I was asked this question the other day by a client as I was working with his team. He asked me what I meant when I said he needed to develop his people versus just training them but more importantly how to do this. 

So I want to be clear on what I mean by developing versus training. Training is done to learn a specific task or action. Think assembly line. You have been trained to do the task, insert this part into that part and that encompasses your job. You as an employee are necessary to the function of that task but you are not INTEGRAL to the running of the business.

Now look at it from a management point of view. You knowing this task only can be replaced if needed. I can just remove you and slip in another person who can be trained to do that job. This model works for certain types of businesses but NOT a dealership. What we are looking to do is develop our people to do more that just execute a certain number of tasks.

When I say develop, that means taking time to know the person and what makes them tick. That means looking at their strengths and their weaknesses and assessing how they can become INTEGRAL to the success of your business. What can they bring to the table that no one else has or that could benefit the whole team?

This takes time to invest in your employees like you would your own children. We do not just teach our children to execute tasks we focus on what type of people do we want them to become so they represent our family in the best light and can be successful on their own.

We need to do that as well for our employees. Not that we want them to leave us but if we invest in them and develop their skills they will more often than not stay with you. They see that you depend on them to think and execute for the greater good of the business and that you want to see them be a success, not be held back.

My question to you is how are you developing your employees? Are you creating people who can think on their own, who help see ways to improve the business or are you just training people to execute tasks? Understand that having people just execute tasks means that you have to think of everything, you have to make sure all tasks are completed correctly which means you are not focused on growing your business but instead babysitting tasks.

Give the same attention to your employees as you do or did with your own children so that how your team represents you and the personal success they feel just improves your business and frees you up to lead.

Let me know your thoughts. 

Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker  and Management Trainer. If you liked this article, please share.

I was asked this question the other day by a client as I was working with his team. He asked me what I meant when I said he needed to develop his people versus just training them but more importantly how to do this. 

So I want to be clear on what I mean by developing versus training. Training is done to learn a specific task or action. Think assembly line. You have been trained to do the task, insert this part into that part and that encompasses your job. You as an employee are necessary to the function of that task but you are not INTEGRAL to the running of the business.

Now look at it from a management point of view. You knowing this task only can be replaced if needed. I can just remove you and slip in another person who can be trained to do that job. This model works for certain types of businesses but NOT a dealership. What we are looking to do is develop our people to do more that just execute a certain number of tasks.

When I say develop, that means taking time to know the person and what makes them tick. That means looking at their strengths and their weaknesses and assessing how they can become INTEGRAL to the success of your business. What can they bring to the table that no one else has or that could benefit the whole team?

This takes time to invest in your employees like you would your own children. We do not just teach our children to execute tasks we focus on what type of people do we want them to become so they represent our family in the best light and can be successful on their own.

We need to do that as well for our employees. Not that we want them to leave us but if we invest in them and develop their skills they will more often than not stay with you. They see that you depend on them to think and execute for the greater good of the business and that you want to see them be a success, not be held back.

My question to you is how are you developing your employees? Are you creating people who can think on their own, who help see ways to improve the business or are you just training people to execute tasks? Understand that having people just execute tasks means that you have to think of everything, you have to make sure all tasks are completed correctly which means you are not focused on growing your business but instead babysitting tasks.

Give the same attention to your employees as you do or did with your own children so that how your team represents you and the personal success they feel just improves your business and frees you up to lead.

Let me know your thoughts. 

Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker  and Management Trainer. If you liked this article, please share.

I have been traveling a lot lately to help install new processes for dealers both on a digital side and from a business process perspective. I have run across many of the top trainers video platforms on my trips and dealer employees really do like the daily short videos to get them going. From Driving Sales University, Grant Cardone, Joe Verde, Sean Bradley and now Jim Zieglar, dealers have great information at their fingertips as never before.

Where I have seen some breakdowns is dealer employees not knowing what to do with the information. Once they take the test, once they run through a few quick questions, then it is out to the floor and back into the day to day. 

I have trained thousands of employees in my lifetime. From hospitality, to customer service phone skills to sales, management and now automotive and the thing I have always worked hard on was how to take training and bring it out to the employee's day to day to have the biggest impact and change not only for the business but the employees themselves.

