We’ve all been through a lot in the last few years with a global pandemic, the Great Resignation, labor shortages, and a host of other challenges. As a result, it’s more important than ever to find quality, dependable employees—and even harder to keep them. 

According to LinkedIn, studies show that members of Gen Z have high expectations when it comes to employment and they’re not afraid to go from job to job until they find the one that aligns most with their values and interests. Developing custom career paths for your employees will not only demonstrate your investment in their skill development and growth, but also encourage their loyalty by providing a clear outline for their future with your company.  

8 Benefits of Customizing Career Paths

Developing custom career paths for your employees can be just as beneficial to your company as it is for your employees themselves. Here are just some of the benefits custom career paths can have:  

1. Attract quality employees: An employee who is interested in a long-term commitment to your company is more likely to be the kind of employee your company needs. Offering advancement opportunities and being transparent with those opportunities up front will help attract those employees.

2. Reduce turnover: Employees confident and excited about their prospective career paths within their current organization are a lot less likely to seek employment opportunities that appear to provide more potential elsewhere. Developing custom career paths for your employees will increase retention and reduce turnover by giving them a reason to remain loyal to you. 

3. Increase employee engagement: Studies have shown that employees who have a clear career path within their company are more likely to be invested in and engaged with your company. Employee engagement creates a number of other benefits for your company. 

4. Provides purpose and motivation: With increased employee engagement comes an increase in purpose and motivation. An employee with a career path has a purpose and a goal, and they’ll be motivated to perform well and achieve that goal.

5. Improve employee performance: It should be growing evident by now that customizing career paths for employees has a positive snowball effect. Having a clear path within your company increases the employee’s engagement, which provides them with purpose and motivation, and ultimately leads to improved employee performance. Employees will want to perform better because this is their career–not just an hourly job.

6. Create a positive culture: Engaged employees who are driven to perform well and are invested in the company’s success help build a positive work environment and culture for success. 

7. Maximize potential: Your employees likely have a whole range of potential that’s just waiting to be unleashed. Working with them to customize their career paths allows you to discover that potential and develop it into something greater – allowing your employees to be the best versions of themselves. 

8. Develop leaders: Taking advantage of custom learning paths allows you to train employees for future positions within the company. In this way you’re developing your company’s future leaders, which will lead to better results when you promote from within.

Discover Gears To Your Career® with trainingGrid® 

The Gears To Your Career philosophy, paired with the trainingGrid® LMS, provides the training need to prepare your employees for promotion and leadership roles. trainingGrid’s intuitive design makes learning management simple and allows employees to begin training with just a click. This flexible system comes with a variety of robust features customizable to fit your needs in addition to built-in reporting and certification tools that track your compliance documentation. 

Request a guided demonstration of trainingGrid today! 

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Brainstorming was introduced in the 1950s as a way to generate out-of-the-box thinking, particularly in businesses such as advertising agencies. Since then, it has become a go-to strategy for teams to problem solve and innovate. But does it really work? Not always. 

4 Reasons Brainstorming Doesn’t Work

Brainstorming doesn’t work for everything. It also doesn’t work for everyone. While it’s true that brainstorming can lead to creative ideas, it also has drawbacks that cause some proactive leaders to look for alternatives to brainstorming. Here’s why: 

1. Neurodiversity. Not everyone thinks the same way, which means not everyone will participate in brainstorming the same way. As more and more companies embrace neurodiversity in the workplace, the less effective – and less inclusive – brainstorming will be. 

2. Groupthink. Depending on the group dynamics in your company, having many different people participate in the decision-making process can sometimes backfire and hinder creativity. 

3. Mediocrity. Some people might not want to give up their best ideas to share credit with the group, and others may be fine riding the coattails of more vocal group members. This leads to a less creative end result than if people had contributed ideas individually. 

4. Chaos. Brainstorming sessions can be difficult to manage and can go from productive to chaotic very quickly. That can lead some people to become frustrated, be less likely to participate, or shut down completely. 

4 Alternatives to Brainstorming

If brainstorming sessions haven’t produced the results you’re looking for, try these alternatives: 

1. Mind mapping. This is a more controlled version of brainstorming that still relies on ideas coming from many different people but presents them visually. It starts with the core issue in the center, and then maps out solutions from general ideas to more specific strategies. 

