Slide 1

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 2

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 3

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 4

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 5

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 6

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 7

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 8

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 9

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 10

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 11

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 12

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 13

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 14

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 15

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 16

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 17

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 18

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 19

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 20

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 21

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 22

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 23

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 24

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 25

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 26

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 27

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 28

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 29

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 30

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 31

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 32

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 33

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 34

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 35

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 36

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 37

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 38

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 39

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 40

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 41

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 42

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 43

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 44

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 45

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 46

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 47

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 48

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 49

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 50

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 51

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 52

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 53

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 54

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 55

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 56

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 57

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 58

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 59

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 60

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 61

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 62

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 63

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 64

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 65

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 66

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 67

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 68

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 69

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 70

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 71

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 72

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 73

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

10

Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

11

Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

12

Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

13

Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

14

These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

15

“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

16

“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

17

If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

18

“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

19

Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

20

“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

22

A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

23

What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

24

Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

25

86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

26

Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

27

Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

28

We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

29

There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

30

6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

32

Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

33

Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

34

“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

35

Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

36

Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

37

Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

38

Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

39

People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

40

How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

41

The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

42

Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

43

Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

44

Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

45

Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

46

How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

47

What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

48

Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

49

Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

51

Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

52

Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

53

Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

54

People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

55

The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

56

“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

58

Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

59

There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

60

A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

61

Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

62

The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

63

Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

67

Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

68

Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

70

Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

71

Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

72

Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

74


Slide 74

Welcome to The
Real Costs of
People Problems
Presented by

© Gordon Training International

1

You are viewing this presentation
because you have people
problems in your company.

How many times have you
said or heard someone else
say: “If it weren’t for the
people, I’d love this job.”

© Gordon Training International

2

Conflict is killing your productivity
How much money does your company
waste on unresolved conflict?
How many of you like conflict? Many of us can deal
with it when they must but few of us actually like it.
Most of us avoid it. Stop and really think about how
much unresolved conflict costs your company.
What are the signs? Silent meetings, people
avoiding eye contact—each other! What work isn’t
getting done because people are trying to protect
themselves or make an “enemy” look bad?

© Gordon Training International

3

You have new managers with
technical know-how but lacking
in leadership skills.
“We leave the hardest part of the
job to chance.”
You would never let an engineer
design a new technical process
without the proper technical
training. But employees with little
or no leadership skills are
routinely put into management
roles. And that is high risk!

© Gordon Training International

4

You’re fed up with investing in
training that doesn’t produce results
• You’ve spent money on every conceivable “buzzword” training program but not much has changed.
• People are still cynical and skeptical.
• Training can cost a lot of money—if you’re not
getting the results, you need to change the way you
are approaching it. It may be the wrong training or
some other error.
• Whatever the reason, resentment may be building at
your company from a series of failed attempts.

© Gordon Training International

5

What’s in this presentation for YOU?
You will learn:
• to recognize the common mistakes people
make in choosing training.
• why these mistakes are costly.
• how to avoid them.
• how to make your training dollars produce
real, quantifiable and lasting change.

© Gordon Training International

6

Our agenda in this Presentation:
• Provide some valuable information about how to
solve people problems.
• Help you avoid making costly training mistakes.
• Provide guidelines for choosing training that
works.
• Introduce you to some of our solutions.

© Gordon Training International

7

Who are we?
• We are Gordon Training International and our
founder, Dr. Thomas Gordon (and Nobel Peace
Prize Nominee), was the author of 9 books on
how to solve people problems.
• We have over 1,000,000 graduates worldwide of
our training programs.
• We’ve been around since 1962.

© Gordon Training International

8

Bad leadership affects the
bottom line
The case that we are going to
make is that poor leadership
skills costs your company
money. Leadership skills can
be learned. You don’t have to
settle for mediocrity in your
leaders.

© Gordon Training International

9

What is bad or good leadership?
Bad Leadership

Good Leadership

• Non-supportive
• Poor listeners
• Limited input from
team members
• Unilateral, arbitrary
decision making
(autocratic)
• Avoids conflict or
uses power to impose
a solution

• The opposite!

© Gordon Training International

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Effects of leadership trickle down
(good and bad)

“Monkey see, monkey do.”
(If you’re productivity is
low, look up.)

© Gordon Training International

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Remember the Space Shuttle
Columbia accident investigation?
Their own board wrote:
"NASA's organizational culture and structure
had as much to do with this accident as the
external tank foam.“
“The attitudes and decision-making of shuttle
program managers and engineers during the
events leading up to this accident were clearly
overconfident and bureaucratic in nature.”