It is not easy, because it takes time and manpower to really implement training so what I would like to hear from everyone is what things are they seeing that takes this training and brings it out from the classroom and into real life. I have my own thoughts but before I share, I would like to hear from you.

What have been your struggles and what have you seen as solutions. I think that if we can help take all of the great trainers information and make it pop off the screen and see teams using it, we all benefit.

What say all of you?

Thanks.

Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker  and Management Trainer. If you liked this article, please share.

I have been traveling a lot lately to help install new processes for dealers both on a digital side and from a business process perspective. I have run across many of the top trainers video platforms on my trips and dealer employees really do like the daily short videos to get them going. From Driving Sales University, Grant Cardone, Joe Verde, Sean Bradley and now Jim Zieglar, dealers have great information at their fingertips as never before.

Where I have seen some breakdowns is dealer employees not knowing what to do with the information. Once they take the test, once they run through a few quick questions, then it is out to the floor and back into the day to day. 

I have trained thousands of employees in my lifetime. From hospitality, to customer service phone skills to sales, management and now automotive and the thing I have always worked hard on was how to take training and bring it out to the employee's day to day to have the biggest impact and change not only for the business but the employees themselves.

It is not easy, because it takes time and manpower to really implement training so what I would like to hear from everyone is what things are they seeing that takes this training and brings it out from the classroom and into real life. I have my own thoughts but before I share, I would like to hear from you.

What have been your struggles and what have you seen as solutions. I think that if we can help take all of the great trainers information and make it pop off the screen and see teams using it, we all benefit.

What say all of you?

Thanks.

Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker  and Management Trainer. If you liked this article, please share.

Now some of you may think this harsh, but many managers are guilty of creating dependent team members just like the drug pusher who builds their clientele on a similar style of dependency.

The original idea for this article came from a moment at my son's summer camp. Each day begins and ends with all the camp members and counselors joining in “community.” In the center of their community circle is a “worry” stone. Some cultures have a stone in the center of their meeting place so each person can touch it before they begin their business. The stone is a physical representation for participants to symbolically remove any worries they have so they can focus on the task at hand.

It reminded me of managers who are guilty of this style of management. Managers feel that by allowing employees to come in and transfer their worries to them makes them a good manager. But just like the rock at my son’s camp, eventually it cracked. The story at camp was that there are only so many worries the rock could hold. I would say the same holds true for managers. By constantly taking on others worries, managers end up spending their own valuable time and become unable to accomplish their own workload.

Now this “worry stone” style of management is harmful but affects one person, the manager. A more harmful style of management is what I call the “drug pusher” management style that is prevalent today.

A drug pusher builds their business by seeming friendly and wanting everyone to feel good. They may start by giving something for free, but their goal is to create a dependency on their product and increase their business. For managers, the pusher analogy applies because they want to be viewed as helpful and friendly. They begin by reaching out and telling their team that they are there to help.

Next, the managers go out and give advice with the intention of helping. Some managers will view this helping as a good idea since giving advice is great. Where it goes wrong is when they end up telling their employees what to do versus taking the time to train them to do it.

For example: Reminding their team of a deadline, seeing them getting ready to make a mistake and then preventing them from a failure. All under the guise of saving time.

I can hear the chorus of managers saying, “Why would I want my team to fail?” “It is easier to tell them versus taking time to train them. I don’t have that time.”

My answer is that just as raising children, small failures are necessary for long-term success

Each time managers go out and give employees a "taste" of their help, employees begin to become addicted to it. They expect it. They crave it and will now begin to search their manager out for a solution, instead of working to solve it for themselves. Why would they? Just go to their “pusher” and get their fix.

Managers, ask yourself if any of your team has come in at any time to ask what they should do. Do you take the time to train them, or do you just give them the answer? You just gave them their “fix” for the day.

Just like an intervention, you sometimes need to wean people off of your management style “drug.” It will not be easy. You will be seen as a downer; you have changed, just like the person who gives up being the life of the party. In the end, it is better for all involved.

There are three things that managers can do to help wean employees off of their dependency.

