Talent

Train Employees to Lead Teams with Positive Actions

Kevin Sensenig, PhD, RODP, and global brand champion for Dale Carnegie & Associates (www.dalecarnegie.com ), Hauppauge, New York, works most often with HR professionals. His points, however, can be given to any employees whom you have identified as having leadership potential. Train these promising employees to be positive coaches and team leaders.

Sensenig notes that it is important for HR professionals, in their role as coaches to team leaders, to remember that people want to be part of the company and part of the team.

When negative behaviors appear, it is often in reaction to fear, stress, and uncertainty. This must also be communicated to the team leaders.

Three principles HR professionals may share with team leaders for use in dealing with the negative behavior on the part of one or more team members come from Dale Carnegie, according to Sensenig:


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  1. We should call attention to people’s mistakes indirectly. When we point it out [negative behavior] in a positive way, they’ll be more likely to address it and get back on track on their own. Sometimes when we put something in someone’s face, he or she will react to that even more negatively and exhibit even more negative behaviors.
  1. We need to ask questions rather than give direct orders. Why is this happening? Why are you feeling this way? What’s causing you to react or behave this way? The person may save face and be able to change the behavior, saving himself and moving forward.
  1. We need to praise all improvement [in behavior]. We need to give positive reinforcement. An example of that is, “Hey, I noticed a much better attitude in that last team meeting. Good job!” Another example is, “I noticed that with the last project, you followed up with every detail. Way to go!”

Prevention Is the Best Cure

It is worthwhile to discuss how human resources executives and company leaders might work to prevent negative behavior altogether. Sensenig says that much of the anxiety and frustration that leads to negative behavior may be avoided by encouraging open dialogue between leaders and employees.

“Employees shouldn’t just hear information from the top and try to assume how they fit into it. Leaders must be more approachable and communicate new strategies and how employees fit into them,” he concludes.


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Are you looking for an exciting way to develop the employees in your organization into engaged and motivated leaders?

BLR’s Leadership Library provides you with a sensible (and economic) solution. It’s never easy to find the time or the money. However, leadership training has a tremendous return on investment (ROI) value for employers.

The Leadership for Employees Library allows you to:

  • Train on demand. Employees can complete training anytime from anywhere. All they need is a computer and an Internet connection.
  • Reinforce training topics with engaging graphics and quizzes to test their knowledge.
  • Monitor and track the results of your training program with the built-in recordkeeping tool.
  • Save costs. The more you train, the more cost-effective the training becomes.

The Leadership for Employees Library is a Web-based training tool that can be utilized by any organization. All you need is a computer and Internet access, and the library is open 24/7.

The Leadership for Employees Library provides tools and information to employees in a leadership position, or to aspiring leaders to improve their business, leadership, and professional skills.

The courses cover a range of leadership and managerial topics, including the following:

This turnkey service requires no setup, no course development time, no software installation, and no new hardware. Your employees can self-register, and training can be taken anytime (24/7), anywhere there is a PC and an Internet connection. Courses take only about 30 minutes to complete.

TrainingToday automatically documents training. As trainees sign on, their identifications are automatically registered. When the program is completed, the trainee’s score is entered. So, when you want to see who has been trained on any subject, or look at the across-the-board activity of any one employee, it’s all there, instantly available.

Course certificates can be automatically generated from within the training center and are automatically retained for recordkeeping purposes.

Get started today on helping your employees be the best they can be!

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