in performance in skills and areas that require it.
    • To be open and honest.
    • To not be afraid of receiving feedback as the employee’s manager in how your style of leadership for this person could be improved to build a trusting relationship.

    Giving feedback to develop and improve performance is a skill required of any manager and leader. Them making light of the process could be an indication that they themselves do not have the necessary skills to feel comfortable and confident appraising others who are under their responsibility, or it could simply be that the senior management themselves under value this process, encouraging their subordinates to adopt the same attitude.

    “A performance appraisal that is conducted effectively leads to greater employee morale, higher productivity, creating a positive culture and improved overall performance and effectiveness of an organisation.” –  Kumar Parakala, global business leader

  • Employee development – a cost or an investment?

    EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT – A COST OR AN INVESTMENT?

    I was recently staying in a hotel on the Salford Quays.  For purposes of my blog I will only say that it is a well known international brand.  Not a huge hotel, and therefore potentially able to give guests a more personal experience.   There was nothing particularly different about this hotel – the décor rather minimalistic, fresh and clean looking, but the rest was the same, as any other hotel brand.

    There were several employee-guest interactions during my stay apart from the obvious checking in and out.    The toilet required a “Tarzan” type figure to flush it, the pillows were hard and about 18” deep as well as the need for general directions to where I was going.  Sadly not on any of these occasions was I referred to by name.  The person was empathetic, if needed, efficient in all cases, but did not take the opportunity to personalize our conversation, despite having the information on the computer before her eyes.  What would stop me staying in another hotel next time?  Absolutely nothing!  The location was no more convenient than competitors, the rate certainly not more beneficial, value for money – “No nothing there”.  Personalised and individual service – “No”.

    Staff training and development is perhaps even more important when times are tough.  Sadly staff development is usually the first budget that gets cut.  Is this a luxury or a necessity?   Neglecting personal and professional development of employees and management is a false economy.

    Staff don’t wait for the budget to come along to plan out their needs and create their own path of development.  They do this with or without the company’s help.  If they don’t feel they are getting what they want in your company they will take their skills and go elsewhere.

    What tangible benefits can you expect from implementing an employee training and development plan to inspire and grow individuals and teams:

    • Improved productivity through effectiveness, reduced wastage and a smarter approach to “doing”
    • Reduced sickness and absenteeism due to a happier more fulfilled workforce
    • Reduced staff turnover
    • Increased loyalty and engagement which correlates with increased customer satisfaction
    • Increased profits

    In addition to this, though less tangible are other benefits such as:

    • Increased motivation, team spirit and morale
    • A feeling of being valued and therefore a happier place to work, thus directly impacting turnover  
    • Happier customers – would you, as a customer prefer to go where you are known and valued, perhaps even paying more, or where no one knows you?

    Retention of customers is through personal recognition, we all want to go where we feel valued, referred to by name and where our business is welcome.

    Will I stay in this hotel next time – unlikely!  I will go back to the hotel where I stayed previously, with the added bonus of a lower room rate.  More importantly, a hotel, where I am addressed by name by a smiling person, who genuinely loves what he or she are doing.

    Where is the cost and where is the investment?  The business, in this case a hotel where you go once and don’t return or the business with repeat loyal customers?

  • Game-Based E-Learning – Six Reasons to Include Games in Your Content

    The latest figures on attention span of most people is anywhere between 10 seconds and 2 minutes. How does this impact learning and development especially in relation to on-line e-Learning? Basically, what this means is that content needs to include a variety of activities to support content while capturing attention to lead to learning. Talking heads are no longer of interest nor cable of holding attention for long. Seeking more creative and interactive content, perhaps turning to Gamification is the answer.

    Here are 6 reasons why Gamification is not just a passing fad or trend and why it is here it is a strong candidate to grab and hold attention while bringing in creativity.

