Steve Coscia
Contributing Writer
Coscia Communications

How do you know whether your employees are learning new skills?

Ask any company owner and the answers may vary.  But, there’s one answer that is a sure-fire indication that employees are breaking out of their comfort zone and developing new habits.

I heard this answer yesterday after I phoned Carmine Iapaluccio about  a recent seminar that I delivered for his employees.  Carmine is the owner of Carmine’s Plumbing in Danbury, Connecticut.

“It was great to hear my employees speaking to each other about how they’re applying new skills.” said Carmine.  “I know that training is a good investment when my employees speak to each other openly and honestly about improvement.”

Serving the employees at Carmine’s Plumbing occurred during a recent trek through New England (see the below map).  Driving throughout New England to serve numerous clients was fun, invigorating and informative.

Soon, I will be making a trip to serve Midwest clients.  In preparation for this trip, I conducted a needs analysis by speaking with company owners and employees to ensure maximum ROI on their training investment.  Our website also has a pre-training questionnaire (which can be anonymous) so that employees may send their personal training needs and convey insightful anecdotes.

This pre-training data enables me to tailor each seminar to a company’s specific needs.

The learning occurs through the content relevance, employee interaction and well-timed stories during a seminar.  Employee engagement is a key part of education, learning and application.  And good instructional design ensures a memorable seminar that employees will refer back to again and again.

However, the rubber meets the road when clients benefit as customers place more trust in my client’s employees.  It is this trust that results in improved customer service, less price resistance from customers and an employee’s ability to convey value deliverables.

Good instructional design can include the usage of a graphic icon that services multiple purposes.  People relate to and learn from images that serve as a quick reference or synopsis.

Most recently, I created a pyramid to convey service behavioral hierarchy.  It’s very basic and very effective.  And each pyramid tier is loaded with relevant subject matter that resonates with employees.