Articles

On a sweltering summer afternoon in 1921, Babe Ruth belted a home run deep into the bleachers at the Polo Grounds, then took a car down Broadway to a laboratory at Columbia University, where two grad students in the department of psychology prodded and poked at him for three hours in an attempt to figure out why he could hit so many more home runs than any other person on the planet.

Winslow Reports have been around for more than 40 years. Most WRI clients are small and medium-sized businesses, but many (such as Oracle and BART) have thousands of employees. Winslow Reports are also used by most major coaching companies for programs by Zig Ziglar, Steven Covey, Jack Canfield, Robert Kiyosaki and others.

For years, I’ve written and spoken about the importance of predictive testing to evaluate employees and determine whether they are wired for the work you need them to perform on the job. The costs of hiring the wrong person are devastating! Training, motivating, and coaching someone without a talent for the job at hand is a colossal waste of resources. In fact, in my hundreds of consulting and training presentations over the years, the biggest mistake I see dealers and managers make is investing in people who shouldn’t be on the payroll to begin with, or are in a role they are not wired to perform.

Like most people who endeavor to improve their skill sets, knowledge, and overall performance, I was confident that I was sharpening the correct tools needed for advancement. Further, in working with my sales team, I felt I had a well-honed view of where they were as individuals, and a firm handle on our sales team as a whole. This was until I met with Mark Lillis, one of the Certified Consultants of the Winslow Research and Development Institute.

With increasing competition, advances in technology and science, and more challenges in the marketplace, leadership has become unquestionably vital to the success of any organization. Change is now our constant companion at an ever increasing rate of speed. In response, a growing number of organizations are investing more time and dollars to educate, train and develop their leaders. As Jack Welch stated during his tenure with GE, “The day we screw up the people thing, this company is over.”

On the eve of the one-year anniversary of the introduction of the Winslow Development Programme (Winslow) in the Customer Services Department, we reflect on its use and impact on the lives of eight employees who have undergone the process.

The Company is looking into opportunities to improve the effectiveness of the training it provides for its employees. The effects and behavioural changes resulting from some of the various training programmes are short-term and staff’s commitment to the requisite change is limited. In addition, training requirements are not clearly identified and certain programmes do not target the specific areas of need. In order for the Company to meet the future challenges it is likely to face, it will have to develop a cadre of self-managed employees who are able to respond to the growing needs of its customers, sometimes independent of their supervisor.