Your Personalised Coaching & Talent Development Partner for Team & Individual Performance Excellence.
Our Mission is to Focus on your company’s Sustainably and Continually Improving Business Performance
Improved business performance leads to improved financial success and the best way to invest in a company’s financial success is by investing in their employee’s talent development and skills training. Paper Planes is structured to ensure success in the delivery of executive coaching, talent development and training programmes for medium and large marketing-driven companies in South Africa. To do so, we have developed a Business Process Model to ensure business improvement performance through unleashing human talent-potential and the up-skilling of a company’s employees.
The Paper Planes Coaching and Training Process
Human Capital Optimisation and Talent Development
Employees Strengths and Talent Profiling
Paper Planes makes use of the EngagementFit DRIVE Assessment® profiling tool which is based on the Gallup Strengths psychology. At Paper Planes our mission is to help companies and their individual employees maximise their talents to offer the maximum impact possible in helping companies reach their Sustainable Competitive Advantage (SCA). Our mission is driven by several key trends we believe are shaping the future of the hyper competitive global marketplace:
The more challenging the competitive environment becomes, the more employees turn on the company or each other due to fear of failure and punishment,
Core teams are getting smaller, and companies are relying more and more on independent contractors to handle capacity – and such contractors need to be properly led, managed and motivated,
In most industries work is becoming hyper competitive as competition turns global, allowing more for remote work – hence one’s proximity to their workplace will become less relevant, whilst the need for work gratification increases,
The emphasis for hiring an individual will no longer be heavily weighted on qualifications and skills, but on how aligned an individual’s natural energy is to the work requirements – hence a shift from “can the person do the work” to “will they thrive in this work and take full ownership of their roles and responsibilities”,
The top achievers are the most “Poached” because they choose to work for companies and leaders that inspire them, appreciate their talents and maximise their potential on an ongoing basis.
As a first step on our mission, we conduct the EngagementFit DRIVE Assessment® (Talent-Strengths Profiling). This assessment is based on positive psychology and strengths-based psychology and measures the employees natural drive and energy within specific roles, responsibilities and engagements.
The DRIVE Assessment® (Dominant Roles in Various Engagements) was designed to give clarity on an employee’s natural fit in terms of the energy and motivation they bring within their designated work positions, roles and functions. An employee’s dominant energy and drive will show up in a combination of three categories:
Contemplating Drives - Explaining an employee’s sustainable energy and drive within the way they naturally prefer to think, reason, reflect and strategize;
Relating Drives - Explaining an employee’s sustainable energy and drive within the way they naturally prefer to relate, associate, engage in relationships and interact with people (peers and customers);
Accomplishing Drives - Explaining an employee’s sustainable energy and drive within the way they get things done, execute and deliver on tasks and goals.
Each EngagementFit® Drive Theme defines specific patterns of behaviour, and energy, and when it is sustainably strong for an employee, they will identify with that theme in a very real and practical way. When an individual chooses to pour themselves passionately into their given role with clearly identified outcomes for themselves and the company they work for, because doing so will draw on and engages these natural passionate drives, the individual and the company they work for will THRIVE!!!
Executive Coaching for Individuals and Teams
At Paper Planes, we believe that Successful employees are individuals who; Can Vividly Imagine their dreams aligned to their company visions, missions and goals, Ardently Desire to achieve them, Sincerely Believe they can achieve what they set out to do and thus Enthusiastically Act upon them in order to manifest them within an agreed time period – whilst knowing that the journey they’re on is the reward of life self-actualized to the highest joyous degree possible.
Our mission with individual and team coaching sessions is to create clear direction and maximise employee/organisational potential – both for the individual and team as a whole. With 20years of individual and team leadership coaching, we at paper Planes understand what it takes to lead a team from good to great.
