Brought to you by Business Training Library
The #1 Provider of Training Solutions for Growing Companies!

In this issue:

1. Join us for Align 2008 - Business Training Library Client & Partner Conference
2. Building Successful Manager-Employee Relationships
3. Conducting the Behavioral-based Interview
4. Course Review: Five Forbidden Phrases



1. Join us for Align 2008 - Business Training Library Client & Partner Conference

Connect. Learn. Align.

Business Training Library invites you to participate in Align 2008 – Business Training Library’s first e-learning client and partner conference. Join us as we connect, learn ... align! Align 2008 will be held at the St. Louis Marriott West in St. Louis, Missouri, September 15-17. Space is limited, so reserve your spot today!

• Meet the Business Training Library team
• Meet our vendor partners
• Informative breakout sessions
• Learn about our new products
• Network with other companies using our e-learning solutions
• Share best practices
• Industry / client awards
• Learn about Business Training Library's vision for the future

Register to join us at the Align conference!

2. Building Successful Manager-Employee Relationships

Talent Management magazine recently featured an article by Chris Musselwhite, titled, “Three Ways to Build Successful Manager-Employee Relationships.” Musselwhite identifies the following three key strategies for building meaningful, high-performance yielding relationships between manager and employee:

1. Promote understanding of shared goals and task relevance
2. Ensure adequate knowledge and resources
3. Facilitate effective interaction

Many of us have heard that research shows the top reason people leave their jobs is their managers, making leadership development and the success of the manager-employee relationship, critical to the bottom line success of the organization. Musselwhite argues that this relationship is the only one that may actually be more important to an organization than the company-customer relationship. In order to build successful manager-employee relationships and keep employee satisfaction levels high, this article suggests that managers should implement three integrated strategies – promote understanding, ensure knowledge, and facilitate interaction.

Pointing out that we are members of the “most distracted, information-packed and fast-moving workforce” in history – it is of critical importance that managers listen to their employees. Managers that exhibit good listening skills encourage their employees to come to them when problems arise. This allows managers to provide feedback to their employees, and empowers employees to make better decisions. “The best managers model effective interpersonal behavior, which starts by asking questions and listening. This is easy to say, but often difficult to do.”

Without these three key elements - an understanding of shared goals and relevance, adequate knowledge, and effective interaction – problems often surface as individual performance issues. Many organizations respond with personnel changes, which is an ineffective strategy. The same issues will keep coming up because personnel changes only cure the symptoms, not the cause.

View the Talent Management article "Three Ways to Build Successful Manager-Employee Relationships," online at talentmgt.com, and learn about strengthening these important micro-level manager-employee relationships, with bottom line impact on organizational results.

3. Conducting the Behavioral-based Interview

Behavioral interviewing works because it is grounded in sound psychological principles. Gathering behavioral-based information will enable the interviewer to have more confidence in the information's accuracy, spend less time reading between the lines, be assured that the hiring choice is more effective, and enjoy getting to know the candidate better. With behavioral-based information in hand, the interviewer is on her way to making an effective and lasting hiring decision. Behavioral-based questions allow you to examine an applicant's work style and skills. These questions illustrate the applicant's ability to resolve conflicts, lead teams, and build consensus. To ensure complete answers and make good hiring decisions, you must learn how to compose behavioral-based questions and analyze the candidate's responses.

Composing behavioral-based questions
Behavioral-based questions should be founded on the requirements of the job. If a job requires good organization, the interviewer should ask questions which reveal the candidate's skill in this area. The best way to do this is to compose a mock situation which requires the applicant to demonstrate the skill in question. The situation should show how the candidate resolved or would resolve the issue. This allows you to examine the candidate's problem-solving skills and shows you how the candidate may have used his skills in the past. Past behavior is the best predictor of future performance. Effective behavioral-based questions start with a request, such as: "Describe for me a time when..." or "Give me an example of how you ...". These questions seek to examine what actually happened in each situation.

Analyzing the candidate's responses
Behavioral-based questions are not about a candidate's education or technical expertise. These questions illustrate how people apply their knowledge and skills to real-life situations. For example, a telecommunications account representative needs to have the ability to build team work and consensus between many different departments within the company. In this situation, you might ask the following:

• "Tell me about a time when you had to work with a person you didn't like."
• "Give me a specific example of how you made a quick decision."
• "Give me an example of how you led a team when you were not the person in charge."
• "Describe a situation where you were required to go beyond your job description to get your job done."
• "Tell me how you dealt with a policy you disagreed with."

The answers to these questions should be firmly based in real-life situations. As you listen to the candidate, you should pick-up on the candidate's skills and approaches to problem-solving. But to properly assess the applicant, you need to make sure the candidate's answers are complete. A complete answer should include:

• A situation or problem requiring that specific skill.
• The actions taken to handle the situation.
• The eventual outcome of those actions.

Effective behavioral-based questions reveal the essential skills and work style of the candidate. To provide you with relevant information, your questions should be based on the job requirements and should reveal a candidate's real-life problem-solving skills. By learning how to compose and analyze behavioral-based questions, you will be able to make a complete and accurate appraisal of each candidate's suitability for the job.

Interested in learning more about conducting behavioral-based interviews? Take a look at our catalog of online courses on behavioral-based interviewing, and preview a course today!



4. Course Review: Five Forbidden Phrases

This month's featured streaming video course, Five Forbidden Phrases, was reviewed by Joe Strautmann. Joe is a Technical Support Specialist at Business Training Library.

Course Code
SVL_017063

Media
Streaming Video

Target Audience
Customer service representatives

Course Overview
The Telephone Doctor has collected comments from various radio and TV appearances and culled out the five most frustrating phrases to which the public objects. Whether it's a telephone conversation or a face-to-face situation, this dynamic video offers the cures to help eliminate these turn-offs. If employees are using even one of these phrases, this program will prove its value.

Expected Duration
20 minutes

Joe's Rating

5 Stars (Out of 5)

Joe's Review
As a Technical Support Specialists it is important for me to keep my phone skills at their best. The Telephone Doctor course “Five Forbidden Phrases” helped me recognize the importance of communication over the phone. I understand that in order to be able to be successful in helping our customers, I have to know which type’s of phrases to use and which types to avoid. This course emphasizes five forbidden phrases and gives you an alternative for each one. After I took this course I realized that I do find myself sometimes using these forbidden phrases. I understood what I needed in order to feel successful and how I can create a better experience for our customers on the phone. I have also thought about what I can do to avoid these phrases. This course has made me more aware of the interaction I’m involved in with our customers, and has helped to provide me with phrases to avoid and helpful tips. “Five Forbidden Phrases” is a great course for any person whose profession involves being on the phone with valued customers.

Preview this streaming video course today! 

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