Development

What are the benefits?
Performance appraisals and development plans:

• Ensure that managers have data on which to base pay rises and/or promotions
• Create objective appraisal processes that provide an arena for fair feedback on performance
• Increase employee performance as employees have a clear understanding of what is expected of them and how to improve their performance
• Increase employees’ motivation as the process can provide them with greater challenges

Performance appraisals are a review of performance against pre-determined objectives. They identify the strengths and weaknesses of an employee and address how to improve or develop these areas. They aim to motivate the employee and provide them with sufficient challenges and responsibilities in relation to business objectives.

Pod Consulting devises appraisal and development plans for each employee and/or area of work. We also provide training for appraisers to ensure an objective and fair process.

If an employee is underperforming, it’s important to determine the reason why. An appropriate action plan can then be introduced to address the problem. Poor performance may be a result of the employee not having the skills required to perform effectively, and training may be the necessary outcome. If motivation is lacking, it’s important to establish different ways to motivate an employee to improve performance.

If poor performance continues, it may be necessary to take disciplinary action or discharge the employee. If this is the case, the process should be fair, objective and with minimal cause for embarrassment for the employee involved.

What are the benefits?
Building effective teams:

• Helps employees perform better when tasks or projects require multiple skills, judgement and experience
• Enables employees to be more flexible and respond more readily to changing events
• Means they can be quickly established to work on specific projects, then easily disestablished on their completion
• Often produces better results than the efforts of individual members

We may see many different types of teams in the workplace, including problem-solving teams, which meet regularly to address how to improve processes; self-managed teams, which undertake their own functional responsibilities as well as the responsibilities of a supervisor or manager; cross-functioning teams, which come together from different areas of the business to work on a project or task, due to their skill, knowledge or experience base; even virtual teams, which may be based in various locations nationally or internationally to achieve a common business objective.

Pod Consulting helps your business create effective teams that utilise the individual skills of each member to facilitate successful outcomes pertaining to the expected business outcome.

What are the benefits?
Team-building:

• Improves morale and employee motivation
• Improves working relationships
• Helps individuals understand the different personalities of others and how their differences can complement the work they do in a team
• Improves communication and group skills
• Provides an opportunity to identify strengths and talents
• Increases productivity
• Decreases absenteeism and turnover

Often employees are focused on their individual contribution to the business. Team-building encourages individuals to focus on the result rather than the individual input. When everyone in a team is working together, the business is more likely to experience increased productivity, lower absenteeism and less turnover.

Pod Consulting uses the Jung Type Indicator (JTI) as its psychometric tool for team-building activities. The JTI was developed as a modern alternative to the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator. As well as classifying a person’s ‘type’, depending on scores for each of the type dimensions, it provides a detailed description of each individual.

Prior to our team-building workshop, participating employees complete the JTI assessment and reports are given to each individual at the end of the workshop.

During the workshops, practical activities are undertaken that highlight the differences between the introverts and extraverts, the thinking and feeling types, the sensing and intuitive types, and the judging or perceiving types. As well as being fun and interactive, the process shows the different personality types how to work together in a complementary manner, which positively impacts on relations in the workplace.

What are the benefits?
Skills training:

• Results in greater job satisfaction for employees and increases motivation
• Improves efficiencies in processes, resulting in increased profitability
• Ensures that your business has the capacity to adopt new technologies and methods, helping you remain ahead of your competitors
• Increases innovation in strategies, products and/or services
• Decreases employee turnover
• Enhances company image and reputation
• Proactively addresses risk management
• Is useful when introducing multi-skilling, which enables employees to cross over to other areas of work

There are many reasons why a business may undertake training, including the need to fill gaps where there are a lack of skills or experience; making sure that new employees are suitably inducted and have the necessary skills to perform their job functions; keeping your business at the competitive edge; as part of a succession planning programme or scheme to develop high-potential employees; or ensuring that managers and other senior executives have the skills to effectively lead their teams.

Following training needs analysis, which involves identifying the specific training needs of each employee, Pod Consulting determines the most appropriate method for improving employee performance – be it mentoring, on- or off-the-job training or classroom teaching.

Training may range from safety training, diversity-in-the-workplace training, effective customer service skills, computer upskilling, assertiveness training, task/job specific skills or induction training.

What are the benefits?
Career development:

• Enables you to develop skills internally rather than needing to recruit skills into the business or outsource your core business
• Enables your business to develop by growing your intellectual capital
• Enables you to make good use of your employees’ knowledge and retain those valuable to the business
• Aligns individual employees’ career development with the strategic aims of the business, enabling you to determine what skills will be needed in the future and facilitate workforce planning
• Supports the development of succession plans and promotion pathways for high-performing employees
• Empowers and motivates employees who may require greater challenges to achieve job satisfaction
• Prepares employees for advancement to jobs where their abilities and potential can be fully realised
• Enables you to work to the strengths of employees, ultimately getting the best out of them

During the appraisal process, business owners and managers often start twitching in their seats when employees talk of career development, advancement and training. There are many reasons for this discomfort, but the two main factors are the anticipated costs associated with training employees and the assumption that once you’ve invested in an employee, they’re likely to move on to a higher paid role with one of your competitors.