1. Ask the employee what they think they should do. They may respond, "I do not know," so then it becomes a teaching opportunity for the manager using the 8-Step Coaching Process.
2. Have the employee will present their plan for approval first.
3. Review the progress of a project and give advice on higher-level strategy when the employee implements plans on their own

The third option should be the goal of any manager, but it takes a commitment to the first two steps in order to get there.

A well-run company has managers who train their employees and then monitor progress. Companies that fail to achieve have management styles that create dependent employees who are constantly looking to get their “fix” so they can do their job. It’s time to kick the habit and get your team thinking for themselves.

Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker  and Management Trainer. If you liked this article, please share.

Now some of you may think this harsh, but many managers are guilty of creating dependent team members just like the drug pusher who builds their clientele on a similar style of dependency.

The original idea for this article came from a moment at my son's summer camp. Each day begins and ends with all the camp members and counselors joining in “community.” In the center of their community circle is a “worry” stone. Some cultures have a stone in the center of their meeting place so each person can touch it before they begin their business. The stone is a physical representation for participants to symbolically remove any worries they have so they can focus on the task at hand.

It reminded me of managers who are guilty of this style of management. Managers feel that by allowing employees to come in and transfer their worries to them makes them a good manager. But just like the rock at my son’s camp, eventually it cracked. The story at camp was that there are only so many worries the rock could hold. I would say the same holds true for managers. By constantly taking on others worries, managers end up spending their own valuable time and become unable to accomplish their own workload.

Now this “worry stone” style of management is harmful but affects one person, the manager. A more harmful style of management is what I call the “drug pusher” management style that is prevalent today.

A drug pusher builds their business by seeming friendly and wanting everyone to feel good. They may start by giving something for free, but their goal is to create a dependency on their product and increase their business. For managers, the pusher analogy applies because they want to be viewed as helpful and friendly. They begin by reaching out and telling their team that they are there to help.

Next, the managers go out and give advice with the intention of helping. Some managers will view this helping as a good idea since giving advice is great. Where it goes wrong is when they end up telling their employees what to do versus taking the time to train them to do it.

For example: Reminding their team of a deadline, seeing them getting ready to make a mistake and then preventing them from a failure. All under the guise of saving time.

I can hear the chorus of managers saying, “Why would I want my team to fail?” “It is easier to tell them versus taking time to train them. I don’t have that time.”

My answer is that just as raising children, small failures are necessary for long-term success

Each time managers go out and give employees a "taste" of their help, employees begin to become addicted to it. They expect it. They crave it and will now begin to search their manager out for a solution, instead of working to solve it for themselves. Why would they? Just go to their “pusher” and get their fix.

Managers, ask yourself if any of your team has come in at any time to ask what they should do. Do you take the time to train them, or do you just give them the answer? You just gave them their “fix” for the day.

Just like an intervention, you sometimes need to wean people off of your management style “drug.” It will not be easy. You will be seen as a downer; you have changed, just like the person who gives up being the life of the party. In the end, it is better for all involved.

There are three things that managers can do to help wean employees off of their dependency.

1. Ask the employee what they think they should do. They may respond, "I do not know," so then it becomes a teaching opportunity for the manager using the 8-Step Coaching Process.
2. Have the employee will present their plan for approval first.
3. Review the progress of a project and give advice on higher-level strategy when the employee implements plans on their own

The third option should be the goal of any manager, but it takes a commitment to the first two steps in order to get there.

A well-run company has managers who train their employees and then monitor progress. Companies that fail to achieve have management styles that create dependent employees who are constantly looking to get their “fix” so they can do their job. It’s time to kick the habit and get your team thinking for themselves.

Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker  and Management Trainer. If you liked this article, please share.

Too many times our companies are so focused on delivering great value to our customers (and we should be) but we forget to give that same value to our employees

The reason this came to mind is that I was with my family recently at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania. I was learning about Milton Hershey and his philanthropic nature. He and his wife could not have children so he built an orphanage to help. He also created a trust so that it owned the company and eventually the resort so that it would always be funded. The building is now a school for underprivileged children and those in need. What inspired me the most was how he felt that if he took care of his employees and gave them a good lifestyle, they would be more productive.

