Optimizing Remote Learning in a COVID Environment

As businesses worldwide postpone and cancel in-person training and meetings in response to COVID19, workplace learning is emerging as one of the earliest and hardest-hit casualties of business operations. Based on OVP Management Consulting’s engagement with a cross-section of clients in the months leading up to and during the pandemic, we are seeing for-profits and non-profits alike increasingly pushing the pause button on talent development and capability building.

Organizations, however, cannot afford to put critical workplace learning on hold indefinitely. Whether an entity’s focus is to re-tool business unit skills or engage in organization-wide transformation, businesses need the ability to develop employees while also prioritizing workforce safety.  Remote and digital learning platforms, already a channel for employee learning prior to COVID19, are even more vital now.  

Three areas, in particular, stand out as strategic opportunities for digitally engaging employees during the rapid pivot towards social-distancing: talent development, virtual-adaptive training and employee learning.

Talent Development :Performance management and talent development can be a powerful way to engage your workforce during the COVID19 crisis, signaling that you are investing in your people during this challenging period while also moving your operations forward. When moving to a virtual platform, however, it is vital that you work by design rather than default.  Team and one-on-one coaching over the phone or online, for instance, do not offer the same breadth of body language cues and intimacy that in-person meetings deliver.  As such, during OVP’s coaching sessions with clients, we leverage the constraints of physical distancing to listen even more closely to clients and use customized online materials both during and after sessions to increase engagement. 

Targeted virtual offerings: To create a comprehensive arrays of virtual learning offerings, build a cross-functional response team comprising members from relevant stakeholder groups. These include business partners, IT and training personnel, and customer and community counterparts.  Evaluate existing virtual offerings against critical business operations to prioritize scarce vendor and design resources.  For instance, must-have activities like employee onboarding will require a combination of live and on-demand programs to ensure both legacy requirements like performance expectations and new requirements like remote working skills, are communicated consistently.

Employee learning: A substantial increase in the use of digital delivery to enhance employee learning is under way across all segments of the workforce, from frontline employees to senior leaders. While digitally-enabled environments have been implemented by many organizations out of necessity rather than choice, virtual platforms also provide a strengthened collective focus and sense of community for employee, customer and community stakeholders.  Organizations that previously had very little interaction, due to functional or regional boundaries for instance, are increasing collaboration through videoconferencing, instant messaging and other forms of digital engagement. 

While it is far too soon to determine the ultimate impact that COVID19 will have on employee learning, it is clear that the adoption of digital venues has clearly accelerated, providing with it the opportunity to promote a culture of ongoing engagement both within and outside of organizational walls. 

Pam Hill is a a Senior Consultant with OVP Management Consulting Group, Inc. and can be contacted at pam.hill@ovpmanagementconsulting.com.

Hiring Leaders During a Global Pandemic

Hiring for executive positions during a global pandemic brings with it a mixed set of issues.

On one hand, the uncertainties of a stagnant economy combined with unpredictable manifestations of the viral spread of COVID-19 make finding new leadership for your organization a significant challenge.

At the same time, however, that same instability across the larger economy, along with significant job losses and furloughs, has widened a pool of uniquely positioned candidates for roles in organizations that need help. These obvious contrasts are buttressed by tracking data that helps tell the story of the current and near-term future of employment in the United States.

These obvious contrasts are buttressed by tracking data that helps tell the story of the current and near-term future of employment in the United States.

The Society for Human Resources Management recently conducted a survey of human resources professionals that found 40 percent of employers have had to shut down certain aspects of their businesses, while 83 percent have adjusted their business practices.

The study involving more than 2,200 respondents also found that 71 percent of employers said they are struggling to adjust to remote work, while 65 percent said that maintaining employee morale has been a challenge. These types of sobering trends presents unique challenges when confronted with needing to change leadership within organizations.

