Lack of Common Core Experience

Many of us assume that the learners have a common experience that the instructor has. We tailor our lessons plans and our communication to the experience we have gained assuming the learners have the same. Instructors cannot assume a common experience we have to establish the learners experience before teaching so we can avoid analogies and explanations.

A recently instructor evaluation monitored the following exchange:

Instructor: “Power supply to the Trim Pump is 4B.”

Learner: “What's 4B?”

Instructor: “It's the DC Power source”

Learner: “What's DC Power?”

It was assumed that the learners knew the basics of AC/DC power; however, it is not always the case. We do not have common experience.

Overuse of Abstractions

Abstractions are concepts, ideas or words that are not directly related to the subject being discussed. Always speak in concrete terms. Limit the use of an acronym that have become standard in our technological language, unless you are sure the learner knows these acronyms. Some learners may not understand the use of "basic" acronyms. For instance when the instructor describes the DCPO does he mean the Duty Chief Petty Officer or the Ship's Damage Control Petty Officer?

Always use clear and precise communications. This is especially true when dealing with learners from different cultures. Using even the most basic colloquialism can be confusing.

Fear

Fear is perhaps the greatest barrier to effective communications. Learners have a fear of showing ignorance, being ridiculed, losing status and a fear of judgment.

Instructors need to build an atmosphere of mutual respect amongst learners. A threat free environment inside that classroom will ensure learners participate and contribute to class discussions.

Environmental Factors

Environmental factors include the temperature of your classroom, the pictures or charts on the classroom wall, distracting noises, etc.

Some conditions in the classrooms cannot be eliminated. The noisy air conditioner required to keep the classroom cold for equipment performance has to be addressed with the learners. Inform them before hand that the lab is required to be cold and allow them to change their uniform so they are comfortable.

Build a community of respect and comfort in your classroom. This community of respect will ensure that learners provide feedback on your communications as well as the level of curriculum being taught.

If you are coordinating and conducting a workshop, the tips below will be useful in making your workshop a success.

PRE-WORKSHOP

 Course design and developments

     The pre-workshop components are the foundation for a successful workshop. Remember the phrase "Begin with the end in mind". It is crucial to start with identifying the purpose and objective of the workshop, i.e. what do you want the workshop to achieve. It is recommended that the workshop objectives be competency-based to ensure that the attendees will be competent in the skills taught.

      Next, prepare the lesson plan and time table and identify the equipment and materials required. Then, write the course content and plan the sequence. After that, prepare the workshop materials such as participants manuals, handouts and slides. Do prepare extra copies as some people might just turn up on the day of the workshop without prior notification.

Developing the brochure

     The brochure is an important marketing and positioning tool and provides credibility to the whole workshop. It should include the following information :

•  workshop title
• date
• time
• venue
• purpose
• objectives
• benefits
• course outline
• facilitator's name and biodata
• targeted participants
• contact details; i.e. name, phone number, email address and fee (with deadline).

     It is also recommended to include registration form, payment information (cheque payable to whom) and the contact details of the organizer. Ensure that the workshop information is easily accessible and understandable. If the brochure includes a cut-off registration form, ensure that there isn't any important information on the reverse side of the form. The pricing should be determined by the nature of your workshop and your target market.

Publicizing the workshop             

     Give yourself adequate time to publicize your workshop. The type of advertising will vary depending on the workshop and the target audience. The main modes of advertising are via newspapers, magazines, press releases, bulk mailing, email distribution lists, internet, SMS, brochures/flyers, direct mail, newsletters, web pages, word of mouth and networking.

LOGISTICAL ARRANGEMENTS            

 Training environment

     Identify the training environment and book the venue. Visit the location before deciding if it will meet your needs. Make sure that lightning, size and shape of the room are adequate. In addition, consider the ventilation, facilities, accessibility, parking and rental. Determine also if refreshments will be served, and if so, what kind and how much.

