Curiosity in the workplace - the wellspring of innovation

A colleague raised an interesting topic for discussion on LinkedIn recently about encouraging a campaign for curiosity. We liked the initiative so we thought to put the spotlight on our trainers this time to find out where they stand on the issue. Saira Nisa’s response caught our eye, you can read it below.

There are many ways in which employers can help to encourage curiosity in the workplace. Interestingly enough, we tend to find that companies within the tech industry invest a lot of time and money into creating an environment and a culture where curiosity and creativity can exist.

Millions saw the apple fall, but Newton asked why. ( Bernard Baruch)

Making Success a Habit

Many books over the years have been written on the power of setting goals; perhaps you have attended a training course or motivational seminar in which ‘setting goals’ was a big part of the programme?

Even though goals are a key piece of the puzzle when creating success, many people end up setting goals of being successful as opposed to simply ‘making success a habit.’

Make your own success

Are You Communicating with your Staff?

On a scale of 1-10, how well do you communicate with your team?
Do you communicate in a directive way, i.e. do you tell them what to do, or do you communicate in a motivational way, by asking them what they think they should do? A motivational leader or manager encourages people to think for themselves. Of course, a directive style does have its place. But if the building was on fire, this is not the time to be coming to a group decision! If you need something done in a particular way and you have an urgent deadline to meet then you need to get this across. There are ways to ask to bring your team onside, making sure they understand what needs doing and why.

What is your communication style?

How to face challenges at work and beyond

We have all experienced a number of challenges in our professional lives, some of which you may have handled exceptionally well, others you may have wished you ‘knew then what you know now.’ However, all in all wherever you are in the world and whichever stage you are at in your career, challenges are an everyday part of the corporate world. Today’s blog post sets out to create a sense of awareness and how you can let challenges be your biggest strength, not your worst enemy. 

The ideas in this article relate to people, circumstances, sales and even transcend to our personal lives – there is no right or wrong situation for using this advice, just take what you feel is right for you.

Face challenges at home and work

Challenges are not going away – ever

A great place to start is by understanding that challenges are not going to go away. It it true that the individual challenges we face will eventually subside, especially if you work to overcome them, but challenges as a whole are here to stay.

When we take time out to appreciate that there is no finish line and when you complete one challenge another will soon come along, only then can you choose to ask the question that very few people actually ask themselves:

“How good am I at facing and finding solutions to challenges?”

Then you can follow up by asking:

“How do I become even better at facing and overcoming challenges?”

By asking the above two questions you are actually accessing the resourceful part of your brain and empowering yourself to come up with better ways to deal with a whole host of challenges you may come across. 

The problem is not the problem, but the way you think about it

Unfortunately, many people instead of asking resourceful questions when faced with a real challenge ask; ‘why this challenge/problem is happening to them,’ and if you really dwell on this ‘why’ question it will do the opposite of accessing the resourceful part of your brain and can keep you stuck in the same problem for much longer.

It is really important to remember that ‘no challenge or problem ever has any emotion,’ it’s you who adds that part.  Should you feel bad about challenges or problems then the chances are the challenge will feel more like a major problem.  However, should you choose a feeling of inspiration and confidence, this could in fact turn the challenge into your biggest strength!

Pain is a far greater motivation than pleasure

Understandably, it is not always easy to immediately feel good about a challenge you have to face in the workplace or to switch on your resourceful state of mind.  Yet, consider that pain is a far greater motivation than pleasure, especially if we channel that motivation in the right direction.  Think about this for a moment: have you ever said to somebody that if they just focused their energy on what’s good in their life instead of putting so much into what’s bad they could in fact be very successful?  It’s exactly the same when it comes to your individual challenges too.  Next time you are faced with a challenge that makes you feel a little ‘ouch, this hurts,’ remember to ask yourself how you can turn that ‘ouch,’ into inspiration and action.

Written by Pete Scott, a learning consultant at Capita Learning & Development.

How to empower your staff

One of the most challenging skills to learn as a manager is how to empower your staff members. Some may say that it is something that comes with time and experience where others will state you have to be great with people in order to empower your team members.

All of the above are true on some level but experience does not necessarily equate to wisdom and being great with people does not necessarily mean being great at empowering people.

In order for the truth, we must dig a little deeper.

Empower your staff

What is empowerment?

Empowerment is certainly a word that is thrown around in the corporate world but when we really look at what empowerment means, it’s actually a number of things.  First of all it is knowing that your staff members are doing the work not just because they need to or have been told to, but because they want to.  Great work comes from empowered and inspired staff.  This means they have the right amount of management and freedom to feel safe but motivated in their job role.  Secondly, empowerment means the individual wants to continually improve, learn and develop.

The 80/20 philosophy

As a manager it can be a challenge to balance your time in the business, especially in today’s working world. Yet, this ‘balance’ of time is crucial if you wish to have a team who will work hard (and smart) for you day in and day out.

