The government wants to pay for your employee training

Are you good at filling out paperwork, navigating red tape, and jumping through bureaucratic hoops?  Money for training programs is tight, but there are many sources of government funding that can help give your employees new skills. Check out our handy guide below.

Federal Funding

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provided a lot of money for employee training. Much of this money is funneled through the states and eventually through local “workforce investment boards”, but you can get an overview here.

Read an overview from ASTD

Federal grant information from the Department of Labor

State and Local Funding

Much of the federal money gets funneled through local “workforce investment boards”. Companies can gain access through a grant process. Here are some useful links:

San Diego’s workforce investment board

Directory of California’s workforce investment boards

Employee Training Panel funding

Many employees needlessly resisting micromanagement

A few weeks ago, I wrote an article hailing micromanagement as an often necessary and effective management style.  Micromanagement, not to be confused with micro-meddling, is a leadership style that sweats the small stuff and requires employees to demonstrate capability and earn trust before being left alone.  A good micromanager will gradually loosen the reigns as employees perform at an appropriate level, but employees can invite continued oversight by actively resisting their boss.

Many employees I've spoken to want to be left alone regardless of their performance. They yearn for the freedom to pursue their own agenda, even if it isn't their supervisor's agenda or in their organization's best interests.  I have spoken with countless people who make comments similar to the ones below:

"What my boss needs to do is..."

"I wish my boss would leave me alone so I can do it my way."

"It's not what my boss wants, but..."

Yes, there are plenty of bosses out there that don't have a clue. There are plenty of clueless employees too. My advice is "don't knock it 'til you've tried it."  In other words, get on the bus until you have proof that bus is heading nowhere. 

Can Sprint reinvent its woeful customer service?

J.D. Power ranks Sprint's customer service last among wireless carriers. They are infamous for poor service, such as the time they ingloriously "fired" their 1,000 or so customers who complained the most. Now, CEO Dan Hesse is trying to change all that. The question is can Sprint succeed where it has failed so many times before?

The answer remains to be seen, but Sprint has taken two key steps that I applaud.

1. They made customer service a priority for every executive in the company. This includes hiring Bob Johnson as the company's Chief Service Officer. Weekly executive meetings lead off with a briefing on customer service.
2. It focuses service reps on problem resolution and customer satisfaction, not talk time. This is a relatively new move for Sprint, but a report on MSN claims the average number of times a customer calls each year has decreased nearly 50%, allowing them to shut down 17 vendor call centers.

Sprint still lags the other carriers in service, but it can take time to change the market's perception about your company. For now, perhaps they should set their sites on not being last.

Are you smart enough to be a U.S. citizen?

I've often heard the joke that the U.S. citizenship test is so hard that most Americans couldn't pass it. It's kind of funny, but it is also a little disturbing. The History Channel has set up an interactive, multiple choice version of the citizenship test on their website so people can try it out and see if they really are smart enough to be a U.S. citizen. I took their full 96 question version and am happy to say I got 95 out of 96 questions right. Thank goodness I don't have to move out of the country! Try it out for yourself here.

How is the U.S. citizenship test relevant to performance? Like the questions on the quiz, we've probably all been schooled on our company's policies and procedures at some point in time. We risk forgetting about these policies and procedures if we aren't reminded of them or haven't made them a habit. In other words, your most seasoned, veteran employees may be most at risk for not being smart enough to be your employee.

What can be done?

A few simple, but often overlooked tips should do the trick.

1. Never assume that anyone is performing correctly.  Observe and monitor every employee's performance from time to time.
2. Provide "refresher" opportunities on important policies, procedures, or product information. I've often made this type of knowledge into a quiz game where employees could earn small prizes or take turns quizzing each other.
3. Don't overlook poor performance.  Do something about it immediately, before it becomes a bad habit.

Easy enough, right? Sure it is, but things are easier said than done. Good luck keeping your employees smart enough to be your employees.

Turn 'em loose, like rappin' the GAAP!

