Sustaining Business Newsletter

Are You Developing Your Human Capital?
By Rhett Hendrickson

Publication Date: March, 2011

Human Capital refers to the competencies, knowledge and personality attributes of an employee base that create economic value.  In other words, it's not just people - it's talented people that help generate revenue and put more money on your bottom line.  As business advisors, we sometimes cringe when a business owner admits that they don't have a training budget.  Even companies that function entirely by machines have a line item for maintenance.  When an employer establishes an annual training allowance, they make a commitment to stay at the top of their game and send a signal to their employees that the company is genuinely interested in helping them improve.

A survey that was commissioned involving 5,000 US households found that only 45% of workers are satisfied with their jobs, down from 61% in 1987, the first year the survey was conducted.  The implications of this statistic are alarming - if you have employees, odds are that more than half are unhappy on the job.  Another sobering statistic:  the total cost of employee turnover among rank-and-file employees is 150% of annual compensation.  Among salespeople and managers, that number can be as high as 250%.  It pays to keep employees happy, motivated and producing.  One way to show you value and appreciate your team is to invest in their personal and professional development.

I've been coaching and training people for more than twenty years and - believe me - I have seen the good, bad, and ugly when it comes to training programs.  So when the opportunity to team up with Dale Carnegie Training - St. Louis to bring world-class training to Southeast Missouri, Hendrickson Business Advisors jumped on it.  What started out in 1912 as a course in public speaking has evolved through more than thirty iterations to become the gold standard for helping people build their memory skills, increase self-confidence, put stress in perspective, communicate more effectively, and inspire and gain the willing cooperation of others.  Warren Buffet said that the best investment he ever made was in the Dale Carnegie Course.

This spring, we will conduct the Dale Carnegie Course in Cape Girardeau where I will have the privilege of coaching participants alongside Jim Sealey, President of Dale Carnegie Training - St. Louis.  The course will run on eight consecutive Wednesday evenings from March 30 to May 18 on the campus of Southeast Missouri State University.  If your business has a desire to continue the development of your employees to the delight of their coworkers and your customers, consider sponsoring them in The Dale Carnegie Course.  Your employees will thank you and so will your bottom line.

For more information, or to register, please call 573.335.1885 or email me today.