    1. A carrot instead of a stick

    When it all comes down to it, gamification is really about motivation. You can always motivate someone with the stick approach and the threat of failing. Or you can take the Swedish National Society for Road Safety’s carrot approach that applied gamification principles to road safety. Remarkably, they found a way to make it fun to drive below the speed limit by rewarding safe drivers with lottery tickets. 

    2. Not just fun and games  

    When a new concept is introduced to e-Learning, it’s only natural for people to try to make sense of what it means and to want to understand how it works. One misconception with gamification is that it means we are adding games to our e-Learning modules that detract from the main topic to be learnt.  

    Gamification does not have to involve games. In fact, some of the best uses of it so far have had no games whatsoever.  It is interactive learning with a goal. Now you’re probably thinking; ‘well quizzes do that already.’  What is different between traditional e-Learning quizzes and a gamified quiz is the competitive element.

     The principles of gamification are widely linked to Game Theory. Any non-mathematician who watched Russel Crowe’s a Beautiful mind knows Game Theory explains why we make the choices we do based on our perceived probability of success. 

     As you will recall, there were no games in that movie but the principles of gaming and game theory are somewhat linked by the desire to succeed. Gamification simply takes the best elements of games and applies them to learning to make it more engaging.  

    3. Competition is healthy 

    Quizzes are an essential building block of e-Learning courses. For the competitive animal, quizzes can be boring when you are only competing against yourself. Sure, you can earn bragging rights but who else will  really care that you answered 95% of the questions correctly other than someone who is taking the same course?  Here’s a lesson you don’t have to learn the hard way; bragging to people not taking the same course just doesn’t work and in fact it is a recipe for social disaster and dateless Saturdays! 

    This is why leader-boards make sense. Depending on the LMS you choose, you can set up leader-boards where all course participants can compete against each other.  You get to see who is on the top percentile and where you fall in comparison. It is this type of healthy competition that motivates a participant to do better and achieve great results. Studies show that 89% of participants would be more engaged in an e-Learning application if it had a point-system.

    Being mindful not to ostracise under performers, there should always be a button that asks participants if they would like their results to be published or not.

    4. Celebrate achievements  

    It’s always good practice to recognise anyone who is working hard and achieving good results. When e-Learning is gamified and a user performs well, they can be awarded with a badge or an endorsement that is linked with their profile. 

    Collecting badges motivates users to learn more and earn more. Let’s say you are teaching a communications course. You can use gamification to award badges along the way such as: good situational judgement, empathetic listener or communicator extraordinaire. These endorsements can then be used by the user to market themselves and their skills, creating a win-win situation.

    5. Make learning addictive

    When it’s gamified, the goal is to learn but the methods used are designed to motivate the user. One simple example of this that works incredibly well is vocabularly.com. I’m sure I’m not the only person who tried to read the dictionary when they were a kid thinking we would have a great vocabulary at the end. I don’t know about you, but I gave up just after aardvark (ˈärd-ˌvärk) when I realised how boring the dictionary was. 

     Along comes vocabularly.com and suddenly reading the dictionary becomes fun and highly addictive. Vocabulary.com often has amusing definitions, not as amusing as those of the dirty minded urban dictionary, but they are certainly funny enough to be memorable.  Now here comes the gamified part. You get to build a vocabulary list and the site generates a quiz or you can take one of their generic quizzes such as the top 1000 words and compete against users worldwide. The last I checked, the top of the leader-board was some guy in India who had an English vocabulary of 1,341,365 words. Thanks to gamification, the user is learning and for the first time ever, reading the dictionary is fun. 

    6. Boost Retention

    When done right, gamification makes learning fun rather than an onerous chore. Frank Farral, leader partner at Deloitte said: "If you can gamify the process, you are rewarding the behaviour and it's like a dopamine release in the brain. Humans like a game."

    Gamification encourages the user to experiment and discover what they think they need to learn. It puts them in the driver’s seat of learning. The science behind it is when they are having fun while learning, those ‘feel-good’ endorphins are released which make the user excited because they are achieving something. It is this excitement that makes them more motivated, it hooks and extends their attention  span and overall makes learning more memorable. 

