5 principles for using competition in training and management

How many people attend typical sports events in your community?

If you’re in a city with a major league sports team, the answer is probably in the tens of thousands for every event. I frequently marvel at sporting arenas that attract and hold as many people as live in my entire home town.

Now think about the last time you went to a community lecture. I see announcements about visiting lecturers at colleges nearby that are free and open to the public on a regular basis. They look interesting – but I’ve rarely attended.

On the other hand, we held season tickets to the Portland Trailblazers for several years, even after the tickets had become ridiculously expensive.

I’m guessing that most of our employees are in the same boat. They’d rather play a competitive game than listen to a lecture or watch a video. And let’s face it: when we’re having fun, we’re more inclined to repeat the activity and to remember it.

Our aQuire Training team has built learning games into many of our courses with this very idea in mind – we learn better when we’re having fun with the learning process.

So as a trainer and manager, let’s look at ways you can incorporate competition – healthy, fun competition – into your workplace to motivate and energize your team:

1. Don’t end up with losers. If you’ve got a winner, you’ve also got losers, right? Think this through carefully when you’re creating situations where someone can become a winner. Structure any competitive event in such a way that everyone can win, if at all possible. For example, set up a winner’s category for anyone who scores over 95% in the quiz at the end of a course. Let people re-take their quizzes as often as they need to until they score 95%. Everyone can be winners (unless they simply don’t care or aren’t trying). If you pit one team against another, think about how the losing team will feel. Set up parameters in advance for the losing team to also get a reward, or set up multiple “winner” categories. Remember a guiding principle of good business: the win/win situation. It works in training and management, too.
2. Keep the playing field level. In one of our continuing ed courses for administrators on empowering employees to become the best they can be an example is given of a manager who set up a competition for the best customer service delivery. Of course, night shift didn’t really have a chance; even evenings had a tough time meeting the number of positive comments day shift staffers got. But the contest completely went wrong when one very competitive staff person went out of his way to get noticed by residents, and followed up that help with a request that they fill out a comment card about his excellent customer service. As the story turns out, the one employee won the contest; the other employees simply felt that the contest “wasn’t fair.” In reality, it didn’t set up a good, healthy competition or encourage genuine behavior change among employees.
3. Remember the whole team. In setting up a competition, even in training, you may be inadvertently doing the exact opposite of what you’re really trying to do: build a stronger, more effective team overall. You may, in fact, be breaking down your team, especially if the competition results in one group trying to undermine another group. A better approach is to create an environment where you encourage collaboration and cooperation, perhaps to beat an arbitrary rival (like a time goal, for example). Perhaps you play a “beat the clock” game where each person needs to complete a quiz in a certain amount of time for the entire team to beat the clock and win a prize. Stronger team members can help those who struggle a bit, and together reach the goal. Perhaps the goal can be greater for everyone when more individuals achieve it, encouraging everyone to seek out others to encourage or help. You can set up a competition that allows everyone to work together to build a stronger team overall, and that’s a win in anyone’s book!
4. Reward creativity. I’ve long believed that the best managers – and the best caregivers – are some of the most creative individuals I know. Certainly parts of our job don’t allow creativity (record-keeping and numbers, for example); other parts of our jobs require creativity to resolve problems, overcome resistance to change and other frequently-encountered situations. Look for ways to reward creativity when you’re setting up competition, rather than rewarding just those that do it “by the book.” One example I hear frequently from experienced managers is their practice of rewarding behavior “on the fly.” After focusing on a particular behavior in their training assignment or presentation, they keep a quiet watch to observe for this behavior. They work hard to catch someone doing it exactly right – and then they reward the person, publicly and clearly, with a lottery ticket, movie ticket or some other tangible token of appreciation. It works, it’s cheap and it is appreciated by the person being noticed. Just be sure to watch those who work quietly in the background even more closely than those who easily gain the attention of everyone around them.

