Upturn or Recession?
Guest writers Steve Clegg and Debbie Frakes are writing for us this week about the ways in which our accurate forecasts can help us plan for real growth in “Upturn or Recession?”
The equipment industry is cyclical and seasonal. Many dealerships react to events by looking backward at accounting financial statements, explaining why they are victims of current market conditions. But the most successful dealerships always look forward by forecasting and planning for the future. As a result, they can take advantage of both upturns and downturns.
There are effective Artificial Intelligence (AI) models that can be used to forecast and create a business plan, based on these forecasts. During an upturn, you can expect shortages of parts, equipment, and employees, as we have recently experienced. The best approach to maximizing profits is to focus on the customers and industries with the highest retention rates where the best service can be provided to generate a healthy gross margin and a high return on capital. This process builds cash and liquidity and strengthens the balance sheet in anticipation of opportunities during a downturn.
It is important not to chase the upturn, although OEMs and banks are often eager to encourage that approach to accelerate their own growth. A sustainable growth rate for your own facilities, employees, balance sheet, and customer retention, however, places limits on rapid growth. Most dealers cannot sustain a growth rate in customers and transactions greater than 10% to 15% per year, regardless of the opportunities. The requirements for new customers, employees, systems, facilities, training, and capital are beyond their internal capacity to grow and keep their existing customers happy. Using AI Analytics, you can see forecasts with >95% accuracy for the next 12 months for your business, by branch and department, providing the number of customers, transactions, and revenue that can be expected. With AI forecasts you can anticipate exactly what to expect for your customer retention, customer engagement, and even ROI on your sales and marketing programs. This approach allows better accuracy in planning the future and anticipating the best ways to identify opportunities.
During a downturn, successful dealers forecast, then use their strong balance sheets and cash flow to purchase parts and equipment at steep discounts from their suppliers and competition. They also hire the best employees, pick up additional equipment lines and territories, and acquire assets from competitors that have failed. With this approach they create the foundation for real growth during the next upturn. A 1% improvement in customer retention usually generates a 12% annual transaction growth rate. There is less vulnerability to economic downturns when customer retention is strong. Historically, there is only a 7% to 15% reduction in transactions over a 12-18 month period during a downturn, so the improved retention easily offsets this reduction.
There are five steps management you can take now to ensure your company can weather any type of economic cycle.
- Create a forecast the next 12 months, based on your current performance, and continue to forecast by updating your results with the prior month’s revenue. With this approach your organization will have a clear picture of what will happen for the next 12 months, if you continue to operate as you have been.
A platform that is easy to use to produce accurate forecasts is Zintoro.com. Its AI Analytics program provides automated forecasts for customers and transactions, including the resulting gross margin and revenue, by company, branch, and department with a >95% confidence level.
- Use the 12-month forecast to create a plan that will maximize revenue and profits
Actions for improvements are steps that you plan to begin during the next 12 months to assure you will meet or exceed the forecast, which is your benchmark.
An action plan for an upturn provides the steps to take to overcome hurdles that are typical during an upturn, such as available working capital, delayed parts and equipment deliveries, dissatisfied customers, increased costs, and accommodating increased order frequency for parts and service with a backup plan to prevent overwhelming your employees and facilities.
An action plan for a downturn provides the steps necessary to take advantage of the next downturn.
- Identify the customers that are not profitable and take steps to reduce interactions with them.
- Determine opportunities to automate wherever possible, from equipment and customer communications to operating systems.
- Build cash and set up processes to generate a high return on capital employed.
A recession presents a set of severe financial hurdles that typically include: reduction in available capital, delayed customer payments, drop in equipment sales, decrease in rental utilization, and reduced frequency for parts and service orders.
Rank the ways to cut costs, using the improvement of employee support for your customers as the primary driver. This ranking should answer these questions:
- What is essential to keep the doors open and assure that stable customers are engaged?
- Where to invest to acquire and retain stable customers, by market and industry?
- Where to invest to hire and retain the best employees?
- Where to invest in equipment, technology, and facilities at favorable prices?
- How to keep all other costs as lean as possible?
- Where to automate and outsource?
Keep shareholders, lenders, suppliers, and employees informed.
Zintoro.com provides reports for actual results and forecasts to manage expectations and keep these groups focused on the key drivers for customer retention, customer engagement, and opportunities for improvement. Revenues and profits result from customer retention and engagement.
- Maximize cash and profits.
Implement the following actions quickly to maximize cash on hand and focus on generating additional cash to build and maintain your cash cushion.
- Monitor the cash flow weekly with a system to show actual receipts and disbursements tracked at least weekly and continually update the cash forecast for 12 months to anticipates any problem periods.
Obtain debt at favorable fixed rates and establish credit lines to ensure cash availability with reasonable lender covenants. Be aware of their liquidity options. Businesses that line up capital sources before they need funding often receive more favorable terms. Funding sources may include revolving credit lines, owner infusions, alternative financing, and private equity.
In a downturn, revenue and cash availability always fall faster than expenses. Sources of capital dry up and as inflation accelerates, costs climb faster than you can raise prices, reducing your available cash.
- Put together a list of expenses you can reduce to minimize your cash burn rate and identify sources of additional cash and when they may be required. The longest recession in the past fifty years was 18 months; most recessions last less than 12 months. Your goal is to have enough cash, including capital reserves, available to make up the difference between the potential gap in cash flow, so that you can maintain operations for twelve to eighteen months and take advantage of the opportunities that will be presented during such times to build your business.
- Manage your supply chain proactively by keeping your suppliers informed with your forecasts and requirements. Anticipate how your customers and suppliers will react when you are projecting your cash requirements.
In a recession, understanding the financial situation of your customers and suppliers is critical. It’s important to be realistic, not optimistic. Assess customers to identify which ones might slow down their payments or become unable to pay. These customers can double your working capital requirement during a downturn. Meet with your key customers and suppliers to review your forecasts and anticipate their problems by understanding their challenges, too. Negotiate payment plans with suppliers while offering incentives to customers for early payments or bulk orders.
- Evaluate your parts and equipment inventory to reduce capital employed and increase turns.
- Develop a program for recruiting and training employees. Plus, expand ways to retain your employees proactively.
- Track all sales and marketing programs with a return on investment. Cut programs that are not generating a return that you can document.
- Forecast and plan, don’t wait and react. Without planning you are put in a position of reacting by quickly cutting spending, firing employees, and putting your equipment inventory and assets out for auction at steep discounts. Reacting rather than plan can destroy your ability to recover during upturn that will follow at some point.
