Avoiding Litigation Landmines

Here we have another title that speaks to the necessity for professionally documented discipline files. This is a well produced title that illustrates a common and realistic scenario.

An established employee has begun to raise the attention of a newly appointed supervisor. The female manager feels her gender may be a factor in the employee's reluctance to acknowledge her disapproval. She slowly realizes the importance of documenting the corrective actions she is taking. This documentation dossier will later serve as fodder for a wrongful termination lawsuit.

Like many other compliance training videos Avoiding Litigation Landmines emphasizes the pitfalls of including opinion or commentary in a discipline document. The supervisor makes the error of alluding to his age as a contributing factor to his inability to learn new methods of conducting business. When his case goes to trial this one sentence accusation threatens to undermine her legitimate reasons for terminating his employment.

This is a movie that I feel is a strong tool for teaching managers the dangers of improperly documented disciplinary actions. It includes commentary by professionals and the themes presented translate well to several industries.

To find out more about Avoiding Litigation Landmines please click this link.

Documenting Discipline 2

An unfortunate reality of the workplace is the necessity for employee discipline. In most instances, poor behavior can be corrected with a brief discussion of the shortcoming and it's effect on productivity or morale. However, when ill performance becomes habitual stronger measures may be necessary. In those instances, termination needs to be backed up by a litany of documented offenses.

Documenting Discipline is a great tool for teaching the fundamentals of verbal and written warnings in the workplace. The focus of this movie is staying on message with your documentation. While it is tempting to fault an employee for a 'bad attitude' or 'laziness' those are characteristics grounded in perception rather than fact. This video will teach Supervisors to focus on what is observable and measurable. If an employee is consistently tardy you can observe how often and how late he is. If he is ill-prepared for work you can remark how and when. Both of these examples may speak to a generally lazy work ethos without using subjective language.

The strength of Documenting Discipline lies in it's realistic portrayal of an employee being misleading and fraudulent. It shows how discipline (and subsequent termination) is made easier when corrective action is taken through the appropriately documented channels.

To find out more about this video please click this link.

Meetings Bloody Meetings training movie

Today I'd like to write a little bit about a very popular training movie that focuses on business meetings. Meetings Bloody Meetings is a movie starring John Cleese of Monty Python fame. Cleese has launched an extremely successful and highly entertaining line of training movies over the last few decades. While I remain a big fan of both his cinematic productions and his training movies this one is growing long in the tooth.

First of all, I would like to point out that the shelf life for a training movie is rarely longer than ten years. Fifteen years is definitely pushing it and few products are effective when the hair and clothing are more interesting to the audience than the content. Exceptions exist (see: the Sid Story) but by and large- and I say this as a Generation X'er- antiquated training movies can end up being the butt of a joke rather than the helpful tool you thought you invested in.

I enjoy the message in Meetings Bloody Meetings. The importance of inviting the right people, starting on time, sticking with the agenda and keeping order are very valid points and are presented in a humorous and clever way. The movie fails in it's length (thirty minutes) and the grainy, early eighties video and sound production.

I realize I'm not being particularly fair by basing my critique of this squarely on it's age but compared to the newer movies made by Cleese that focus on the same topics this is old-hat. Nonetheless, Cleese made a winner and that is apparent in it's seemingly unending popularity.

To find out more about this training movie please click this link.

Is "Good" Enough Training Movie

Welcome to the latest installment of masterpiece employee development. Today I'd like to talk to you about the newest training movie release from Media Partners Corporation titled Is "Good" Enough? This short meeting opener revolves around a simple question: what is the price of mediocrity?

It is generally accepted that 99.9% is a good mark to shoot for when we're talking about mistakes on the job. But is that the reality? Is "good" enough? Consider for a moment what the implications of 99.9% being good enough actually amounts to (taken from the video):

-470 dictionary definitions would be misspelled.

-1,902 people would contract food borne illness every two minutes.

-44,230 prescriptions would be mislabeled every year.


My my my... That does paint a different picture, doesn't it? Of course figures like these can make things feel hopeless. Why do we even get out of bed in the morning if 99.9% isn't good enough? Well, the point here is strive for your best and not settle for mediocrity when you know you can do better.

This is an interesting movie that combines clever graphics with thoughtful statistics. The short meeting opener can be viewed with or without narration and on a continuous loop for use on a conference television or to play while people are entering your meeting room. At $295.00 it's a bargain.

