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Up-skilling Your Team

When small business grows, so do the challenges.

Staff not performing, efficiencies plummeting, prospects and sales falling through the cracks, communication and data are lost, managers feel helpless and chaos prevails…

Information doesn’t get passed on

Product knowledge & customer relationships deteriorate

mistakes

Mistakes are made

Disciplinary action backfires

Team members grow more disengaged

And slowly but surely the company culture that once was

energetic, bright, enthusiastic and productive

is replaced with

bureaucracy, blunders, in-fighting and team members that just don’t fit in…

Who hired these people anyway??

We know.

We’ve been through the process a few times ourselves over 3 decades, growing businesses from zero to multi-million-dollar enterprises.

But growth (especially fast growth) takes its toll on the owner, the team & of course the profitability of the business.

The ‘beast’ becomes impossible to control by one person at the top of the food chain.

Suddenly, the skills that served a micro business, no longer serve a growing SME.

Great Technicians who mastered the ‘product’ often don’t have the skills to deal with sales & customer service challenges.

Great salespeople sometimes end up becoming lousy sales managers & then leave.

Team members who used to work well together suddenly can’t stop bickering in heated public arguments.

It’s overwhelming, stressful & potentially taking your business to the brink of collapse if structure & change are not introduced fast.

Step 1

is seeing the signs.

Step 2

is realising that the team needs new skills & the managers need better hiring, coaching & communication skills.

Step 3

is to act FAST. Time is not on your side.

Small steps are a good start. As long as they’re in the right direction.

A culture of curiosity, learning and growth starts from the top and filters down the ranks.

Let’s consider the stats for a minute

Let's work it out ...

84%

of employees in Best Performing Organisations are receiving the training they need, a full 68% better than worst performing companies.*

8.6%

In a study of more than 3,100 U.S. workplaces, a 10% increase in the educational development produced an 8.6% gain in productivity.*

20%

Studies show that the real cost of replacing an employee start from around 20% of their salary, so an employee on say $60,000 would cost around $12,000 to replace considering recruitment, training and loss of productivity costs.*

35%

of millennials consider comprehensive training and development program as the top benefit they are looking to received from a company.*

12x

Employees who feel they cannot develop in the company and fulfil their career goals are 12 times more likely to leave the company.*

40%

of employees who receive poor job training leave their positions within the first year. They cite the lack of skills training and development as the principal reason for moving on.*

#1

The number 1 foundation for employee Empowerment is training and personal development. Empowerment manifests from team members feeling influential, autonomous, confident and valuable in their organisation.*

What are Soft Skills?

Soft skills are the skills that enable you to fit in at a workplace and work well with others. Soft skills are so important that they are often the reason employers decide whether to keep or promote an employee.

Soft skills are different from hard skills (also known as technical skills), which are directly relevant to the job. These are often more quantifiable, and easier to learn and measure than soft skills

Examples of Hard skills are:

In retail, you would need to know how to use a point-of-sale system

If accounting, you would need to know how to use Microsoft Excel or the accounting system most commonly used

If you’re a carpenter, you would need to use the machinery required to shape and finish the products you are producing.

Regardless of the job being done, the team member needs at least some soft skills in order to succeed at work. A team member needs to be able to get along well with all the people with whom they interact, including managers, co-workers, clients, vendors, customers, subordinates and anyone else they communicate with while on the job.

Examples of Soft skills are:

Communication

For example listening skills, negotiation, persuasion, presentation, public speaking, verbal and non-verbal communication, writing skills and telephone etiquette.

Critical Thinking

For example adaptability, creativity, problem solving, innovation, resourcefulness and troubleshooting.

Leadership

Which is not limited to management positions, including skills such as conflict resolution, decision making, dispute resolution as well as management-related skills such as giving performance feedback, motivating staff, meeting management, hiring staff, project management and coaching staff.

Teamwork

Being the skill to work well within a team such as self-awareness, collaboration, customer service, emotional intelligence, interpersonal relationships, office politics, diversity awareness and empathy.