Setting arrangements

     If you are holding the training at hotel, ensure that the hotel staff set up the backdrop and arrange the seating prior to the workshop. Select an appropriate seating arrangement – cluster, classroom style, V-shaped, U-shaped, lecture style, etc. This also depends on the number of participants attending. Set up tables and chairs for the registration area at the entrance of the room. If the venue is large, display signs at strategic locations so that participants will know exactly which room to go to upon arrival at the venue.

Equipment and materials

     Set up essential equipment like the DLP / LCD / OHP projector, laptop, microphone, CD / DVD player and video player. Check the sound and lightning and ensure that all equipment are functioning properly before the training session begins. If you are using a sound system provided by the venue, ensure that the equipment is in working order and that someone on-site is available on the day of the event, in case of problems. Prepare flipchart, marker pens, pencils, paper and certificates (if required) and have extra items on hand, just in case.

Handling the registration process

     Compile a list of names of all registered participants. Have the participants sign in their attendance when they arrive. In addition, prepare name tags or name tents. These can either be pre-written so that participants only need to pick up their tag or tent upon arrival, or they can write their own name tags or tents upon arrival.

DURING WORKSHOP

      Start with an ice-breaking session to establish a comfortable atmosphere. Brief the participants on administrative guidelines; meals, parking, workshop schedule, etc. Explain the workshop objectives to the participants and inform them what they will gain at the end of the workshop.

     Check their current knowledge and manage their expectations. It would be useful to have an understanding of who your participants are, their background and the reasons why they attend your workshop. Adapt to the participants’ level of understanding and be aware of group dynamics. By assessing the level of understanding, you can then tailor your presentation to the knowledge or skills level of the participants.

     Utilize various training methods to ensure effective transfer of learning – accelerated learning, experiential learning, case studies, discussion, demonstration, music, videos, etc. Variation of training methods promotes learning, as each participants may have a different learning style. Use effective presentation skills when delivering the training. Be passionate about what you deliver. Do encourage discussion and feedback. Often, participants have experiences and insights that will be useful to the group.

END OF WORKSHOP

     Conduct an assessment to check whether the participants have acquired the skills and knowledge taught. Assessment may include practical exercises, observation, oral or written questions and assignments.

     Issue an evaluation form to obtain feedback regarding the facilitator, course content, and facilities. The feedback will assist in the improvement of future programs.

POST-WORKSHOP

 

Follow up with the participants a few weeks or months later to see how they have applied their skills and knowledge to real-life situations.

1. Personally posses a high level of integrity of life style, integrity of the Heart, integrity of job performance, and confidentiality a must, whether personal or job related
2. Possess a strong ability to organize, set major priorities, by not waiting for the last minute to work on assignments, even though it is due far in the future, but because one is proactive, the majority of the work should be accomplished far in advance. No one knows what the future holds, and that person who is assigned the responsibility may not be available to fulfill the assignment at the last minute. Thus being proactive, anyone would be able to complete the assigned task without having to perform any major responsibilities, because the bulk of the activity has been accomplished. Therefore, the assignment can be completed in a timely manner.
3. Proactively possess very strong and effective communicating and strong verbal and written skills; keeping and being mindful, to always communicate with tact and diplomacy to always promote “the Power of Attitude”. A person's attitude will always become aware or come across whenever one is communicating internally or externally.
4. One has to always try to avail oneself as a team player, however; the power of any team lies within the maturity of the team members, thus possessing the ability to be able to embrace new ideas, opinions and view points of each individual member; fostering and promoting a united front, in order to achieve goals and respect and anticipate the needs of others
5. It is vitality important to be able to share ones knowledge with others so that each and every individual is highly informed and kept in the loop of matters pertaining to the vision and mission of any organization
6. One of my strongest points lays in the ability of conflict resolution skills. Keeping in mind that each person is to be approached in a manner that they wish to be approached; always to leave a person feeling that they matter and that each person is to be valued for who they are and never made to feel that they do not matter. When someone may have come across in a manner which one feels is inappropriate, it is always best to approach that person at a later date, because one may say something that one may be sorry for later, but by waiting, and reviewing the situation, they can access the matter and deal with the issue in a more, calm and intelligent manner. Remembering, it is not how one treats you, that matters, however, it is how you treat them. No one is responsible for anyone else's behavior or response.