There are examples today of great places to work, but in the case of most companies, we need to ask ourselves: do we look at our employees as something we nurture or as something that is replaceable?

Take a look at your employees as if you would a garden. If you feed and water the plants and make sure the weeds are taken out, they will grow.

Are we feeding them with training to make them better, are we mentoring them and making sure they are growing correctly? Are we weeding out bad habits or obstacles that could inhibit growth?

I looked at my own company and it is not always easy, so I am not saying that I am perfect. But I have committed to doing these following steps that you can use as a starting point to help your team grow.

Weekly communication:

We have quick staff meetings each Monday and Friday to communicate what we have going on, new developments, updates and recognition.

One of the biggest things employees find important, based on multiple surveys, is being kept in the loop.

Weekly/Monthly Training:

Department heads and team leaders have time set aside time for training. Anyone can attend, even if it is not your department, because I want people to learn what others do. I think it helps with communication and team cohesiveness if you understand what another person does each day.

Upward mobility:

We let people know of our new opportunities or positions and work to fill these roles internally when we can. Bringing people up internally helps because they already know the culture and shows that if hard work is applied, new challenges can be met.

Lastly, open door policy.

Now this one is tricky because everyone is still stuck in the mentality of the Boss/Employee roles. I am not naive to think that everyone will come running into my office, but being available and out on the floor breaks down the barrier and gets you out from behind the desk. I think of it as walking through the garden and seeing how things are going.

Leaders need to get out from behind their desks and see the impact of their efforts. If you want to keep your people, invest in them. Put in the time and effort to make things grow.

Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker  and Management Trainer. If you liked this article, please share.

Too many times our companies are so focused on delivering great value to our customers (and we should be) but we forget to give that same value to our employees

The reason this came to mind is that I was with my family recently at Hershey Park in Pennsylvania. I was learning about Milton Hershey and his philanthropic nature. He and his wife could not have children so he built an orphanage to help. He also created a trust so that it owned the company and eventually the resort so that it would always be funded. The building is now a school for underprivileged children and those in need. What inspired me the most was how he felt that if he took care of his employees and gave them a good lifestyle, they would be more productive.

There are examples today of great places to work, but in the case of most companies, we need to ask ourselves: do we look at our employees as something we nurture or as something that is replaceable?

Take a look at your employees as if you would a garden. If you feed and water the plants and make sure the weeds are taken out, they will grow.

Are we feeding them with training to make them better, are we mentoring them and making sure they are growing correctly? Are we weeding out bad habits or obstacles that could inhibit growth?

I looked at my own company and it is not always easy, so I am not saying that I am perfect. But I have committed to doing these following steps that you can use as a starting point to help your team grow.

Weekly communication:

We have quick staff meetings each Monday and Friday to communicate what we have going on, new developments, updates and recognition.

One of the biggest things employees find important, based on multiple surveys, is being kept in the loop.

Weekly/Monthly Training:

Department heads and team leaders have time set aside time for training. Anyone can attend, even if it is not your department, because I want people to learn what others do. I think it helps with communication and team cohesiveness if you understand what another person does each day.

Upward mobility:

We let people know of our new opportunities or positions and work to fill these roles internally when we can. Bringing people up internally helps because they already know the culture and shows that if hard work is applied, new challenges can be met.

Lastly, open door policy.

Now this one is tricky because everyone is still stuck in the mentality of the Boss/Employee roles. I am not naive to think that everyone will come running into my office, but being available and out on the floor breaks down the barrier and gets you out from behind the desk. I think of it as walking through the garden and seeing how things are going.

Leaders need to get out from behind their desks and see the impact of their efforts. If you want to keep your people, invest in them. Put in the time and effort to make things grow.

Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker  and Management Trainer. If you liked this article, please share.

Businesses spend thousands of dollars each month creating and distributing a marketing message hoping to attract customers.  In a previous article, “Digital Marketing is still Marketing” I spoke about how to create a unique message. This article is not a rehash of that but showing you an example of a company who lost valuable opportunities due to confusion of their message

I was at a friend’s house prior to the 4^th of July and as I looked through the local paper, I saw an ad for a local auto dealership with what I thought was a pretty unique approach. The name is not important so I will not be publishing it but here is the proposition they offered.

