PD Strategies Blog

Most small to mid-size businesses are too busy growing to spend time growing their people. This can be a serious mistake. If you simply let people learn on the fly and promote them when needed, then you are setting them up to fail. This is so prevalent that a book called the Peter Principle was written about this phenomenon. In 1969, Lawrence Peter wrote a humorous book titled The Peter Principle in which he postulated that, in a hierarchy people tend to be promoted to the level of their incompetence. He noted that although this is not planned it is the unintended consequence. Companies make a flawed assumption that because the employee was a great individual performer in the previous job that he or she will adapt and become a leader of the team. Inevitably, according to the Peter Principle, the person ends up being promoted to a job where they...

When you don’t really understand critical factors that create employee performance you can make many costly mistakes in hiring and training. The question is really one of skill or will. Many companies spend time and effort on identifying the correct skill sets when hiring. Then, after a candidate is finally hired the company will invest in training the new employee in the skills, processes, and procedures for doing the job. In addition, the new employee will look to increase his or her skills and understanding of the business. The employee attends training on the latest systems or learns the latest sales techniques. The employee gets training on the features and benefits of the products and services. Most of the time is spent on learning the nuts and bolts. Many businesses see this as the most important path to success. But then the employee leaves the company. The hiring manager searches for...

People can get frozen in place and can’t move forward. Sometimes they need the equivalent of a can of WD-40 to get unstuck. Has this happened to you? If you ever wondered why you feel this paralysis think back over what you did today. What did you do in the first few hours after you got up? Was it similar to what you did when you got up yesterday, and the day before and so forth? There is truth to the expression that “we are creatures of habit”.   Our habits have a lot to do with why we get stuck. Habits can be good but they can also be harmful. A bad habit can cause us to continue to do things that are non-productive. For example, you might have a habit of taking the easier option, doing something that doesn’t push you out of your comfort zone. That could be spending...

Optimizing performance is a buzz word that is heard in almost any organization. As a leader you need to work at peak performance and get peak performance from members of your team. It is no secret that more organizations are doing more with less. In some cases companies have cut the training and development budgets. Those that have done so have not seen the relationship between the training and development and results. But is it the training or is it the way it is being delivered. I contend that it is the way it is being delivered. One of the problems I have noticed in many organizations is their lack of clear objective for outcomes from the training they are providing. I recently had a credit union call me. They had found me online and saw that I was doing leadership development sessions. They asked if I could do the same...

One of the biggest challenges for a person becoming a great leader is the tendency to be a control freak. Some of the symptoms of this challenge are a business that is stumbling, a frustrated owner, or employees who are not on the same page. This does not start out as a problem. In fact, it starts out as strength. Let’s consider this scenario. A person has talent in home repairs. He does great work and he has loyal customers. He begins to get busy to the point that he cannot do all the work himself so he hires others. Bear in mind that he has developed a quality brand based on his individual work. In this scenario it is only natural that he wants to protect his brand so he very closely supervises the work of his helpers and employees to the point that he could almost do the work...

Companies make a major mistake in hiring and training because they don’t understand critical factors of employee performance. Many companies spend time and effort on identifying the correct skill sets when hiring. Then, after a candidate is finally hired the company will invest in training the new employee in the skills, processes, and procedures for doing the job. In addition, the new employee will look to increase his or her skills and understanding of the business. The employee attends training on the latest systems or learns the latest sales techniques. The employee gets training on the features and benefits of the products and services. Most of the time is spent on learning the nuts and bolts. Many businesses see this as the most important path to success. Fast forward. The employee leaves the company. The hiring manager searches for candidates that have the same skill sets as the person who left...