in this issue
	Trainer Kit Update What's a Pro? The Driving Manager What's in a Voice? Collective Learning Closer

What's a Pro?

A reader asked for ideas for teaching new hires about professional behavior. That is, what is appropriate for customers and for peers. Here's an activity that gets them to identify what it means to be professional - and it's fun (of course!). Divide the class into small teams (3-5 people is good). Instruct the teams to identify five things someone would do that they would consider unprofessional. Tell them to choose things that might really happen rather than extreme caricatures of bad behavior. You can assign half the teams to identify unprofessional behaviors with customers and the other team to identify behaviors with peers. Allow about 5 minutes. After 5 minutes, tell teams that they will have to act out the unprofessional behaviors while the rest of the group tries to guess what they are demonstrating. Have each team act out just one behavior, rotating around until all teams have acted out all items on their lists. (You can have them skip things that have already been covered by previous teams.) Discuss why each behavior is a problem (what impression does it convey?). Transition from this exercise into a discussion about what IS professional, both in the office and with customers.

The Driving Manager

The goal of this exercise is to get managers to identify and discuss the challenges they face in their role. Begin by drawing a horizontal line on a flip chart. Explain that this line represents the continuum of skills for a driver. At the left end is a new driver (your teenage daughter, for instance) and at the right end is a race car driver (Kyle Petty or Tony Stewart, for instance). In the middle are the rest of us who have been driving a while and do it fairly well/safely. Then explain that this same line can represent the talents of a manager. On the left are new managers and on the far right are those who can mentor other managers. Most managers are somewhere in the middle. Have the group identify where they fall on the continuum: Far left, far right, or near the middle. Encourage them to divide into fairly equal groups (this is important for the rest of the activity). Continuing with the driving analogy, write some typical driving conditions on a chart: dry and sunny on a straight road, hazardous weather (sleet, heavy rain, etc.), windy and narrow mountain roads, rutted gravel road, congested city driving during rush hour. Briefly discuss how differently skilled drivers might handle each condition. Then have the three groups discuss how someone of their management skill level (new, experienced, expert/mentor) would view the different "road conditions" in their job. For example, what is hazardous weather to them? What would they do as a manager to handle "hazardous weather" on the job? How might their results as managers change as a result of hazardous weather? Allow groups 10 minutes to discuss. Then discuss as a large group. Summarize the discussion by identifying the key challenges they face as managers.

What's in a Voice?

This activity helps telephone workers recognize the importance of how they use their voice on calls. It takes some preparation and a tape recorder. Before training, make a recording of 5 different people leaving a voice mail message about the same subject: they are interested in a customer service or inside sales position with the company and hope to schedule an interview. Each of the recordings should have errors. For example, one person might speak very quickly. Another might sound scattered or disorganized. A third might sound disinterested. Choose some of the typical "sounds" you have heard from those in your own company. During class, tell the group that they will be listening to some voice mail messages of potential candidates for customer service. You want them to answer two questions about each voice: What, if anything concerns them about the voice? And would they call the person back (why/why not)? This analysis and discussion can lead into a conversation about the impression we give others when speaking over the phone. You might also consider asking each person in the class to send you a voice message about the class (tell me one thing you have learned so far and one thing you still want to learn). Then forward the message back to them so that they can listen to their own message and critique their voice. This activity requires some extra effort and planning. The payoff for that little extra effort can be great!

Collective Learning Closer

Here's a quick and fun way to hear what people have learned during training. Divide the class into small teams. Instruct teams to record on post it notes what they have learned during training. Each note should have a single point of learning or information. Teams will compete to have the most learning points that aren't covered by another team. Allow 5 minutes for them to brainstorm and write their notes. Meanwhile, create a scoring chart by dividing the chart page into four blocks (if you have four teams) and writing each team's name in one of the blocks. Have the first team begin by sharing one of their post it notes. If another team has that same note, the notes get set aside. If no other team has that note, it gets posted in that team's block. Continue until all teams have finished sharing their notes. Then award a prize to the team with the most notes on the scoring chart.