For  a while I was guilty of saying ‘actually’ at the end of every sentence.  It didn’t last long because someone had the temerity to tell me that it had become extremely annoying – I stopped!

No doubt I still use one or two words more than I should; and they may well be used out of context.  Such an example came up in the last day or two.

Currently, I am involved in some training in Manchester.  So I decided to stay at the Manchester Airport Travelodge for three nights.  It is convenient and easy for my work especially since the days are very long and tiring.  On night one I was sent off to my room happy in the knowledge that each evening I would be able to return and ‘crash out’. 

On day two I returned to my room and couldn’t get in.  I went downstairs and queued behind a long group of people waiting to be checked in.  As each person was checked in the female receptionist would give them their room cards, they would say “thank you” and she would reply “not a problem”.  Fifteen minutes later I reached the front of the queue, explained my problem and got my key renewed.  I thanked her and she replied “not a problem”.  I didn’t say anything.

On day three after a very long day I returned to the hotel and went to my room.  I couldn’t get in.  I went down to reception and queued again for about ten minutes.  The same receptionist was there. 

When I reached her I explained that it had happened again.  At this point she told me that the key card is renewed every day.  I asked why I hadn’t been told that on day one or why she hadn’t told me the previous night.  She told me that I should have known!

Anyway, she renewed my card and handed it to me.  I said “thank you” and she said “not a problem”.  At this point I felt it incumbent on me to explain to her that it was indeed a problem; along with the myriad of other small problems I had experienced over the past three days.  At this point her minimal training failed her and she had no idea what to say other than . . . . .

Naturally, much of the work I had prepared was in PowerPoint format and for two of them they were not able to see the slides.

Between us, me struggling somewhat whilst they were very helpful and understanding, we managed to have a great day.  The first lesson I learnt was to be up front and find out from them the best way to carry out the presentations.

The second lesson was to vocalise everything.  So every time I changed a slide I said that I was doing so and then explained as I discussed each point made.  Where there were photographs and graphics either I or another member of the group would describe them in detail before we proceeded.

Of course, what it really forced me to do was to return to my roots and conduct my delivery as if giving a presentation without visual aids.

Nevertheless it made us all realise how much we rely on body language to reinforce the spoken message.  Instead I had to think about how I could describe each action in word pictures.

There are a couple of morals to this story.  Always check who is going to be at a presentation and check whether additional aids might be needed.  If you are presenting to a visually impaired audience then try and get the slide placed into braille beforehand.  This means putting all the wording into a MS Word document first.  Obviously graphics or photos cannot be changed. 

Despite my bumbling incoherent start to the day, we all managed to make it work and I learnt to be better prepared in the future.

That’s right, the survivors.  Most people automatically assume that the survivors are the lucky ones.  After all they escaped redundancy and therefore they must be lucky.  In many workplaces the opposite seems more appropriate.

There are four emotions that hit survivors in a redundancy situation.

1.  Yes there is relief about still having a job.  This can lead to a sense of euphoria and possibly celebration.

2.  But that can quickly turn into guilt.  “Should I be celebrating when poor old Ravi has gone, and what about Mary, she was in tears when she left.  It was heartbreaking.”

3.  Guilt can linger for some time, but then those people who are leaving or who have left tell the survivors about their redundancy package.  Where the employer has been as generous as possible this can often lead to a feeling of envy.  “Typical isn’t it.  They walk off with a great big lump sum that they can put in the bank and we are the ones that are left to pick up the pieces.”

4.  Finally the resentment sets in.  Once the redundancies have taken place the work environment changes.  If the cuts have been dramatic then the survivors may find themselves working in half empty offices or surrounded by empty workstations.  They may also find that they are sitting at ‘Jennifer’s old desk’.  Worse still, the senior management may well expect them to cover the exact same amount of work as the previously larger teams.  So their workload goes up.

That is why it is so important to put in place some support for the survivors.  

• Communicating what is happening to them and what the future will bring is very important
• Giving support and coaching to help them handle the new situation is also vital
• Allow survivors time to talk as small groups to share their feelings and to discuss what they think should happen next
• Get them involved in some of the decision making
• Show them that they are not next by offering some training, even if it is in-house and run by internal people.

It’s an imperfect world and it will take time for things to settle down, but the more you consider the survivors the greater your chances of getting a happy functioning workplace once more.

One such move is to start spending money on expensive training courses in the hope that this will lead to the creation of a more desirable skills set.  There are two problems with this approach, the first is that time spent in training is not time spent looking for a job.  The second problem is that the choice of skill may do nothing to enhance your CV and hence your attractiveness to a potential recruiter.