Consultants like us at OVP Management Consulting Group are leaning into the fluctuating employment market by helping our clients retool as well as expanding our stable of exceptionally talented professionals for a number of leadership positions our clients have. A constant across for-profit and nonprofit segments alike is that all organizations are eager to shore up their leadership teams, in order to confront the uncertain future in their respective areas.

To ensure we are providing clients with the best options, we are actively seeking talent in a number of consultancy best practices, to support client organizations. Specific disciplines that we seeking to augment our staffing include:

• Refocusing all of the leadership priorities and update job descriptions to reflect specific skills necessary for successful candidates to succeed during crisis periods

• Leveraging informal national networks to widen the pool of potential candidates, beyond a normal geographic footprint or the “usual suspects”

• Conducting rigorous pre-screening interviews by video conference to get an early start on evaluating the behavioral aspects of a candidate’s personality and situational awareness

• Guiding client expectations regarding the filling of leadership positions in a reasonable time period Insisting on successful candidates having the most advanced remote communications equipment they can get to ensure seamless communication during critical times

Each of these practices gives consultants working with OVP Group an opportunity to demonstrate their long-term value to a client, by demonstrating an understanding of the nuanced nature of hiring during uncertain economic times.

When combining these advisory services with rigorous tracking and evaluation scorecards, we enhance the kinds of leaders our clients attract and retain, thus improving their organizations’ fortunes - even in the midst of a pandemic.

Alejandro Bodipo-Memba is the Founder & CEO of OVP and can be reached at Alejandro@ovpmanagementconsulting.com.

Leader Lessons: Year-End Advice from Brandon Miller

As 2019 comes to a close, we want to wish everyone that has supported OVP Management Consulting Group Inc. a Happy Holiday Season and best wishes for a prosperous new year!

Checkout the season finale of the OVP Leadership Podcast featuring our special guest Brandon Miller Co-founder and CEO of 34 Strong, Inc. one of the nation's fastest growing leadership development and workplace engagement firms based in Sacramento, CA. Brandon, co-author of the book Playing to Their Strengths shares his journey into the field of leadership development and gives some great advice to leaders of people.

Throughout the year, we’ve tried to provide interesting perspectives from a vast group of leaders from around the world, on the podcast and through this blog. Among the lessons we’ve learned from these experiences is that sharing worthwhile content on leadership, organizational development and employee engagement is crucial to the success of those that consume what we have to offer. To that end, we want to offer a few more gems from a great leader that can help you as you think about becoming a better leader in 2020.

Listen to us on Spreaker, Spotify or wherever you get your podcast content. Stay tuned and join us for Season 2 of the OVP Leadership Podcast in 2020! We will be speaking with some of the nation's best leadership practitioners, and learn their secrets of to success.

Thank you everyone that listened to our podcast this year, and to all of the leaders that lent their time to the project for our first season: Christian Harris of MaidPro, Jerald McBride of Adwater Media, Ana Garcia Doyle of One Earth Film Festival, Shoaib Shafquat of QCheque Inc., Al Pacha of ALPAC Inc., Xavier Memba of Iglesia Ciutat Nova 22 (Barcelona), Clarence Walsh of American Licorice Company, John Houseal of Houseal Lavigne Associates , Joe Kramer of Parjana Water Distribution, Hillary Herring of Crossfit Inner Stallion and Liz Holt Oak Park-River Forest Chamber of Commerce. We at OVP look forward to providing you more valuable leadership content in the new year!

Sandals: Perfecting Customer Service

"The customer is always right" is the phrase coined by 19th Century British magnate Harry Gordon Selfridge that regulates business functions across industries. Whether internal or external; large or small, the concept of customer satisfaction is a universal metric by which success or failure can be measured. Recently, I was treated to otherworldly customer service while on vacation with my wife in Jamaica.

