Shaun Hopkins Seminars UPDATE

Denny’s Unveils New Video

“Great Food and Great Service by Great People…Every Time!” Denny’s Restaurants has turned its vision into reality by unveiling a training video titled, “Welcome to Denny’s!” The 45-minute video introduces every new employee to the Denny’s family and shows how employees can demonstrate the company’s core values to its customers and fellow staff.

Ms. Rita Meana, Director of Training, asked Shaun Hopkins Seminars to write, direct and produce the video. Shaun Hopkins Seminars had previously written a one-day classroom session on core values for Denny’s Managers-in-Training. The success of this program led the company to introduce the training to all new employees worldwide, only this time, by video.

With the help of a group of talented writers, instructional designers and Denny’s training staff, the concept, script and training materials were created and approved. The shooting of the video began in September 2005 at the Denny’s flagship restaurant in Carol Stream, Illinois under the direction of Benito Altobelli.

The restaurant was transformed into a movie set complete with lights, cameras, production crew, actors and extras, all there to help demonstrate how employees can live the core values of Giving Our Best, “Can-do” Attitude and Appreciating Others every day.

The most significant factor in the contributing to the success of the production was the decision to use real Denny’s employees to play every part in the video. This decision ensured that the video was realistic, relevant and responsive to the needs of those who would use the portrayals as a model for their own behavior in the restaurant.

Mr. Joel Gonzalez, a Corporate Trainer at Denny’s, acted as the on-screen narrator of the video. Joel introduced the viewers to each of the corporate core values. Joel guided the viewers through real-life situations, practical demonstrations and workbook exercises which taught the employees how to successfully interact with guest and fellow employees by giving their best, showing a “can-do” attitude and by appreciating others.

Denny’s CEO, Mr. Nelson Marchioli, welcomed the new employees to Denny’s and reinforced the message of the video. He encouraged Cooks, Service Assistants, Servers, Hosts and Hostesses to live the company’s core values in all of their interactions with guests and staff.

After five days of shooting in both English and Spanish, it was time for a wrap. For the Denny’s staff who appeared in the video, this acting opportunity was one of the most significant events in their lives. For the production team and crew, the week was the culmination of months of planning and preparation.

Denny’s distributed the video to restaurants worldwide in November 2005, just two months after shooting ended. Ms. Rita Meana thanked Shaun Hopkins Seminars for producing the “best corporate training video the company has ever seen”.

For more information about our Training Video services, contact information@ShaunHopkinsSeminars.com

What's On

Training 2006 Conference & Expo, March 6-8, 2006 Orlando, Florida

Training Needs Analysis: Quick, Accurate and Complete
Tuesday, March 7, 2006 8:00 a.m.

Training needs analysis is the first step to designing and delivering learning that will meet the needs of your target audience. Learn techniques to gather the most accurate information about your audience and to determine if training is the right solution. In this clinic, you will plan and conduct a training needs analysis. Learn to:

Identify the target audience for the analysis.
Identify the gaps in actual performance and determine the reasons for them.
Determine whether training is necessary.
Identify the best training strategy.

ISPI 44th Annual Performance Improvement Conference
April 6-11, 2006 Dallas, Texas

Marketing Skills for Trainers: How to Promote Your Training Service, presented by Shaun Hopkins, received an evaluation score in the top 15 of all sessions offered at the International Society for Performance Improvement's 43rd Annual International Conference in Vancouver.

The ISPI has invited Shaun to present this session again in Dallas, Texas, April 6-11, 2006 as an Encore Presentation. Encore Presentations are a special feature of an ISPI Conference, highlighting the best sessions from the previous year.

Marketing Skills for Trainers: How to Promote Your Training Service
April 9, 2006 2:00 pm

Having difficulty filling your classes? Need to improve the marketing of your training? In this session, you will learn dozens of practical tips on how to promote your training, the four keys to marketing success, and how to create a marketing plan. Learn how to align your training with the priorities of your company, to differentiate your courses from the competition, and how to build lasting relationships with your internal customers.

Participants will be able to:

Create alignment between training and the company's mission and goals.
Select the promotional techniques for their marketing campaigns.
Write persuasive hooks in their marketing materials
Build positive working relationships with their customers.
Write a marketing plan for their training services.

