News, Resources & Top Tips

Which Colour are You?

Fri, 05 Jan 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Listed below are four sets of adjectives, at least one will best describe your personality and others will least describe you:

Caring	Competitive
Amicable	Driven
Considerate	Single Minded
Sharing	Determined
Patient	Purposeful

Analytical	Enthusiastic
Questioning	Animated
Cautious	Sociable
Precise	Persuasive
Detailed	Expressive

This is not to say that there are only four types of people; we are all made up of different proportions of the above types. One colour usually stands out however as best describing your character................which colour are you?

An understanding of these character types, recognising them in the people we meet every day, and learning how to modify our behaviour as a result, is an amazingly powerful tool when aiming to deliver excellent customer service and generate sales.

Learning 2XL Ltd provides inspirational, dynamic workshops and targeted training that provides teams with the tools and confidence needed to help your business grow.

Please click here or contact us to find out more.................

Kim Foster 07514 031549

or email: office@learning2xl.com

The Second Hand Car -

Fri, 07 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

The Second Hand Car

My wife needed a new car, so we we’ve been out and about car hunting recently. The whole experience was a real eye-opener for me as I tend to look out for sales skills and techniques in such situations, but I also try to switch off from work and not be a real bore!

However, if I may step on to a soap box for just a moment or two, the general sales practise that was shown was lamentable! I found the following:

A lot of the sales people were dressed to impress the receptionist more than the customer and Skinny suits and pointy shoes were common-place. Most sales people know that it is wiser to dress appropriately according to their average customer type. Dressing too sharply only confirms stereo-types and alienates many of their customers. If in doubt, neutrality is best, as this avoids unhelpful perceptions being formed.

Hardly anyone asked me a question other than "can I help you at all?" We all know that the answer to that is "no thanks we are just looking", so why bother? No one asked me what type of car I was looking for? Is fuel economy important? What was my budget? Is performance important? What do I look for in a car? No questions - none, nada, zilch. Blimey!

I had my ten year old daughter with me and none of the salesmen asked her for her name, indeed no one even spoke to her. If you like my daughter, who is a precious angel who can do absolutely no wrong, I will almost certainly begin to warm to you!

Lastly, I encountered the old chestnut of being told how wonderful each and every car was. "Lovely tidy example this sir, stunning car". The only problem is that they would say that wouldn't they? I simply didn't believe a word of it.

In the end we found a great little garage. The owner came over to us, (I can't remember what he was wearing!) and in a very relaxed and matter of fact manner, he let us get on deciding for ourselves which was a stunning little car and which was obviously not. He was attentive but not overbearing, and let me be a hunter-gatherer and knock the price down a little. He even smiled at my daughter whilst she picked her nose in a most delightful way!

Footnote: I am bound to suggest that most of the sales people I met had probably been adequately trained! If you are interested in Sales and Customer Service Training then please click on the link and take a look at some of the courses we can offer.

Thanks for reading.

Jason

The Newly Promoted Manager

Fri, 07 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Caution – Learner Manager!

I consider myself extremely lucky to have had the opportunity to provide training to hundreds of managers with different levels of experience. Most of them have one thing in common; they have nearly always been promoted because they were good at the job they were doing previously........and therein often lies a problem!

Being ‘good’ at the previous job will often have involved working harder than the next person, so the promotion was often as a result of effort provided previously. For a new manager however, working hard at the job, and certainly working harder than the next person will probably not be enough to succeed when managing others, (in fact it may be a particularly bad idea!) Providing some training for individuals at the start of their management career must be a good idea though, although some see training as a waste of time with the view being that they can either do the job or they can’t. This negative perception of training is often due to a bad experience in a training room previously (I bet it involved being bored silly and doodling!)

For a new manager to be ‘thrown in the deep end’ and seeing if ‘they sink or swim’ is not to be recommended….they may well swim fine by themselves, but if they sink they will drown, and their failed (yet short) management career will not have been a pleasant experience for all concerned. Showing a new or less experienced manager how to work smarter and not harder, helping them understand what motivates staff and set high standards, whilst learning how to delegate effectively are just examples of what can be achieved having attended an interactive and stimulating training course.

If only such a course was available……. (Click to take a look!)

Thanks for reading

Jason

Have Fun !

Fri, 07 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Have Fun!

During my corporate career I attended many training courses; some were great, but some were so boring I can actually remember nearly falling asleep! Ever since I have had the privilege of being the trainer, I have sworn to myself that I will not allow my delegates to be bored.

One of the challenges for any trainer is how to disseminate information to the delegates. That mind-set could be a problem in itself! Very often this approach leads to large amounts of information and words being presented, and ‘Death by PowerPoint’ is just one example of the end product!