Our individual executive coaching sessions help employees understand themselves and what Drives them better, and thus they then want to understand their leaders, their subordinates and their peers better too. Through understanding what Drives others and how to best maximise the potential in others, the often-unresolved tension between individual team members dissipates into a positive unified team culture. Differences between individuals become gifts to one another as “my greatest difference from you is my greatest gift to you” becomes the team maxim.
How do we ensure success behind our Coaching, Skills development and Training programmes?
Don’t ever expect anyone to commit themselves 100% to support a project, a direction or a practice unless they have had input creating it. The reason that most coaching/training fails is that the incumbents do not feel that they are a part of developing the proposed coaching and training programmes ad so resistance sets in from the onset. Furthermore, unless employees are aware and focused on the following seven critical success factors that ensures a company’s sustainable growth, a coaching/training programme is doomed to fail.
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
A Successful Company is a company that is focused on the following seven Critical Success Factors;
A strong Value System that the employees have agreed to and bought into as their own,
A strong Sales Force focused on financial success, backed by an Operations division focused on customer satisfaction – On Time and In Full & Right First Time.
Highly passionate and committed employees with a clear vision of what they want to achieve linked to clear goals & objectives in order to achieve their desired objectives,
Well managed and accurate cost/costing controls – with a mindset of minimise wasteful spend and maximise investment to grow,
A strong integrated marketing communication programme to attract new customers and a strong after-sales service programme that leads to high customer retention,
A focused Strategic Human Capital Talent Development programme,
Highly skilled and appropriately trained employees lead by managers who can maximise and motivate teams to achieving the desired results.
Redesign Company Architecture to optimise the most efficient and effective Teams.
Company architecture is one of the most ignored disciplines in today’s fast moving competitive business environment and we worder why service delivery fails. At Paper Planes one of our niche service offerings is to evaluate every possible customer contact point and assess where customer relationship management can go wrong. We then facilitate your organisation redesign too ensure that every customer-brand contact point lives up to your company marketing promises. We thereafter ensure that you have total clarity on what skills development or internal training programmes are required to ensure the best possible customer service delivery.
Change Management Facilitation
The Paper Planes Change Management Programme is a structured approach to facilitating a shifting and/or transition of an organisation from its current state to the desired future state, by developing processes aimed at empowering employees to accept and embrace changes in their current business environment. Each task follows a project management process where the desired changes to the organisation are formally introduced and approved. Some examples of Organizational Change we look at are; Mission changes, Strategic changes, Operational structure changes, Technological changes and Changing the attitudes and behaviours of personnel via training interventions.
The change management process begins with a systematic diagnosis of the current situation in order to determine both the need for change and the capability to change. The objectives, content, and process of change are then specified as part of a Change Management Plan. The Change Management processes may include creative marketing to enable communication between change audiences, but also a deep social understanding about your desired leadership’s styles and group dynamics.
As a visible track on transformation projects, Organisational Change Management aligns groups’ expectations, communicates, integrates teams and manages people training. It makes use of performance metrics, such as financial results, operational efficiency, leadership commitment, communication effectiveness, and the perceived need for change to design appropriate strategies, in order to avoid change failures or solve troubled change projects.
A Successful change management plan could be designed to include the following;
Benefits management and realization to define measurable stakeholder aims, create a business case for their achievement (which should be continuously updated), and monitor assumptions, risks, dependencies, costs, return on investment, non-benefits and cultural issues affecting the progress of the associated work.
Effective Communications that inform various stakeholders of the reasons for the change, the benefits of successful implementation, as well as the details of the change (when, where, who is involved and how much will it cost, etc.).
Devise an effective education, training and/or skills upgrading Roadmap for the organisation.
Counter resistance from the employees of companies and align them to overall strategic direction of the organisation.
Provide personal counselling (if required) to alleviate any change related fears.
Monitoring of the implementation and fine-tuning as required
Development of Employee KPI & C.A.R.E charts.