The 80/20 philosophy is based upon how much time you spend doing admin versus how much you are leading and motivating your workforce.

Which way round do you feel is more effective for empowering your staff?

80% leading and motivating with 20% administration or 80% administration with 20% leading and motivating.

There is no exact science behind this philosophy and it’s appreciated that many managers must spend a lot of time on the admin side of their job.  However, this can work as a simple reminder that people are inspired by people and great managers are remembered for how they lead, not how much administration work they do.

How much time are you spending hiding behind your computer?

The majority of people when interviewing for a management position state that they are great with people. Perhaps you stated it when you interviewed for your current position and it may have even been what tipped the balance for you being selected.

A simple but highly effective tip can be to put a post-it note on your computer screen that says something like the following “how many hours have you hidden behind your computer today?”  This can then act as a motivator to go and take a walk around your office to see how your team members are doing, engage in conversation or just to stretch your legs.

Important to remember, do not use this tip to micromanage your staff or be over the top with your support. Just do it because you want to do it, nothing more is required.

Train and develop

Great companies understand the importance of investing time into their most valuable resource, their people and there is no greater way of supporting your team members than continued learning and development. Bruce Lee had the perfect analogy and that was to be like water.  Water when moving stays fresh, it’s only when it stops that it becomes stale or stagnant.  The same can be said for the workplace, team members who are committed to learning and developing themselves stay fresh, however it’s down to the management to lead this process.

Learn to trust

Overall, empowering staff is a continual quest (with no finish line) of learning to trust your staff to do the best job possible because they want to do it.  Managers are always remembered for either making their staff members time at work great or tough.  Perhaps you are already that great manager but it’s always a wonderful thing to do to gently remind yourself that your success is a reflection of your team members' success and that of course takes trust, support and empowerment.

Written by Pete Scott, a learning consultant at Capita Learning & Development.

Advanced Selling Skills: Stop Selling, Start Helping

Over the last decade sales training has moved forward considerably. It is however important to consider why this evolution has taken place. This has happened not necessarily due to more ‘sales techniques’ being developed, but actually due to the customer becoming more educated and powerful than ever before.

Advanced Selling Skills

Gone are the days of the hard sell, or the deliberate 'mirroring technique' of the customer sales teams employed in order to get the customer/client to say ‘yes’.  Sales teams have to realise that they need to start helping customers in order to build repertoire and partnerships.

This may sound like common sense, yet old habits die hard and there are many sales people out there who are still using out-of-date selling techniques and forgetting that customer service is in fact key to successful sales.

Business goes where it is invited and it stays where it is looked after.

Think about any previous encounters you had with 'good sales people' and 'bad sales people', what were their common character traits?   Were they passionate?  Were they pushy or rude? Did they possess a good knowledge of the product or service you were interested in? Did they help you in any way or provide you with more information?

Although passion and product/service knowledge does help make a good sales person, the question being posed today is what makes a ‘great’ sales person?

A great sales person cares about you getting the most for your money, will happily take the time to really understand your needs and assist you with finding solutions for those particular needs. In Buddhism this is called ‘unselfish intention.’

A good sales person knows all the techniques to employ to get customers to say 'yes'.  A great sales person will have a pure ‘intention’ of the customer being completely satisfied in the purchase they have made or are about to make. Not only this, a great sales person understands that money has value and when the customer passes that money over, in return they need to gain a product or service that to the customer is worth more than the money they have spent.

These are the simple things which distinguishes between efficient and exceptional sales people and which will keep a customer returning over and over again.

Today, more than ever before companies need to hold on to the customers they already have as we are in an age where having the number one product or service doesn't necessarily equate trust or loyalty.  Even having a great brand doesn't ensure success.  We are dealing with more sophisticated buyers who want more for their money. And that ‘more’ comes in the form of the service when they pick up the phone to your company, the after care service when they have made their purchase and most importantly, the customer service they receive when making that all important decision to purchase from your sales person.  

Training your sales team to help/assist customers will significantly increase your customer base and retention. Here are a few quick pointers to think about when ‘helping’, not selling.

• Have an intention to help the customer make the best decision for them, don’t just think about making the sale. Customers see ‘selfish’ sales people a mile off.
• Remember, sales and customer service are becoming more and more aligned, so always go the extra mile to help your customers.
• ‘When you educate your build rapport, when you sell you break it.’  People will buy when they understand so rather than just close the sale, keep informing and educating - see what difference it makes.

Capita Learning & Development offers an Advanced Selling Skills Training Course, which will introduce you to new selling skills and also help you cope with the changing demands of the customer.

Written by Pete Scott, a learning consultant at Capita Learning & Development.

Effective Internal Communication: But How?