Another challenge may well be that some delegates have a pre-conceived idea of what to expect. In short; they expect the training to be prescriptive and boring because that is what they have experienced before. They often associate training with teaching and they will slip in to ‘pupil mode’ and compliantly pretend to listen!

Life is just too short for this! Most delegates’ minds will start to wander, great works of doodling will be produced, and their stereo type of training will be entirely fulfilled. They will dutifully file their way back to the workplace and usually nothing will change.

What if it didn’t need to be this way? What if delegates were alert and interested nearly all the time, (you have to let them ‘zone out’ a little occasionally, as people cannot concentrate for long periods without a mental rest). What if they were stimulated and the room was full of laughter? What if the time went so quickly that they were surprised when breaks were called? What if they were encouraged to capture how they will change when they go back to work in the real world? What if the training was actually really good fun?

I think that is when people learn and develop…..and it will be because they want to.

Thanks for reading.

Jason

Not Another Meeting!

Tue, 11 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Not Another Meeting!

Most of us have been there - attending another meeting that seems to go on for hours. It was meant to finish ages ago but people keep going on about stuff which you frankly have no interest in.

The discussions seem to regularly go off on tangents and nothing is actually agreed anyway......lots of people have suggestions but no-one wants to volunteer to get it done. People turn up to meeting who obviously haven't read the Agenda......whilst others seem determined to hi-jack proceedings by repeating the same points over and over again.

You hope and pray that people keep quiet when 'Any Other Business' comes around.......only to find that this encourages more of the same plus some curved balls thrown in for good measure. You really could do with getting back to work and getting some work done, and is that guy from accounts actually asleep?

If you have experienced some of the above then you will appreciate how important it is for any meeting to be well organised, structured and succinct.

For instance, the Chair's Agenda should be distributed to attendees well in advance and include timings; each topic is provided with an allocated slot, and and if an agenda item is to be allowed to overrun, the Chair Person will consult the group who will agree which item on the Agenda will be shortened as a result. The Chair Person should also allocate the role of time keeper and note taker to someone else......otherwise how can they effectively chair the meeting?

If some of the above sounds a little draconian then fear not. Our Chairing Skills Training covers these and other issues, and helps delegates to bring structure and agreed boundaries to their meetings which will benefit all concerned.

This is one of our most popular courses and we regularly receive excellent feedback from delegates who tell us what a huge difference it has made to them when chairing meetings in the workplace.

Thanks for reading.....

Jason

Sheep Dip or Culture Change?

Wed, 26 Sep 2018 00:00:00 +0000

Sheep Dip or Culture Change?

Many of us struggle to retain information from a training course and apply it when back in the workplace…….so is most training therefore a waste of time?

A German doctor of philosophy called Hermann Ebbinghaus published a paper ‘The Curve of Forgetting’ in 1885, highlighting that a given piece of learning is forgotten by more than half of the audience within the hour. This is probably the same today as it was back in 1885, and leads me to contemplate how much of a training course is remembered after a week!

The problem here is at least two-fold. Firstly the training should be relevant, engaging and fun if it is to be memorable and this topic is covered in a separate article ‘Have Fun!’

Secondly, a lot of training is commissioned to address an issue that has arisen within an organisation and individuals are ‘put on a training course’ as a result. Sometimes it can seem like training is almost inflicted upon staff, (or that’s how they feel), with Senior Management believing that they need not attend themselves.

So many issues that training is meant to resolve however are systemic and cultural in nature within the organisation. Customer Service training and Management Training in particular can provide good examples of this.....what happens if upon return to the workplace, the newly inspired delegate observes other staff that did not attend the training, or indeed management providing poor customer service, or failing to engage with their team effectively?

The easiest thing for them to do is to follow suit and quickly slip back in to the behaviours that are commonly displayed and embedded within the organisation.

So what is the answer?

We have worked closely with a number organisations that have recognised this potential pitfall. As a result we have worked with them in the design phase to identify with them the behavioural changes that will need to be adopted by the whole team to effect proper tangible change.

We can then adopt an holistic approach when designing and delivering a training programme that includes everyone, and assist in tracking progress over the coming weeks and months to ensure this is embedded within the organisation, and in this way staff and management alike are both invested in the same process.

Sheep dips are okay and will certainly work to a certain extent, but honestly, culture change is so much better!

Thanks for reading,

Jason

Are Extroverts more Confident than Introverts?

Mon, 04 Feb 2019 00:00:00 +0000

“Are Extroverts more Confident than Introverts?”

What do you think?

This is a question delegates often asked me whilst I’m delivering training courses and my answer can be something of a surprise……

Firstly it is worth mentioning that I don’t think anyone is a pure introvert or extravert as we are all a mixture of both tendencies. A good example of this would be the extraverted person who likes being around people and is naturally very sociable, but who also likes being on their own from time to time to recharge their batteries.

