Remake yourself into a more engaging trainer.

October 1, 2014 Lynn Larson

What are your top strategies for making classroom training a success? Jennifer Clark, procurement services training manager, University of Alabama, described three roles that good trainers should portray. She explained, “In my opinion, a good trainer is part showman, part talk show host, and part subject matter expert. It takes all three of these roles to get the participants engaged, make them comfortable in the environment, and impress upon them the importance of the material.”

All sorts of jobs require you to deliver training at some point, whether P-Card training or other. Be the best trainer you can be; it's an attribute of being a great a leader.

Following are Jennifer’s training strategies in her own words...

Being a Showman

The first thing to focus on is getting and keeping participants’ attention. I find it helpful to incorporate several tactics to combat the dreaded head bob:

Good trainers achieve success by fulfilling three roles: showman, talk show host and subject matter expert.

Appealing Slides

Make the slides fresh and appealing. Standard PowerPoint templates make it easy to put the information on the screen, but they are hardly memorable. I try to use lots of images and minimal text. No one wants to hear a trainer simply read the slides anyway.

Pre-Class Actions

Start on a good note. I’ve had great results from playing music before class, using silly animations (sparingly please!), or passing around real-world examples.

Anecdotes and Examples

Keep things upbeat and lively by including ample anecdotes and examples. Tailor the scenarios to fit the audience. It is much easier for participants to remember information if you can help them conceptualize how it applies to their jobs.

Audience Participation

Work in opportunities for audience participation—anything that sets the mood for a fun, informative session.

See more tips from Jennifer, including how to fulfill the other two roles (talk show host and subject matter expert). Then check out other training-related content from Recharged Education.

About the Author

Blog post author Lynn Larson, CPCP, is the founder of Recharged Education. With more than 15 years of Commercial Card experience, her mission is to make industry education readily accessible to all. Learn more…

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Rediscover the leader within you.

September 24, 2014 Lynn Larson

What can we gain from motivational speakers? A lot. The tough part is acting on their messages due to our ingrained routines and habits, but we should not give up. I am inspired to share what I heard last week at the Scotiabank Commercial Card conference.

Doug Keeley, The Mark of a Leader, told story after story about people who have accomplished amazing things against all odds. Here’s one: After reading a disturbing news story, a Canadian boy (age 12) founded an organization, Free The Children, to fight childhood slavery around the world. Very impressive. Hearing this, it would be easy to think, “I can’t do that” and then miss the real message. We can be leaders and make a positive difference, whether in the workplace or elsewhere, regardless of our status or situation. (See the P-Card success story of one end-user who initially lacked card experience.)

Doug emphasized that change is a choice. We choose to change or we stand still. He described various leadership attributes and the one that absolutely applies to everyone is helping others be their best. Consider your job. If you manage a card program, set your cardholders up for success through effective policies and procedures, and training. (See also the blog post about re-igniting a spark in your card program.) If you are an account manager for a provider organization, take the initiative to provide clients with ideas about how they can improve their programs; help program managers be their best.

Look around you. What direction can you take to demonstrate leadership?

There are endless ways in which we can be leaders. It does not have to consume a huge amount of time. My personal philosophy is “something is better than nothing.” This pushes me to take action even when I feel lacking in time, energy, confidence, etc.

I challenge you (and myself) to spend at least 10 minutes each day doing something that fosters leadership.

At work, this could mean you:

read an industry article relevant to your profession or employer, and report the findings to your manager
propose a new P-Card opportunity
extend a one-on-one training offer to a cardholder who seems to struggle with the responsibilities
listen to a colleague who is trying to resolve an issue

As Doug encouraged conference attendees, change something—stop doing or start doing…

If you have made a change as a result of a motivational speaker/writer, please add a comment below to relay your success story!

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How to reassure management about your P-Card controls.

September 16, 2014 Lynn Larson

It’s a classic battle: P-Card supporters versus P-Card resisters. You try to garner program buy-in, but management concerns about controls prevail. Why? How do you overcome this? Begin with a current risk assessment.

When was the last time you conducted such an analysis of your Purchase Card program? Some organizations have never completed this activity, but it is critical for documenting program risks and the mitigating controls. Besides helping to increase program buy-in among management and auditors, a risk assessment:

helps you identify any control gaps
can uncover program inefficiencies
provides the basis for process audits

There are various ways to approach a risk assessment. The ORCA framework is one:

Identify your organization’s program objectives
Determine the potential risks
Document existing controls
Specify the necessary actions to address areas that are lacking controls

If your organization has a risk assessment template, you could start with that or consider purchasing the P-Card specific template from Recharged Education.

A risk assessment provides the foundation for the P-Card control environment.

As you complete the assessment process, here’s an example of something to evaluate. When I managed a P-Card program, an internal auditor asked me if I could obtain a card for myself without anyone knowing. I admitted there were no preventative controls for this. However, there were established detective controls, which were documented in a risk assessment.

Keep in mind that more controls do not necessarily make a program better. To be successful, a Purchasing Card program must have effective controls to prevent and detect card fraud. The challenge is striking the right balance; you do not want to over- or under-control a program. Too many controls are costly, impacting the process savings inherent to P-Cards, while a lack of effective controls puts your organization at risk.