- Track and invest in marketing programs with the highest ROI. Compare spend for customers who were exposed to a marketing activity versus those who were not. For example, if you have an email program in place to alert your customers of specials and services you offer, compare the spend for customers with an email to those who aren’t receiving your emails. Are you calling customers regularly? Compare the spend to those you’re calling to those you haven’t called. What about contacting customer for follow-up surveys? Are the ones you talk to spending more than the ones you haven’t contacted? Below are some comparisons for a dealer over a 12-month period, as an example.
| Marketing Transactions Revenue Cost ROI times |
| Program /Customer /Customer /Customer Active Customers |
|
| Telephone |
| Called 24 $128,440 $28 1231X |
| Not called 37 $93,965 $0 – |
|
| Emails |
| Emailed 30 $134,270 $35 2378X |
| No email 4 $51,0443 $0 – |
|
| Surveys |
| Surveyed 16 $82,423 $35 966X |
| No survey 7 $48,616 $0 – |
Next Steps
Zintoro.com has developed a forecasting program that is updated monthly with your results. Just download the last two years of your invoices, plus invoices from the current year to date, and send them to Zintoro to upload into their password protected portal. They will schedule a call to review where the forecast shows you are headed and what steps you can take to change those numbers. Contact Steve Clegg at cs*****@*****ro.com for additional information.
To get started with marketing programs that you can count on to increase sales and deliver an impressive ROI, contact Debbie Frakes at df*****@*******nc.com.
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Continuous Learning – Learning Without Scars’ Centers of Excellence
Continuous Learning – Learning Without Scars’ Centers of Excellence
In this week’s installment of our blog on Lifelong Learning, our guest writer Steve Johnson gives us this cutting-edge blog post of the way our education programs are taking shape: Continuous Learning – Learning Without Scars’ Centers of Excellence.
Why continuous learning should matter to you…
The Learning Without Scars website makes the statement that, “we know that ‘better’ is the enemy of ‘best,'” and “that everyone needs the knowledge, skills, and tools to continually elevate their own personal and professional development while contributing to the success of their companies and careers.” Learning Without Scars’ business is all about continuous learning: lifelong learning.
Continuous learning is essential for those employees who want to remain valuable to their employers, and advance both personally and professionally. That’s true whether you are climbing the corporate ladder, developing in-depth expertise in your chosen career field, or just want to be a better-informed human being. There are many reasons for you to invest your time and money in yourself through continuous learning.
Keeping your skills and knowledge current strengthens your value to your employer. If you are not always learning, you’re not even treading water: you’re actually falling behind. In any work environment, development of new information and technology is rapid, and that pace keeps accelerating. At some point in the future, you could find out that management no longer feels you are relevant to attaining the company’s goals. You could find out that the job market feels the same about your resume.
Continuous learning provides you with more professional resilience both at your company and in the broader business environment and marketplace. It ensures that you have or obtain not only the knowledge and skills requirements for your current job, but also lays the foundation for the next steps in your career path. It can help you stand out among your peers as an important part of the future of your company. It’s not a bad thing to be one of the “go to” people. Sometimes it can be easy to get caught up in the day-to-day operations of your company and lose the big picture of the environment and markets within which you work. Continuous learning can ensure that you exit that cocoon and keep informed of current trends as well as what may be impacting you in the future.
Your company may be an excellent source for continuous learning, especially in such areas as company culture, products, IT systems, and best practices. They may have both formal and informal opportunities to develop your interpersonal and management skills. It makes good sense to pay attention in your day-to-day work for learning moments, and also for occasions where you can get out of your comfort zone and learn. Networking in your company will allow you to track the pulse of important activities, events and company direction. Networking through professional and industry organizations will give you a feel for the pulse of your industry and the economic environment.
Take advantage of it when companies offer to enroll you in formal training, within or from outside the company. Alternatively, you can seek out specific education that aligns with your individual needs and goals. For example, I’ve read that many consider one’s personal oral and written communication skills to be critical to career success, and the importance of those skills increases as people pursue their career paths. Maybe “Toastmasters” is in your future.
Learning Without Scars’ Centers of Excellence
Our efforts to encourage greater continuous learning in the industries we serve continue. A recent focus for Learning Without Scars is developing relationships with public higher learning institutions where these schools will also function as our Centers of Excellence (COE).
Online, you will find a number of definitions for a COE. Wikipedia says it is a “team, a shared facility or an entity that provides leadership, best practices, research and support or training for a focus area.” It also can be a “network of institutions collaborating with each other to pursue excellence in a particular area.” The Cambridge Dictionary defines a COE as “a place or an organization that is known for doing a particular activity very well, and that is involved in new developments, new ways of working, etc.” We can add to the above, but I think you get the idea. Learning Without Scars is working to develop a network of schools to achieve the above goals and offer excellence in delivering education where it is needed.
Our plan is to have ten of these Centers in the U.S. and Canada. Courses include new online certification programs offering comprehensive content in equipment dealer parts management and service management. The courses are applicable for heavy equipment dealers, including construction, heavy truck, mining, forestry, light industrial, and agriculture. We are working to soon provide automotive aligned versions of the programs. In the near future, we will also be able to provide dealer sales and marketing programs. Benefits of the new programs include:
As a final note, make continuous learning intentional and give it high priority. Continuous learning is your responsibility, not the responsibility of your company, your supervisor or anyone else. To be able to effectively manage your career, you need to plan your future, that is, identify your goals and chart your path for reaching those goals. An important part of that path is going to be continuous learning. Plan your educational future now. In doing that, we encourage you to explore educational opportunities at Learning Without Scars for high quality industry- and position-specific education.
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Friday Filosophy v.11.18.2022
Friday Filosophy v.11.18.2022
Friday Filosophy v.11.18.2022 offers quotes and words of wisdom from the Dalai Lama.
Dalai Lama is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or “Yellow Hat” school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dalai Lama is Tenzin Gyatso, who lives as a refugee in India. The Dalai Lama is also considered to be the successor in a line of tulkus who are believed to be incarnations of Avalokiteśvara, the Bodhisattva of Compassion.
Since the time of the 5th Dalai Lama in the 17th century, his personage has always been a symbol of unification of the state of Tibet, where he has represented Buddhist values and traditions. The Dalai Lama was an important figure of the Geluk tradition, which was politically and numerically dominant in Central Tibet, but his religious authority went beyond sectarian boundaries. While he had no formal or institutional role in any of the religious traditions, which were headed by their own high lamas, he was a unifying symbol of the Tibetan state, representing Buddhist values and traditions above any specific school. The traditional function of the Dalai Lama as an ecumenical figure, holding together disparate religious and regional groups, has been taken up by the fourteenth Dalai Lama. He has worked to overcome sectarian and other divisions in the exiled community and has become a symbol of Tibetan nationhood for Tibetans both in Tibet and in exile.