Customer service scripts, rules, and regulations are often designed to maintain consistency but often result in frustrated customers and a lack of genuine warmth. I'd much rather companies lay down the standards or guidelines and then give their employees permission to be themselves and respond to the customer as long as they stay within the guidelines.

Many of you have heard of the Southwest Airlines rapping flight attendant.  This is a great example of letting employees be themselves as long as they adhere to the standards.  He hits all the FAA requirements, but he uses his personality to make it memorable.

He was such as hit that Southwest actually had him deliver some required legalese at a recent shareholder's meeting. Check it out below.  If instructions on fastening a seatbelt and Generally Accepted Accounting Principals (GAAP) can be made more exciting, just imagine what ditching the script can do for something your customer actually cares about!

Rappin' the GAAP

Pre-flight Announcements - CNN Story

Cox vs. Brinks: The cost of incompetence

Companies that don't invest in hiring, training, and supervising capable employees often pay a big price on the back end. Consider this update on the battle royal between Cox and Brinks. (Read previous post here.)

What happened?

A third technician (first one was from Cox, second one was from Brinks) came to the house to restore my home phone service. Nate was a Cox sub-contractor, so in a sense he represented a third company. He took a quick look at my system and told me the biggest problem was the system wasn't set up correctly. Nate was very professional and wouldn't accuse the other two technicians of not knowing how to do their jobs. All he said was, "I'm here now and I can fix this."  Everything was up and running after about 30 minutes.  Thanks, Nate!

The Cost of Incompetence

Let's look at the cost Cox Communications paid for not sending a competent employee to the house the first time:

1. Initial installation.  ~ 2 hours
2. Return trip to fix problems with house alarm caused during installation.  ~2 hours
3. Repair trip six months later, caused in part due to poor installation.  ~ 1.5 hours
4. Call center rep time to schedule repeat visits. ~ 30 minutes.
5. 2nd repair trip. ~ 30 minutes.
6. Total time: 6.5 hours

According to Nate's diagnosis, the problem would not have happened had the system been installed correctly the first time. This problem effectively cost Cox 4.5 hours of wasted time. Multiply this by the many customers who have certainly faced similar problems and Cox has a huge opportunity to improve customer satisfaction and simultaneously reduce service costs.

T-Mobile's Ad Cost Them Money and Saved a Customer

Like many of you, I've been through my fair share of cell phone carriers.  T-Mobile has managed to keep my business for the past several years due in large part to their outstanding customer service. They don't have the latest technology, coolest phones, or even the fastest network, but everything they do seems geared towards making it easy for me to be a customer.

Their latest television commercial is a gutsy move that prompts viewers to go to an independent website which recommends the least expensive cell phone plan that fits your needs. I checked it out and immediately found a way to save $10 by switching to another T-Mobile plan. Yes, other carriers were represented, but the first three recommendations were T-Mobile plans.  Nice!

What can we learn?

Helping the customer succeed sells. And, a customer who succeeds because of your company is much more likely to remain loyal.

Some math geniuses might point out that T-Mobile just lost $120 in revenue per year by prompting me to reconsider my cell phone plan. Ah, but this is where a finance-only approach can be short-sighted. Just last week, I was on the Verizon website scouting out the latest BlackBerrys and imagining how much more productive I could be on a faster network. T-Mobile's ad didn't lose them $120 per year. It saved them nearly $1,200 per year by ensuring I stayed on-board as a customer.

Check out the commercial here:

Who is talking about customer service?

I try to stay current by reading a number of leading business publications such as Inc., BusinessWeek, and FastCompany. Many of the magazines and newspapers I read maintain websites that are full of helpful information, often organized by topic such as "sales", "finance", "leadership", and so on. It seems a bit odd that "customer service" is typically absent from these lists.

So, who is talking about customer service? And, why don't these leading publications have a customer service column?

I have many theories (and I would love to hear yours!), but here is my best guess. Customer service is simply taken for granted all too often. Customer service seems so, well, common sense. Is it?