If you are at a crossroads and you want to take training then there are a few things I would suggest:

• Ask yourself – do I like doing what I was doing in my previous job? 
• If so then what skills set do I need to enhance to make myself more attractive to a potential recruiter? 
• If not then what do I want to do in the future and how do I get the skills needed to move me in that direction?
• Now write down four lists for your work activities; what do I like doing, what don’t I enjoy, what am I good at and finally what am I weak at.
• From those lists identify areas that you enjoy doing but may be a little weak.  These are good areas in which to gain extra training especially if they are core skills that are relevant to your job.

On the other hand you could decide that you like the outdoors and want to become a lumberjack (previous job junior solicitor) so you take a course in how to use a chainsaw. 

Perhaps it might come in handy in the future but have you really thought through what you want to do?  If so, either you got your first choice badly wrong and have wasted a number of years or you are panicking and think that this new job will offer more opportunities – and that is very risky!

One case in mind was when a manager decided to make a special effort of thanking his team by buying cream cakes to have during the Friday afternoon team meeting.  He showered them with praise and the effect was obvious to see. 

The next time he found an excuse to praise his team, he was so pleased with the previous experiment that he did it again.  Then he decided that this was having such a positive effect that he would make the cream cake treat a regular Friday thing – “We’ve all had a good week and worked hard so let’s treat ourselves” became the message. 

The team had started to get used to these Friday afternoon delicacies.  They enjoyed the high spirits, the praise and now the cream cakes weren’t seen so much as a treat but as something which was to be expected.

Then things started to get a bit sticky (pun intended), the current economic downturn meant that other teams in the office were struggling, there was talk of redundancies and the high spirited Friday afternoon team meetings didn’t really seem appropriate.  So this manager decided to stop giving the cream cakes and took on a more sombre attitude to the team meetings.

Naturally his team noticed this and wondered what they had done wrong.  Explanations were not forthcoming and the team in turn thought that they might be targets for redundancy.  All of a sudden the motivator provided by the cream cakes became a de-motivator. 

The team slipped from being a happy bunch of people keen to help each other to being suspicious and resentful.

The manager thought that he was doing right, first by praising and treating, and then by being responsible and sensitive to what was happening in other teams.  Instead he made matters worse.

So what should he have done?

• A treat is a treat so treat is as such!  When a treat becomes the norm then it is no longer a treat but something that is expected
• Praise should be continuous but should reflect the achievement.  Sometimes that means a hand written note to an individual, sometimes public praise in a team meeting, sometimes cream cakes or a trip to the pub to celebrate a big victory, but keep it different and proportionate to the achievement
• A managers behaviour must be consistent, if it isn’t then his or her team will notice and react accordingly
• Ultimately it’s all about communication, if things need to change then tell them why, get their buy-in and cooperation, then they will know that it is nothing to do with them but a ‘needs must’ situation.  

If the recruitment process was conducted properly then you should have a very clear picture of the skills set of the new recruit.  You should have compared these with the job description and ensured that you recruited someone with the closest possible match as well as the right personality to fit into your corporate culture.

Once that has been achieved there will always be some skills deficit.  This is the area that is most likely to need some attention, possibly through training or possibly through coaching by the manager.

Where it gets tricky is if the job description is unclear, not sufficiently specific or changes as a result of internal organisation.  The manager should be alert to all of these points and be ready to assess if new skills are needed and how best they could be provided.  If the job description needs to be changed to make it more relevant then HR should be involved.

In an efficient organisation the manager will have regular one to ones with their team members and will be aware of any problems that might be occuring.  During these one to ones it is important to have the discussion about the team member’s comfort zone in doing all of the tasks assigned.  If there are areas that they feel they are struggling with then these should be looked at more closely.

The manager should avoid being critical or judgemental.  It is always better to have a team member who feels able to admit to a problem in delivering part of their work than a frightened employee who continues to do the task badly for fear of being exposed.

The manager might want to consider if a problem area flagged up by one team member might be an issue across the whole team.  Then they should decide whether the skills deficit is a localised one that is specific to their company or team, or whether it is a more commonplace skills deficit. 

For example if the problem is  a new piece of highly specialised equipment then the training might require a company technician to come in and explain.  However, if the skills deficit is something like knowing how to respond to hostile customers then it might be better to bring in a customer services trainer to bring the whole team up to the required standard.