From 1642 until 1705 and from 1750 to the 1950s, the Dalai Lamas or their regents headed the Tibetan government (or Ganden Phodrang) in Lhasa, which governed all or most of the Tibetan Plateau with varying degrees of autonomy. This Tibetan government enjoyed the patronage and protection of firstly Mongol kings of the Khoshut and Dzungar Khanates (1642–1720) and then of the emperors of the Manchu-led Qing dynasty (1720–1912). In 1913, several Tibetan representatives including Agvan Dorzhiev signed a treaty between Tibet and Mongolia, proclaiming mutual recognition and their independence from China, however the legitimacy of the treaty and declared independence of Tibet was rejected by both the Republic of China and the current People’s Republic of China. The Dalai Lamas headed the Tibetan government afterwards despite that, until 1951.
The name “Dalai Lama” is a combination of the Mongolic word dalai meaning “ocean” or “big” (coming from Mongolian title Dalaiyin qan or Dalaiin khan, translated as Gyatso and the Tibetan word (bla-ma) meaning “master, guru”.[15]
The Dalai Lama is also known in Tibetan as the Rgyal-ba Rin-po-che (“Precious Conqueror”) or simply as the Rgyal-ba.
In Central Asian Buddhist countries, it has been widely believed for the last millennium that Avalokiteśvara, the bodhisattva of compassion, has a special relationship with the people of Tibet and intervenes in their fate by incarnating as benevolent rulers and teachers such as the Dalai Lamas. This is according to The Book of Kadam, the main text of the Kadampa school, to which the 1st Dalai Lama, Gendun Drup, first belonged. In fact, this text is said to have laid the foundation for the Tibetans’ later identification of the Dalai Lamas as incarnations of Avalokiteśvara.
It traces the legend of the bodhisattva’s incarnations as early Tibetan kings and emperors such as Songtsen Gampo and later as Dromtönpa (1004–1064).
This lineage has been extrapolated by Tibetans up to and including the Dalai Lamas.
Thus, according to such sources, an informal line of succession of the present Dalai Lamas as incarnations of Avalokiteśvara stretches back much further than Gendun Drub. The Book of Kadam, the compilation of Kadampa teachings largely composed around discussions between the Indian sage Atiśa (980–1054) and his Tibetan host and chief disciple Dromtönpa and Tales of the Previous Incarnations of Arya Avalokiteśvara, nominate as many as sixty persons prior to Gendun Drub who are enumerated as earlier incarnations of Avalokiteśvara and predecessors in the same lineage leading up to him. In brief, these include a mythology of 36 Indian personalities plus 10 early Tibetan kings and emperors, all said to be previous incarnations of Dromtönpa, and fourteen further Nepalese and Tibetan yogis and sages in between him and the 1st Dalai Lama. In fact, according to the “Birth to Exile” article on the 14th Dalai Lama’s website, he is “the seventy-fourth in a lineage that can be traced back to a Brahmin boy who lived in the time of Buddha Shakyamuni.”
The Time is Now.
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Coaches Corner v.11.17.2022
Coaches Corner v.11.17.2022
Guest writer Floyd Jerkins shares how leadership is like playing the guitar in Coaches Corner v.11.17.2022.
I started playing the guitar when I was about 12. It was easy to fall in love with it and played nearly every day. In those days, Ted Nugent, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and the Beatles were among the day’s rock musicians. One of my favorites was the Beatles. Even then, I loved playing the songs and found it pretty easy, so I thought I was pretty good. I knew I was going to be a rock star.
An older friend of mine, who I always admired, created a “paradigm” shift about my perceptions of music one day. At that time, I had no idea what a paradigm was. One day, we got into a lengthy discussion/debate about music. I thought I made a convincing argument.
He started me listening to Buddy Guy, Larry Coryell, George Benson, Jim Hall, Chet Atkins, Glen Campbell, and a host of other guitarists that I had never heard of before. I heard chord progressions, riffs, and sounds coming from a guitar I hadn’t even imagined. I couldn’t even figure out how to move my fingers to play such sounds. The new information rattled my cage for sure.
All I know is after those few days, my whole world opened up to listening to and finding value in all kinds of music. I also found my friend to be even more interesting than I ever thought. Every time we got together, I started to listen first to see what I could learn.
Leadership and Playing a Guitar
In all the hype today about leadership, I found myself thinking – “OK, Floyd, you’ve been a student, and a teacher, and practitioner on this subject for decades. What’s new around the topic of leadership? What are the paradigm shifts? Are there any?” I guess it all depends on what you listen to.
Oprah Style of Leadership- You get a class, and you get a class!
Part of what’s new is that thousands of people are offering information on the subject of leadership. There are books, podcasts, online and live classes you can attend to teach you how to lead. Numerous materials on the subject can be found by your old or new favorite host. There are thousands of old and new ideas and practical solutions offered. What an exciting time to have instant access to more information at your fingertips than you can digest in a lifetime!
Separating Fact from Fiction
Because of so much available information, I work to narrow down the volume of who influences me. Some seem to have hollow words or not near enough depth on the subject. A good sound bite without the substance to back it up is relatively common today. Sometimes I have to read deeper or check out the credentials to know more about where this information is coming from.
What is not new, is that there is still no shortcut to becoming an effective leader or developing an enduring organization. Sorry, there isn’t any silver-bullet to learn how to become an influential person. Never let anyone tell you there is. It takes a lot of hard work, self-analysis, and honesty. Yes, you have to be a useful person to become an effective leader. And that doesn’t mean you’ll ever be perfect. You will make a ton of mistakes and have scars and flaws, just like everyone else.
The Principles of Life and Business are Like Chords on a Guitar
When you learn to play chords, then playing a song becomes easier. You can actually hear the music as it’s played and visualize what chords are used and how it’s strummed. You can then play any kind of music as long as you can hear it. With practice, you can start to create your own music.
When you learn the principles of living a dynamic life or building a company, it’s like learning the guitar’s chords. The principles are tried and true and will never let you down once you master them. You have to practice because you just can’t become a master of them until you do. You will fail occasionally. There will be people who say it can’t be done.
You can learn the principles of leadership and model them to find what works for you. As I tell my grandkids, just be you and don’t try to be someone else. Embrace and love yourself.
Principles are like gravity. You can try to defy, change, or ignore them, but they are always there doing what they do. Learn them, and allow them to be a guiding resource in your life and business journey to reach your fullest potential.
Today, I listen to all kinds of music. My taste is wide and deep. Oh, I can play some on my “64 Fender Jazzmaster,” but my listening skills are much better. I still debate with people I don’t agree with, to learn. Mostly, I enjoy listening to a lot of people because I know I can learn something from them that I didn’t know before. You know, I never want to be that person who thinks the Beatles are the only music there is.
