Sexual Harassment Training Cartoons are here!

Every employee needs and can benefit from Sexual Harassment Training. Use my brand new sexual harassment training cartoons to lighten the mood and get people to think about and remember the important points. Here is what's included. CLick the picture to see the larger version:

Here is more to think about when preparing your sexual harassment awareness and prevention training program:
No one wants to work in a sexually charged or hostile work environment. But did you know, your actions might constitute this very behavior and you may not even know it? The Courts have already ruled that employers can be held liable for the actions of its employees, even when officials in the company had no prior knowledge of the offending behavior! And the offending employee can be held responsible too, even if they didn’t know their behavior was offensive!

Many of the actions in the list that follows were involved in serious, high-dollar discrimination cases. Make no mistake. This is a serious matter that deserves your attention. Use this list as a guide/checklist to what not to do/how not to act/what not to say at work. Ever. Many times, the offending employee meant no harm, however, the employee alleging harassment took things a very different way! While it’s true that many of us have done or said something we wish we could take back, think carefully before you speak or act. Don’t let your behavior turn into a legal nightmare!

Ask yourself:

• Have you asked someone out for a drink after work?
• Have you used colorful language or an occasional bad word?
• Have you told off color, religious or political jokes even if you consider them G/PG rated?
• Have you offered or given someone at work a hug or back rub?
• Is your computer screensaver rude, crude, political, religious or even mildly offensive?
• Have you used terms like “honey” or “sweetheart” to call a coworker or customer?
• Have you ever promoted someone with whom you had a prior sexual relationship even if the promotion was well deserved?
• Do you have funny nicknames for coworkers?

It’s a slippery downhill slope when you stop treating coworkers with friendly professionalism and start treating them as casual buddies. In the workplace, we don’t know each other well enough to understand each other’s pet peeves, sense of humor, political sexual or religious leanings, personal belief systems, or private thoughts or opinions no matter how long we’ve worked with them or how often we’ve shared a table in the lunch room.



Proper training is the most effective tool to eliminate sexual harassment from the workplace. If you are planning to conduct a training session on this sensitive subject matter, consider sexual harassment cartoons to get your message across with humor and without pointing fingers, offending anyone or placing blame. My sexual harassment training cartoons will lighten the load and help participants to remember critical information along the way. Don’t settle for generic clip art when conducting training sessions on this highly-charged topic. Check out my training cartoons today at www.WorkplaceToons.com

Custom Hand Drawn Training Cartoons vs Stock Images or Photography

It isn't even a close call. Cartoons are by far the better choice to stock images or photography if you're serious about engaging your participants and making your message memorable. There are many reasons why but here are the top ten for choosing hand drawn cartoons over stock images or photographs in your learning program.

1. Topic-specific training cartoons engage the learner and really get them thinking.
2. Generic, stock photography that doesn’t address the training topic will likely confuse participants and worse, make for a long, boring, dry presentation!
3. Photos typically stereotype which could make your participants feel embarrassed or excluded.
4. Cartoons bring people together; everyone can identify with and appreciate cartoons.
5. Photos can be too harsh or cold.
6. Cartoons can help to diffuse uncomfortable topics without diminishing the message.
7. Photos are often too generic to use as a learning tool.
8. Cartoons help participants to remember important ideas.
9. Photos rarely can be educational and humorous.
10. Cartoons are fun; they make us laugh!

We've all seen the studies show that engaging, inclusive illustrations help drive home your message and will help participant's remember important details. Stock images and photography just can’t compete with custom, hand drawn training cartoons. If you want to add topic-specific training cartoons that add pizazz to your presentation, Workplace Toons has you covered. Workplace Toons is your perfect solution for custom hand drawn training cartoons on a wide variety of topics, from anger management to workplace violence and a ton in between. Please see the ever-growing library of titles here. Custom illustrations are also available and more affordable than you think. Check out custom options here. Visit the website at www.WorkplaceToons.com today!

Icebreaker: Pointing out the Obvious

This icebreaker is intended to get people to understand how they are perceived by others and to demonstrate to all participants that what we think or assume about others may or may not be correct. Before you begin this exercise, be sure you stress to participants to be positive and not point out any negative or hurtful things to others. You'll need about 2-3 minutes per participant for this activity.