Sales Skills

For example giving sales presentations, persuasion, negotiation, handling objections, writing proposals and networking.

Productivity

and Work Ethic

For example planning, time management, mindfulness, resilience, organisational skills, work-life balance and business ethics

Why is Soft Skills Training Critical?

#1

The number one reason given for staff members leaving a job is dissatisfaction with supervisors. It would make perfect sense therefore to invest considerably in training managers and supervisors on inter-personal skills as well as other critical management skills such as performance feedback, delegation, coaching and leadership.*

85%

of job success comes from having well-developed soft skills and inter-personal skills and only 15% of job success comes from technical skills and knowledge (hard skills). Therefore it is of no surprise that 77% of employers understand that soft skills (skills such as likeability, attitude, and the ability to communicate well with others) are just as important as hard skills*

#8

Out of eight most important qualities of Google’s top employees, technical skills came up LAST after a list of soft skills including communication skills, collaboration, coaching, problem solving and critical thinking.*

70%

is the increase in workplace stress (and reduction in life expectancy) is due to poor social relationships. A constructive working culture that is founded on positive interpersonal relationships attracts employees, making them more loyal to the leader and the organisation as well as bringing out their best strengths. Better results for the organisation include financial performance, customer satisfaction, productivity, and employee engagement.*

*References
IBM Smarter Workforce 2013 Training and Tenure Report
go2hr.ca study referenced
Daniel H. Pink writes in his 2011 bestseller, Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us
Frederick Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory of Motivation and related research, 2003
Research conducted by Harvard University, the Carnegie Foundation, and Stanford Research Center

Career Builder’s 2014 national survey
Project Oxygen, Google inc
Millennials at work Reshaping the workplace. PwC Report
Hr.blr.com Strategies-for-Retaining-Employees-and-Minimizing Turnover
The National Center on the Educational Quality of the Workforce (EQW)

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Why Use The Innovest eLearning Library?

92%

Is the estimated saving in cost of delivering learning online compared to live training*

24/7

eLearning is accessible to learners at any time, anywhere to learn at their own pace and in their own learning style.*

110+

Extensive range of 110+ courses, most of which revolve around soft skills including: communication, collaboration, problem solving, organisational change, management functions, salesmanship all through to presentation skills, phone etiquette, handling difficult customers, networking and much much more. See below for the full list of courses included in the Team Training library*

VAK

The Innovest library includes multiple methods for content delivery including video, audio, ebooks and quiz revisions for every module to suit most learning styles: Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic. Innovest also offer live on-site training courses for organisations that could benefit from the face-to-face training and personal coaching of a skilled instructor.*

25-200

Apart from being available as a single license membership (full access to courses without a team access facility), the Innovest eLearning team memberships offer team management features to oversee a team of users from 25 and up to 200 team members. The team leader can view the team progress, quiz results, gamification reward points and badges to help keep team on track and motivated to continue training.*

The Founders

Why Innovest Delivers Results?

Rick Chisholm

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Tala Chisholm

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We are Rick and Tala Chisholm, separate people, separate skill sets. We have founded and run over 30 small to medium businesses over the last 35 years. Between the two of us, the direct sales revenue has well exceeded $300 million.

Our experience spans across many differ industries including Education, Retail, Wholesale, Mentoring, Importing, Manufacturing, Installations, Hospitality, Franchising, Rental and e-commerce. If there was anyone that has tried and tested small business, it is us two!

We’ve been through the process of growing businesses from zero to $20mil over our entrepreneurial career in record time, If there’s anyone out there who understands the stresses and strains of business growth and the pressure that it places on the owner and on the business, it would be us.

Benefit from our experiences, don’t go through the same agonising learning curve that we’ve had to endure. Looking back at it, we’ve realised how high the price has been that we have paid, not only in dollars but more so in sleepless nights, stress and frustration.

