Training and Development Final Project

Training and Development Final Project

Done by

El Herrif Fayçal

Berrada Hakim

Nhami Med Redouane

Dr. Rinehart

14/12/2007

1. Training Design:

Course Title: How to Build a Network for Personal and Organizational Success?

Target Audience:

This is a generic training program intended to practically any person holding a managerial position. The program can be recommended to organizations willing to exploit the great strategic potential behind effective networking, and benefit from the many opportunities it allows (meeting new investors/suppliers).

Learning Objectives:

1- Increase awareness of the importance of relationships and networks in business.

2- Provide trainees with efficient techniques linked to relationship skills that facilitate the construction of a personal/professional network.

Behavioral Learning Objective: By the end of the training, all managers attending the program will learn the importance of building networks, and will master basic relationship skills and methods to construct their personal network. The managers will be evaluated on the basis of a quiz; each one should achieve a minimum score of 70% to pass the training.

Lesson length: Half day (From 8 am to 12 am)

Number of participants: 15 participants.

Location: Room 101in BLD 8. (Large room with all needed equipment, Laptop, Data show etc...)

Trainers: Mr. El Herrif Fayçal, Mr. Nhami Redouane, Mr. Berrada Hakim.

Prerequisites:

• Trainee: None
• Instructors: Familiarity with organization’s training programs, problem-solving methods and good communication skills.

Materials and equipment needed: Overhead projector, pens, 2 Video tapes titled “How to Be the World Worst Networker” and “How to Be Rude”, role plays and case studies.

7:45-8:00: Trainers greet participants as they enter, directs them where to put their belongings, where to sit, get refreshments, etc.

8:00-8:20: Introduction and overview of session.

The trainer introduces himself and the purpose of the training. He will talk briefly about his experiences in training programs and what he is willing to achieve by doing this training.

8:20-8:35: explain the purpose of the training and why is it important in this special case.

8:35-8:45: Open the floor for questions before beginning the training session.

8:45-9:15: PowerPoint presentation about the importance of networking and its benefits.

- Build new relationships.

- Create new opportunities.

- Facilitate the job search.

- Share knowledge and ideas.

- Facilitate your career development. Make the progress faster.

9:15-09:45: Case study

The case study will consist of a small and simple exercise describing a situation where a person A, have to network with a person B in order to facilitate the job search.

(See appendix for the case study).

09:45-10:00: Break

10:00-10:30: Discussion of the results of the case study + Discussion of the different answers of the participants. What is good about the answers of the participants? What did they do wrong in their answers?

10:30-11:10: Video titled “How to Be the World Worst Networker “, the video is a good example to see what to NOT do for networking.

Also, the use of a video titled “How to Be Rude” will also talk about the bad approaches of networking.

11:10-11:30: Role plays.

Our role play will be a response for the two videos. We will show the audience how to behave in a good way while networking. We will use the audience to act in the role play.

11:30-11:40: Group Discussion

It will be a sort of review of all the activities we have done so far. The group discussion will be supervised by Fayçal, Hakim and Redouane. The trainers will help the managers retain the important ideas and concepts of the training. The role of the trainers is to encourage employees adopt what they have learned. A continuous practice (Use Networking when you have the occasion to do so) and practice of the tips introduced is an essential tool to effectively apply Networking methods in a daily basis.

11:40-12:00: Evaluation

• The Evaluation will include:

*Quizzes: To see if the trainees acquired to essential tools and tips for a good networking.

*Post-Test: short term evaluation for all what have been done in the training program. The post test evaluation will help us verify the transfer of training.

*Glad sheets: Glad sheets will be an essential to get an immediate feedback of the trainees about the Networking training.

12:00-12:05: the trainers will thank everybody for their cooperation and wish them good luck with their work.

End of the training.

1. Training Content:

Discussion:

We assume that is really important to start with a brief discussion where the trainees are involved and have to generate some ideas about networking. We will be using some simple and interactive questions that will help us to get a basis to start with. The use of an interactive discussion is also supporting the nature of our training. In fact, Networking requires a lot of interaction and getting people involved in our discussion will be a first step. This method will be used more than once interrupting and at the same time supporting the other method. A continuous interaction is very important in the positive development of our training. The aim of this is to identify the existing knowledge among trainees and use it as a starting point. This is to show to the audience that they already have some prerequisite knowledge and will help them to be more comfortable with our training.