© Gordon Training International

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Bad leadership causes people
problems like these:
•
•
•
•
•
•

High turnover
High absenteeism
Stress
Sabotage
Poor upward communication
Unproductive competition

© Gordon Training International

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Turnover
• Many people leave their jobs
because of bad bosses.
• Recruiting, hiring and training new
employees is costly.
• High turnover also has many
hidden costs.

© Gordon Training International

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These numbers are the turnover rates in various
industries. In government, 38% of the people quit,
retired, were fired or laid off each year—in private
industry, that percentage was 43%.

© Gordon Training International

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“These calculations will easily reach
150% of the employees annual
compensation figure. The cost will be
significantly higher (200% to 250% of
annual compensation) for managerial
and sales positions.”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

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“...let's assume the average salary of
employees in a given company is $50,000
per year. Taking the cost of turnover at
150% of salary, the cost of turnover is
then $75,000 per employee who leaves
the company. For the mid-sized company
of 1,000 employees who has a 10%
annual rate of turnover, the annual cost
of turnover is $7.5 million!”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement
© Gordon Training International

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If you use the 40% figure from the
Labor Department, the cost for
that same company would be $30
million due to turnover.

© Gordon Training International

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“Surveys consistently show that more
than 40% of people who quit do so
because they feel they weren't
appreciated for their contributions”
Aubrey C. Daniels, Ph.D., Bringing Out the Best
in People: How To Apply The Astonishing
Power of Positive Reinforcement

© Gordon Training International

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Absenteeism
Bad bosses make people sick.

© Gordon Training International

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“As much as 60% of absenteeism is
due to stress. If an organization has
autocratic management, it is likely
driving absenteeism costs up.”
“Approaching Change”
Chrysalis: Performance Strategies
January 2003, Vol. 3, No. 5

© Gordon Training International

21

Stress
When people are stressed out:
• they make mistakes
• their productivity is lower
• they may use poor judgement
• they may make bad decisions
• they get sick

© Gordon Training International

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A study of 10,000 civil servants
working in traditional hierarchies
(conducted over a 20-year period)
found that those lower in the
hierarchy with little control over their
work have four times the risk of
developing coronary heart disease
and depression than those at the top.
Dr. Sir Michael Marmot
Whitehall Study I and II, 1978, 1991
© Gordon Training International

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What might this mean to your
company’s bottom line?

Total cost to business in the
U.S. related to job stress is
$150 billion per year.
Joe Robinson, Work to Live: The Guide to
Getting a Life

© Gordon Training International

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Sabotage
• Intentional and
unintentional
• Petty theft
• Malicious obedience
• Undermining
perceived rivals

© Gordon Training International

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86% of employees working in
traditional hierarchical organizations
coped with that culture by reducing
the quality of their work.
Linda Duxbury
Carleton University School of Business

© Gordon Training International

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Traditional Hierarchies Reduce
Upward Communication
When people are reluctant or afraid to bring
up problems or ideas…

•
•
•
•

Productivity suffers
Decisions are made with insufficient data
Serious problems go unnoticed
The boss is the last to know

© Gordon Training International

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Competition and Rivalry
When people fight with one another:
•
•
•
•

less work gets done
good ideas are kept hidden
grievances increase
HR professionals spend up to 45% of their
week dealing with conflicts
• the cost to replace an employee who has to
be dismissed because of conflict costs
160% of that person’s salary
• companies dealing with conflicts through
litigation might spend $10k to $30k to fix
small problems
• if the employee leaves or files a grievance,
the costs become huge

© Gordon Training International

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We’ve all tried to fix
these problems
• Many of our efforts
have failed.
• Many training
programs promise a
lot but don’t deliver.

© Gordon Training International

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There are thousands
of training programs.
How do you choose the right
ones for your company?

