At Cloudstaff, we hire more people in a week than most businesses do in a year. We on-board many different people with many different skills and very diverse personalities for many different roles.
Cloudstaff commenced operations in 2009, and one of the most important lessons we have learnt over the years is that investing in training is essential. It not only improves the obvious core skills required for the role, but also the soft skills which are often overlooked. In 2014, we created a dedicated Training Department and have seen the benefits of our extended training programs first-hand, especially in the area of management training.
Promoting from within
We had a lot to learn, especially about choosing future managers. We would typically promote staff who were trusted, hard-working, loyal, smart, dedicated, punctual, and had great attitudes – they were true Cloudstaff Rockstars! We naturally thought these were the perfect people to promote to team leaders and managers. It came as a bit of a shock when sometimes these people did not perform as expected in their new roles, or worse, they sometimes had a negative effect on the entire team.
Two ways you notice failure
Negative impact can range from “slow downward spiral” to “instant train wreck”. Slow degradation of a team can be seen in decreasing morale and performance, and an increase in attendance issues. The “train wreck”, while rare, is much more spectacular – the team explodes like a scene from the movie “Network” where Howard Beale, a veteran news anchor, shouted, “I’m not going to take this anymore!”
Clash Management Culture
Even when you appoint an experienced local team lead, the management style in Asia tends to be autocratic, in contrast to Western management which is typically more relaxed. The differences in management culture can have a disruptive impact on outcomes and morale.
Solving the problem
The Cloudstaff Training Department designed the “Aspiring Leaders Program” to teach real-world, proven management techniques to staff, and give them the tools to be effective cross-cultural managers.
The course
This program consists of 12 three-hour sessions that introduce the staff to concepts like Servant-Leadership, Conflict of Interest, Human Interactions, Cultural Awareness, Response Management, and many other tools for successful leadership.
The program does not end at graduation. The graduates participate in quarterly face-to-face meet-ups and content “top-ups”. They also use online tools to share their experiences and to mentor others in a peer-to-peer information sharing environment.
Find out more
The Aspiring Leaders Program is a fantastic course, and the staff really benefit from it. If you have Cloudstaffers and would like to find out more about the benefits of the Aspiring Leaders program, please contact your Customer Care Manager.