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Work Sucks. But, Why?
Work Sucks. But, Why?
Our new guest writer, Christopher Kiely, is taking us straight into the vernacular with “Work Sucks. But, Why?” Christopher Kiely has over 30 years experience in the transportation and heavy equipment maintenance industries with most of those years spent training technicians and maintenance practitioners. He has written for various online outlets in the past and after some time away from writing has returned to share his thoughts on equipment maintenance, training and employee development. Currently self-employed and loving it, he spends most of his worktime travelling the world supporting the mining industry and building relationships with his fellow maintenance professionals.
We have all heard the cliché, “Do what you love and you will never work a day in your life”, similar quotes have been attributed to everyone from Confucius and Mark Twain to Tony Robins and Oprah Winfrey. All these people seem to have a different definition of work than I do. Perhaps as a mechanic, mine is more based in the mechanical principal that energy is the capacity to do work and not the notion of work being some sort of automatic drudgery. If I want to accomplish things I enjoy: make a tasty meal, write a song, fix something that is broken, I need to do work. That isn’t a bad thing. In those cases, work provides a sense of accomplishment.
Yet the notion that “work sucks” persists, despite what I may contend. So why is that? Why do so many people view something that can provide a sense of accomplishment as mere drudgery? The answer is perhaps right in the question. There is no sense of accomplishment.
Not every job is one of achieving things. A mechanic or welder or craftsperson sees the fruit of their labour, what their work produces, on an almost daily basis. The part was broken, now it is fixed. Where once there were just pieces of wood, now there is a cabinet. Other jobs are not so lucky. Finishing piles of “paperwork” (not that we work with actual paper much anymore) or getting through all those unanswered emails, never seems to have the same sense of accomplishment. Often it is more a sense of relief when it is all done, and “relief” implies some sort of stress or pain has ended.
So, what is the source of this stress or pain in many jobs? The work itself? I suppose for some, but if the type of work you chose to do causes stress and pain you might want to ponder the masochistic underpinnings of that. Most people do not live their lives in pursuit of work and professions that cause them pain. Yes, some jobs are physically demanding and cause aches and strains, that is not what I am discussing here. Some of the most difficult, dirty, labour intensive, mentally challenging and hard-work demanding jobs are greatly enjoyed by the people that do them. What I am talking about is the mental and spiritual pain caused by what some perceive as the soul-sucking drudgery of work. Where does this soul-sucking drudgery come from? I contend it comes from leadership, or more accurately, a lack there of. The stress and pain of most jobs comes from poor unqualified “leaders” in name only.
I work in a risk filled, physically demanding, labour intensive industry with high demands. Mining is one of the most dangerous industries in the world, working on giant-sized machines with giant-sized parts and giant-sized tools is labour intensive, and mining equipment maintenance is always under the constant pressure of mining production. They demand things be fixed “Now!” and fixing those things is often dirty and difficult. My roll within this industry has often been an autonomous roll that has taken me all over the world, through different countries and cultures, different mine sites, different companies and corporate cultures. I travel to these mine sites to support the companies that develop and maintain them, but I do not work directly for those companies. Often there are two companies on the one site, the customer and an OEM dealer. On large mine sites there will be multiple companies and often the spirit and attitude of the workers for these companies doing nearly identical work can be very disparate.
If the work is the same, the environment the same and the demands the same, why the difference? Simple, people and attitudes.
What people have the most effect on the culture and attitude of a company? The leaders.
Poor leaders suck the accomplishment out of everything, they make you feel like your best is never good enough, they do not properly acknowledge the fruits of their employees’ labour and even as a mechanic or craftsperson if what you produce is not recognized as having any value, then the sense of accomplishment is diminished. I wish I could say these types of leaders were rare, but they are not. And as I contend here, if they were rare, “work” wouldn’t have such a bad rap. Sad to say, but in my now 30+ years of working in maintenance and service, I have witnessed many more maintenance managers and supervisors unfit to lead people than I have great leadership from these rolls.
Great leaders create teams and cultures that feed a sense of purpose, accomplishment and belonging and when people are filled with a sense of purpose, accomplishment and belonging, they enjoy what they do, and they thrive. In my industry this should be easy for leaders, the sense of accomplishment is right in the work. Typically, the supervisor or manager simply must get out of the way of his employees while actively training, mentoring and supporting them. In other industries and jobs where perhaps there is a lack of daily accomplishment in the work itself, data entry for example where there is always more data to enter, and the database is never finished, the sense of accomplishment is the positive culture itself. Working as a team, supporting one another, establishing and maintaining positive relationships between team members and enjoying the fruits of those accomplishments. Then low and behold, the drudgery disappears into the sense of belonging.
It is shocking how many supposed “leaders” can’t do this. Managing instead with narcissism and an attitude that employees are there to serve them, pitting staff against one another and creating divisions and silos within organizations. And it is shameful how many companies promote such people and reward such attitudes. It is one of the reasons I work for myself these days and I believe one of the reasons many companies complain about not being able to find “good people”. Good people don’t want to work with your terrible leaders.
I would say it is not a matter of loving what you do to avoid feeling like you are working, but a case of feeling like you belong and are appreciated and avoiding the soul-sucking drudgery caused by weak leaders that diminishes or negates a sense of accomplishment and gives “work” a bad name.
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Upturn or Recession?
Upturn or Recession?
Guest writers Steve Clegg and Debbie Frakes are writing for us this week about the ways in which our accurate forecasts can help us plan for real growth in “Upturn or Recession?”
The equipment industry is cyclical and seasonal. Many dealerships react to events by looking backward at accounting financial statements, explaining why they are victims of current market conditions. But the most successful dealerships always look forward by forecasting and planning for the future. As a result, they can take advantage of both upturns and downturns.
There are effective Artificial Intelligence (AI) models that can be used to forecast and create a business plan, based on these forecasts. During an upturn, you can expect shortages of parts, equipment, and employees, as we have recently experienced. The best approach to maximizing profits is to focus on the customers and industries with the highest retention rates where the best service can be provided to generate a healthy gross margin and a high return on capital. This process builds cash and liquidity and strengthens the balance sheet in anticipation of opportunities during a downturn.
It is important not to chase the upturn, although OEMs and banks are often eager to encourage that approach to accelerate their own growth. A sustainable growth rate for your own facilities, employees, balance sheet, and customer retention, however, places limits on rapid growth. Most dealers cannot sustain a growth rate in customers and transactions greater than 10% to 15% per year, regardless of the opportunities. The requirements for new customers, employees, systems, facilities, training, and capital are beyond their internal capacity to grow and keep their existing customers happy. Using AI Analytics, you can see forecasts with >95% accuracy for the next 12 months for your business, by branch and department, providing the number of customers, transactions, and revenue that can be expected. With AI forecasts you can anticipate exactly what to expect for your customer retention, customer engagement, and even ROI on your sales and marketing programs. This approach allows better accuracy in planning the future and anticipating the best ways to identify opportunities.