Book Review

Power Mentoring: How Successful Mentors and Protégés Get the Most Out of Their Relationships

By: Ellen Ensher and Susan Murphy (ISBN-13:978-0-7879-7952-2)

In the past two issues of Update, I have written about the importance of coaching in the workplace and how one of my clients, Innovapost, has implemented a coaching program to address the long-term development needs of its staff.

If you are interested in finding out more about how to implement a coaching program and the benefits of coaching, pick up this new book titled, Power Mentoring: How Successful Mentors and Protégés Get the Most Out of their Relationships. The authors, Ellen Ensher and Susan Murphy, both professors of management, have studied 50 of America's most successful mentors and protégés. They have discovered that the secret to success in the business world is to have, not just one mentor, but a network of mentors.

While in the past, having a single mentor was the norm, the complexities of today's business world require protégés to have a variety of mentors to help guide them throughout their careers. The authors' advice is that "having a diverse network of mentors is the best solution for today's career dilemmas" and that protégés should not wait to be selected for a coaching relationship, but should be proactive in creating a network of advisors. The authors call these multiple relationships "Power Mentoring".

The authors tell the stories of many high-profile individuals who are at the height of their careers. However, they reassure the reader that almost all of these individuals come from humble beginnings and it is their superior technical and interpersonal talents that helped to get them to where they are today. What differentiates these individuals is that they were not afraid to ask for help from others with more experience.

Mentoring is not a one-way street with all the benefits going to the protégé. Power Mentoring also tells the story of the mentors and the many benefits that they receive from mentoring. Studies have indicated that the benefits include an increased sense of pride and personal satisfaction, as well as greater personal confidence. The organization also benefits from improved recruitment and individual performance.

Ensher and Murphy have presented a readable and straightforward case for a new style of mentoring, one that involves a diverse network of mentors from both inside and outside your organization. The key is to realize that others want to help you in your career; all you have to do is ask for their help.

Monthly Tip

How to Conduct a Great Meeting

“Not another meeting!” Each one of us seems to spend endless hours going from one meeting to another. Most of the time, these meetings are a waste of time and resources. On the other hand, a meeting facilitated by an effective Chairperson that has a purpose, an agenda and the right people in attendance will get things done. By following these tips, you will ensure that every meeting is a productive use of everyone’s time.

Identify why you are holding a meeting
Invite only those people who really need to attend
Write an agenda
Tell them why they are there and what they need to produce
Set the ground rules (no cell phones/ BlackBerrys, one person speaks at a time)
Encourage everyone to contribute to the discussions
Listen!
Make a decision on every item
Ensure that everyone has an action list with completion dates
Say “thank you”.

“When the outcome of a meeting is to have another meeting, it has been a lousy meeting.” Herbert Hoover

Local Wisdom

One of the biggest misconceptions about learning is that the training department is responsible for the development of a company's employees. Nothing could be further from the truth. The training department is service provider for the skills and knowledge that employees need. However, it is the front-line managers' responsibility to make sure that their direct reports have the skills to get the job done.

The American Society for Training and Development recently reported that in 2005, companies spent an average of 2.25 percent of their payroll on training and development activities. That represents an average of $1,000 USD per employee per year. In many companies, this amount comes from the operating budgets of the line departments.

In order for companies and organizations to realize a return-on-investment for this expenditure, I recommend that the training department help front-line managers fulfill their responsibilities for training. I would argue that in most companies, managers have never been informed nor taught how to implement the five following skills:

Determine if training is the solution to performance problems in the workplace
Brief their employees before they go to training on what they will learn and why they should learn it
De-brief employees after the training on what they learned and how they will implement the new skills
Coach the employee on their new skills
Measure the employee's performance improvement

If managers were taught how to implement these skills, companies could ensure that they receive a return-on-investment for the $1,000 USD per employee that they spend on training. However, if managers are not taught these skills, there is no guarantee that the employee who attended training will improve his/her performance. Unfortunately, this is usually the case.

Trainers, the next time you receive a training request from the field, spend some time with the manager and teach him/her these five skills. Managers, before you send your staff off to training, ask the Training Department for some tips on how to fulfill your responsibilities for training your staff. It is this partnership between managers and training professionals that will produce the return-on-investment that everyone is looking for.