That is an easy one to answer, I am speaking from experience. I am the person that you would never ever want to hire to do your training. I am the type of person that believes if I can do this then everyone else should be able to do it “just like me”. For instance I type some where around 100 wpm. And if I can do it why can't you? Unfortunately that is not my only fall back. If you do not do it as fast as I can, then I have the bad happen of trying to take over and finish if for you! When you are training someone, that is just not the thing to do! So if you happen to see a woman with gray hair heading into your company to be a trainer, be sure to ask if it is me!!!

However, what I have found from buying currently operational businesses is that you are buying the present owners mistakes and the customer base. You have to stitch up those problems before trying to make a transition. I actually prefer empty shells. You can start fresh with your own ideas and develop your own customer base that will be more devoted to your business practices.

You have 2 options when leasing or buying a location in a strip center that's new or old.

The Pros of finding a location in a new commercial center is that the owner of the complex may be willing to provide you with a build-out. They will actually put in the flooring, the walls, the fixtures, etc to get you in as quickly as possible. This, of course, eliminates the need for contractors, permits, and other rising costs. The Con being once they have all of this completed, will you actually know what to do with it?

There are also Pros and Cons of being next to Anchor stores in a commercial center. The Pro being that those stores will drive traffic to themselves, as well as to you. The Con being, other big name corporate restaurants will be there to, so how will you set yourself apart. Residing in an older commercial strip will place you next to stores that have been there for years that have built up their reputation. However, there may be an older anchor store that is not producing as well as it used to, right next to you.

Picking a free standing building will be very costly however; you can also find these locations to rent as well. The best free standing buildings have all of the same qualities in mind. These locations are easily accessible; they are in high traffic areas; they are highly visible; they stand out; there is an abundance of parking; they are clean and well maintained; the building fits or matches the demographic.

The resources are endless but will you know what needs to be done when you obtain that building.

Use your time wisely.

While you are waiting to open your restaurant you will be visiting the Business and Professional Regulation Board many times, getting Serv Safe certified as a Manager, getting your Sales tax number, FEIN, Structuring your business(INC, LLC, I.E.), filing for a fictitious name, writing plan reviews, buying equipment, hiring employees, and menu planning.
There are so many factors that will influence the success of your location. If you have any further questions, please leave comments and will answer them as soon as I can.
I have been around the business since I was 5 years old. My uncle owns and operated dozens of different types of restaurants. And I worked with him. I have a Culinary Degree, a Hospitality Management Degree, an Accredited Executive Chef certificate, and I just won First and Second Place at the Taste of Mount Dora.

Trust me; this information is a labor of love. Good Luck to all of you.

 

 

Sporting Analogies

The use of sports analogies and terminology is as de rigueur in the business world as it is cringe-inducing. This is largely on account of phrases like "stepping up to the plate" being used by middle-aged bozos who clearly have no interest in sport - or indeed anything outside of work - in order to build some kind of connection with their (usually younger) staff who do have outside interests. In the UK, it's bad enough when these so-not-down-with-the-kids-it-hurts management types make assumptions about the hobbies and interests of their staff and start shoehorning in references to "goals" and "getting over the line" and "getting a hole in one" and "kabaddi kabaddi kabaddi" (ok, I made that one up), but when they use phrases that relate to sports not played - or watched - in the UK, the absurdity of the use of sports-related terms becomes particularly apparent.

