Have you ever experienced a situation in an organization where a new initiative is launched with great enthusiasm, only to have it fade away before it achieves meaningful results? Whether it is a new product, process, or leadership philosophy, it is intended to help transform the organization as part of the Strategic Plan, yet many of these initiatives never get fully implemented. Here are some key considerations to help your Strategic Plan come to life.
Build the Right Type of Leadership Skills
Most organizations spend considerable time hiring the right leaders and developing their skills. They focus on important skills like working with people, effective decision-making, dealing with conflict, and generally being a great leader. Most initiatives fail when we do not build the frontline commitment and competencies needed to consistently execute. There is often an assumption that once managers and supervisors are “on-board” they will make things happen. Unfortunately, they are often lacking the skills necessary to teach front-line workers and reinforce the expectations to achieve high-quality, sustainable results. Expanding their training to be a good trainer and know how to set up an effective competency program is critical for the success of a new initiative.
It is All In the Details
Set Performance Expectations – are the skills documented and incorporated into the expectations for all affected employees and leaders? Build it into the way you have performance conversations and evaluations to make the application of the skills matter.
Build Sustainable Training – the initial workshop was great, but what do you do for the next new employee? Make sure the training is sustainable and available to everyone affected using the appropriate delivery method(s) – live, online, on-the-job.
Keep it Relevant – build it into regular activities like staff meetings or network postings where employees and leaders can share their stories of how they used the skills and whether they were successful in improving customer service.
Make it Part of a Competency Program – a simple and effective competency program ensures you take the right steps for any training initiative to ensure it sticks by having a Plan, Implementing the Training, Reinforcing and Supporting the initiative, and regularly Assessing the Effectiveness.
Executing your Strategic Plan is critical to the success of your organization, and it takes well-trained leaders and front-line workers to make it happen. Even if you are a larger organization with a dedicated training team, all leaders and employees should understand what it takes to have an effective training and competency process, so everyone works together to create a sustainable approach that delivers results. If you need a simplified approach to Competency Programs for your organization, check out our 4 STEPS/4 SKILLS™ Competency Training.