Another technique to try is to set up a scenario, based on a topic you’ve assigned for training, and divide your team into groups with the task to come up with the most creative solution to the problem scenario. Give each group a few minutes to brainstorm their solution, then share it will the entire team. After all teams have shared, open the discussion up to everyone to equally contribute more ideas, based on what has been shared. Remember to create an environment that doesn’t set up losers and that encourages collaboration and cooperation – everyone wins.

Competition can be a powerful tool. In the workplace, it can set up a team for division and distrust or, in the hands of a skilled manager, it can help build a stronger, more effective team. Try these ideas and let me know how they work for you!

Training alert on publicity

As a trainer, you probably know that you want to teach all employees one very important thing: Keep us off the front page of the paper.

Publicity is great, but clearly we’re in a service sector that needs to be very fussy about the type of publicity we get.

Here’s an example: Last week, apparently someone checked actress Brooke Shields’ mom out of an assisted living community to take her to lunch. Sounds harmless, and why not let an “old friend” take a resident out to lunch?

The problem was this: the “old friend” was a National Enquirer reporter; Brooke Shields’ mom has dementia.

The other problem was that, according to the reporter, she asked permission to take the resident out and the staff gave it to her.

So what if, for the purposes of training, you decided to play act this scenario? Can you imagine that all of your clients are parents of famous people? What should you do, in terms of protecting the privacy of your clients, while at the same time ensuring that their rights are not violated?

A great topic for a staff training session, in my opinion. Have fun with this; let me know what you discover!

Keys to customer service – test yourself

Just in case you wonder if anyone is really listening to you, let me assure you: We’ve heard your requests for more customer service training! In fact, I’ve just hired a new course developer to help us create a series of interesting, engaging customer service courses.

I thought you might like a sneak peek, just to get an idea of what’s coming. Don’t get too excited, though; creating new courses is a time-consuming process that doesn’t happen overnight.

Here’s a quiz from one of the first courses, just to give you a taste. Feel free to share this with your team and see how they score!

1. Your shift starts at 10:00 a.m. You arrive at:
a. 9:55 a.m. Correct! Arrive a little early so you can be ready for action right at start-time. You’re on your way to rock-star status.
b. As close to 10:00 as possible. (You never know with traffic.) Incorrect. Traffic is no excuse, and trying doesn’t get you any bonus points.
c. Whenever. Incorrect. You can do better!

2. The lobby is crowded when you arrive. You:
a. Push your way through. Hello? You have work to do. Incorrect. Pushing people is never polite, even when you’re in a hurry.
b. Squeeze through while pausing to smile and say hello to each person. Correct! Even before you’ve clocked in, you represent your company. But you already knew that.
c. Wait outside until they leave. Incorrect. You can do better, I know it!

3. Someone asks you to page their mother and let her know they’ve arrived. You reply:
a. Her room is right down the hall, you can go get her yourself. Incorrect. Even if you don’t like the request, it’s up to you to please the customer.
b. In a minute, first I have to go check in with my supervisor. Incorrect. Your supervisor will be glad that you hit the ground running on a busy morning. She may even reward you with candy.
c. No problem. Correct! You are a winner and deserve to be rewarded with candy.

4. You notice a phone line on hold. When you ask around, none of your co-workers know who is on the line. You:
a. Assume someone is helping them and ignore it. Incorrect. It’s always better to ask and be wrong than to not ask if someone needs help.
b. Pick up the line and ask if anyone is helping them. Correct! You are a phone-line genius.
c. Go tell a manager. Incorrect. Fix the problem, rather than focus on tattle-tail-ing.

5. Ben hurries by with an empty tray and whispers that he dropped an entire bowl of oatmeal in the hallway. You:
a. Laugh at him. Incorrect. Laugh on the inside, but on the outside, grab a roll of paper towels.
b. Tell him about the time you dropped an entire egg-white omelet on the owner’s wife. Incorrect. Swap stories later. For now, grab a mop.
c. Grab the nearest mop, a wet-floor safety sign, and direct guests around the area while you help clean up. Correct! You didn’t even need this training module, did you?