    It is the precise point when they stop becoming passive observers and become active participants that the knowledge you need them to retain gets stored in their long-term memory, right where you want it.

    To sum it up

    Gamification is not a buzzword but a useful technique to engage your learners, motivate them, and boost retention of your content whether individual e-Learning, virtual training or face-to-face training in groups. 

    Take a look at Green Key courses. https://www.greenkeypersonaldevelopment.com/pages/e-learning

  • Great Leadership – Taking Difficult Decisions

    Teresa May quoted in a recent press conference on the reaction to the Brexit plan that has just been signed by all 27 member states – “Great leadership is not about taking the easy route, it is about making difficult decisions.”  Putting Brexit aside – I hear a sigh of relief?   This quote is at the heart of what effective leaders are faced with on a regular basis – that self questioning and draw of the easy route, which we all know rarely delivers, or taking that difficult decision which one knows will meet opposition, denial, ridicule and even refusal.

    Peter F. Drucker the management guru, once said, “Whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision.”

    Making that difficult decision takes courage to stand in the face of adversity and keep moving forward, despite your inner self reminding you that there is an easier route, which may leave you unscathed, (probably not in Theresa May’s case!), but completely dissatisfied with yourself.  In other words, not living your own truth.

    Currently in South Africa enjoying the beauty of the landscape, the birds and wild life, knowing that underneath all this is a very rocky and unstable government.  The new temporary president, Cyril Ramaphosa is walking the tight rope through the land reform, and the demands of the opposition who believe it is reasonable to take away and redistribute land from farmers who have bought and worked their land, in some cases for generations, to African communities in those areas, for no compensation. Ramaphosa has looked for common ground in the negotiations and has signed off on the land reform. However, with a caveat that land cannot simply be removed from farmers, there has to be a system to request the land and process that transition, with the goal of ensuring it stays productive in supplying food for the South African people.  Did Ramaphosa take the easy route, or that difficult decision?

    Mandala walked the tightrope throughout his life, bringing liberation to the people of South Africa.  He did not stop to blame those who created the apartheid regime, he simply kept his goal in mind and moved peacefully and assertively forward towards his goal, making those decisions that had to be made despite lack of support from many his own ANC members. Eventually it all paid off with the end of apartheid, with liberation for all and a new beginning for South Africa.  Did it take courage and dedication to live his vision?  Did he have to make difficult decisions? I believe there can be no more difficult a decision to take than committing yourself to life imprisonment to serve the greater good of your people.

    Being a leader takes courage, it takes courage to make the decisions that have to be made, knowing very often that it will not please many of your followers.  However, firstly taking a decision is important, and making that decision work through a plan of action, communicating that plan to others and keeping the ship on course to overcome barriers to change, whilst inspiring followers to embrace that change, bringing about something new, different and exceptional.

    What lies ahead for Theresa May, the British government and people is going to take great courage and leadership to drive forward on the decision to leave the EU, to keep “Britain Great” and move into a new history.

  • Are Your Leadership Abilities Transforming Fast Enough?

    On Tuesday I had the honour of attending WinTrade (Women in Trade) in London that was hosted by MasterCard.  The main theme was “How to embed diversity in the world of tech?”, and it was attended by entrepreneurial businesswomen from all over the world.  One of the speakers asked the question:  “What is our purpose as humans?”  This led me to thinking about leadership and the role of leaders in today’s world, whether political, business, sports or otherwise.

    As a part of the day, completely off the cuff I was asked to give a five-minute inspirational speech.  Apart from suffering from internal panic, I decided to focus on my name and say a few words about Sir Ernest Shackleton, the great Antarctic explorer.

     

    WATCH MY LEADERSHIP VIDEO HERE

     

     

    Great leadership in actionGREAT LEADERSHIP IN ACTION

    Being a great leader is crucial, but are your leadership abilities transforming as fast as the times? Learn more about what it takes to be a great leader today.