Get your hands on:

  • Unlimited access to 110+ Team up-skilling video courses with quiz questions
  • Unlimited access to upcoming localised Australian courses currently in production e.g. Legal, Accounting, WHS, Marketing, HR, Business Continuity, Event management and more
  • Learning Gamification using reward points and bonus progress badges

If this sounds like you, then go ahead and try out our online training library FOR FREE for a whole month!

This is perfect for you if you:

  • Are overseeing one or more teams
  • Are looking for a faster, more efficient way of training your team using an online platform
  • Would like to give your team access to a large library of training on critical topics including management, communication skills, sales, handling difficult customers, presentation skills and much more without delivering the training yourself
  • Are looking for a smart deal with minimum risk and maximum return that will not weigh down your business or training budget.

5 Star

This Team Training Library could save up to 20 hours per week in staff training!

Jeff Testa
Sasha Borges
Consultant, PwC Australia

5 Star

The Library covers just about everything an SME could want for their staff, What you have is the convenience of a one-stop-shop. It’s just brilliant!

Jeff Testa
Kurt Newman
MD, Sales Consultants

5 Star

The training and material is easily worth up to $7,000-10,000 per year to a firm like ours, Not to mention the hours saved in delivering training internally.

Jeff Testa
William Wong
Partner, Hammerjack Accounting & Finance

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5 Star

The platform is certainly very easy to use and the topic library is quite comprehensive!

Daniel Simmons
Daniel Simmons
Associate, MJC Partners

5 Star

You have a terrific array of courses! The Team Training course library is quite comprehensive and so easy to use, Such training would be worth at least between $5 and $10 per month per team member!

Dr. Samantha Hornery
Dr. Samantha Hornery
Learning Links

5 Star

I found the platform is quite easy to use. End to end user experience is quite comprehensive, We could easily spend more than $10/team member per month for this level of team up-skilling

Ron Islam
Ron Islam
Entrepreneur, Co-Founder & CEO, Inveitco

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Here is the full training course library as it stands now.
We are adding new courses every month so you will never run out of training material!