2. Teaming. Instead of having one large group of people, break your brainstorming session into smaller groups of just three or four people. Give the teams a time frame to come up with a certain number of ideas, and then have one team member present what the team thinks is their best idea for open discussion in the larger group. 

3. Reverse brainstorming. This strategy starts with known solutions to an issue and identifies why they won’t work. It’s like hiring a hacker to check your cyber-security. By testing the ways your ideas can fail, you’ll discover ones that are fail-proof. This strategy can be done in a large group or in teams. 

4. Brain writing. This takes the idea of brainstorming and puts it on paper. A team member starts with a blank sheet of paper and writes down a few ideas, then passes it to the next person who adds new ideas or comments on the first set of ideas. The paper is passed around until everyone gets a chance to add their thoughts. Depending on the size of your group, this can also be done in teams. 

Whether you decide to stick to brainstorming or try one of the above alternatives to brainstorming, there’s one common denominator that will help determine your success: you! Any meeting is only as effective as the person who’s leading it. 

Get More Leadership Development Training with trainingGrid®

The trainingGrid® LMS delivers online training and blended learning strategies through learning paths that are customized for your organization. Its intuitive design makes learning management simple and allows employees to begin training with just a click. This flexible system comes with a variety of robust features customizable to fit your needs in addition to built-in reporting and certification tools to help maintain compliance. 

Request a guided demonstration of trainingGrid® today! 

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If you’re a business owner, then growing your business is most likely your primary goal. However, growing a business doesn’t happen overnight. It requires a lot of effort and action – and a solid growth strategy to achieve that goal. 

Key Factors of Business Growth

So where should you focus your energy? Consider these five factors of business growth: 

1. Customer Loyalty

When company leaders strategize about sales growth, the focus is often on how to bring in new customers. While it is important to increase brand awareness and expand your customer base, you must also work to increase sales potential with your current customers. Look for opportunities to grow your profits with the customers you already have through add-on sales, customer loyalty programs, and referral business. 

2. Smart Adoption of Technology

Technology is like fertilizer for the growth of your business. It can help you tackle tasks more efficiently, save on labor costs, and streamline processes. The challenge comes with selecting the right technology tools for your specific business goals. Proper alignment with the various facets of your business strategy is key. Look at ROI from multiple angles when choosing technology partners. 

3. Commitment to Employee Training

Business growth doesn’t occur in a vacuum. All your employees must have a standard baseline of knowledge from which they cultivate their own growth. This requires an online training platform such as a learning management system that meets your needs today and can grow with you. By training online, you ensure consistent knowledge transfer to everyone and you can design customized learning paths for each employee. 

4. Social Responsibility

You may not see the direct line between social responsibility and business growth, but think of it this way: you get back what you put out. When your company adopts policies of social responsibility, you’re impacting your community – and therefore your customers – in a positive way. For example, April is Alcohol Awareness Month. If you are a business that sells alcohol, use this month to refresh your training on responsible selling. If you are a business outside of the industry, use a cause like this as a springboard to give back to your community in a meaningful way. 

5. Leadership

Growth starts way below the surface. How your employees perceive you and your company mission determines their motivation to help you reach your goals. As a leader, you must pave the way to success for everyone. 

Business Growth Through a Culture of Convenience

Leaders who create a culture of convenience can streamline tasks and establish processes that improve employee performance and increase everyone’s productivity. Get ideas on how to make your job easier through the Culture of Convenience™ podcast. Listen now! 

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Shopping has become easier than ever. Delivery services, ordering ahead, and online shopping make businesses more accessible and facilitate countless purchases each day. But just as your business can reach more and more customers, so can your competitors; they might even be reaching and influencing your current customers as you read this right now. 

10 Primary Factors Influencing Today’s Customers

Whether they’re buying a product online, searching for a service-based solution, or shopping at a brick-and-mortar store, appealing to your customers using these focal points will differentiate yourself from your competitors more effectively.