Research has consistently shown that employees want to work for employers who invest in them. Employees show commitment and loyalty to employers who assist with their career development. Time and time again, money has been shown not to be the dominating factor for remaining with an employer – it is the chance to develop personally and professionally, taking on greater challenges, that holds greater appeal.

Pod Consulting focuses on the strategic business aims and workforce planning to devise career development programmes that support the business and individual employees.

What are the benefits?
Managing stress in the workplace:

• Eliminates unnecessary pressure at the source of the problem
• Improves employees’ coping skills, enabling them to focus on improving work performance
• Reduces absenteeism and staff turnover
• Increases customer satisfaction, employee morale and productivity
• Enables you to gain an understanding of pressure levels within each business unit

Pressure is a neutral force that can produce good or bad outcomes, depending on an individual’s ability to cope.

Stress is an individual’s reaction to pressure. A certain amount of stress can be good for us, as it stretches us and helps us respond to challenges. However, too much stress can have negative effects and employers need to ensure they’ve taken all practicable steps to prevent, reduce and eliminate stressors that may affect their employees.

What are the benefits?
Succession planning:

• Prepares employees for undertaking key roles in the future
• Develops talent and long-term growth required for business success
• Improves workforce capabilities and overall performance
• Improves employee commitment and retention
• Aligns with the career development needs of existing employees
• Reduces the need to recruit key roles externally
• Focuses on leadership continuity and improved knowledge sharing
• Provides more effective monitoring and tracking of employee ability levels and helps to identify gaps in skills

If a key employee within your business resigns unexpectedly, do you have the skills and experience within your business to quickly and adequately fill the gap? When key employees leave they often take a substantial amount of expertise and knowledge with them. This may result in loss of productivity and ineffective running of normal operations, damage to customer relationships if you cannot service their needs or, worse, your customers follow the exiting employee to their new place of employment because you can’t address their requirements. Considerable time and effort will then be needed to recruit and train new employees.

Every key role within the business should have a succession plan. As well as ensuring effective appraisal processes and career development systems are in place, Pod Consulting helps you to ensure the longevity and sustainability of your business.

What are the benefits?
Leadership training:

• Improves productivity and performance
• Increases interpersonal effectiveness
• Creates greater leadership capability
• Results in better sales performance
• Improves teamwork
• Enhances customer service
• Increases job satisfaction

Research has shown that people with high emotional intelligence (EI) tend to be more transformational in their leadership style, have better negotiation skills, higher stress tolerance and less absenteeism.

Emotional intelligence focuses on a person’s capability to effectively manage their own and others’ emotions. Unlike personality and IQ, which are generally regarded as fixed throughout a person’s life, emotional intelligence can be learned and developed.

Business leaders who are better able to understand and control their emotions are likely to achieve greater workplace performance, results and success – positive effects that will impact on their business, their lives and the lives of those that work within the business.

Pod Consulting works with business leaders to determine their level of emotional intelligence in relation to seven dimensions. This is done through self-assessment and/or 360-degree multi-rater surveys. The results allow us to identify which dimensions require greater attention, and through a series of coaching sessions we achieve both individual results and outcomes that benefit the business as a whole.

What are the benefits?
Employee surveys will lead to:

• Increased employee motivation and commitment
• Identification of the strengths within the business
• Attracting and retaining key employees
• Improved performance, productivity and profitability
• Improved teamwork
• Greater customer satisfaction
• Increased quality of product or service delivery

Businesses that are viewed as great places to work will achieve heightened performance and productivity. How well your business succeeds is largely dependent on the capabilities and motivation of your employees. As an employer, you need to ensure that the working environment is conducive to getting the best out of your employees. Surveys help to elicit vital information.

Pod Consulting undertakes the following surveys:

• Employee engagement/culture surveys
• 360-degree individual development surveys
• Exit surveys
• New employee surveys
• Training evaluation surveys

What are the benefits?
Outplacement support:

• Demonstrates your commitment to your employees – those whose roles are being made redundant and those remaining
• Enhances your image and reputation as customers, remaining employees and the local community will see that you’re endeavouring to assist employees leaving the business
• Promotes better retention and productivity from remaining employees
• Reduces stress on those involved in the process of making positions redundant

Outplacement support helps businesses manage the redundancy process as smoothly as possible. Employees offered outplacement support are less likely to hold negative feelings about their employer. Research also indicates that employees who receive outplacement support find employment quicker and more easily than those who don’t.

Pod Consulting’s outplacement options are tailored to the needs of each employer and their employees. Options include personal assessment, coaching in job research, applying for jobs, interview preparation, action planning and goal setting, and referral and selection of recruitment consultants.