Lecture:

A brief lecture will be given to introduce the subject and give to trainees some background information about networking. It is also important in this section to talk about the benefits of networking and its crucial importance in developing individuals and their companies as well. As we are dealing with adult learners, it is extremely important to make them aware of the subject in itself, and then relate its benefits to their professional success. This procedure will ensure a real and positive commitment from the audience toward our training.

1. General background about Networking:

What is networking?

The notion of networking has changed through different era, and admitted many interpretations depending on the context. At the beginning, networking referred to linking roads, railways, transporting things from one location to another. It is only in 1914 that this concept has been recognized in a social context; in the sense of interconnecting a group of people. At this point, networking appears very important as a tool of communication allowing people to interact, exchange ideas, and finally build new relationship. In the professional context, networking is getting more and more importance because of this ability to connect people. Thanks to this communication tool people can create new opportunities and generate new ideas that will help them in their career. For example, when a person (managers, employees) start a professional relationship with new a person; this person can in turn be very helpful; a new potential client or simply a person that can give you a lot of his or her experiences (professional skills). Even more interesting, because of its crucial role in creating new business, new knowledge and therefore more revenues, networking is becoming a competitive advantage for many companies; being one important way of achieving strategic goals. Having good networking skills makes you and your company potential candidates to start a new business with. However, keep in mind that networking should not be reduced to this; in fact, networking is not all about marketing yourself or your company, it is especially about building new relationship. The philosophy behind this concept is to be helpful to others without willing for something in return. Networking should be given its real value, being beneficial for both organizational and personal level; it is undoubtedly a source of business opportunities, but also a source of knowledge for the employee.

1. Benefits of Networking: (Wayne E. Baker, 2000)

Here are some facts about the potential benefits of managing business relationships:

• Managers with large personal networks get higher-paying positions than managers with small networks.
• Managers with large, well-diversified networks get promoted faster and at younger ages compared with their peers with underdeveloped networks.
• Professionals who find jobs through personal contacts find better, more satisfying jobs that they stay with longer.
• Close relationships with customers saves money. It costs three to five times as much to get a new customer as it does to keep an old one.
• Strong partnerships with suppliers yield lower costs and higher quality products and services.
• Business effectiveness, in general, depends more on human-related activities, such as building relationships, interpersonal skills, communication…

Relationships are equally important in every day life:

• People with strong social support networks enjoy better physical and mental health.
• Personal happiness and satisfaction depends in a large part on the quality of relationships with other people.
• Principles of Networking: (Wayne E. Baker, 2000)

There are four essential networking principles to bear in mind:

a) Relationships are a fundamental human need: We, as human beings, create relationships for all sorts of reasons, but the most basic one is that we need to. We are not self-reliant since we live in a modern society comparable to a vast network of interdependent relationships. Usually relationships emerge from a common stake and interest simply because we can do more together than separately. Beyond that, we seek relationships for social approval and support, for defining our identity and our place in the world.

b) People tend to associate with others like themselves: This principle is more commonly known as the “similarity principle” and it drives relationships everywhere. This principle is as powerful in organizations as it is in life. As an example, bringing people with common interests in close physical proximity (an office), produces new connections. The similarity principle can also have some drawbacks. Executives and managers tend to get isolated from the remaining of the workforce because they prefer hanging out with similar others, leading to terrible managerial practices.

c) Repeated interaction encourages cooperation: In general, people interacting frequently develop positive relationships based on mutual collaboration, and this, by setting essentially goals that encourage cooperation rather than competition. A multifunctional team, as an example, brings together employees from different organizational functions. Ongoing interaction between them set by common goal is likely to encourage cooperation.

d) It’s a small world: Everyone’s network is composed of zones of contact. The first-order zone includes your direct contacts. The second-order zone includes contacts of your direct contacts (indirect contacts). An estimated average of direct contacts a professional can have is 3500 contacts. If all your indirect contacts have 3500 contacts as well, your second-order zone could contain as many as 12.250.000 contacts. The small world expression means that we have become closer to critical information, opportunity and resources. Max Gunther said that lucky people are those who create luck by forming a large network of contact, similar to a spider web that catches great amounts of information.

At this point of the lecture, we will do a straw poll where we will be assessing the number of people that were able to get an internship or job using a personal contact. This way, we can at the same time introduce the next section of the lecture dedicated networking in the context of job seeking, and involve further the audience so as to reinforce their attention.

