9780566078446

Whatever the size of your company, if you employ people, it's in your interests to develop the skills that contribute to its success. In fact, your future depends on it, since customer loyalty is more dependent on service than on anything else.Norrie Gilliland has worked with many small businesses, and his book is full of realistic practical advice for anyone wanting to develop their people on a minimal training budget and with limited available time. Included here is guidance on company vision, business planning, recruitment, motivation, training and learning, communication and managing change.Examples, illustrations, checklists, model documents and detailed case studies all help bring his advice to life.

List of figures

ix

(4)

Preface

xiii

(2)

Acknowledgements

xv

Introduction

1

(18)

A quick self-assessment

2

(1)

Six excuses for not developing your people

3

(5)

But I don't know where to start!

8

(1)

Investors in People

8

(1)

How successful small businesses are managed

9

(1)

Characteristics of successful small businesses

10

(1)

Successful small companies are `learning organizations'

11

(1)

Is your company a `learning organization'?

12

(3)

For `training' read `learning'

15

(1)

How does learning contribute to the business?

15

(1)

The business benefits

16

(1)

A strategy for developing your people

17

(1)

Developing people for quality

17

(1)

Practical focus

17

(1)

Examples of good practice

18

(1)

1 Do you know where you're going to?

19

(10)

Vision

20

(3)

Vision statements -- just a management fad?

23

(1)

Making the reality fit the vision

23

(2)

Avoiding double vision

25

(1)

Creating a vision statement

25

(1)

Motherhood and apple pie

25

(1)

Involving your employees in developing the vision

26

(1)

Vision, your company laser

27

(2)

2 Oh no, not the dreaded business plan!

29

(26)

Why bother?

29

(1)

The benefits of a well-written business plan

30

(1)

What should go into your business plan?

30

(3)

Some examples of goals and targets

33

(2)

At what level should you set goals and targets?

35

(1)

Business values and beliefs

35

(1)

Ownership, management structure and key personnel

36

(1)

Core skills and resources

36

(4)

Management processes

40

(1)

Marketing and promotion

40

(1)

Developing your people

41

(1)

Arrangements for reviewing the business plan

41

(1)

Areas for improvement

42

(5)

Useful tools and techniques for business planning

47

(8)

3 Right people, right place, right time

55

(20)

Recruiting the right people

56

(1)

Setting up the job

56

(1)

Job descriptions

57

(1)

Input- and output-based job descriptions

58

(1)

The kind of person you want

59

(1)

Flexibility

60

(2)

Attracting the right candidates

62

(1)

Writing good job adverts

63

(1)

Preparing for the interview

63

(1)

Setting targets and standards for individuals

63

(5)

Getting people off to a flying start

68

(2)

Developing an induction programme

70

(3)

The immediate benefits of induction

73

(2)

4 Needs, motivations and learning

75

(12)

What motivates people at work?

75

(5)

How needs and motivations change

80

(3)

Individuals as learners

83

(2)

Supporting the learner

85

(2)

5 Plan for learning

87

(22)

Crushing creativity

88

(1)

Learning in partnership

89

(2)

Deciding who needs to learn what

91

(1)

Identifying needs at company level

92

(1)

A health warning

92

(2)

Identifying needs at individual level

94

(3)

Taking the longer view

97

(2)

Carrying out individual reviews

99

(1)

Why bother?

99

(1)

Effective reviews

100

(1)

Preparing for the review

100

(3)

Agreeing objectives for training and development actions

103

(1)

Examples of training and development objectives

104

(1)

Individual Development Plans

105

(4)

6 Simple and effective development solutions

109

(16)

My `Top 10' training and development solutions for smaller companies

110

(14)

Devising your own tailored solutions

124

(1)

7 Developing managers

125

(8)

What is a manager?

125

(1)

Lose a good worker, gain a lousy manager

125

(1)

Managing by the seat of the pants

126

(1)

What do managers need to be able to do?

127

(2)

Management behaviours

129

(1)

Assessing and reviewing managers' performance

129

(1)

Evaluating management training and development

129

(3)

The feel-good factor

132

(1)

8 Effective communications

133

(10)

Developing trust and belief

133

(2)

What and how to communicate

135

(2)

Conveying the message

137

(6)

9 Change and innovation

143

(14)

Change is here to stay

143

(1)

The `politics' of change

144

(2)

Discretionary change, non-discretionary change, and innovation

146

(2)

Why change?

148

(2)

Resistance to change

150

(2)

Involving your people in making improvements

152

(1)

Planning for successful change or innovation

153

(4)

10 How will you know it's working?

157

(10)

Why evaluate?

157

(1)

Evaluation starts with objective setting

158

(1)

What are we evaluating?

158

(1)

Evaluation methods

158

(2)

Evaluating through surveys

160

(2)

Evaluation -- an example

162

(2)

The manager's role in evaluation

164

(3)

11 Next steps

167

(12)

Involve your people in the challenge and the solution

169

(2)

Work with your TEC or LEC

171

(1)

Work with other intermediaries

172

(5)

Still confused?

177

(2)

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Train Your People and Whack the Competition

0566078449

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