Skills: Hard and Soft

Whatever your line of work, you need skills. Without skills, you can't do the job - whatever it may be. So, it stands to reason that companies need skilled employees, whatever their line of business, be it refuse collecting, shelf-stacking, pizza delivery, brain surgery or aeronautics. But it's only really in an office environment that you'll find people extolling the virtues of the staff wit the right "soft skills." According to a recent BBC report, "many graduates lack soft skills." But what are these skills, which, apparently, "recognised as key to making businesses more profitable and better places to work" according to a number of sources?

Perhaps unsurprisingly, the definition is as broad as to be near meaningless, as is often the case with the "conceptual" aspect of business. Fundamentally, soft skills relate to a person's interpersonal skills, their possessing a responsible demeanour, their ability to self-manage, negotiate, and their levels of honesty and integrity. Of course, soft skills don't necessarily reflect one's ability to actually do the job. Moreover, if an interviewer simply isn't keen on an applicant, even if they have the best experience and are the best qualified for the job, they can turn them down with the excuse - sorry, justification - that they "didn"t possess the right soft skills.' And what the hell is a "hard skill" is such a thing exists?

Roll Up, Roll Up, Roll Out

The word "roll" has a number of meanings, according to the dictionary. It can be a cylinder, a small bread loaf, a list or register, or, when used as a verb, indicates turning over and over on an axis. However, in business speak, to "roll out" means to introduce broadly. Of course, sometimes a "roll-out" can be company wide, while others can see a small team of three our four adopt a new process, in which case said process is "rolled out" to the team or department. The term has recently crossed into common parlance, and often appears in news stories. Indeed, a recent advertisement for an airliner stated that certain services - food, reclining seats, or somesuch - were being rolled out across all flights in the coming months. In light of this, the dominance of the term seems to suggest that rolling out may be analogous to the action of a steamroller.

Blameshifting

You've fucked up. Royally. So royally you could probably even find yourself out of a job. Do you grovel for your life and your career? No, of course not. You point the finger. So-and-so fed me the wrong stats, or didn't provide them on schedule. So-and-so completely failed to touch base when he was supposed to, and consequently you had no idea he'd taken the project in completely the wrong tangent. So-and-so gets hauled over the coals, and your job is safe. Yes, let some other poor cunt take the heat. The blame.... has been shifted. And that... is blameshifting.

Passing the Buck

Sometimes there's no blame as such. But in business, you need the right tools, and the right support from the right people. Which, for those in higher management, means a lot of people who sit around and nod in agreement and make encouraging noises during meetings, agree to do everything suggested, and then delegate the task of actually doing what's been agreed to some poorly paid sucker further down the food chain. So, when progress is slower than the higher management wants, it's not the fault of the nodding, encouraging cronies. It's because the guys they delegated to aren't pulling their weight, or encountered various obstacles or "blockages."

Ask the poorly paid sucker about the obstacles, and you'll find another, even moor poorly paid sucker has encountered problems - IT issues, or all the staff on his department have been off sick or quit and not been replaced. On referring to IT or HR about their involvement, it will transpire there are budget issues. Probably a shortfall because someone in higher management is being a tightwad. And so it goes on, up and down, to and fro, along and along. Passing the buck can be a very effective career strategy, and doing it well without ever being caught without an excuse is a valuable skill. A soft one, no doubt.

Capture That Data

The connotations of "capture" to the majority of people, are, I would expect, suggestive of being caught or taking prisoners rather than suggesting anything to do with information. But given the way so much information gets misused and misinterpreted, it's perhaps fitting that to gather and record information and numbers is referred to as capturing the data. After all, you just know all that data's begging to be set free again....

