Creating a High Performing Team.

One of my favorite quotes is from Albert Einstein, who said, “I never teach my pupils, I only provide the conditions in which they can learn.”  This is a key concept to remember when you start exercising more leadership the further you get into your career.  In determining what kind of leader you will be, you need to know how to create the conditions to produce a high performing team that will grow.

Learning the ropes as a manager can be a long and difficult ride, but it doesn’t have to be.  Here are the most common tips to use to foster an atmosphere of growth within your teams.

1. Your title is not enough: Sorry to tell you but the titles of “director,” “manager” or “VP” will not move your people to outperform their past efforts. It is about learning to earn the respect of your team.  It is about getting out of your office and getting your hands dirty, showing them you are willing to work just as hard as they are to get the job done!

2. We are friends: You have to have defined lines to properly lead others. Yes, you want to have an open door policy for your team, but seek a balance that helps them to help themselves.

3. Goals? What is that: Along with defined lines, your people need to have clear goals they have to accomplish every day, week, month, quarter and year. These need to be 100% understood so they know how to prioritize their day to accomplish projects and tasks in the proper order.

4. I have to hire someone now: The impact of hiring the wrong person can only create more stress on you and your team. Take your time when hiring, make sure they are a good fit within the company and your team’s culture. Hire a team member not just a body!

5. Everyone is motivated by money: Although your employees do need to pay their bills, many of them are not solely motivated by money. Some are motivated by work/life balance and maybe telecommuting can get their performance to increase. Others may need a pat on the back, extra responsibility, or even a sense of camaraderie with the company or team. Everyone is different so help them build SMART goals and watch them shine!

We know there is so much more to being a manager, and that is why we have released our newly expanded catalog of professional enrichment courses.  Built for convenience and packed with quality instruction, our professional development and enrichment courses can help you master many of the obstacles you face when improving your career and teams.  These courses range from business and health to courses that help grow your perspective on the world.  These affordable courses can range from 1 hour of your time to just a few weeks to finish. Bama At Work, The University of Alabama partners with World Education to offer students 100% online career training programs. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google + , LinkedIn or visit our website for more info and news about Professional Development, Online Training and how to improve your professional profile.

Article by Kelly Fuhlman, Director of Social Media  for World Education , and is personally involved in helping others make a better life for themselves through education. World Education is one of the main partner of the University of Alabama for Online Certificate Programs.

The Advantages of Blended Learning for Six Sigma Courses.

Blended Learning is defined as a Lean Six Sigma training model that integrates multiple delivery modes and learning activities.  Generally, it consists of a mix of e-learning, classroom exercises, coaching and job application.  It is designed to reach a globally and educationally diverse audience in any industry.  It is designed to be highly interactive and flexible with “High Touch” access to mentors who will aid in the application to real business problems.

There are two levels of Lean Six Sigma offered through this program:  Green Belt and Black Belt.  The duration for the Green Belt is approximately 4-6 months.  The duration for the Black Belt would be approximately 6-8 months.  During the journey, an individual will work online to review the course material, work individual exercises that are geared toward working on a process improvement project tied to the business, and complete short quizzes at the end of each lesson.  A mentor/coach oversees the work and provides individual and group workshops, study halls and in-class simulations that reinforce the learnings.

At the end of the course, a completed improvement project is reviewed by the mentor/coach for completeness, content, and tool application.  Individuals will also be asked to take a final comprehensive exam.  A passing grade of 70% or better qualifies the individual for certification.  The University of Alabama will provide the certification credentials upon approval of the mentor/coach. With our new blended format, you get the best of combined learning environments to enable you to master the material with a minimum amount of travel and in-person class time, but with a high degree of personal interaction with our faculty and other students in your class!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google + , LinkedIn or visit our website for more info and news about Six Sigma courses, professional development for the workplace and how to improve the efficiency of your organization.

Article by Dianna Rockett, MBA, SIX SIGMA MASTER BLACK BELT, and President and CEO of Donald E. Smith Associates, Inc . a business management consulting firm specializing in process improvement initiatives using Six Sigma Methodology. She is also a our instructor for the new blended Six Sigma program.

Training, the key to your organization’s success.

Organizations building excellence in the workplace succeed when they understand and address their key areas of concern. Here are some things we’ve learned from organizations. They see three broad areas as the linchpins to their success:

1.  Succession. An effective leadership pipeline to build a deep bench and mitigate the impact of losing the baby boomers.
2. Execution. Management systems (operations management, supply chain management, project management, risk management, etc.) so they can turn plans into action.
3. Culture. The values and practices that bring their brand to life.

Rather than treating learning as a silo, organizations have succeeded by developing an approach to integrate the learning function into operational and strategic planning. I hope you find this approach useful in your own workplace:

•  Determine where the organization wants to go and the team competencies needed to get there.
• Understand where the organization is today and the team competencies currently demonstrated.
• Define the difference between the current and desired states and recommend an approach to build the needed team competencies.
• Identify ways to measure progress.

The above approach sounds pretty generic, but the idea of team competencies is what repositions the learning function as a strategic approach. Competencies are demonstrable, so organizations can align those team competencies to business objectives and measure progress toward the objectives. We’re also finding that organizations like the idea of coaching as a way to institutionalize the new competencies. In addition to sending employees to a coaching academy, equipping employees to coach each other has been appealing to organizations. Coaching has been a way to help employees learn how to hold each other accountable.

Between team competencies and coaching, we’re seeing interest in ways to make employees more T-shaped, building deep skills to succeed in their jobs and also to thrive in their organizations.

Bama At Work brings the expertise of our University to your workplace and organization. More than a sample of courses dispensed in a classroom, the Corporate Training of Bama At Work is a training consultant working for you. Customize your training to bring the best skills and knowledge to your employees and colleagues. Because an educated workforce is a more efficient one, Bama At Work will help you and your organization achieve the capstone of Workplace Excellence.