10 Sales Secrets to Skyrocket Your Conversions

Managing Meetings for Maximum Effectiveness

Staff Recognition: How to Build a Loyal Team

Finding and Recruiting Star Performers

The Art of Networking with Clients, Suppliers and Alliance Partners

Dealing with Generation Gaps

Manage Your Time, Accelerate Your Efficiency

Team Building Essentials for Better Teamwork

Skyrocket your Team Results with Effective Performance Feedback

Productivity Secrets of the Star Performers

Writing Effective Formal Proposals

Managing Projects to Completion

Developing your Presentation Skills

Remote Virtual Team Building and Management

The Manager’s Guide to Team Building

Dealing with Social Media in the Workplace

Success in Lead Generation and Prospecting

Maintaining Workplace Safety

How to Motivate your Sales Team

Build a Solid Team: Hiring Strategies for your Business

How to Measure Training Effectiveness

How To Deal With Difficult Customers

New Manager Training and Development

Better Results Through Constructive Criticism

Managing Team Leaders and Managers

How to Manage a Crisis Situation in your Organisation

Managing Knowledge within your Organisation

Managing the Organisation’s Human Resources

Working Remotely or Commuting

Supply Chain Management

Understanding Social Learning

The Skills of a Great Facilitator

Successful Trade Show Management and Staffing

Using Appreciative Enquiry in your Communications

Safe Digital Technology Engagement

Corporate Behaviour as a Culture

Lunch and Learn as a Training Strategy

Critical Thinking Skills

Webinar Success

Training Contact Centre Teams

Leading by Example

Success in Leadership And Influence

Civility in your Organisation

Succession Planning Essentials Every Manager Needs to Know

Ethics in Business

Developing your Business Acumen

Managing Company Records and Archiving

Mental Skills for Adult Learning

Developing High Performance Teams In-House

How to Motivate your Team and Reach New Heights

Being a Middle Manager

Managing Change In Your Organisation

Dealing with Violence in the Workplace

Improve your Relationships with Social Intelligence

The Essentials of Sales Methodology

Assess, Manage and Mitigate Risk in your Organisation

Mastering Public Speaking to Skyrocket your Career

Turning NO into YES: How to Overcome Sales Objections

Developing your Organisational Skills

Understanding and Managing Office Politics for Managers

The Art of Networking with Clients and Suppliers

Negotiate your Way to Success

Work-Life Balance

Women in Leadership

Training the Trainers

On-boarding Millennials in your Organisation

Telephone Communication Guidelines

Successful Relationships Through Improved Interpersonal Skills

The Basics of Internet Marketing for SMEs

Self Improvement Through Greater Self-Awareness

Staff Termination Procedures

Managing Talent

PR: Managing your Relationship with the Media

Proactivity and Initiative

Dealing with Workplace Anxiety

How to Manage your Personal Finances

Using Lean Process and Six Sigma to Improve Quality Affordably

A Happier You: The Key To A Better Work-Life Balance

Transitioning From Colleague To Supervisor

Mindfulness, Your Key To Better Interactions

Developing High Performance Teams Remotely

The Work – Health Balance

Set Your Goals For Maximum Productivity

Hero Behind the Scenes: Executive and Personal Assistants

Increase your Influence with Emotional Intelligence

Encouraging and Developing Creativity in your Organisation

Customer Support Essentials

Impressive Customer Service

The Art of Problem Solving

Master the Art of Conflict Resolution

How to Conduct Effective Staff Reviews

Achieve Collaboration with Better Business Writing

Training your Call Centre Team

Managing Stress In The Workplace

The Little Known Secrets of Business Etiquette

Improve your Results by Becoming a Likeable Boss

Communication: It’s Not About the Words

The Hidden Messages of Body Language

Social Media Marketing

Master your Attention and Quadruple your Productivity

The Confident Speaker: Your Everyday Guide to Assertiveness

Tame your Anger. Its Costing you A Fortune: Anger Management Techniques

The Hard Reality About Soft Skills

The Admin Assistant’s Ultimate Guide

Internet Security Essentials

The Sales Manager’s Guide to Coaching Salespeople

Professional Business Writing Skills

Planning Your Events

Start Right: Your Guide to Staff On-boarding

Office Administration Essentials

Your Personal Brand, Your Biggest Asset

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Or

Click on your most relevant Team Size box below

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SINGLE LICENCE

Unlimited access to the courses within your organisation, There is no assessment or management under a single licence

Under $3/day

Try it Free

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TEAM OF 25 LICENCE

Oversee up to 25 active team members View their courses, gradebooks, reward point balance and current badges.

Under $5/person/month

Try it Free

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TEAM OF 50 LICENCE

Oversee up to 50 active team members
View their courses, gradebooks, reward point balance and current badges.

Under $3.50/person/month

Try it Free

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TEAM OF 100 LICENCE

Oversee up to 100 active team members
View their courses, gradebooks, reward point balance and current badges.

Under $2.25/person/month

Try it Free

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TEAM OF 200 LICENCE

Oversee up to 200 active team members
View their courses, gradebooks, reward point balance and current badges.

Under $1.53/person/month

Try it Free

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Your Own Branded eLearning Platform

Unlimited access to the courses within your organisation, There is no assessment or management under a single licence

Under $14/day

Try it Free

5 Star

There were lots of topics being covered and most were applicable to many industries, Content mostly suited for management in our organisation. Pretty straight forward.

Hannah Essaih
Hannah Essaih
Director, Reboundrehab Pty Ltd

5 Star

Many training aspects are covered! I can also see good value in the upcoming topics of Legal areas, OHS and Business Continuity & disaster recovery!

Will Fiedler
Will Fiedler
Human Resources, Homeloans Ltd

5 Star

Very comprehensive course library and easy to use! Easily worth more than $10/person per month..

Therese Maran
Therese Maran
The Next Day Coaching

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