Flow Charts

Planning is everything in business. Indeed, for some people, planning is a full-time job. But "planning stuff" doesn't sound particularly sexy, and so to pretty things up, charts and illustrations - usually done on Powerpoint - are favoured by these tedious nerds. So, you want to know how something happens? Sure. But "you go from A to C via B really isn"t impressive, which is why jazzing things up with boxes connected by lines and arrows is the thing to do. But then, "boxes connected by lines and arrows" doesn't sound too impressive either, which is why Flow Charts and Process Maps were invented. It makes the data you've captured look cool and sound cool and, better still, co-ordinated, rendering a haphazard pile of papers being shunted between desks a smooth, linear sequence of events. Clever huh?

Acronymamania!

“Quick! I need a SOAP ASAP! And I need that MI PDQ, I'm in a telecon in five!” you've probably heard such things being said - or yelled - countless times by managers and management suck-ups if you happen to work in an office. If you know what the fuck they're on about, then it's a fair sign that you've probably been there for too long. Time is money. Using words takes time, and therefore costs money. Thus, to save money, acronyms can be immensely useful. Acronyms aren't terrible per se, and nor are they found exclusively in the business domain. But in the corporate environment, managers and people on projects have a habit of cooking up new ones and creating acronyms for things that probably don't really need or warrant acronyms behind closed doors and in exclusive meetings. “Yes, we need to really start pushing them on the Scheme for Outreach Directives, going forward... that way, we can really start Making a Difference and provide Good Value for Money, going forward.”

Quite forgetting that these new terms aren't common knowledge, a mass communication will be circulated around the entire company, and it will be littered with these obscure sequences of capital letters without any explanation of their meaning: "All staff, FYI: Project Beckham is pleased to announce that Bill McToss will be the CUNT going forward. PB"s objectives are focused around our focus on SOD, which will enable us to facilitate a mode of operating whereby all staff will be able to MAD. We hope to see al staff MAD by the end of the year, and there will be MAD meetings held across all sites ITNF, because SOD is central to our FUCK and SHIT strategy in the next FY. Our new impetus is on GVFM and we hope to roll this out to all departments in the next 6 months going forward.'

Statistically Speaking...

Everyone knows that there are lies, damn lies, and statistics. But in business, statistics - or Stats - mean everything. Even when they mean nothing. They dress them up in pie-charts, graphs, Venn diagrams, wavy lines in different colours to show the targets and the actuality and waffle on at length about the way "the figures speak for themselves" in board meetings and presentations, often without having even the vaguest grasp on what the crunched numbers are saying. And what are they saying? Well, precisely whatever whoever's presenting them wants to. It's all a matter of spin. Spin? No, glass half full / glass half empty! For example, when it's announced that the latest customer survey showed that 75% of respondents were happy with the service, it's often whooped up as a big positive. Cue huge round of back-slapping and ignore the fact that 25% of respondents to the same survey thought the service was gash. Until it's time for the annual reviews and the bonuses of the staff who actually do the work, at which point 25% of customers were dissatisfied, which is an unacceptable level, and is used to justify doling out paltry payouts and below-inflation annual increases.

"But is it Feasible?"

Of course, not all questions have answers. And some questions cannot be answered with a simple, straightforward "yes" or "no." But many can. In the real world, you may ask - or be asked - if 4 printers is enough between 800 people who are employed to write letters for 7 hours a day, 5 days a week. And the answer, based on simple logic and common sense would almost always be "no" (followed by the exclamation "of course not! What a ridiculous question!") but in the business world, it requires gathering a bunch of people together to discuss it, before setting out the objectives of a feasibility study. Usually, they'll spend a month coming up with a codename for the project, spend hours flouncing about and arranging "telecons" and generally pricking about while failing to grasp the basic premise of what they're researching, only to conclude after six months that they need to gather more data to make a proper assessment. So next time you hear talk of feasibility, just say "fuck it, I"ll bring my own pencil sharpener from home.'

Memorise these and use them, as frequently as possible. You'll be on the board in no time.