You start by seating everyone in a circle with one chair in the center. You choose who will go first or the instructor can go first. The first participant sits in the center chair.

You pick a starting point for round one and the first person in the circle has to say, “It is obvious that . . . “ and add something that is obvious about the participant in the middle. This must be obvious not an assumption, like “It is obvious that you are wearing a yellow shirt.” Then each person in the circle points out an obvious conclusion about the person in the center.

That ends round one. Round Two, the sentence must start out with, “I assume that . . . “ and then must add something they assume based on the “obvious” fact they pointed out in round one. Now they can say, “I assume that you like yellow.”

That ends round two and the fun round begins. In round three the sentence starts with, “I imagine that . . . “ and adds anything they think is a good guess about the person in the center. The person in the center is free to voice up at any time and say things like "Yes, that's right," or "No, that's not correct." Each person gets to be in the center once for three rounds.

This icebreaker teaches people in the center how they are perceived by others based on outward observations and teaches those in the circle how observations about people based upon what they see may or may not be true. This is a great inclusion and diversity exercise. Enjoy!

Workplace Toons can help you to jazz up your presentations with hand drawn training cartoons. Please see the ever-growing library of titles here. Custom illustrations are also available and more affordable than you think. Visit the website at www.WorkplaceToons.com today!

Happy Customer Service Week! (Oct. 6-10 2008)

With Customer Service week starting, I thought I would take a few minutes to focus on some of my top tips for customer service excellence. As a former supervisor in a financial services call center, I took many calls from upset customers. Many times, it was our own service reps who caused or exacerbated an issue to the point that the customer had had it and would only speak with a supervisor.

It's a fact that customer service should take center stage for retaining existing customers and attracting new ones. Great customer service is all about creating positive experience for the customer from the very beginning. And it makes great business sense to do so. Satisfied customers are a company’s biggest cheerleaders, and have a tangible effect on attracting new customers through word of mouth referrals.

It really isn't complicated. It's simply acknowledging and resolving your customer’s concerns. From the moment the customer walks into the office or calls you up on the phone, he is assessing his relationship with your company. His continued use of your product or service may hinge on this very contact so give each one the serious consideration it deserves.

Here are my top ten tips for treating each customer like the valuable ambassador he is:

• Greet the person warmly and with enthusiasm.
• Let the customer know you really want to help.
• Listen carefully to what the customer tells you, rephrasing and repeating to make sure you understand the customer’s needs and to let him/her know you understand them.
• Use proper language at all times, avoid slang, internal acronyms or technical jargon.
• Remember your manners! Say ‘Please’ and ‘Thank You.’
• Do not rush the conversation. Even if you don’t come out and say, ‘Hurry up already,’ your body language and tone of voice might just say it for you. Heavy sighs, rolling eyes, shaking your head in a no-no movement all translate into ‘I want this conversation to be over.’
• If the customer is upset or angry, let him vent a little. Most likely, he will begin to calm down on his own when he figures out that you are listening and really want to help. If, after several minutes, the customer is still venting, it’s okay to interrupt with ‘I can tell you are really upset by this. Let me see if I understand the problem and then I will explain exactly how I can solve this for you.’
• If the company has made a mistake, don’t be afraid to say ‘I’m sorry.’
• Check your emotions at the door. An upset customer isn’t mad at you. He doesn't even know you and probably has never even spoke to you before now. He’s mad at the company. Don’t take it personally or power trip. Even upset, grumpy customers deserve exceptional customer service. Solve his problem and you will likely have a customer for life.
• Let the customer know what's next, and make sure to follow through and follow up. If you make a promise, keep it! There is nothing worse than getting a call from an upset customer, convincing him that you really want to help, making certain promises and then forgetting all about him when you hang up the phone. Do what you say you are going to do, otherwise he isn’t going to believe a word anyone says the next time he calls in.

Customer service should be a top priority in every company. Always, always remember that your primary goal with every customer contact is to address and resolve their concerns. After all, without customers you and I wouldn’t have a job! In my opinion, customers deserve our undivided attention, respect and good-faith effort to resolve their concerns.

Progressive Discipline

When discipline is called for, managers will likely use a progressive discipline policy. Progressive discipline is a escalating series of steps that is designed to address and correct behavior that falls short of acceptable. The goal of progressive discipline is avoiding termination by providing documented opportunities for the employee to improve his or her performance.