Sandals Resorts International, which is widely recognized as one of the better resort operators in the luxury tourism space, prides itself on offering its clients worry-free experiences that allow for the complete disconnection from daily concerns most people deal with on a regular basis. And the closely-held company's values serve as a blueprint to show employees how to achieve business success by applying high-level customer service principles (see the Sandals Corporate University training program). However, not every organization is able to boast consistent growth in repeat business simply by "following instructions" on how to treat customers.

View from the Terrace at Sandals Royal Plantation Resort in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.

While in Jamaica last week, I met Arnold Nugent, General Manager of Sandals Royal Plantation Resort in Ocho Rios. Mr. Nugent has a staff of nearly 250 people for a resort with little more than 70 rooms. Virtually all of the employees - ranging in experience from two weeks to over a decade - hail from Jamaica and often have never left the island nation. Yet, the noticeably professional way in which every person we encountered delivered service really surprised me; particularly when comparing such client-focused service to experiences I've had in the United States and other countries.

I wanted to understand what Mr. Nugent's "secret" is to consistently provide such team-focused customer service across the board. And he was kind enough to spend some time with me to talk about his approach to leadership success.

"It is really all about the people we bring onboard," he said. "We give people an opportunity to show their potential and if I see the potential in someone, I will try my best to put them in a situation to be successful."

Royal Plantation, a perennial top perform amongst all the Sandals properties, offers high-quality hospitality training one would expect from a luxury resort. But, what I found unique is that general managers of properties are given significant autonomy to achieve the daily, weekly and monthly goals Sandals demands of its 16 resorts. And talking with Mr. Nugent, it is clear that he has an approach that is designed to get the most out of everyone that steps foot onto the Royal Plantation property.

"We work hard to find people who want to be the best," Nugent said.

And it shows.

Some of the key leadership traits that I gleaned from our experience with Royal Plantation that could be helpful to other leaders include:

• Systematic Recruitment Process: Mr. Nugent told me that he has a rigorous approach to hiring. He gives people a chance to do well. But in order to pass the first test, he has a set of assessment criteria that he uses to be predictive of a candidate's success.

• Belief in the Potential of People: It was clear from talking with staff from virtually every department at the resort that Mr. Nugent believes in everyone that he has hired. He practices a level of engagement that focuses on both compassion and clarity of goals.

• Importance of Variety: Given the pool of potential employees in this part of Jamaica, Mr. Nugent can't just rely on skills listed on a CV to determine who will make a strong employee. He appears to be looking for people who are willing to do every and all jobs at the resort. My understanding is that he rotates people frequently to provide experience and test candidate's adaptability as he assesses leadership potential in his staff.

• Promotion of Pride: A native of Jamaica, Mr. Nugent is immensely proud of his country and his culture. When identifying potential leaders on his staff, he takes care to look out for the candidates that carry themselves in a way that projects pride and confidence. These attributes are important when trying to market an unique experience for clients that often come from places that aren't familiar with the culture of the Caribbean.

• Customer Focus: The experience that Royal Plantation offers both its clients and its staff is that of a wholly unique pampering that is provided in a completely authentic and cheery way. Getting staff to not just be responsive to customer needs, but anticipate their wants, comes with experience that Mr. Nugent has. And he is clearly passing it along to his staff, as the vast majority of employees use subtle yet specific techniques to understand the profiles of their guests over a short period of time.

The result of these and many other techniques applied by Mr. Nugent and his staff is that Royal Plantation is the standard that virtually all other Sandals properties (as well as other non-Sandals resorts) are trying to emulate. At OVP Management Consulting Group Inc., we believe these are five keys to customer success that all businesses can learn from.

Now, we don't have specific financial results to compare, as Sandals is a closely-held operation. Nevertheless, it is clear to me as a repeat customer that their approach to customer service is having some impact on sales. And if nothing else, an unofficial survey of some of the guests that were at the resort with us, shows that most everyone we encountered signed up for future visits before heading home!

"We are really proud of the reputation we've developed here at the Royal Plantation," said Nugent. "We know others are trying to understand what we're doing, which is why we have to continue to be innovative."