Unless employees have a clear goals and key performance indicators, they will not remain focused on their most important goals and tasks. Furthermore, if they are uncertain of their performance measurements, do not expect them to exceed in their set out goals.
Key performance indicators (KPI’s) are ways to periodically assess the performances of organisations, business units, departments and employees. It is imperative that an organisation develops KPI’s that are understandable, meaningful, and measurable. If done correctly and collaboratively with management and staff, KPI’s can become the most effective way to manage, motivate and measure your staff performance. KPI’s underline the most important set of business values in your organisation, which become part of you management tool for indicating how well your employees are performing and what interventions may be required when they are not. We will develop KPI indicators that can be summarized into the following sub-categories:
Quantitative indicators which can be presented as a number.
Practical indicators that interface with existing company processes.
Directional indicators specifying whether an organisation is getting better or not.
Actionable indicators are sufficiently in an organisation's control to effect change.
Financial indicators used in performance measurement and when looking at an operating index
Key Performance Indicators, in practical terms and for strategic development, are objectives to be targeted that will add the most value to the business. These are then translated into Individual employee development plans (Training Roadmap) taking into account the following elements we call CARE;
Employee Capabilities
Employees level of Authority
Employee designated area of Responsibility
Employee Evaluation process & Criteria.
Facilitation in the development of company Vision, Mission and Goals.
Unless you have an easy-to-understand ROADMAP of where you are, where you want to go, why you want to go there, and how you are going to get there, when do you want to get there, together with exactly what each individual in the company needs to do to get there chart, don’t expect to arrive there anytime soon. A company’s Vision, Mission and Goals (V.M.G) look great on a wall, but unless everybody in your organisation has bought into it because they are a part of creating the V.M.G, don’t expect everybody to be as enthusiastic as you are about your destiny – and never expect them to go the extra mile because they won’t. In fact, don’t be surprised when they are a part of the 10% of employees that actively sabotage your efforts and good intentions.
Research shows that less than 30% of employees are actively and positively contributing to your company’s success. Most often 60% of employees are unengaged participants leaving the rest to be resentful for giving their best – and most often the ones that are resentful are your champions.
The Paper Planes Strategy Team will facilitate your V.M.G sessions and ensure buy in at all levels of the organisation to ensure that everyone has a proactive role in helping you build a V.M.G that all employees take ownership of.
Strategic Team Building Sessions to optimise your company’s SCA.
We at Paper Planes don’t believe in fireworks that last only a short time and after the team-build life goes back to normal. We believe in launching planes that fly all the way to the intended destinations and have a rewarding journey that makes everyone in the team want to be a part of the company’s sustainable future.
Strategic Skills Development and Training
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Before we embark on any skills development or training programme, we at Paper Planes first need to understand your Company’s Vision, Mission and Goals. If need be, we can assist companies in creating such criteria which will enhance the strategic posture of the company. Thereafter we conduct a comprehensive skills & training needs assessment of the company’s employees, and then develop a Skills development & Training Roadmap to uplift employees to the level required to deliver on a company’s desired objectives.
However, without a personal vision, no one has the desire to achieve greatness. Before any training is conducted, we first suggest that we conduct a Personal Goal Setting session with the employees to be trained, thereby providing them with a clear vision of what they desire to achieve, and the recommended path to take in order to enable the achievement of their set-out personal goals as an enabler of the vision they desire for themselves and the company they work for.
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Firstly (if required and agreed by the company in question) we conduct a Seven Point Factors to Success Audit of the company. This SPFS audit looks at the following;
Situational Analysis of a Company and their Competitive Posture
Evaluation and assessment of the Critical Success Factors of the Company relative to the market you compete in.
Strengths Profiling of the employees you want to train & develop, identifying their personal Drivers & Drainers, visions, missions, goals and how this collaborates with their respective careers.
Thereafter we conduct a field assessment of your unique selling proposition, by spending some time with a company’s employees in their jobs.