© Gordon Training International

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6 Biggest Mistakes in
Choosing Training
• Quick fix
• Motivational programs with no
staying power
• All theory - no skill development
• Hodgepodge approach
• Lack of follow-up
• Lack of accountability
© Gordon Training International

31

Mistake #1
Too short, looking for quick fix
• The need for speed (“give me the
30 second version”)
• Dependency (“Give a person a
fish…”)
• Illusion of low risk (doesn’t cost
much or take much time)
© Gordon Training International

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Mistake #1 – Cont’d.
It is an illusion that shorter classes are always
cheaper. Even though there may be higher initial
costs with a longer class, if the participants are more
thoroughly prepared to put their new skills to work,
the long term cost will be less if you have to:
• Do the training over
• Recover costs from poor implementation
• Overcome cynicism and skepticism generated
by the perception that leadership is looking
for Band-Aids instead of real solutions to
problems
© Gordon Training International

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Mistake #2
Motivational; high initial
enthusiasm, no staying power
• The “sugar buzz”
• Everyone “feels good” but have
not learned how to change their
behavior
• Low retention
• Addictive
© Gordon Training International

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“...87% of the
knowledge and skill acquired in a
training program is lost
within 60 days after training.”
Huthwaite, Inc., Building Interactive Skills

© Gordon Training International

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Mistake #3
No skills, no real change
People learn “what,” but not “how.”

The advice of “You should listen to
your people,” doesn’t tell you HOW
to listen.

© Gordon Training International

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Mistake #4
Hodgepodge, no system or model
• Training not connected to a clear
business need
• Program-of-the-month syndrome
• Programs can teach contradictory
ideas
• Piecemeal approach
© Gordon Training International

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Mistake #5
Lack of follow-up
The “coffee cup and three-ring
binder” syndrome
You go to training and everyone knows you’ll learn
new “buzzwords.”
They will be skeptical and on guard—they’ll watch to
see if you “act funny.”
They may even sabotage your efforts—you may be
tempted to give up and say, “This doesn’t work!”

© Gordon Training International

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Mistake #6
No accountability
“It’s nobody’s job to make it happen.”
• Insufficient planning
• Lack of assessment
• Not measured

© Gordon Training International

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People Skills Training
• Are leaders born? Or made?
• People skills can be learned.
• People skills are not just attitudes or
attributes but specific behaviors that
can be observed and measured.
• Organizations are systems of
relationships.
© Gordon Training International

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How do people learn
a new skill?
How do we change
our behavior?

© Gordon Training International

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The Learning Stages
(We refer to these stages in our workshops—the
following slides will explain them in more detail.)

4.
3.
2.
1.

Unconsciously
Skilled

Consciously Skilled

Consciously Unskilled

Unconsciously Unskilled
© Gordon Training International

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Unconsciously Unskilled

• You don’t know what you don’t know.
• The new material is completely
unfamiliar to you.

© Gordon Training International

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Consciously Unskilled
• You know what you don’t know.
• You recognize the skill but you
cannot perform it.

© Gordon Training International

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Consciously Skilled
• You know you know it.
• You can perform the skill but it
requires concentration.
• It still feels awkward.
• It is at this point that people
sometimes give up.

© Gordon Training International

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Unconsciously Skilled
• You use the skills automatically.
• They are integrated. You don’t need
to think about them.
• This stage comes only with many
repetitions.

© Gordon Training International

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How long should training take?
Long enough to:
• ensure understanding
• allow time for practice
• apply to real situations
• build confidence

© Gordon Training International

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What should the content be?
The content should:
• address a clear business need
• be consistent with the
organization’s vision and values
• scratch beneath the surface
• hang together
© Gordon Training International

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Why are skills important?
Skills:
• go beyond attitude change
• produce behavior change
• reduce dependency
• increase confidence and self esteem
• improve productivity
• improve relationships
© Gordon Training International

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Why do you need an
integrated model?
An integrated model:
• gives you the tools you need to
address many problems
• helps you make good decisions
about when and how to use the skills
• gives you confidence to put your
skills to work
© Gordon Training International

50

Why is follow-up important?
• You are more likely to get lasting
change.
• Your investment pays off.
• You reduce cynicism.
• You increase the credibility of the
leadership of the organization.
• The new skills are integrated into the
day-to-day routine.
© Gordon Training International

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Why is accountability
important?
• If people are expected to use new
skills, they need to know how they
will be measured.
• Measurement is a “signal” of the
importance of a new skill.
• It creates an expectation that
people will master the new skill (go
through the learning stages).
© Gordon Training International

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Imagine that your
organization’s leaders
have the people skills to
build more productive
relationships.

© Gordon Training International

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Imagine that you are the
employer of choice…
• People don’t want to quit.
• They are productive in spite of
problems.
• They volunteer for difficult tasks.
• They are willing to go the extra mile.
• Recruiting, hiring and training costs
are lower.
© Gordon Training International

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People want to come to work

• Absenteeism is low.
• People are healthy (less need for
mental health days).
• Health costs are lower.
• People are “fully present.”