1. Control. Today’s customers want control over what they buy and how they’re marketed to. This means they want choices, and that doesn’t just apply to product variety. They also want options for how they engage with you via different marketing channels. If you don’t offer choices, they’ll simply make a choice that’s not in your favor. 
2. Value. Value isn’t just about price. It’s about what customers perceive they get in exchange for what they pay. Today’s customers are skeptical. If a price seems too low, they won’t trust the product. If it’s too high, they’ll think they’re being taken advantage of. It’s your job to find that sweet spot. 
3. Personal recommendations. We live in a world where a customer can ask a question about a product to hundreds of people and have a dozen recommendations within minutes. Loyalty matters here. When you give your customers a reason to recommend you, you’ll have the best marketing money can buy. 
4. Unique experiences. Cookie cutter businesses are out. Customization is in. Providing unique experiences is something you can do through your product offering or by the way you present your product offering. Your customers are asking, “What can you do for me?” They deserve something better than a canned answer. 
5. Service. Service is your invisible product. Especially if you’re in an industry where all other factors may be considered equal, service is the one area where you can set your company apart. Exceptional service doesn’t happen all by itself. It has to be taught, reinforced, and nurtured every day. 
6. Efficiency. Today’s customers don’t just want things fast. They want things done quickly and done right. Improving your staff’s efficiency is a top-down process. It starts with company-created procedures and filters through management before it gets to employees and then, finally, customers. 
7. Social responsibility. More and more, customers want to work with companies who share their values. A growing percentage of today’s customers, more than 50 percent, are willing to pay more for what they perceive to be socially responsible products. 
8. Connection. You can connect to your customers by finding out where your story intersects with theirs. Make them the hero of your story, not the other way around. Connecting through stories turns customers into loyal fans.
9. Knowledge. If your customer has a question, they expect an answer. This goes for simple product knowledge questions to ongoing service questions, and – perhaps importantly – solutions to their problems. You must proactively prepare your staff with the knowledge they need to give customers the information they expect. 
10. Loyalty. You already know that the success of your business depends on customer loyalty. You should also consider that your customers expect loyalty from you as well. Stay true to your word. Don’t over-promise and under-deliver. Be honest. 

Understanding what your customers want is the first step in delivering what they need. It won’t be easy. Creating customer loyalty has to be part of your ongoing employee training program and, most importantly, part of your company culture. 

More Business Competition Insight  

For more tips on how to gain a competitive advantage for your business, check out the Culture of Convenience podcast. From maintaining a healthy culture in your company to exploring how other business owners make the magic happen, everyone can get something out of the Culture of Convenience. 

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Customer service is the backbone of any successful business. It not only resolves issues and addresses concerns but also creates memorable experiences that keep customers coming back. Exceptional customer service can set you apart from your competitors.  

 Great Customer Service Starts with LEAST 

An important aspect of providing customer service is the ability to deal with challenges when they arise. To solve these customer service challenges, remember this acronym: L.E.A.S.T. – Listen, Empathize, Apologize, Solve and Thank. 

• Listen: To show that you’re actively listening to your customer, repeat their concern: “I understand that we appear to be out of the item you’re looking for.” 
• Empathize: Show genuine concern while putting yourself in the customer’s shoes. 
• Apologize: A sincere “I’m sorry” goes a long way. “I’m sorry this happened. I’m happy to help fix it.” 
• Solve: Find a solution as best you can. You may not be able to completely solve the customer’s problem right that minute, but moving toward a solution is often enough. “It looks like we do not have any of that item in stock at the moment. Can I offer you an alternative that’s equally popular?” 
• Thank: Thank customers for bringing the problem to your attention and for simply being a customer. “Thank you for letting us know so we can get this corrected. Please come back again to try our fresh donuts!” 

Empower Employees to be Problem Solvers

Empower your employees to respond properly to any kind of customer service request. To be successful, they’ll need training on the LEAST technique and the autonomy to make good decisions. You’ll need to support them, even if they make mistakes from time to time. In those cases, it’s wise to discuss the matter privately, never in front of customers. A good way to start: “What could we have done differently to prevent the situation from occurring?” 

Employees who can solve problems and know they have the backing of management will provide great service. Employees should be able to take care of most customer service issues. Equally as important, make sure your customer service training teaches employees to recognize situations that truly require management involvement. 

Online Training for LEAST Problem Solving  

As part of our comprehensive Convenience Store Training suite, our Problem Solving Techniques module ensures your employees are properly trained in handling customer complaints and solving problems with the LEAST technique – all delivered through our trainingGrid® learning management system. This flexible system comes with a variety of robust features customizable to fit your needs in addition to built-in reporting and certification tools to help maintain compliance.    

Request a guided demonstration of trainingGrid® today! 

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