During a downturn, successful dealers forecast, then use their strong balance sheets and cash flow to purchase parts and equipment at steep discounts from their suppliers and competition. They also hire the best employees, pick up additional equipment lines and territories, and acquire assets from competitors that have failed. With this approach they create the foundation for real growth during the next upturn. A 1% improvement in customer retention usually generates a 12% annual transaction growth rate. There is less vulnerability to economic downturns when customer retention is strong. Historically, there is only a 7% to 15% reduction in transactions over a 12-18 month period during a downturn, so the improved retention easily offsets this reduction.
There are five steps management you can take now to ensure your company can weather any type of economic cycle.
A platform that is easy to use to produce accurate forecasts is Zintoro.com. Its AI Analytics program provides automated forecasts for customers and transactions, including the resulting gross margin and revenue, by company, branch, and department with a >95% confidence level.
Actions for improvements are steps that you plan to begin during the next 12 months to assure you will meet or exceed the forecast, which is your benchmark.
An action plan for an upturn provides the steps to take to overcome hurdles that are typical during an upturn, such as available working capital, delayed parts and equipment deliveries, dissatisfied customers, increased costs, and accommodating increased order frequency for parts and service with a backup plan to prevent overwhelming your employees and facilities.
An action plan for a downturn provides the steps necessary to take advantage of the next downturn.
A recession presents a set of severe financial hurdles that typically include: reduction in available capital, delayed customer payments, drop in equipment sales, decrease in rental utilization, and reduced frequency for parts and service orders.
Rank the ways to cut costs, using the improvement of employee support for your customers as the primary driver. This ranking should answer these questions:
Keep shareholders, lenders, suppliers, and employees informed.
Zintoro.com provides reports for actual results and forecasts to manage expectations and keep these groups focused on the key drivers for customer retention, customer engagement, and opportunities for improvement. Revenues and profits result from customer retention and engagement.
Implement the following actions quickly to maximize cash on hand and focus on generating additional cash to build and maintain your cash cushion.
Obtain debt at favorable fixed rates and establish credit lines to ensure cash availability with reasonable lender covenants. Be aware of their liquidity options. Businesses that line up capital sources before they need funding often receive more favorable terms. Funding sources may include revolving credit lines, owner infusions, alternative financing, and private equity.
In a downturn, revenue and cash availability always fall faster than expenses. Sources of capital dry up and as inflation accelerates, costs climb faster than you can raise prices, reducing your available cash.
In a recession, understanding the financial situation of your customers and suppliers is critical. It’s important to be realistic, not optimistic. Assess customers to identify which ones might slow down their payments or become unable to pay. These customers can double your working capital requirement during a downturn. Meet with your key customers and suppliers to review your forecasts and anticipate their problems by understanding their challenges, too. Negotiate payment plans with suppliers while offering incentives to customers for early payments or bulk orders.
Next Steps
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Academic Credits
Academic Credits
For this week’s blog on Lifelong Learning, our Founder, Ron Slee, tackles one of those pesky, behind-the-scenes aspects of education: Academic Credits. Please note that this blog post will be published in English, Spanish, and French.
As an IACET accredited provider, Learning Without Scars has certain very specific rules to follow. For instance, to earn an official CEU we have to have ten hours of learning. This gets a touch more complicated when we look at the US Department of Education requirement of fifteen to sixteen hours for a single CEU. However, they bury the lede in that statement. This is all modeled on traditional, in-person learning. So many hours of face-to-face instruction, and so many hours of homework. 1 hour of facetime, 2 hours of homework. That has been the “rule of thumb.” This cannot be “mandated” by the federal government here in the United States, it is only a guideline. However, in order for students to be able to obtain Federal loans or grants, the school MUST follow these rules. Since the United States federal government is secondary to state laws and policies, the number of course “hours” for Academic Credit can vary from state-to-state. Even further, the states give institutions of learning their own latitude when it comes to determining those course “hours.” That means each school can establish their own criteria for Academic Credits.
That is where it gets complicated for all of us here. Our classes offer six and a half hours of “face-to-face,” but asynchronous, learning. Albeit, it is not in a traditional classroom, it is on the internet. That means that there are six and a half hours of specific learning per class. We have been told that we must add a “homework” component to make it easier for the “Academic Credit” schools to add our classes to their curriculums. In line with that we are creating homework assignments for each of our classes following the “rule of thumb” of two hours of homework for each hour of face-to-face learning. In other words, for each class, we are adding thirteen hours of homework.
I have had a problem with this with several schools in that I have always asked questions about how the schools track that the students did the homework? The answer I consistently get is “we don’t.” That doesn’t account for the fact that an individual instructor may very well be tracking the homework. Or, an individual instructor might be following research-based practices and realizing that homework is not an effective tool for understanding. That research has been guiding a movement to phase out homework. I anticipate that this will also shake up the course hours model that is so widely varied here in the U.S.
I, as an educator, have always been more concerned that the student leaves my classes with a solid understanding of the subject matter. I use quizzes, snap exams, oral debates in other words everything I can to give the student the opportunity to show me that they “get it.” Caroline is of the same mind which led us to perhaps a different approach on the homework we assign. We provide the homework hours as “Close Reading and Annotation” assignments. If you follow research-based practices, reading is solid method for increasing knowledge and understanding. For each element of the assigned reading, we provide a “Check for Understanding.” This we do with a Quiz for each homework assignment. Obviously, we score the Quiz and provide that feedback to the student. We have established a level of 60% or higher as proof that our “Check for Understanding” goal has been met. This is another step we take to make us different from the traditional education model in use across the world and establish our internet-based learning as a viable model to be used everywhere by everyone.
Through each of our Subject Specific Classes we have a similar structure and methodology. From the enrollment of the student from our website, or from the registration process at a school, the student receives from us the notice that they have been registered in one of our classes. They receive an email with a short slide show with audio explaining how the learning experience works. They will then receive an email allowing them to establish a password to our Learning Management Software system. From there they will see the full Learning Without Scars homepage. Once they have signed in, they will receive another email explaining what that home page is showing them and how it works. They can then proceed to their class.
