Turbo Leadership Systems^™

Trans-formative training

Sheila, controller for a Clark County construction company, told Session 8 of Turbo’s Leadership Development Lab:

“Yesterday our Contracts Administrator came into my office and began talking about how the training is going with Jenny, our receptionist/ administrator. She seemed very concerned about Jenny being able to cover for her while she is out on maternity leave. She was worried that Jenny will become overwhelmed and shut down, throw in the towel and just let things pile up.

“After listening for a few minutes, I said, ‘I understand your concern. We should remember that there are always two sides to these kinds of issues.’ Jenny had been in my office the day before talking about her frustrations and concerns. I continued, ‘We are all well aware of the fact that you know what you are doing. You are a very talented lady. What about looking at this situation as a challenge rather than a chore?’ Then I asked her if we could try some of the techniques we’ve been learning in the Leadership Development Lab. She said, ‘Yes, let’s give it a try.’

“We started out with a blank piece of paper and soon came up with an outlined list of the training she wanted to accomplish the next day. We thoroughly discussed the training she wanted to complete and printed it out so both she and Jenny could have their training objectives in front of them at the beginning of each day. Then I went to our white board and wrote down Turbo’s 3-step process for on-thejob training – Tell & Show; Tell as they do; Ask them to tell as they do. She agreed that she would use the process the next morning.

“When I got back to our office from a

meeting that day, as I was getting a cup of coffee I noticed that there was a piece of paper they were both looking at and it had a few lines crossed out. I realized they were working with the 3-step on-the-job training process. Woohoo! It was so cool to see them getting along and actually smiling and talking about what Jenny needed to learn and do to get fully up to speed.

“The lesson I learned from this experience is to listen, really listen; to listen to more than the words; listen to the emotional content, the feeling behind the words. The action I call you to take is to fully listen with a positive attitude and pass along any tools that you know will help your team perform at a higher level. The benefit you will gain is the pleasure in knowing you were able to help and you will release frustration as you build enthusiastic engagement. You will create an empowered, confident, cooperative team that plays to win.”

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