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Equality and Diversity Training Moves Towards Respect Agenda

January 23rd, 2012

The Equality and Diversity training agenda is considered to be a bit of a yawn for many people. But the training does aim to address the work-place humour and ‘banter’ that can appear discriminatory or when repeated, tantamount to bullying. Equality and Diversity training sessions aim to get colleagues to think before making comments that are critical of someone and that imply that there is a link with their race, religion, sexual orientation or disability. But the fact is that not everyone easily buys in to the training messages of how offensive, not to say unlawful that is.

So there is a move in some quarters to develop the Equality and Diversity agenda into one of Respect. It does all the same stuff as Equality and Diversity training but comes at it from a slightly different angle. And it is interesting to consider where organisations start on this. Many look at the customer relationships and work on every aspect of their interaction with customers with the Respect agenda at the forefront their thinking and behaviour. Others start with the Respect message in terms of how the company works internally, how people behave toward one another, from CEO down the chain of command, from the lowest paid upward, within teams and between colleagues. Other organisations embrace everything within their Respect agenda.

However Respect is adopted it creates a different atmosphere to the ‘Equality and Diversity’ training message that seemed to make many people feel that they were being ‘told what to say, what to do and how to behave’. Respect is the word that can be on the tip of everyone’s tongue and a consistent part of their thinking as they go about their work. How do I deal with this difficult customer with Respect? How to I respond to an unreasonable request from a colleague or my manager with Respect? How to I behave with Respect even when it is difficult for me to have Respect for someone?  It seems to me that the Respect agenda is the way to keep our society moving in that direction.

By Mike Cooney | Righttrack’s Commercial and Financial Director

Posted in Equality and Diversity Training, Respect Agenda | No Comments »

Leadership development: Should Leaders Be Heroes?

January 23rd, 2012

When one thinks of a captain of a cruise liner, with the capacity to carry over three thousand passengers and a thousand crew, one automatically makes the assumption that he or she would have the necessary nautical qualifications and experience. In the case of Francesco Schettino, the Costa Concordia captain at the centre of one of Italy’s worst maritime disasters, who is currently under arrest for manslaughter, this is true. It appears that the 52-year-old’s life has been dominated by the sea and he attended a nautical institute in Piano di Sorrento.

However, we also tend to assume that people that manage that many crew and have the responsibility for the safety of that many passengers, also have the natural leadership qualities for such a role. I don’t know what leadership development training the beleaguered captain has had during his career but from the many reports and interviews which are emerging in the media it is not looking as if he put much of it into action

First of all it seems that the ship had an unplanned change of course which caused it to run aground. A lesson to those leaders looking to go off strategy without consultation. It then seems that once in trouble, the captain found it hard to make the decision to evacuate the ship, resulting in a terrifying and chaotic evacuation procedure, which has cost lives. A lesson that he who hesitates, or dithers is lost. And when it looks as bleak as it can get, and as if these serious errors of judgement were not enough, it is alleged that our captain decided to put himself before his passengers and crew and save his own skin.

If this is true, how must his crew have felt. How can a leader abandon his fellow managers and crew to the responsibility of sorting out the mess, which on the surface of it, has a lot to do with the captain himself. In nautical tradition over many centuries, we learn that captains stay with their stricken vessels when in peril. I presume this tradition was instilled in them during their leadership development.

But are we asking too much of any leader, whether of a ship in trouble or an organisation about to go bankrupt. Not the same risk to life and limb I agree, but have we been watching too many black and white movies. Do we have too much of a romantic view of a strong leader putting everyone else first before himself or herself. Do we still expect our leaders to be heroes?

In modern society, perhaps not, but in my mind, we do still expect leaders to take responsibility when there is a crisis, to be decisive, to lead from the front and to never abandon the ‘crew’ to sort out the mess.

By Kasmin Cooney OBE | Righttrack’s Managing Director

Tags: ,
Posted in Leadership Development Training, Management Training | No Comments »

Sales Skills in Car Showrooms

January 23rd, 2012

Many sectors in the UK are seeing a decline in sales and for many car brands, particularly those in the mid-price bracket, sales in October 2011 were down anything from 5% – 18% depending on the brand.

On the AM automotive management website visitors are asked to vote on: Do the teams in your business feel positive about 2012? It currently shows that 27% of people responding are saying YES, with a whopping 73% saying NO.

Car sales have been a particular interest of mine over the last two weeks, as we are looking to replace a car which is just coming out of its contract hire agreement. So we called three different brands asking for a test drive: Toyota, Ford and Nissan. I was very intrigued with the different ways in which we were dealt with and thought the differences worth noting:

Toyota
The dealer was disappointing from the very start. A very uninterested salesman took the telephone call and asked us what model we wanted to test drive and which day we wanted to come in. He wasn’t interested in arranging an appointment at all, he simply said to show up on the following Saturday when he would be in. The salesmen didn’t offer us any further information, he didn’t even ask our name, phone number, budget or anything except ‘ what car did we currently drive’. His attitude was so bad it put us off completely! As it happened we were extremely busy on the Saturday and because we didn’t have an appointment we never got around to going into the showroom. There’s a lesson there – how many other people are not showing up for a test drive!

Ford
An appointment was made and we met with the salesman. He was friendly’ish and went through the mechanics of showing us the model we were interested in. During the actual test drive, not once did he mention any special features or the fuel consumption, despite my mention that we were looking for better fuel economy. He made no attempt to find out what we were looking for in a car. To get any information we had to keep asking him questions.  He did mention that he was not a typical car salesman. In my view that was an understatement! His lack of enthusiasm was overwhelming, almost amusing and we came away from the showroom feeling totally un-inspired. We were not offered any further information to bring away. This was a week ago and we haven’t heard from him since.

Nissan
We called into the showroom to look at the car we were interested in and were met by a smiling young man called Kumar. He knew all about the car, was extremely enthusiastic about the features, fuel consumption and general performance. He asked about what we needed in a new car and arranged for a test drive the following week. On our return to the garage everything was ready for the test drive. His enthusiasm for the product was contagious, he engaged, used our names appropriately, all the things you would expect when you buy a new motor car, which after all is the second most expensive purchase most of us make apart from our homes. From a sales skills point of view, Kumar hasn’t put a foot wrong. We have agreed to purchase the car and all through the process this young man has done everything that he can do to ensure we are happy. He calls back when he says he will, provides the information we need and is friendly, cheerful and extremely helpful.

Summary
For me this experience has reminded me of the importance of professional sales training and ensuring salespeople have the right sales skills. It demonstrates that if a sales person is keen and enthusiastic and they present their products in the best light, it can make a difference in closing the sale. I have no doubt there is a correlation between the attitudes of the salesmen representing the three brands and their sales figures.

By Kasmin Cooney OBE | Righttrack’s Managing Director

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Sales Skills, Sales Training | No Comments »

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