Each class is a series of videos. Each video can be started and stopped multiple times and the student will always be brought back to their last position. We have short videos all of which end with a Quiz. That quiz is to test comprehension of the subject matter – it is a “Check for Understanding.” There is a quiz at the conclusion of each segment of the class. At the completion of each class, we have a twenty question, multiple choice, Final Assessment that the student has to pass if they want to obtain their certificate. The passing grade is 80%. The student can take the Final Assessment. Then we ask the student to give us their opinions on the class they just took. Finally, they then can get their certificate.
Now we are adding the Homework piece. We are selecting books that are pertinent to the class and providing the students with this list of books. Once this has been completed then we will add another check point prior to the receipt of the certificate. The student must have achieved 80% on the final assessment as well has receiving 60% on each of the “Check for Understanding” quizzes for each homework assignment.
We are truly providing a “school” experience with our internet based Subject Specific Classes.
Each LWS Class consists of 6 ½ hours of classroom and 13 hours of homework.
Two of our classes then earn an academic credit consisting of 13 hours of face-to-face learning and 26 hours of homework providing 39 hours of education to the student. That works for most schools but there will be others that have different requirements. We will adapt to the conditions and situations we come across so that our Classes will qualify everywhere. We already have Accreditation Internationally so that will allow us to continue with our work to offer all of our classes in English, French and Spanish. We will expand that language offering as required.
We continue to push forward. We have audio tracks to match our class reading assignments. We have closed captioning for all of our film clips. We have the multiple language platform underway. We are adding now the homework element. We have come a long way. That is true. However, we still have a long way to go and many more learning elements to add to our portfolio. Next is “Half” classes. We will address that more in the coming months.
The Time is Now.
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Creditos Academicos
Creditos Academicos
Como Proveedor Aprobado, acreditado por IACET, tenemos ciertas reglas muy específicas a seguir. Por ejemplo, para obtener un CEU oficial tenemos que tener diez horas de aprendizaje. Esto se vuelve un poco más complicado cuando observamos el requisito del Departamento de Educación de EE. UU. de quince a dieciséis horas para una sola CEU. Sin embargo, entierran el plomo en esa declaración. Todo esto se basa en el aprendizaje tradicional en persona. Tantas horas de instrucción presencial y tantas horas de trabajo en clase. 1 hora de facetime, 2 horas de tarea. Esa es la “regla general”. Esto no puede ser “obligado” por el gobierno federal, es una guía. Sin embargo, para poder obtener préstamos o subvenciones, la escuela DEBE seguir estas reglas. Eso significa que cada escuela puede establecer sus propios criterios para los Créditos Académicos.
Ahí es donde se complica para nosotros en Learning Without Scars. Nuestras clases ofrecen seis horas y media de aprendizaje “presencial”. Aunque no es en un salón de clases tradicional, es en Internet. Eso significa que hay seis horas y media de aprendizaje específico por clase. Nos han dicho que debemos agregar un componente de “tarea” para que sea más fácil para las escuelas de “Crédito Académico” agregar nuestras clases a sus planes de estudio. De acuerdo con eso, estamos creando asignaciones de tarea para cada una de nuestras clases siguiendo la “regla general” de dos horas de tarea por cada hora de aprendizaje presencial. En otras palabras, para cada clase, estamos agregando trece horas de tarea.
He tenido un problema con esto con varias escuelas en las que siempre he hecho la pregunta “Está bien, asignas dos horas de tarea a cada hora de aprendizaje presencial de clase”. ¿Cómo rastreas que los estudiantes hicieron la tarea? La respuesta que obtengo constantemente es “no lo hacemos”.
Yo, como educador, siempre me he preocupado más de que el alumno salga de mis clases con un conocimiento sólido de la materia. Uso cuestionarios, exámenes instantáneos, debates orales, en otras palabras, todo lo que puedo para darle al estudiante la oportunidad de demostrarme que “lo entiende”. Caroline es de la misma opinión que nos llevó a quizás un enfoque diferente en la tarea que asignamos. Proporcionamos las horas de tarea como asignaciones de “Lectura detallada y anotación”. Para cada elemento de la tarea, le asignamos una “Verificación de comprensión”. Esto lo hacemos con un Quiz para cada tarea asignada. Obviamente, calificamos el cuestionario y proporcionamos esa retroalimentación al estudiante. Hemos establecido un nivel del 60 % o superior como prueba de que se ha cumplido nuestro objetivo de “Comprobación de la comprensión”. Este es otro paso que damos para diferenciarnos del modelo de educación tradicional que se usa en todo el mundo y establecer nuestro aprendizaje basado en Internet como un modelo viable para que todos lo usen en todas partes.
A través de cada una de nuestras Clases Específicas de Materia tenemos una estructura y construcción similar. Desde la inscripción del estudiante desde nuestro sitio web, o desde el proceso de registro en una escuela, el estudiante recibe de nosotros el aviso de que ha sido registrado en una de nuestras clases. Reciben un correo electrónico con una breve presentación de diapositivas con audio que explica cómo funciona la experiencia de aprendizaje. Luego recibirán un correo electrónico que les permitirá establecer una contraseña para nuestro sistema de software de gestión de aprendizaje. Desde allí, verán la página de inicio completa de Learning Without Scars. Una vez que hayan iniciado sesión, recibirán otro correo electrónico explicando qué les muestra esa página de inicio y cómo funciona. A continuación, pueden proceder a su clase.
Cada clase es una serie de videos. Cada video se puede iniciar y detener varias veces y el estudiante siempre regresará a su última posición. Tenemos videos cortos que terminan con un cuestionario. Ese cuestionario es para evaluar la comprensión del tema: es una “verificación de comprensión”. Hay un cuestionario al final de cada segmento de la clase. Al finalizar cada clase, tenemos una evaluación final de veinte preguntas de opción múltiple que el estudiante debe aprobar si desea obtener su certificado. La calificación aprobatoria es del 80%. El alumno puede realizar la Evaluación Final. Luego le pedimos al estudiante que nos dé su opinión sobre la clase que acaba de tomar. Finalmente, pueden obtener su certificado.
Ahora estamos agregando la pieza de tarea. Estamos seleccionando libros que son relevantes para la clase y brindando a los estudiantes esta lista de libros. Una vez que esto se haya completado, agregaremos otro punto de control antes de recibir el certificado. El estudiante debe haber obtenido un 80 % en la evaluación final y haber recibido un 60 % en cada una de las pruebas de “Verificación de comprensión” para cada tarea asignada.
Realmente estamos brindando una experiencia de “escuela” con nuestras clases específicas de materias basadas en Internet.
Cada clase de LWS consta de 6 ½ horas de clase y 13 horas de tarea.