To find out more about this movie please click this link.

The Sid Story training video

For it's age this is a pretty good training video. It also stars Dennis Franz of NYPD Blue fame.

Sid is a supervisor at a plant with poor productivity ratings. He supervises the night shift who regularly is the least productive crew. He receives a visit from a business consultant who encourages him to start giving productivity scores to his employees.

Sid is resistant to the changes but when he notices improvements he develops his own style of improving productivity. He gives the crew an incentive to receive 100% efficiency- a loaf of pumpkin bread for each guy.

When the plan works, the company CEO tries to replicate the plan by giving employees a free $3 lunch for each week of 100% productivity. It fails miserably.

When the CEO and Sid get together to discuss why the plan failed they come to the realization that they need, what Sid calls, "planned spontaneous recognition."

What's great about this movie is how lifelike and realistic it is. Obviously Franz brings a lot of that to the production but it is truly a fun and entertaining story with some great moments. It remains an excellent coaching title, especially for blue collar employees.

For more information on this video please click this link.

Village of 100 training video

There's not too much to say about this training video. I will say this: totally fun and a great idea. This is a short "meeting opener" that was inspired by a popular e-mail chain. The question posed: what would the world look like if you compressed the population down to 100 people? How many African-Americans would there be? How many Japanese people? Homosexuals? Christians? Blind people?

The answers are both startling and inspiring. The brilliance behind this video is that it can prompt so much intelligent conversation in just three minutes. Very cool indeed.

For more information on this training video please click this link.

Leaderfish training video

Inspired by the leadership and teamwork training video Fish! comes the latest follow up titled Leaderfish! The original film has been a huge success. It focuses on some basic principles like "choosing your attitude" to improve your work environment. I do like the video but feel this falls short of practical leadership training.

Full disclosure: I live in Seattle, visit Pike Place Market regularly and absolutely love the fish mongers. They're hilarious! They spend the day entertaining each other and the customers and have become the biggest attraction at the biggest tourist destination in town! Seriously.

The "Fish Philosophy" goes something like this: your job is what you make it. So why not make it fun? That's a wonderful paradigm that can be applied to all areas of life.

Maybe I'm a cynic (again, full disclosure: I am a cynic) but the stress of a job can be pretty encompassing. That is where the Fish Philosophy faces it's greatest challenge. Work is not always fun. If work was always fun they would call it something else (the word 'golf' comes to mind.) Leaderfish attempts to overcome this obstacle and help supervisors choose a positive attitude in their managerial duties. Whether or not it's successful at achieving these lofty goals remains to be seen.

Leaderfish! has it's place in the training industry. This program is meant to be more of an individual training journey. The product is sold with a vast guide that helps you bring the "fish philosophy" into your personal life. The best thing I can say about this is the price. Compared to the pricey original this is a bargain at $249.00.

For more information on this video please click this link.

Everyday Creativity training video

Everyday Creativity is a popular training video that helps motivate employees and encourages innovative approaches to problem solving. While I find the video to be a little too brainy or ethereal it's hard not to enjoy it.

This is part of a series of training videos featuring National Geographic photographer Dewitt Jones. The twenty-minute feature displays beautiful footage of far-away lands set to mellow music and Dewitt's calm, steady narration.

I can see this video working well for any level of employee. That is what makes it so brilliant- it transcends industries and pay grades to be a thoughtful and articulate product.

My general yardstick for measuring training videos is what I call "the PBS question." Is this of the quality and entertainment value of something on public television? The answer here is a resounding yes!

For more information on this video please click this link.

More Than a Gut Feeling 3 training video

This is a wildly popular video that teaches good behavioral interviewing skills. So popular that it has been remade twice. Of all the business training videos on the market this product consistently sells well.

The story line is somewhat predictable: two people sitting next to each other on a plane begin discussing there business traveling plans. A man is on his way to conduct interviews and the woman (wait for it...) is on her way to interview for a position (wonder how this will end?) with a large corporation.

The skills taught in this film are tried-and-true. One aspect of hiring that is often lost on people is the importance of consistency in your interviews. In order to properly equate different potential employees you need a verifiable method of contrasting people. This can be done by rating answers on a scale of 1-5 so that you can calculate an overall score for the interview once it is complete.

More Than a Gut Feeling 3 does a nice job of instructing you on this method of hiring. Of all the interviewing films on the market this remains one of my favorites.

For more information on this video please click this link.