Secondly, being an introvert or an extrovert is just one part the story as this is only a contributing factor towards your individual Character Type.

Back to the question though; and it is worth noting that invariably this is asked by those who tend to be more introverted themselves. When I ask the delegate what they think, most will state that they believe extroverts to be more confident, indeed many tell me they would like to be more extroverted as a result.

Why is this? I personally think that holding this belief is due in no small part to having been raised in a western culture where the extrovert is often more highly valued by society as a whole. This is particularly the case in America, but also in Europe where more extrovert individuals may often be rewarded with promotion, and more sociable people are usually widely regarded as being more popular. In some eastern cultures the opposite is often true with overt displays of extrovert behaviour being discouraged and frowned upon, particularly in the workplace.

And so to my answer….which is that in my opinion, I don’t think extroverts are necessarily more confident than extroverts, they are just possibly more adept at seeming to be so. Indeed the extrovert may well be hiding their own insecurities behind a wall of noise and bluster, whilst some of the most confident people I know are quiet and introverted by nature.

As I mentioned before, many fairly introverted people are surprised by my answer, but the term ‘quietly confident’ I think says it all!

Thanks for reading.

Jason

"It's a minefield......"

Thu, 24 Oct 2019 00:00:00 +0000

“It’s a minefield, you can’t seem to say anything these days without people making a meal out of it!”

This is the sort of comment that is commonly heard in workplaces across the country as high profile cases of bullying, harassment or discrimination take centre stage. But in fact the law regarding behaviors in the workplace is really quite simple.

There are so many common misconceptions surrounding what can and can’t be said at work that it is little wonder that staff feel unsure. This can lead to a general fear of saying something wrong and it really helps to understand the differences between harassment and bullying on one hand, and good performance management or office banter in the other.

Dignity at Work courses can be of huge benefit to any team, where the delegates are lead through an overview of the relevant legislation and learn how to identify and challenge inappropriate behavior through a series of practical activities.

It’s great to sense the relief of many of the delegates when it becomes clear to them what is and isn’t acceptable at work. As they start to gain a proper understanding of why what is said and how it’s said is so important, it all becomes clear and actually rather simple!

This topic is on the ‘to do’ list for many HR Manager’s.....for more information please click here.

Thanks for reading......

Jason

"The training was fantastic, it was engaging and informative, the break out sessions were thought provoking and the trainer presented in a way that was not patronizing. We have had some great feedback on the session and I would certainly book it again should we need to or recommend it to others."

Phyllis Court, Private Members Club, Henley

Virtual Reality

Mon, 16 Nov 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Virtual Reality

I am quite often asked if virtual training is as effective as face-to-face delivery. People want to know if delegates will be as engaged as they would be if they were in a room with other people, or will they simply begin to lose interest and switch off?

Now I must confess, my view always used to be that face-to-face training was always preferable to e-learning, and that there was no substitute for being able to ‘work the room’ and fully interact with participants.

I think this view was due in part because I really enjoy other peoples company, and being an extrovert I gain energy from being around people and interacting with them.

From a trainers perspective it is also far easier to read body language and gauge the feeling in the room when you are actually physically present. A large part of my job involves noticing the raised eyebrow, the little glance to another colleague or a subtle shift in body position.

This leads me to think that my early hesitancy toward the virtual training option was more about me, and less about the delegates.

My view now has changed, and for a number of reasons. For instance, how an individual receives training can depend a lot upon Character Type; some people’s worst nightmare is to spend a day in a room with others and interact with them closely. These individuals consistently report that they enjoyed a virtual training session far more than face-to-face.

The training subject also makes a huge difference. The more educational the topic is, and the more it involves the dissemination of information; the more suitable it may be for distance learning. If the training involves ‘hearts and minds’ and possibly inspiring people towards impacting upon subsequent behaviours, then face-to-face training is in my opinion, often the better option.

Individual motivation is also key. If the delegate is keen to learn and looking forward to attending a training workshop, they are far more likely to gain the most from a virtual facilitation.

The word facilitation leads me to my last point. For online training to work, it needs to be less about traditional training and more about facilitation. Delegates need to constantly involved in dynamic and interactive ‘bite-sized’ sessions, utilising break-out rooms with plenty of comfort breaks as well. This will ensure they stay focused and engaged throughout the whole experience.

So there you have it, a few thoughts about online training. Virtual training that is planned and facilitated properly can be an excellent medium through which to facilitate great training workshops.

There was already a shift towards remote learning and recent worldwide events have simply accelerated this inevitable change.

There is still a place for face-to-face training, but we are all now living in the new virtual reality.

Thanks for reading.

Jason