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google + , LinkedIn or visit our website for more info and news about custom training, professional development for the workplace and how to improve the efficiency of your organization.

Article by Leroy Hurt, Associate Dean, Professional Development and Community Engagement, The University of Alabama

Leroy Hurt, Associate Dean, Bama At Work

7 Questions to ask Your Career Coach in Online Training.

We often see the term “coach” and think about athletics or using a trainer at the gym to help us fit into our summer clothes.  Yet we rarely think about a career coach to help guide us through our pursuit of a better life at work. Let’s face it: as jobseekers, we only have so much knowledge of how to polish our resumes, put the perfect cover letter together to get the attention of a hiring manager, and find different ways to network. This is why having an experienced career coach who focuses on your success will help so much once you finish your education or certification program.

Many schools or universities offer “career coaching” as a part of their enrollment processes, but what is a career coach exactly, and what should you be looking for in a coach?  The bottom line is a career coach should help you assess your professional situation with a good amount of honesty, curiosity, empathy and compassion. With the normal amount of anxiety that comes with the job search, your career coach should help you feel comfortable and inspire you to keep going. The largest part of a career coach’s job is to bring you out of your shell and help you understand that just submitting your resume to online job search engines will not give you the kind of return you want. Career coaching is extremely personal so make sure you do your research before you commit.

Here are a few questions you should ask during your research:

1. Just like with a sports coach, you want to know a career coach’s win/loss record. If you are talking to a school or university, ask what their career services statistics are and get them to show you the following: their student graduation rate, success in passing certification exams, and their career statistics. If you want to learn more, look up Gainful Employment Regulations.
2. Find out their career path. You want to make sure that the person who is coaching you had both coaching experience and real world experience as well.
3. Geographic location is another option for you to consider. Technology like Skype gives you the opportunity to choose a coach from anywhere in the world. This is your own preference so make sure you are comfortable with your choice.
4. Interview your top two or three picks. Ask about the following: fees, rates (they may vary from $50 to $300 per hour), how often you will meet, and for how long. Most coach-client relationships last from six months to a year.
5. Whether it is a school or a career coach, you need to ask what is included in his or her “experience.” It should include some of the following: goal setting, time management, study skills, and your motivation to advance.
6. If you are working with your school or university, then there are also a few important questions you should ask and have answered. Will they help you build a solid resume? If there are certification requirements involved, ask them how they can help you. Are there hands-on job experience opportunities they can help you with such as externships or internships? Will they teach you how to market yourself and network? Also, find out if they will set up mock interview sessions with you to prepare you for that job interview.
7. More than anything chemistry and connection with your coach should be top on your list. You will have to be comfortable with sharing intimate details of your life with your coach, so it’s important that you like and see him or her as an equal.

Bama At Work and our partner World Education.net will assign our students a dedicated career coach from Day 1 who will assist them with a success plan from training to a fulfilling career. We offer our graduates career development assistance up to 1 year after course completion to make sure they are on track to find that dream job!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google + , LinkedIn or visit our website for more info and news about Professional Development, Online Training and how to improve your professional profile.

Article by Kelly Fuhlman, Director of Social Media  for World Education , and is personally involved in helping others make a better life for themselves through education. World Education is one of the main partner of The University of Alabama for Online Certificate Programs.

 

What to Look For in an Online Certificate Program ?

With the growing cost of a college degree, many students are leery of taking out thousands of dollars in student loans.  In looking for alternatives many of these students are turning to short certificate programs that are significantly less of an impact on the pocketbook and can be completed in 6 months to a year. These courses are short and get right to the training needed without any excess costs for the student.  As good as they are for your time and budget, how can you be sure of the quality of the program you are taking?  If you are considering a certificate program, please pay attention to these “buyer beware” tips you need to follow:

• Accreditation of the school.
  You need to ask the institution if they are regionally or nationally accredited. If the representative you are talking to starts to stutter on this question and begins to ramble about memberships and associations, then you need to be suspicious! Regional accredited schools are most of your colleges and universities, like The University of Alabama with Bama At Work. If you receive a certificate from a recognized school you are covered on the accreditation question and employers will see this as a trustworthy institution. Sometimes the best way to ask this question is “Are you approved by the Department of Education?”. Do your research!

• Preparing for a certification exam.
  Many certificate programs prepare you for an exam that will certify you to work in a certain industry. Many careers in the health and fitness industry require you to have a certain amount of hours in training and an 80% or above on your certification exam before you can work with clients or patients. Make sure the school you choose is an approved training provider and offers vouchers to take the exam.

• Career Services.
  Many schools say they have career services that help students find a job after the training is done. However, you need to find out what services they specifically they offer. When you ask the question “How are you going to help me?” and they fumble over that question or simply give you a document, chances are you will not be happy.  However, if they offer you a personal career coach, resume writing tech, webinars for current students to attend for career development, and also stay with you at least 1 year after completion then you have found the right place!

• Cost and time commitment.
  This is where your research comes into play. Make sure you compare prices before choosing a school. Many schools will charge a premium for programs that you can take elsewhere with the same training, accreditation and vouchers, sometimes at 50 to 60% cheaper. Again, check the credentials of the schools but also make sure you are not paying more than you should for a certificate program.

Using these 4 tips should help you choose the right school and program that fits your needs and not break the bank. Make sure when it comes to your money and education you are an informed consumer!

Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google + , LinkedIn or visit our website for more info and news about Professional Development, Online Training and how to improve your professional profile.

Article by Kelly Fuhlman, Director of Social Media  for World Education , and is personally involved in helping others make a better life for themselves through education. World Education is one of the main partner of the University of Alabama for Online Certificate Programs