The initial start up cost can be costly. There is technological concerns with e-learning to include increased bandwidth, servers, learning management systems (LMS), learning content management systems (LCMS), software licenses, software programmers, graphic designers along with instructional systems designers (ISDs). However, the Return On Investment can be great. E-learning generally reduces the time spent at training (at Naval Submarine School we are still working the formula; however, a typical instructor led course is reduced 25% by becoming a blended learning course utilizing Interactive Multimedia Instruction [IMI]).

Moreover, some E-learning courses can be performed at the employee's leisure, hence not affecting work schedules. The greatest cost of training is not the initial cost of training; it is the lost productivity while the employee is attending training. Training will have to be worth the employee's time if it is expected for an employee to perform training during his spare time. A great motivator is to try to get your e-learning accredited by the American Counsel on Education (ACE). If your company driven E-learning is accredited to college or trade school credit, then employees will most likely be motivated to accomplish it. There can be other incentives for completing training such as financial, time -off, or promotion opportunities. This is perhaps the most difficult task of the E-learning ISD: correctly relaying the "what"s in it for me' message.

Moreover; management personal are most likely not that familiar with e-learning. Senior management most likely have not taken many E-learning courses. Therefore when the trainer presents a costly proposal to initially fund an E-learning initiative, management will most like not see the benefit. A good technique for the trainer to do is to coordinate their training effort with other companies training efforts. For instance in Hartford, Pratt-Whitney is forming an alliance with neighboring companies to form a joint LCMS. Therefore, cost is shared and content is shared to meet various company needs. (Imagine one world LCMS of free shared content)!

It is very difficult to remember that good E-learning does to necessarily mean the most technically advanced. E-learning does not have to incorporate stunning Flash Graphics, Great Audio, of interactive design to be effective. All of these programs requiring programmers, hence adding to development and life-cycle cost. For instance at Naval Submarine School, if I add read text audio to my E-learning when I have to implement a change to the curriculum. I would have to re-record the entire audio for the course, not just the topic segment that has the change. This is because the audio can actually distract some learners if there is an audio change. Not having the audio does violate the multiple learning tracks theory; however, it was the lesser of the two evils.

Training managers have to be cautious when presenting e-learning to management. Start with small E-learning programs that do not require a costly LCMS or LMS. Try Microsoft Producer, or small Pod-casting software. Try to form a union with other companies and try to utilize the most of free open source courseware that is already available (NETg, Skillsoft, or MIT's for example). As management observes the increased ROI (through increased productivity, increased retention); they will eventually fund more E-learning initiatives.

Self mastery is knowing your own motivation. These are the things that inspire you to do your best. If you know your motivation it will be easy for you to reach your goals, all you need to do is to focus on your motivation and everything else will follow. Motivation should come from your own self. You don't expect someone to motivate you. It is important that you are able to motivate, coach and know yourself first before you can effectively lead other people.

Self mastery is knowing your skills and talents. You know the things that you can do to accomplish a task. You know your strategy to achieve your goals because you know what you can do.

Self mastery is also knowing your communication and leadership style. If you know your own style, you can easily adapt to different personality. You know what to do in situations wherein people interaction is needed.

Hence, it is vital that we assess ourselves first and learn how to analyse our own strengths and challenges before we aspire to become a leader of others. It is like making ourselves our own guinea pig. Try some of these suggestions in using this theory in your leadership training. These are the same activities that I have used when I conducted the Leadership thru Self Mastery training for my team. You can expect an impressive result in the motivation and performance of your team members.

Perform these activities with your team:

Activity 1

Self Evaluation and Action Planning

1. Let them identify their strengths and challenges
2. Let them identify action plans that will enable them to further hone their strengths and address their challenges
3. Ask them what are the results that they are expecting based on their action plans?

Activity 2

Who is your Idol?

Ask them to answer these questions:

1. Among the famous leaders who do you look up to? What are his/her characteristics that you would like to have?
2. What are the characteristics that you both have?
3. What are the challenges that you both have?
4. What is your “IDOL” doing to address these challenges?
5. Describe a situation that you encountered in the past and how your “Idol” handled it. If you were the Leader, would you have handled it differently? How and Why?