    The Shackleton motto was “By endurance we conquer”.  He made two Antarctic expeditions that demonstrated this motto, although neither reached the South Pole. Never-the-less, Shackleton made history when his ship Endurance was trapped in ice, eventually crushed. As the Antarctic ice melted, the vessel sank to the bottom of the sea.

    It was through his leadership, in a situation that appeared completely hopeless, that Shackleton managed to keep the spirits of the whole team up whilst he created a strategy to get everyone to safety in three rickety lifeboats.

    The route included an open boat journey to Elephant Island, where they found little life on this piece of land that was constantly ravaged by the sea.  All the men, except five stayed hurdled under the lifeboats for months whilst Shackleton and five men sailed 800 miles to reach the island of South Georgia.

    However, on arrival, which in itself was a miracle, they found that habitation was on the other side of the island and therefore had to trek over a frozen, unchartered mountainous interior to reach the whaling station.   Shackleton did not stop to rest at the whaling station. Instead he returned with the help of the whalers to rescue the rest of the men, all of whom survived their ordeal.

    Being a great leader is crucial, but are your leadership abilities transforming as fast as the times? Learn more about what it takes to be a great leader today.

    The meaning of leadershipTHE MEANING OF LEADERSHIP

    Leadership in 1916 for Shackleton and his team was all about camaraderie, loyalty, responsibility, determination and in this expedition, optimism.  He managed to convince his men that getting out alive was possible and that this was what everyone had to focus on and work for.

    At that time in 1916 there was no technology as we know it today. No state-of-the-art sensors and radio or other communication equipment to contact fellow human beings. No navigation equipment as we know it today and no comforts of special fabrics that insulate you from the cold.

    Leadership vs technologyLEADERSHIP VS TECHNOLOGY

    Being a great leader is crucial, but are your leadership abilities transforming as fast as the times? Learn more about what it takes to be a great leader today.

    Technology has progressed enormously since 1916. Looking at the current year, 2019, we have information at lightning speed. We have all kinds of communication capabilities, including Inmarsat satellite phones if choosing to travel to such destinations as Antarctica. Our lives are full of Artificial Intelligence to assist in improving systems, processes, data transfer, data protection, deliveries, security and so on. But where is the leadership that Shackleton showed in the expedition in 2016?  Leadership is not about technology; it is about the human element.

    In today’s world it seems to me that we are searching for leaders that can carry us into a new era.  An era where current long-standing, economic systems and processes need to be challenged.  Rather than tweaking crumbling systems and processes, our leaders need to have the courage to lead transformation not only of systems and processes, but also of our approach to situations and people who might be different from ourselves.  In other words, this is very important to steering the course and to our “survival”.

    GENERATION Z

    Transformation of abilities, skills and knowledge is also needed to bring us all into the world of Generation Z, where the current level of A.I is threatening jobs as we know them and consequently lifestyles and the very security of work.

    This is the generation that is asking uncomfortable questions, coming in through their own doors and challenging the status quo. The needed change has already been identified, and some might say it is already here – it is whether we choose to review and change our leadership characteristics and style and get on board, as technology cannot do it on its own! 

     

    References:

    Shackleton’s Way, Margot Morrell and Stephanie Capparell

    Shackleton The Heart of the Antartci and South, Wordsworth Classic of World Literature

     

    Rachel ShackletonRachel Shackleton is an entrepreneur who owns and manages Green Key Personal Development and Green Key Health. Working with local and multinational organisations, she is a public speaker and trainer in the spheres of leadership, communication and customer excellence. She ensures sustainable productivity and profitability through healthy self-management and leadership practices, ensuring a focused and successful workforce.

  • Building Empathy Centric Leadership

    Empathy, one of the characteristics or we might say building blocks of emotional intelligence, is an essential skill of any leader. When lacking empathy employees feel unheard, undervalued and often frustrated about an apparent lack of understanding of the challenges in any job role or for any difficulties they might be experiencing outside of their working lives, and customers less inclined to entrusting loyalty with your enterprise.