© Gordon Training International

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The climate is positive!
• People are energetic and
enthusiastic.
• People stick to their tasks.
• People are free to perform
at a high level.
• People are creative and
resourceful.
© Gordon Training International

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“…a considerable body of research has
shown that…the opportunity to
participate substantively is associated
with reduced stress. Having greater
autonomy or control over one’s job, in
particular, has been linked to lower
incidence of health conditions such as
coronary heart disease.”
Peter Berg & Arne L. Kalleberg
The Effects of High Performance Work Practices on Job
Stress: Evidence from a Survey of U.S. Workers

© Gordon Training International

57

You can trust your people
• There is less need for supervision.
• Your leaders are seen as
trustworthy.
• People want the organization to be
successful.
• People spend their time being
productive.
© Gordon Training International

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Communication is effective
• Problems are identified and solved
sooner.
• People speak up freely and honestly.
• Leaders have better information
about the business.
• People make better, more wellinformed decisions.
© Gordon Training International

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There is a climate of cooperation
• People work as a team.
• People want each
other to be successful.
• People are more
productive on tasks
that require teamwork.
• There are fewer
grievances.
© Gordon Training International

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A 10-year study published in 1996
demonstrated that “…organizations that
consistently practice good people
management create an environment that
reduces - even eliminates - significant
workplace stressors...have higher sales,
profit, growth and margins...”
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

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Companies that improved PMP
(People Management Practices)
added [on average] $294 million
in profits per company, a gain of
60% over three years.
Dennis J. Kravetz
People Management Practices and
Financial Success: A Ten-Year Study

© Gordon Training International

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The Six Principles for
Choosing Training that Works:
Make sure that the training is:
1. long enough
2. substantive

3. skill-based
4. based on an integrated system or model
5. contains plenty of follow-up

6. designed to hold people accountable
© Gordon Training International

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Here is one solution
that will reduce the cost
of people problems and
increase productivity…

© Gordon Training International

64

Gordon Training International’s
People Productivity Process
Leader Effectiveness Training is at the core of The
People Productivity Process, a six-step, four-tool
process that focuses on solving people problems.

Based on the pioneering work of Dr. Thomas
Gordon, this process is a proprietary system that
delivers measurable results, increases productivity,
reduces friction among employees and leaders, and
minimizes the damage to morale and energy that
are associated with lingering, unresolved conflicts.

© Gordon Training International

65

The six steps of the process:
1. needs analysis
2. pre-assessment
3. skills training course
4. e-newsletters, tips, assignments
5. post-assessment
6. follow-up
© Gordon Training International

66

Step 1 - Needs Analysis
• Together we will discuss your
concerns and needs as they
relate to your company’s people
problems.
• If appropriate, we’ll introduce our
process for solving them.

© Gordon Training International

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Step 2 - 360 Pre-Assessment
• Assessments capture
data from all angles -leader, his/her direct
reports and boss.
• Focus is on the
future, not the past.

© Gordon Training International

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Step 3 - Skills Training
Workshop
• Leaders participate in a comprehensive,
intensive workshop.
• They learn to use and apply the
communication and conflict resolution
skills for solving their people problems.
• It’s Dr. Thomas Gordon’s Leader
Effectiveness Training (L.E.T.) program
-- we’ve been offering it for over 43
years.
© Gordon Training International

69

Step 4 - E-Newsletters, Tips,
Assignments
• Course graduates reinforce their
skill training by practicing a
specific skill each month via The
Graduate Connection, a free e-mail
service.

• Your newly-trained leaders can opt
to meet together once a month to
discuss and practice their skills.
© Gordon Training International

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Step 5 - Post-Assessment
• At specific intervals after the
course, both the leader and
his/her direct reports and boss
assess the leader’s progress.
• An L.E.T. Trainer meets with each
leader focusing on successes and
areas that need improvement.
© Gordon Training International

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Step 6 - Follow-up
• To ensure your company’s training
success, we will customize follow-up
training specifically for your leaders
to assist them in refining and
integrating their new skills.
• Follow-up could include: refresher
courses, one-on-one coaching and/or
consulting.
© Gordon Training International

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Would you like to
take the next step?

© Gordon Training International

73

Contact us
For more information about our People
Productivity Process and our L.E.T.
Workshops, call or e-mail us:
1.800.628.1197, ext. 308
[email protected]
www.gordontraining.com

© Gordon Training International

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