Luego, dos de nuestras clases obtienen un crédito académico que consta de 13 horas de aprendizaje presencial y 26 horas de trabajo en el hogar que brindan 39 horas de educación.para el estudiante. Eso funciona para la mayoría de las escuelas, pero habrá otras que tengan requisitos diferentes. Nos adaptaremos a las condiciones y situaciones que nos encontremos para que nuestras Clases califiquen en todas partes. Ya contamos con Acreditación Internacional por lo que nos permitirá continuar con nuestro trabajo de ofrecer todas nuestras clases en inglés, francés y español. Ampliaremos esa oferta de idiomas según sea necesario.
Seguimos empujando hacia adelante. Tenemos pistas de audio para que coincidan con las tareas de lectura de nuestra clase. Tenemos subtítulos para todos nuestros clips de película. Tenemos la plataforma multilingüe en marcha. Ahora estamos agregando el elemento de tarea. Hemos recorrido un largo camino. Eso es verdad. Sin embargo, todavía tenemos un largo camino por recorrer y muchos más elementos de aprendizaje para agregar a nuestra cartera. Lo siguiente es “medias” clases. Abordaremos eso más en los próximos meses.
El tiempo es ahora.
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Crédits académiques
Crédits académiques
Dans le billet de blogue de cette semaine sur l’apprentissage continu, Ron Slee nous guide à travers le processus d’obtention de crédits académiques.
En tant que fournisseur agréé, accrédité par IACET, nous avons certaines règles très précises à suivre. Par exemple, pour gagner un CEU officiel, nous devons avoir dix heures d’apprentissage. Cela devient un peu plus compliqué lorsque nous examinons l’exigence du Département américain de l’éducation de quinze à seize heures pour une seule CEU. Cependant, ils enterrent le plomb dans cette déclaration. Tout cela est calqué sur l’apprentissage traditionnel en personne. Tant d’heures d’enseignement en face à face et tant d’heures de travail en classe. 1h de facetime, 2h de devoirs. C’est la “règle générale”. Cela ne peut pas être « mandaté » par le gouvernement fédéral, il s’agit d’une ligne directrice. Cependant, afin de pouvoir obtenir des prêts ou des bourses, l’école DOIT suivre ces règles. Cela signifie que chaque école peut établir ses propres critères pour les crédits académiques.
C’est là que ça se complique pour nous à Learning Without Scars. Nos cours offrent six heures et demie d’apprentissage “en face à face”. Bien que ce ne soit pas dans une salle de classe traditionnelle, c’est sur Internet. Cela signifie qu’il y a six heures et demie d’apprentissage spécifique par classe. On nous a dit que nous devions ajouter une composante «devoirs» pour faciliter l’ajout de nos classes à leurs programmes par les écoles «à crédit académique». Conformément à cela, nous créons des devoirs pour chacune de nos classes en suivant la «règle empirique» de deux heures de devoirs pour chaque heure d’apprentissage en face à face. Autrement dit, pour chaque cours, nous ajoutons treize heures de devoirs.
J’ai eu un problème avec cela avec plusieurs écoles en ce sens que j’ai toujours posé la question “OK, vous attribuez deux heures de devoirs à chaque heure d’apprentissage en classe en face à face” comment suivez-vous que les élèves ont fait les devoirs ? La réponse que j’obtiens constamment est “nous ne le faisons pas”.
En tant qu’éducateur, j’ai toujours été plus soucieux que l’élève quitte mes cours avec une solide compréhension de la matière. J’utilise des quiz, des examens instantanés, des débats oraux, bref tout ce que je peux pour donner à l’élève l’occasion de me montrer qu’il « comprend ». Caroline est du même avis, ce qui nous a peut-être amenés à une approche différente des devoirs que nous donnons. Nous fournissons les heures de devoirs sous forme de devoirs de “lecture approfondie et d’annotation”. Pour chaque élément du devoir, nous attribuons une « Vérification de la compréhension ». C’est ce que nous faisons avec un quiz pour chaque devoir. Évidemment, nous notons le quiz et fournissons cette rétroaction à l’étudiant. Nous avons établi un niveau de 60 % ou plus comme preuve que notre objectif “Vérifier la compréhension” a été atteint. C’est une autre étape que nous franchissons pour nous différencier du modèle d’éducation traditionnel utilisé dans le monde et établir notre apprentissage basé sur Internet comme un modèle viable pouvant être utilisé partout par tous.
À travers chacune de nos classes spécifiques à un sujet, nous avons une structure et une construction similaires. Dès l’inscription de l’élève depuis notre site internet, ou dès le processus d’inscription dans une école, l’élève reçoit de notre part l’avis qu’il a été inscrit dans l’une de nos classes. Ils reçoivent un e-mail avec un court diaporama audio expliquant le fonctionnement de l’expérience d’apprentissage. Ils recevront alors un e-mail leur permettant d’établir un mot de passe pour notre système de logiciel de gestion de l’apprentissage. De là, ils verront la page d’accueil complète de Learning Without Scars. Une fois qu’ils se sont connectés, ils recevront un autre e-mail expliquant ce que cette page d’accueil leur montre et comment cela fonctionne. Ils peuvent ensuite rejoindre leur classe.
Chaque classe est une série de vidéos. Chaque vidéo peut être démarrée et arrêtée plusieurs fois et l’étudiant sera toujours ramené à sa dernière position. Nous avons de courtes vidéos qui se terminent toutes par un quiz. Ce quiz sert à tester la compréhension du sujet-c’est un “vérifier la compréhension”. Il y a un quiz à la fin de chaque segment de la classe. À la fin de chaque cours, nous avons une évaluation finale de vingt questions à choix multiples que l’étudiant doit réussir s’il souhaite obtenir son certificat. La note de passage est de 80 %. L’étudiant peut passer l’évaluation finale. Ensuite, nous demandons à l’élève de nous donner son avis sur le cours qu’il vient de suivre. Enfin, ils peuvent ensuite obtenir leur certificat.
Maintenant, nous ajoutons la pièce Devoirs. Nous sélectionnons des livres pertinents pour la classe et fournissons aux élèves cette liste de livres. Une fois cela terminé, nous ajouterons un autre point de contrôle avant la réception du certificat. L’étudiant doit avoir obtenu 80 % à l’évaluation finale et avoir reçu 60 % à chacun des quiz “Vérifier la compréhension” pour chaque devoir.
Nous offrons vraiment une expérience « scolaire » avec nos cours spécifiques à une matière basés sur Internet.
Chaque classe LWS comprend 6 heures et demie de cours et 13 heures de devoirs.
Deux de nos classes gagnent ensuite un crédit académique composé de 13 heures d’apprentissage en face à face et de 26 heures de travail à domicile offrant 39 heures d’enseignementà l’étudiant. Cela fonctionne pour la plupart des écoles, mais il y en aura d’autres qui auront des exigences différentes. Nous nous adapterons aux conditions et situations que nous rencontrerons pour que nos Classes se qualifient partout. Nous avons déjà une accréditation internationale, ce qui nous permettra de continuer notre travail pour offrir tous nos cours en anglais, français et espagnol. Nous élargirons cette offre linguistique au besoin.