    Having a developed sense of empathy enables you to sense what is happening and how someone is feeling without them having to actually tell you. In groups a leader is able to use the same sense to feel potential areas of struggle, conflict and "holding back" of information, opinions, thoughts and ideas to maximise on the moment and open discussion. Empathy enables responses that take into consideration non-verbal cues whilst sharing openly without contradicting your own thoughts and feelings. Fostering rapport through being empathetic and showing empathy to others are key characteristics of building effective relationships, which is the very foundation to effective leadership and perhaps even business success.

    What is empathy? Empathy is not sympathy it is the ability to experience the moment in response to a customer, colleague, employee, or family member in a manner that “connects” directly to that person, sharing briefly the emotions that the person might be feeling without taking them on yourself. It has an impact on those involved in that moment as well as a longer lasting impact through building a relationship of trust. A positive customer experience makes the difference between a customer becoming loyal or choosing to go elsewhere. In most cases there are plenty of “elsewhere” companies ready to serve customers who have had a poor or even bad experience with any particular service offering. In the current labour market, it is not just the external customer who might choose to go elsewhere, but employees, also.

    The 2020 NTT Global Customer Experience Benchmarking Report stated that, “Companies who focus on a customer/employee centricity see a 92% increase in customer loyalty with an 84% uplift in revenue and a 79% margin in costs saved. 

    More recent data (March 2024 in an article by Cheyenna Eversoll Duggan “The empathy advantage: Using customer data to personalise marketing,” stated:

    • 68% of customers expect brands to demonstrate empathy, but only 37% of customers say brands generally demonstrate empathy.
    • 68% of customers will spend more money with a brand that understands them and treats them like an individual.
    • 66% of customers expect companies to understand their unique needs and expectations, but only 34% of companies generally treat customers as unique individuals.

    Empathy is the linchpin to delivering excellence in customer service both for customers and service providers. Equipping leaders through the development of emotional intelligence and the skills of showing empathy is no longer questionable in terms of importance to business performance, or even optional, but essential. 

    Empathy is an essential aspect of emotional intelligence (Daniel Goldman). Being empathetic and showing empathy has two steps, firstly picking up on others' feelings and secondly responding to those feelings and emotions while interacting with them. Not everyone tells you how they are feeling, even if you ask, but with heightened sensitivity you are able to pick up on emotions and respond if needed, with empathy. Becoming more in tune with the non-verbal and verbal cues that others' are sending increases abilities to respond empathetically. The key competencies within empathy according to Daniel Goleman (Working with Emotional Intelligence) are:

    • Sense others' feelings and perspectives 
    • Take an active interest in others' concerns
    • Sense others' development needs and support their development
    • Anticipate, recognise and meet customers' needs 
    • Read emotional undercurrents and power relationships
    • Cultivate and build opportunities through different kinds of people.

    Judith Orloff once said, “Empathy is the medicine the world needs.” This statement sums up the reason why we need this important skill to foster the growing need for businesses to encourage empathy centricity in their organisation and work culture both internally and externally. 

    AI is a major part of providing service to customers, often helping filter and channel callers in the right direction to get them the appropriate help speedily, however the ability to sense and understand feelings, concerns and perspectives of others through intuition is not yet something that AI can do, in fact it is the biggest challenge for  further development of AI. Palming off your customers to an AI assistant may not build the customer loyalty you are seeking for your business, therefore investing in employee development in this area and equipping leaders with the skill of understanding sensitive situations and responding with empathy are still for now essential to the success of any business.

     

    References

    Working with Emotional Intelligence, Daniel Goleman (1999)

    The Language of Emotional Intelligence, Jeanne Segal, Ph.D, Jaelline Jaffee, Ph.D

    https://services.global.ntt/en-us/insights/2020-global-cx-benchmarking-report#