In January’s article, I challenged you to focus on investing in your Human Capital in 2018 given the importance of finding and developing the people that work for you — “Job One.” The goal is that by the end of the year you’ll look back fulfilled with your progress.

How are you doing? Are your investments in developing your people paying off yet? Would you like some more thought starters?

In January, I provided some thought starters and pointed you to previous articles around three themes:

  1. Developing Managers – ‘Job One’ of a Leader
  2. Transferring Knowledge & Culture – Mentoring & Coaching,
  3. Attracting & Developing the Workforce of the Future – Be the ‘Employer of Choice’

Here are several more relevant articles on a variety of people related topics that you can read (or re-read). All are available on the Farm Equipment website as well as the MAC site (www.machineryadvisors.org).

Developing Managers — ‘Job One’ of a Leader

  • Challenge Directly & Show You Care Personally (June 2017) — “Be brutally honest.” That was the advice a dealer-principal shared at a recent best practice group I lead. This insight got the group talking about how best to achieve good results from employees, colleagues, vendors, etc. His choice of words sparked discussion on if and how to provide feedback, and what to expect in return.
  • Extroverts and Introverts — Knowing Their Differences is Vital to Achieve the Full Potential From Your Human Resources (April 2017) — To be the most effective manager, it is important to know how to connect with and manage employees who are mostly introverted or mostly extroverted. The differences are fundamental. Many don’t appreciate the contributions to your organization from the former.
  • Fires & Elephants – Coaching Your Employees (and Yourself) (March 2017) — Successful coaches know that intuition and emotion are the biggest factors that drive people and organizations, even if reason and logic are necessary for proper guidance.
  • Expanding Successfully: It’s All About Talent (June 2010) — The biggest driver of success in a growing dealership is the leverage of good people. The Dealer principal role will change with growth in size and number of locations.

Attracting & Developing the Workforce of the Future – Be the ‘Employer of Choice

  • Make It Work, Make It Pay (March 2018) — Training is likely a key part of your human capital investment. This article provides a professional perspective on how to make training work and how to make it pay.
  • Training in a Modern Dealership: Part I — How to Measure Effectiveness (January 2012) Part II — How to Drive and Effective Process (February 2012) — Measure training as an investment as with other capital investments, i.e., ROT = Return on Training. Do a needs analysis and set objectives for training, then evaluate learning, change in behavior and business results.
  • How to Manage Your Millennial Employees (February 2016) — Intergenerational differences in perspective are a face of life as Baby Boomers and Gen Xers hire and manage Millennials — and vice versa. What drives Millennials and what are the opportunities to leverage their skills and behaviors to your advantage? They have what you want!
  • Help Different Generations Understand One Another (April/May 2016) — Members of three different generations (Baby Boomers, Gen-Xers, Millennials) frequently don’t understand each other. Understand the differences and use them, especially the growing Millennials, to your advantage.
  • Technology at the Intersection of People and Business (February 2014) — How to use technology to compensate the learning disabilities common to many technicians or the attention deficit disorder typical of some sales reps.
  • Develop Your Best Talent (March 2016) — Most leaders spend too much time with their problem employees and not enough to develop their best. At least twice a year, have an open-minded discussion with your best employees focusing on their future so you can develop a true partnership to develop your talented, ambitious leaders for the future.

Keep focusing on Job One. Set a goal to review your progress again at the end of the year.

 

September 2018 Issue Contents