This results in an Individual C.A.R.E chart (Capabilities, Authority, Responsibility & Evaluation) per employee linked to,
Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) of each employee to be trained.
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The benefit of the above mentioned audit is the highlighting of the Gaps between employees current skill-set and what is required for them to deliver on their KPI’s in order for them to be successful in their respective positions and thereby ensure a high return on an organisation’s training investment.
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We will thereafter provide the company with a detailed report of our findings together with a recommended Training & Skills Development Roadmap. This allows us to develop and tailor our skills development courses to best suit any company’s HR development needs, taking into account their required deliverables per employee and the competitive environment of the industry they compete in.
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Leadership & Management
Sales – Sales Skills & GTM Strategy Development
Marketing Strategy and Integrated Marketing Communication
Customer Care and Customer Relationship Management
Outbound Logistics Teams
Call Centre Personnel
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Focused employees that know what you expect from them and have the skills to deliver the company’s required outcomes.
Confident employees that have the necessary skills to succeed in their respective positions.
Driven and interdependent employees that are focused on building a sustainable competitive business which all employees can benefit from.
Great internal working relationships built on a culture of interdependence, resulting in an end to office politics, a negative working environment and co-dependent or independent employees which destroy the ethos of a great company.
Strong leadership with great mentoring and coaching techniques that ensure the life-long sustainability of future leaders within your organisation.
You keep the employees you want and get rid of those that you don’t or do not fit in the culture of your organisation.
Enhanced customer service which leads to high levels of customer satisfaction; thus you retain customers for life.
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The goal is to raise the operational effectiveness level of each employee trained, thereby ensuring that the financial, operational & strategic goals of a company is achieved.
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We at Paper Planes do not skip any of the important steps in building effective skills development programmes for an organisation. Conducting any generic training programme without understanding the inner dynamics of an organisation is like building a house without a plan. You can build it, but the end result is anyone’s guess. For this reason, we at Paper Planes ensure that we play the role of “Architect” in the development of a Skills Development and Training Roadmap to ensure ongoing Staff Performance Excellence.
To ensure sustainability in our training programme, we have established a Mentoring Programme that ensures that trained employees gain a maximum benefit from what they have learnt in their training and also have a platform to ensure that they remain effective after the training has been completed. We therefore make ourselves available on a pre-agreed time-table and conduct after-training mentoring and coaching sessions to ensure that each trainee gains the maximum benefit from what they have learnt.
Other Skills development Training Courses Offered
Strategic Marketing Skills Development - “How To” write a great marketing strategy that works!
Live the Brand – Coaching your employees on how to live the Brand ethos and how to deliver the brand values communicated by your marketing communication campaigns.
CRM Skills Development and Training – focused on building value in your CRM systems and building a positive mindset towards data gathering for maximum sales impact.
Visualise to Materialise Inspirational Seminars
Conduct Team Inspiration Seminars focusing on building highly inspired teams that work towards a unified vision and operational goals.
This unique activity is the foundation of all success in an organisation for it develops the ability required by each and every individual in the organisation to achieve the vision, mission and goals set out by the organisation. Great visionaries achieve success because they can see the end result of their dreams. However, unless they can convey their vision to their peers, their dreams are doomed to fail. This two-day seminar covers the following activities that teach each individual the processes of achieving their dreams within the vision set out by the organisation;
Personal goal setting integrated with the company vision, mission and goals
Creating personal and organisational vision to success
Developing the skills to maintain a positive and focused vision
Developing the parameters to integrate personal vision with the organisations vision
Sales & Marketing Recruitment.
Paper Planes specialises in the recruitment of top sales, CRM and marketing talent. Because our partners are specialists in the field of sales, CRM and marketing, we know how to identify the individuals with the right talent and skillset for the required positions to be filled. We furthermore identify the Drivers required for individuals to thrive in their new appointments and therefore we ensure a continuous coaching relationship with everyone we place in your company.