Let’s take a quick look at the four stages of progressive discipline:
Step One: The Verbal Warning.
At this stage, managers must remind the employee of the behavior guidelines. Keep a neutral professional tone. You do not want to be accusatory but rather express your point in a factual manner. Do not attack the person, but rather point out the offending behavior. Be ready to give some actual examples of the behavior in question and prepare yourself for the range of reactions from the employee. Let the employee know what happens next if the behavior continues.

Step Two: The Written Warning. The employee, at this point, is choosing to continue the behavior in question. This choice justifies the idea behind progressive discipline policies. This second step is used in cases of a serious breach of conduct and in repeat offenses.
The formal process involves a document written before the meeting and then is reviewed with the employee one on one in a private meeting. Be sure to consult with Human Resources before you write the document and make sure to use the accepted HR form.

Step Three: Suspension.
When an employee continues to engage in the activity that caused him to receive a written warning, the manager must take more severe action. The act of suspending an employee without pay takes serious thought and serious support from the department supervisor and Human Resources. A written document should be added to the employee’s file after he has been notified of the fact and dates of the suspension.

Step Four: Dismissal. This is the last step in the progressive discipline process and should never be taken without careful thought and planning. This action can have grave consequences. Discharging the employee should occur only after gross misconduct or when he has not corrected serious, on-going behavior for which he has received previous discipline. You should analyze all of the previous discipline actions to determine that the employee has been afforded real opportunities to correct the behavior of performance.

At all points in the process, the motive behind discipline should be to allow the employee room to improve and correct his actions. When the employee decides not to avail himself of the opportunity, your only recourse to restore health in the department and order to the company may be to terminate the employment.

No matter what stage you are in, you should always be prepared to defend your actions. Ask yourself:
a)Was the employee clear about the code of conduct he violated? In some cases, the offender might not know about the rules.
b)Was the employee aware that his violation of the policy would lead to possible discipline?
c)Did the discipline match the offense? You have to consider the nature of the offense in its severity. More minor affairs should not be heavily disciplined.
d)Did you take into consideration the longevity and work record of the employee? Loyal and effective service should be rewarded with the benefit of the doubt within acceptable reason.
e)Could the employee have been provoked into his actions? Consider the underlying reasons for bad behavior.
f)Did the employee finally admit to the behavior and apologize? Sincere remorse is a good indicator of whether or not behavior will be repeated.

When discipline issues arise, the need for fair and consistent discipline is critical. No manager likes to correct employees but the reality is that even the best employee can have performance issues from time to time.

Progressive discipline should be thoroughly covered with all managers and supervisors. If you are planning a training program on this topic please take a look at my custom training cartoons to help you get your point across. Visit my website at www.WorkplaceToons.com today!

Poker for Training Groups

So poker is all the rage right now. Even movie stars and rofessional athletes all in onit. The Poker Tour on TV is filled with recognizable faces usually seen on the big screen or in superbowls. Poker can also be used in the classroom! Here's how:

To prepare this game you need to have 1 deck of cards for every four or five players in your group. You need to put questions about your topic on each card of the deck. Near the end of the session divide your group into smaller groups of 4-5 players each. This will help them review the topic and help them retain what they have learned.

Give each a deck of cards. They each take turns dealing five cards to each member of their group. The person to the left of the dealer turns to their left and asks a question that is on their card. If that person answers incorrectly, he or she has to take the card that had the question on it and now has 6 cards while the person that answered the question only has 4. If the person answers correctly, the person asking the question discards the card with the question on it and the person that answered correctly give them one of their own cards. Now the questioner still has 5 cards while the person who answered correctly only has four.

Then it is that person’s turn to ask the person to their left any question from a card in their hand and so on around the table until someone has no cards left and is the winner from that group. If time is remaining, the cards can be re-dealt for a new hand. If you do not have enough decks of cards, you can just be the dealer and deal to more than one group at a time.

Workplace Toons can help you to add some fun and impact to your presentations with hand drawn training cartoons. Please see the ever-growing library of titles here. Custom illustrations are also available and more affordable than you think. Visit the website at www.WorkplaceToons.com today!