6. Time for your break. No one is around, and the lobby is as quiet as a mouse. You:
a. Announce loudly “I’m going on a break!” even though there is no one to hear you. Incorrect. You’re a comedian, aren’t you?
b. Find your supervisor and tell him you need someone to cover. Correct. You deserve a raise.
c. Stay where you are and skip your break. Incorrect. Sure, you’re a dedicated employee, but it’s against the law to skip breaks. Go sit down and relax! You’ve earned it.

7. You answer the phone. It’s a potential client, asking for details on availability and pricing. You aren’t sure what the answers are. You say:
a. “I don’t know, but I can go find someone who does.” Then ask if she would mind being put on hold. Correct! You’ve been paying attention, haven’t you?
b. “This is a really bad time. Can you call back?” Incorrect. Always offer to help them, or find someone who can.
c. “I don’t know,” and hang up. Incorrect. People first!

8. Let’s imagine that you asked the woman from the last question if she would mind being put on hold. The woman says no, don’t put her on hold. Now what?
a. Hang up on her. She’s obviously not willing to cooperate. Incorrect. Come on, now. That’s just not polite.
b. Say “too bad, I have to get my manager, so you’ll have to wait.” Incorrect. I know, she seems difficult, but smile and be nice. Try again.
c. Offer to take her phone number and have someone call her back. Correct! You have great talent!

9. Let’s imagine the same woman instead says she doesn’t mind being put on hold. You page your manager Monica to pick up the call. A minute later you notice that Monica still hasn’t answered it. You:
a. Leave it alone. It’s Monica’s problem now. Incorrect. We have to help each other, remember?
b. Page Monica repeatedly until she picks up the phone. Incorrect. Getting her attention is important, but she’s probably not just ignoring you. She’s busy. Give her a break.
c. Pick up the line, tell the customer that you’re still waiting on an answer, and ask if she would mind continuing to hold, or if she would rather have someone call her back. Correct! Phew, that was complicated. If you mastered that, you are truly a genius.

10. You’re helping a client in her home, and she needs to go to the bathroom. But you’re already in the middle of feeding her cat! You:
a. Finish feeding the cat. Incorrect. A visit to the bathroom probably can’t wait. The cat can.
b. Put down the cat food and help her to the bathroom. Correct! People first.
c. Ask if she can wait. Incorrect. People first.

Only 3 days left until Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is this Sunday, as I’m sure you’re well aware. You’re probably planned something for your own mom and the other significant moms in your life (if not, get busy!); you may even have planned an event for your clients who are mothers.

But what about your team? Especially those moms who are spending the better part of their day working – are you remembering to honor them?

Many of our employees are moms, struggling to raise their own children in the face of incredible odds. Some work two jobs; balance their own education and careers, and then travel long distances back to their homes to try to be the best moms they can be.

You’ve seen the glow that appears on the faces of your employee-moms as they talk about their sons and daughter, grandsons and granddaughters. You’ve seen them bring a child to work with obvious pride and a sense of accomplishment. You may have held baby showers, invited children to attend Easter egg hunts, and, in other ways included their children in your community.

On Mother’s Day, find a way to honor these individuals in your organization. Here are some ideas - just a few, but maybe they’ll help you creatively find a way to honor your team members:

• Create a bulletin board and invite each employee-mom to bring in pictures of her children. You can do it simply and quickly so it’s in place in time for Mother’s Day. Guests and clients alike will enjoy seeing pictures of children; employees will feel honored and proud to share them. You can also invite employees to bring in their children and take digital or Polaroid pictures and instantly display them.
  
  
• Order flowers for each employee-mom for Mother’s Day. Maybe a simple corsage or a single flower for them to pin on their work tops; maybe a long-stemmed rose or a small bouquet for each mom. Flowers, especially ones we can wear, show the world that we’re remembered and loved.
  
  
• Write a personal note to each employee-mom, thanking them for their contribution to your work community. “Being a mother takes guts, hard work and a whole lot of love,” says author Judy Blume. Let each mom on your team know that you recognize this effort on her special day.