Activity 3

Self Mastery vs. Leadership

Self-Mastery

• Ask them to analyse their current performance (i.e. quarterly performance, comparison of 2 months performance)
• Ask them to identify their current strengths and challenges
• What are their action plans?
• What are the results that they expect?
• Ask them to coach their self. (Using 3rd party - example: Hi! (say your name) I have identified that your strengths are….)

Leadership

• Choose a Partner
• Ask them to analyse their partner's performance (i.e. quarterly performance, comparison of 2 months performance)
• Let them identify their partner's strengths and challenges
• What are their action plans for their partner?
• What are the results that they expect?
• Ask them to coach your partner

Notice that most people who can easily coach their “self” can effectively coach other people. They are able to come up with good and attainable action plans for their partner because they know which action plans work for them and they can easily identify action plans that will just result to failure. Hence, the results of the action plans are impressive, realistic and fast.

This is a good preparation for aspiring leaders to first be a self-leader.

Not because you're already hired it means you can just relax. Instead, this is the beginning of the most difficult but the most important part of having a new job. It is because you need to prove to your boss and your self whether you are capable to do the job right.

Most of the time before you land the job you have to undergo on training. The length of the training depends on the company's policy. So, here are the things you should remember.

Before The Training

Sleep early and be sure that before you go to bed all your things are ready for tomorrow.

Important things to bring

• A pen (bring an extra pen too)
• Note pads
• Extra money (for emergency purposes)

Eat properly before you leave

It's like you're going to school, right? But it is important for us to go to work full and lively.

Leave early from your house

To avoid traffic and some unwanted situations along the way. If you live far from the office, you have to allot at least one or two hours or more.

During the training

Be on time

Don't ever, ever be late on your first day. You are rated from the first day you came until the last hour of your training period. Also, you can still have time to look for the training room or even relax and meet new people that you are going to be with.

Be alert and listen carefully to your trainer.

Make sure that you absorbed all the things that your trainer is saying in your mind.

If there are things that you don't understand don't be shy to ask

In this way you can easily familiar with the job you are supposed to do.

Think, behave and talk professionally

 Be it a degree holder, college level, or a high school graduate. You need to behave yourself professionally with civilized attitude. The trainer is not just entitled to train you on your job but he is also the one who's going to asses you as a person so it is very important that you know how to respect a superior or co-workers. He has your ticket to your deployment.

Follow the company's rule

If there are old employees who don't follow just even one rule, don't do the same thing.

How to make an excuse?

There are some situations that you can't control such as emergencies. If you are going to be late call or send a message to your trainer or your superior right away so that he would give you some consideration depending on your reason. If they think it is valid enough to consider, then you might as well be given another chance but, next time, give more extra effort.

If you really need to be absent the next day, inform the management before hand or few hours before the time. And make sure you relayed the message carefully and the message has been received by your superiors.

Never send a message to a friend or co-workers

 You can be sure enough that you're message will be passed on to the right authority. Be sure to have a copy of your superior's mobile number or the office number.

It is necessary for a new trainee to impress their boss. It goes with the saying 'first impression last'. But don't make that impression fade away once you are officially hired as an employee in the company. You have to prove to them that you are a good catch!

In culture studies, culture is seen as mental programming, where patterns of thinking, feeling, and acting are seen as mental programmes analogous to computer programming. Upbringing plays a major role here, and culture is generally considered learned and not inherited. The sources of an individual's mental programming lie within the familial and social environment in which he/she grew up as well as the individual's collected life experiences. Significantly "culture" refers to the process of socialization, which encompasses all the rules, regulations, assumptions, mindsets, world-view of the family/environment/society in which the individual lives and grows up. Culture enables individuals to play a normal role in society by teaching and shaping human behaviour in accordance with the values and norms that are accepted in that community.