Nous continuons à avancer. Nous avons des pistes audio pour correspondre à nos devoirs de lecture en classe. Nous avons des sous-titres codés pour tous nos extraits de films. Nous avons la plate-forme multilingue en cours. Nous ajoutons maintenant l’élément devoirs. Nous sommes venus de loin. C’est vrai. Cependant, nous avons encore un long chemin à parcourir et de nombreux autres éléments d’apprentissage à ajouter à notre portefeuille. Viennent ensuite les cours “Demi”. Nous en parlerons davantage dans les mois à venir.
C’est maintenant.
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Friday Filosophy v.11.11.2022
Friday Filosophy v.11.11.2022
In Friday Filosophy v.11.11.2022, our Founder, Ron Slee, shares quotes and words of wisdom from the Buddha.
Gautama Buddha (also Siddhartha Gautama, Siddhartha Gotama; Shakyamuni, Sakkamuni; and The Buddha) was an ascetic and spiritual teacher of South Asia who lived during the 6th or 5th century BCE. He was the founder of Buddhism and is revered by Buddhists as a fully enlightened being who taught a path to Nirvana, freedom from ignorance, craving, rebirth and suffering.
According to Buddhist tradition, the Buddha was born in Lumbini in what is now Nepal, to highborn parents of the Shakya clan, but abandoned his family to live as a wandering ascetic. Leading a life of begging, asceticism, and meditation, he attained enlightenment at Bodh Gaya. The Buddha thereafter wandered through the lower Gangetic plain, teaching and building a monastic order. He taught a Middle Way between sensual indulgence and severe asceticism, a training of the mind that included ethical training and meditative practices such as effort, mindfulness, and jhana. He died in Kushinagar, attaining Para nirvana. The Buddha has since been venerated by numerous religions and communities across Asia.
Several centuries after the Buddha’s death, his teachings were compiled by the Buddhist community in the Vinaya, his codes for monastic practice, and the Suttas, texts based on his discourses. These were passed down in Middle Indo-Aryan dialects through an oral tradition. Later generations composed additional texts, such as systematic treatises known as Abhidharma, biographies of the Buddha, collections of stories about his past lives known as Jataka tales, and additional discourses, i.e. the Mahayana sutras.
Most of them accept that the Buddha lived, taught, and founded a monastic order during the Mahajan pada era and during the reign of Bimbi Sara (c. 558 – c. 491 BCE, or c. 400 BCE), the ruler of the Magadha empire, and died during the early years of the reign of Ajatashatru, who was the successor of Bimbi Sara, thus making him a younger contemporary of Mahavira, the Jain tirthankara. There is less consensus on the veracity of many details contained in traditional biographies, as ” “Buddhist scholars […] have mostly given up trying to understand the historical person.”
The dates of Gautama’s birth and death are uncertain. Most historians in the early 20th century dated his lifetime as c. 563 BCE to 483 BCE. Within the Eastern Buddhist tradition of China, Vietnam, Korea and Japan, the traditional date for the death of the Buddha was 949 BCE. According to the Ka-tan system of time calculation in the Kalachakra tradition, Buddha is believed to have died about 833 BCE.[31] More recently his death is dated later, between 411 and 400 BCE, while at a symposium on this question held in 1988, the majority of those who presented definite opinions gave dates within 20 years either side of 400 BCE for the Buddha’s death. These alternative chronologies, however, have not been accepted by all historians.
The Time is Now
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Coaches Corner v.11.10.2022
Coaches Corner v.11.10.2022
In Coaches Corner v.11.10.2022, guest writer Floyd Jerkins is writing about leading from the front line.
I often get calls from clients about various leadership-related scenarios they face. Sometimes they already know the answers but want to hear alternative ideas. One thing is for sure; there isn’t just one way to handle leadership questions on the front line.
Questions from the Front Line
Here is a sample of a client’s recent call and the highlights of the suggestions I provided: “Some of our senior managers struggle with the younger staff on our team. A few believe they want too much too quickly. Our managers don’t delegate to them very well, and as a result, we often stumble in delivering our services. I wish there were a way to help both of these groups. We need to be building this next layer of management in our organization. I also don’t want to lose any more young people to our competitors.”
Job Descriptions are Crucial
Make sure the individual job descriptions are in sync with the role and responsibilities. I’ve seen several issues arise when job descriptions aren’t current and relevant. This is needed to have accountability focused on certain job functions.
The description should contain examples of specific behaviors that highlight success in the role. You want to talk about these to highlight the expectations and address any questions. You want confirmation and understanding. The description should also evolve because someone in a starting role should perform differently than someone in the position for five years. Also, show a career path in this description.
A personal development program is needed to outline the learning path clearly, so the individual keeps pace with social and organizational needs. By illustrating the core skill sets needed to be successful, you are laying the foundation for performance.
Real Life Performance Evaluations
I could write for hours about the do’s and don’ts of conducting performance reviews. Teaching senior staff to become coaches isn’t always the easiest thing to do. Evaluating senior managers and your young talent using formal and informal methods is an essential part of growing people in the organization. Consistent coaching and counseling are necessary to speed up the learning curves.
Senior managers can be teachers and mentors but frequently are still doing the work themselves. You have to remove the “threat” that they will be put out to pasture when teaching others their job functions.
Don’t be fooled by the term. A senior person could be 24, 41 or 77 years old. It is more about the individual’s knowledge level vs. how long you’ve been with the company.
Young people with talent also need to be taught that certain behaviors are necessary to succeed. Explain what it means to succeed and to underperform. Formal and informal reviews need to be frequent if the behaviors do not align with the goals and objectives.
Rationale & Solutions That Work
Senior managers can create unnecessary risks when challenged by young people with different energy and talent. If they are close-minded to new ideas or feel threatened, this isn’t healthy for growing talent in a company. Changes need to be made to how they view their roles and how performance is measured.
Make sure senior staff know it’s their responsibility to grow the younger talent while also showing them their path to more success in the company. When they share and grow this talent, they need rewarded and recognized. You don’t want to hold a young talented person back from being more successful. You can help them achieve their goals by teaching them certain methods and subjects.
Implementing solutions requires an understanding of your company culture and how your staff perceives they are treated. Yes, their perception is their reality. Check out these other articles on these and other subjects that should help you along. There are also several others on my website that are great resources.
There are ways to help these managers become teachers and mentors to another generation of leaders. There are also ways for the younger generation to learn from senior people. Give me a call, and let’s explore your options.
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