THE PEAC SYSTEM®

reprint from Employment Marketplace, Sept 2002-by George W. Tucker, MS

THE WHITES OF THEIR EYES... 

By George W. Tucker

President-THE PEAC SYSTEM®  

This principle of battle sounds a little strong regarding training... until you have to fire someone. Then, the opportunity to derive value is gone, for it’s too late. But I am not talking about shooting anyone...

I believe the strongest training you can deliver is face to face, where the sometimes not-so-subtle expressions and eye movement tell you for certain that an individual not only recognizes the what involved, but also the why, and then can demonstrate the how to deliver. Canned? Hardly.  Ask any actor what that first reading sounded like, long before it hit the silver screen... and later became an academy award performance. We are actors in our business, and the trainer is often the Director.

Training is, as you well know, an ongoing process. But even with the best information, without practice and change, productivity will not improve very much. Even the long term producer makes mistakes, many he or she will not even recognize. And most of them are in the either rote delivery, or sometimes worse, the on-the-spot invention. The highest productivity comes from consistent, well planned, and well rehearsed techniques. Regarding this last, my philosophy is that you must remember well everything you say, for you may have to deliver on it...

There is certainly value in Tapes and Seminars, especially in the understanding of the concepts and the hearing of the delivery. A good manager will not only encourage the receiver to practice, but will also be sensitive to the inflections and emphasis that can cause trouble. Still, an experienced face-to-face trainer will recognize and correct the myriad other subtleties that a trainee will demonstrate. More importantly, he or she will train a manager to spot these problems and make the necessary corrections.

As an obvious, but appropriate example, have one of your people try the phrase, out loud, “How do you do?” Just for fun, ask them to place a dramatic emphasis on each word, a different one each time they say the phrase. For example, “HOW do you do?” followed by “How DO you do?” and so on. You can readily see that each phrase will have a different meaning.

Now, did you catch the other subtleties? Said too fast, it means you don’t really care, it is just a salesperson’s ‘intro phrase.’ Losing the upward inflection of the last ‘do’ for a question destroys the entire meaning, for it becomes a rote, canned expression. And there are others.

And, of course, a major component of training is role playing. Depending on a manager’s communication style, this is either very easy, or very difficult. Time and time again, my PEAC SYSTEM® has identified a new hire’s need for role play, the best possible way to build a weak confidence, or Power trait, and our Reader has conveyed this to the manager. And many times, the hire is made, but the individual falls out, simply because the manager did not role play at all. And when approached, the manager admitted, “But I hate to role play!” Of course, our recommendation then, failing training the manager, is to hire those who do not need quite so much!

But, often, those who hate to role play are those who are afraid to ‘look bad,’  to their subordinates, or perhaps, their manager. Well, one way to get away from that problem is practice. After all, isn’t management a form of sales? Getting someone to agree with your ideas? And the ‘clients,’ here, are the subordinates, not necessarily the outside customers. One of my first suggestions to a manager who feels uncomfortable role playing, is to always play the client or prospect’s side. This way, the manager is free to critique, within reason, the subtleties I discussed above, and still have the flexibility to maintain control.

One of the toughest areas to control in role playing, though, is the tendency of a fast paced or impatient  manager to simply outwit his or her trainee, in essence, beating them at every turn. This is highly unproductive. Few people win at that game, and unfortunately, it contributes to turnover. Instead, pick a topic, for example, getting past the front desk, prospecting or recruiting. Treat the role playing process like painting, a little goes a long way, and too much ruins the task. But, given time, it becomes a great result.

Throw in the stumbling blocks, only in the areas discussed and practiced, and praise the trainee when they get it right. Practice it several times, looking for the nuances that can cause trouble. After the trainee has done it properly a few times, add another objection or block, and help them learn to anticipate the objection and overcome it in such a way as to avoid confrontation, and to reach the goal (in this example, getting beyond the secretary). Then, in another session, or series of them, move on to other, perhaps more esoteric goals. Done well, you will see steady improvement in your trainee, not only in practice, but live on the phone.

So, though Tape and Seminar training have their place, there is nothing that compares with that ‘deer in the headlight look,’ that tells you your trainee hasn’t ‘got it.’ And if they can’t understand not only what to say, and when to say it, but how to say it, they will seldom reach the level of performance you need.

Now, not all managers have the time or the training, themselves, to work that closely with their people or that hard on the nuances of communication. Then an outside, well equipped trainer makes sense. A trainer who specializes not only in the industry, but also communication can be very effective. Guarantees? Not from any trainer I know. After twenty years in the industry, I know that people are people. Even the best trainers in the land are going to make some improvement, and then expect you, the owner or manager, to push to continue role-playing and practice to reinforce the process. But at least you will have an idea of how, what and why you do what you have to do.

Productivity and turnover control are sometimes mysterious keys to the success of an office, and coupled with proper selection, good training and determined, goal oriented management, successful productivity- even in today’s tighter market- is well within reach.

Mr. Tucker is President and founder of the nationally recognized PEAC SYSTEM®, a organization with a three phase focus, finding ‘em, training ‘em and keeping ‘em! With a twenty year successful history in reducing turnover , increasing productivity, and physical client growth, he specializes in post hire, in-house training. His training focus is not only ‘how-to’ in the personnel services arena, but also on improvement for communication, in sales as well as management and teamwork. He can be reached at (813) 634-5404, and his website will describe in more detail his services:  www.peacsystem.com

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