Communication is a word we know all too well. But what does it really mean? Communication is: “the act or process of transmitting information (as about ideas, attitudes, emotions, or objective behaviour)”, Merriam-Webster.com, 2012 Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. Communication is a two way street - not only talking - but listening as well. Communication is a dialogue, not a monologue.

Internal Communication in the office refers to communication between employees and employers, employers and employees and between employees and employees.

But why is it important to communicate successfully internally in an organisation? 

Internal Communication is a critical success factor in any organisation and should feature on each company’s list of priorities. Over the years organisations have learned that employees will discuss work, projects and the culture in the office on a regular basis. It’s far better to set agendas and discussion points than to have uninformed employees discuss topics they know very little about.

Open communication between employers and employees leads to greater engagement on both sides and employees feeling valued and involved in the organisation’s future.  It can lead to increased staff morale and as previously mentioned staff engagement. Internal Communication also affects staff performance and thus the organisation’s ROI, reputation and brand. When staff understand what is required of them on a daily basis staff morale is high and this increases the organisation’s success. Happy employees lead to happy customers.

Internal Communication is also at the forefront when any changes occur in the organisation. Internal changes within the company will only be successful if the staff are involved and consulted during the change process.  Employees need to have a firm understanding of why change is necessary. 

In order to be effective Internal Communication needs to:

1. Communicate business objectives in a clear and precise manner
2. Should be written in easily understandable language
3. The communication’s results should be easily measured
4. Is delivered in a medium and at a time the receiver is happy with 

Benefits of Effective Internal Communication:

1. Greater staff morale, engagement and motivation
2. Better and more effective management
3. Successful external communication as internal communication complements external communication
4. Employees communicate and live the brand’s key priorities and vision, take Apple for example 
5. Staff will feel involved in any changes taking place in the organisation, thus are less likely to leave once these changes occur 
6. Happy and satisfied staff will lead to happy and satisfied customers 
7. Informed decision making

View our Postgraduate Diploma In Internal Communication Management. Or for more details please contact us on 0800 022 3410 or email us with your query: enquiries@capita-ld.co.uk

What motivates employees?

We are not as easy to manipulate, nor as predictable, as you’d think. An MIT survey calls into question the reward/punishment models that most organizations have been built on...

What the study showed was that, for simple, algorithmic, mechanical tasks, financial rewards work. But once the task moves above a rudimentary cognitive skill level, then financial rewards actually… backfire.




How can that be?

A study was done at MIT, where students were given various tasks ranging from memorizing digits, solving word puzzles to throwing a ball through a hoop. To incentivise the students, they gave them three levels of rewards similar to a typical motivation scheme within an organization. Thus if they reached level 1, they would get x, if they reached level 2 they get y, etc. What the study showed was that, for simple, algorithmic, mechanical tasks, financial rewards work. But once the task moves above a rudimentary cognitive skill level, then financial rewards actually… backfire.

Once you get above rudimentary cognitive skill, it's the other way around. For simple straight forward tasks, like 'if you do this then you get that', financial rewards deliver outstanding results. But when a task gets more complicated, when it requires conceptual, creative thinking, then those incentives don't work. If you don't pay people enough they won't be motivated. What this proves is that money is a motivator, yes. But the trick is to pay people enough so that money no longer matters, and people think about work, not cash.

What then emerged was a new purpose-driven motive based on three key factors: autonomy (get out of their way), mastery (people want to get better at tasks), and purpose (people want to make a contribution). Autonomy means to be self-directed. An Australian software company, Atlassian, told their developers that they can work on anything with whomever they want for 24 hours every quarter.  All they have to do is show the results to the company at the end of the 24 hours. Afterwards everyone got together with refreshments and discussed what they worked on. That one day of pure undiluted autonomy has lead to software fixes, various ideas for new projects and a culture based on innovation.

Mastery is the urge to get better at stuff. This is why people play musical instruments at the weekend. Why would people spend time on something that is not going to lead to any financial rewards or finding a partner?  Because it's fun and you can get better at it which is satisfying. Take for example companies like Linux, Apache and Wikipedia. Various people around the world who have satisfying, challenging jobs which pay them a good salary, spend their spare time contributing to Linux or Wikipedia. But why are they doing this? Because it's challenging, it involves mastery and they get to make a contribution to the world.

More and more organisations across the world are realising that they need to have a purpose. Partly because it makes acquiring new talent easier and it makes coming to work easier. When the profit motive becomes unmoored from the purpose motive, bad things happen. Companies who are flourishing are animated by this purpose. Take Skype as an example: 'Our goal is to be disruptive, but in the cause of making this world a better place'. We need to have purpose in order to get up in the morning and go to work. The science indicates that we care about mastery, and we want to be self-directed. Based on these findings we can build better organisations, which in turn will also lead to making our world just a little bit better. 

Traditional management styles are great when what you are after is compliance. But in this new, purpose-driven world, you need to enable staff to do what they do well – and here, self-direction works best.