In the latter case the training might be required in other Departments within the company in which case the HR Department are the most appropriate people to handle the training needs.

Inevitably any good trainer should be able to point to real outcomes that can be measured.  If they can’t then why not?  Is it that the subject area is not one that can be measured?  In which case you might consider whether there is any real value to the training.

Which brings us neatly back to where we started, except that at least there has been a process of elimination put in place before the manager simply dismisses the idea of training.

He had even been told that he was the only remaining candidate, so the job was in the bag.  Then he and his wife were invited to have dinner with the Managing Director and his wife.

The following day he was told that they had decided not to pursue his application.  So he had to start all over again.  He was angry – with them and with himself for stopping his job hunt.  His morale went through the floor and his confidence nearly went the same way except for a lot of hard work by our team to get him re-focussed.

Recently the same thing was about to happen with another client.  Fortunately I now had this anecdote to tell and was able to dissuade him of closing down his job search.

In both cases there was a happy ending.  The first person found another and better opportunity a few weeks later.  Although the selection process was very long and involved numerous interviews, he didn’t stop looking and that made him more confident as he went through each stage.  Today he is prospering in his new position and very grateful that he didn’t get the first job.

The second person hasn’t yet secured a job, but he is still getting lots of interviews whilst this other process continues.  I have no doubt that he will be back in work very soon.

So the advice is simple.  Never stop looking until the contract for your next job has been signed.  It is easy to tell a recruitment agency or potential employer that you will have to withdraw from the process because you have found a position.  No sensible person will blame you provided you thank them and offer the explanation.

Even when you have been offered a job, remember there is still the business of negotiating the package and things could go wrong, so don’t stop until the ink is drying on the page.

Not so the managers below them; they are sent on lots of training courses.  Of course as these managers learn from the training they also realise that their bosses are not all that good after all.

Nevertheless, these managers bring back to the workplace the training they have had and start to put it into practice.  However, very often they are blocked by their senior managers as they try to make changes.  Morale drops, middle managers become embittered and cynical and the organisation slips back into all the old bad habits.

The ultimate losers are the shareholders who have put their faith in the senior managers.  All for the want of a little humility and recognition that sometimes you get to the top despite some of your shortcomings not because you are perfect.

If you are a frustrated middle manager why not send the link for this blog to your boss; and if you are the boss why not start by asking what your managers have been learning on those expensive training courses you have been sending them on.

First of all you didn’t hire them.  You arrive on the scene and there they are, doing what they have always done in an unconstructed way.

You can’t fire them.  They are volunteers after all so you can’t say you are sacked.  You have to live with them and make the very best of their talents.

You can’t discipline them.  They could very easily walk away and tell you to get someone else to do it.

Their skills sets will vary enormously.  I have worked with teams that contained a Director of a FTSE 100 company and a junior researcher.  You have to get each of them to work together for the common cause.

You have to apply all the very best people management skills.  That means learning lots about them and what motivated them to come and volunteer – what makes them tick?

You have to encourage them to take a path which they may not want to take.  You have to persuade, motivate and use every ounce of your interpersonal skills to get them working for you.  You have to know them so well that you double guess what their reaction is going to be to a certain situation and then prepare your counter arguement.

You have to use diplomacy, discipline and a single mindedness in pursuit of your objectives in equal measure; and you have to articulate your vision in such a way that you get ‘buy-in’.

In short you have to be the sort of manager that you would like to be in the workplace.  One who knows and understands their team, builds relationships, coaches, delegates and leads towards the ultimate business goal.

You have to be a manager who leaves the big stick at home and starts to use his head instead of his vocal chords!

If you haven’t tried managing some volunteers then now is the time to give it a go.

When I asked her why she said that she had had enough promises to last a  lifetime none of which had materialised.

It turns out that when she first arrived at the firm she was asked to work on a project which involved a lot of telephone work.  She didn’t feel especially confident on the telephone so had asked for some telephone skills training. 

Her first appraisal came and went and it was agreed that she would get the training.  He next appraisal didn’t happen for a further 18 months and still there was no sign of the training but her boss had criticised some of her work.

Then she had another appraisal where the same issues were discussed and where she was told there was no money for training someone as junior as her.

So she is leaving.  The moral of the story is:

• Have regular appraisals and listen to what the person being appraised is saying
• If you offer training make sure that you deliver
• If you don’t give them the training then don’t expect them to miraculously improve in the area discussed
• Ask yourself why you have a high attrition rate of young staff, could it be that your appraisals are demotivating rather than helping to motivate and empower your staff.