1. Networking and Job Seeking/Finding the Good People: (Wayne E. Baker, 2000)

The whole concept of networking saw light in the context of job seeking. Networking efficiently in order to find suitable jobs for you means using your interpersonal skills to find “The” good people in your surrounding who will give you what is called the “key lead”. In the current job market and its requirements require job seekers to grab as much opportunities as possible. Therefore, every person must use networks with the aim of finding the good people.

The most important types of connections are usually the weak connections. These weak connections could be old contacts such as an old school friend, a former neighbor, employees with whom you worked previously… These connections usually prove to be better information sources, simply because you already know what your strong connections or ties (family member, close friends…) know. This is why it is important to always keep a database of the contacts’ names, e-mails, phone number, or even addresses of old acquaintances. This database should also be maintained and updated as you develop new relationships and meet new people.

What you can do now? Your current personal contacts are the raw materials for your job-search network. What you can do now is to organize these personal contacts into a database (the form is not important). Remember that the best time to organize such database is when you don not need it: even if you do not plan to search a job, start organizing the contacts database.

To organize your database, start by considering the following list Primary contacts:

Table 9-2. p. 192, Networking Smart (2000)

Friends and acquaintances

Relatives and in-laws

Former employers

Fellow workers from previous jobs

Colleagues

High school friends, alumni, teachers

College friends, alumni, teachers

Community and civic leaders

Bankers, accountants

Sales persons and marketing representatives

Journalists and reporters

Doctors, dentists, nurses

Consultants

Insurance agents

Real estate agents

Social club members

Officers and administrators of professional associations

From this list you can develop second-order contacts (indirect contacts), and hence develop a bigger network; excellent for job information gathering. As you build and update your database, make sure you record the following information:

• Person’s full name (nickname)
• Title, position, name of the company
• Phone/fax numbers
• How do you know this person?

If you get in touch with the person as part of you job search, make sure to record:

• Date of contact
• Results of contact –information about job openings /or referral to second contacts
• Dates and action for follow-up.

Also to start building a network of contacts in the future, do not hesitate to:

• Participate in career related meetings, conferences and seminars in the field of your choice.
• Participate in business and social clubs.

How are you going to behave is something else. We will dedicate the next section of our lecture to present basic tips about the proper behaviors to follow.

At this point of the lecture we are going to give some basic tips that will help our trainees to be good and effective networker.

a) Be confident:

A good networker is a person that has a certain level of self awareness, of self esteem. If you stick to the idea that you will never be a good networker, or that you will be humiliated, or you are obsessively preoccupied about what people will think about you, this will hinder you of doing the first steps.

Generally speaking, people do not like situation where they are not comfortable, where they fear from failure or be rejected. In fact, when attending business events, people with a lack of self-confidence are somehow paranoiac. When walking in the room they feel that everybody is looking at them. In order to avoid those kind of situation here are some tips that you should adopt in order to enjoy the business event that was a nightmare for you.

• Think positively ( I am attending this event and I will take the maximum benefit from)
• It is not something that would frightened me, on the contrary it will be fun)
• We are all here for the same purpose, everybody wants to network.
• Be confident on your capacities, you are an interesting person that knows and master an expertise field (use your strengths).
• Prepare yourself, rehearse do some research about the person you will be meeting.

b) How to develop networking skills:

Networking involves interaction and therefore having good communication skills will help you a lot to be an effective and interesting networker. Having good communication skills will also help you to be comfortable and make people comfortable. This includes having good manners, knowing how to talk with different people in different situation.

• How to break the ice (think of something you have in common with other people and try to enter the discussion).
• Use simple and direct question to help you know more about the person ( usually people like being asked about something they master)
• Use the strategies of communication that you learned previously use them to show your interest.
• Keep eye contact, and use perception checking to show your commitment.
• Use simple phrase (this is good, tell me more about…, who invites you)

This kind of questions will help you to start a conversation and will give you time to think about what you want to say after.

• When you enter a group of people, make sure you know their names and try to make them comfortable with each other.
• Listening is an important component of networking, you should leran how to listen effectively (people like to talk about themselves, listen and learn; keep in mind we learn nothing by talking, but we learn by listening).
• Try to make a good first impression ( using good manners, make yourself an interesting and interested person)

Role Play:

We will use the videos in order to build our role playing. What we mean by this is that we will use the videos that mainly show the “bad networking strategies” in order to show the audience how to behave in a better way.

Situation: Fayçal will play the role of an executive manager invited to party organized by a business association. Someone from the audience will play the role of someone who is seeking for a job. The trainee has to use efficient tips and tools to efficiently get information and advice from the targeted person.