Cross-Cultural studies build on the conviction gained from different fields like social anthropology, sociology, or organisational psychology that all societies, traditional or modern, face the same basic problems; only their approaches at finding answers differ. The "Onion" diagram or the "Iceberg" model, try to explore cultures at different levels of depth. Different theorists like Hoffstede, Trompenaars, or Geertz try to understand differences among cultures through value differences along quantifiable dimensions.

Though they are very valuable tools for understanding cultural differences, identifying barriers, and finding ways of working around them, they suffer from some shortcomings.

Firstly, the concepts of ethnicity and nation-state are considered to be equivalent, which is not often the case in real life nowadays. Not all German or French citizens are ethnic Germans or French and diversity creates complexity in behaviour patterns.

Secondly, scholars like Nigel Holden criticize the concept of "culture" as a 19th century concept based on culture as difference.

Thirdly, much of cross-cultural literature present these "dimensions" e.g., Hofstede dimensions uncritically as fact rather than theories with significant inherent limitations.

Last but not the least, the role of the particular industry/field and the organisation is not given due importance, though it might sometimes override ethnic cultural "dimensions". In spite of having very different cultural "dimensions", a German software designer might have more in common with a Russian software designer rather than with a German investment banker.

In a business context, two other dimensions complicate the picture. The culture of the profession/field and the organization play a major role in the success of organisational socialization, or how the newcomer successfully integrates and functions in the organisation. The behavioural/mindset expectations that newcomers must acquire in order to become investment bankers are very different from the behavioural/mindset expectations of DJs in the music industry. A 150 year old multinational in the steel industry, which still runs as a family business, is an entirely different world from a website graphics design startup business with 25 year olds.

Another aspect that these "cultural dimensions" measure somewhat sketchily is mindsets or world-view (Weltanshaung as the Germans call it). Scandinavians often believe that the Nordic model of welfare state is the supreme achievement of mankind and all other societal models are somehow inferior. Scandinavian society is often extremely arrogant when the question of recognizing an immigrant's educational and professional qualification comes up, especially if the immigrant has not been trained locally or at an elite Western educational establishment like Oxford University or Harvard. A very qualified surgeon from China or Brazil with 20 years experience might be required to take basic courses to "bring her/his qualifications up to the local level". This might cause very much resentment possibly affecting work commitment.

Typically the cultural barriers that are encountered in the business world originate from inadequate knowledge about:

• How different orientation to time and space affects behaviour
• Do people from different cultures have different expectations about induction and socialization from the firm and colleagues?
• Differences in communication methods (e.g., do they like to physically meet and discuss face to face or think over things alone and then e-mail own comments, do they signify dissent bluntly or keep silent)
• How people process information (do they take notes silently or air their views dramatically during presentations etc)
• What does it mean if the organisation is hierarchical and not flat
• Differences in how managers delegate, supervise and follow-up tasks
• How managers and subordinates see each others roles
• What different areas corporate social responsibility is seen to encompass (the Indians or the Japanese see the role of managers and the company very differently from the Finns or the Danes)
• How are Career and Performance Management implemented?
• Do employees from different cultural backgrounds have different concepts of getting and giving respect?
• How do the special characteristics of the field/industry affect daily behaviour?
• How important it is to learn the particular organisational culture of the firm?
• How does the equation of human capital, cultural capital, social capital as well as spiritual capital work for each person?

An organization's strategy for dealing with cultural barriers should entail the following steps:

• Identifying precise nature, location and origin of barriers
• Deciding the aims of intervention - why and to what degree that particular barrier needs to be removed
• Choosing the method of intervention - is training the preferred method, should it be individual or group training, one time or repeated, self-learning or group learning etc
• Ways of securing commitment to change - people involved should know why changes are desired and what are the benefits for them
• Damage control strategies - what to do when things go wrong with interventions
• Follow-up mechanisms to prevent relapses, support learning, reward achievements and monitor overall success