Their dealership was closed on July 4^th but people would be able to walk the lot. On the evening of the 3^rd of July, after hours every car on the lot would have a red tag placed on it. People could come on the lot during the 4^th and if they saw a price they liked they could write down the ticket # and price and they would be able to receive it during the 5^th and 6^th, that weekend when the dealership was open no haggling, no questions.

It seemed like a great selling point. No one on the lot to bother you while you looked, everything you needed listed on the car and a price they guaranteed as long as you had the ticket number from the car because on the evening of the 4^th all the tags were removed.

Pretty unique I thought so I decide to jump on their website to see what they said about this event. As I got to their home page I saw NOTHING about this event.

Actually it was a pretty standard OEM type-site with nothing about this sale. In fact it was a pretty bland site in terms of having anything stand out to tell me why I should by this brand from them, seeing as they were in a metro area where within an hour there were multiple other dealers selling the same brand.

So I thought that maybe it was just something blasting out on social media, but again, nothing on their Facebook page, in fact the last post was from May.  What did that tell me as a consumer? That they let things drop, they do not follow through and this could be how I would be treated.

If you as a business are going to be creative and work on ways to drive traffic to your location, understand that traditional marketing drives people to the web. If I do not see the same information on your website as I do other places, it makes me think I am in the wrong place. It creates doubt instead of taking me one step closer to the sale

We must look at our marketing, as ways to take away concerns, not increase them.

Make sure all of your marketing aligns with your message. Make sure all your marketing is tweaked for the platform you are using but it has to be familiar and similar.

I feel bad for this dealership because I am sure they lost multiple opportunities to gain business and stand out in their marketplace.

Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker  and Management Trainer

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Businesses spend thousands of dollars each month creating and distributing a marketing message hoping to attract customers.  In a previous article, “Digital Marketing is still Marketing” I spoke about how to create a unique message. This article is not a rehash of that but showing you an example of a company who lost valuable opportunities due to confusion of their message

I was at a friend’s house prior to the 4^th of July and as I looked through the local paper, I saw an ad for a local auto dealership with what I thought was a pretty unique approach. The name is not important so I will not be publishing it but here is the proposition they offered.

Their dealership was closed on July 4^th but people would be able to walk the lot. On the evening of the 3^rd of July, after hours every car on the lot would have a red tag placed on it. People could come on the lot during the 4^th and if they saw a price they liked they could write down the ticket # and price and they would be able to receive it during the 5^th and 6^th, that weekend when the dealership was open no haggling, no questions.

It seemed like a great selling point. No one on the lot to bother you while you looked, everything you needed listed on the car and a price they guaranteed as long as you had the ticket number from the car because on the evening of the 4^th all the tags were removed.

Pretty unique I thought so I decide to jump on their website to see what they said about this event. As I got to their home page I saw NOTHING about this event.

Actually it was a pretty standard OEM type-site with nothing about this sale. In fact it was a pretty bland site in terms of having anything stand out to tell me why I should by this brand from them, seeing as they were in a metro area where within an hour there were multiple other dealers selling the same brand.

So I thought that maybe it was just something blasting out on social media, but again, nothing on their Facebook page, in fact the last post was from May.  What did that tell me as a consumer? That they let things drop, they do not follow through and this could be how I would be treated.

If you as a business are going to be creative and work on ways to drive traffic to your location, understand that traditional marketing drives people to the web. If I do not see the same information on your website as I do other places, it makes me think I am in the wrong place. It creates doubt instead of taking me one step closer to the sale

We must look at our marketing, as ways to take away concerns, not increase them.

Make sure all of your marketing aligns with your message. Make sure all your marketing is tweaked for the platform you are using but it has to be familiar and similar.

I feel bad for this dealership because I am sure they lost multiple opportunities to gain business and stand out in their marketplace.

Glenn Pasch is the current CEO of PCG Digital Marketing as well as a writer, National Speaker  and Management Trainer

Write your post here