Wake Up Eager Interview: Skill Development Expert Ray Miller

I'm pleased to present a skill development interview with Ray Miller, the owner of The Training Bank and the creator of several training programs I recommend.

Suzie: Ray, thank you so much for taking time to share your training insights. First, please tell folks what you’re passionate about in your work, along with what you do and why you do it.

Ray: While my company focuses on skill development and training in Management, Leadership and Customer Focus, my passion is training people to sharpen Customer Focus whether it be throughout their Company, Department or Team.

I get a tremendous kick out of seeing that little glimmer of light that appears in someone’s eyes when something I have taught them resonates with them; that little spark of an idea that engages them and inspires them to try something new anddifferent.

Why customer focus? It is one of the single greatest skill development strategies that leaders, managers, supervisors and non-management staff can embrace which will have a profound impact of the success of any business.

Customer Service is something that everyone can relate to. Especially since everyone is a customer and everyone has experienced poor, inept and uncaring service all too often.

It is also something that is easy to talk about but hard to do. It takes strong leadership and sound management skill and commitment to create an environment where service excellence and customer focus flourishes.

On a selfish note, working in the classroom is just simply fun. I get to meet lots of interesting people, share ideas and approaches that I know will help them and hopefully make their jobs and life a bit more fun and interesting as well.

Suzie: Tell us about a hobby or interest (other than skill development) that you have, outside of work.

Ray: I like to write and play music. I play guitar and keyboards and I enjoy channeling some of my creative energy to creating music. It’s only for my own consumption but it’s quite exciting when I come up with a song or even part of a song which makes me feel the emotions I was trying to convey.

Suzie:Do you think personal and professional skill development is important to helping leaders get and stay inspired?

Ray: Extremely important. There is nothing more stressful than getting stuck in a rut. Sometimes we as managers get so wrapped up in dealing with the in basket and the problems in front of us that we start to do the same things over and over expecting a different result. That can drive you insane.

By constantly looking for better faster and unique ways of doing things it is amazing what we can accomplish and how quickly the things we thought were problems can become opportunities.

Leaders need to constantly be asking themselves “is there a better way to do this”. “What can I do to reinvent myself”. One sure fire way is to embrace personal and professional skill development.

I don’t care if it’s basket weaving or the Fundamentals of Customer-Focused Leadership. Learning new things and applying this new knowledge is essential, particularly in today’s highly competitive stressful environment.

Suzie: What are the most crucial skill development areas leaders and managers should develop to be more effective?

Ray: The short answer is: Take actions which will have the greatest long-term impact on their business.

One of the sections of Management Training by The Book is a course called the Qualities of Leadership. Taking actions which exemplify each of these qualities is a good start.

But if you were to ask me what is the most crucial strategy a leader should implement right now to improve their organization’s performance I would suggest implementing a Customer Focused Strategy.

"Why customer focus? It is one of the single greatest skill development strategies that leaders, managers, supervisors and non-management staff can embrace which will have a profound impact of the success of any business."
---Ray Miller

In my book, That’s Customer Focus! we actually outline in very straight forward terms what leaders need to do in order to become a Customer-Focused Organization.

Suzie: What do you think are the things (outside of the lack of skill development) that stop most people from waking up eager more often?

Ray: Life gets in the way. People have a lot to think about these days. Loved ones overseas fighting wars, domestic problems with the economy and jobs, global pandemics, personal finances, their kids education, and the list goes on and on. I guess for some, it’s hard to get past these things.

Sadly these things tend to preoccupy some people and because many of these issues appear to be beyond their control they feel trapped.

Perhaps the thing to do is simply recognize that while they can not control many of these broad issues, they can control how they allow these things to impact their daily lives.

They have a choice; they can blame the government or the banks for the economy, they withdraw from social gatherings so they don’t catch the flu or they can shift their mindset and when they wake up in the morning ask themselves What Can I do Today to make a difference. Not a difference in fixing the problems in the economy. But a difference is the lives of the people they lead at work.

"(We) can shift (our) mindset and when (we) wake up in the morning ask (our)selves What Can I do Today to make a difference. Not a difference in fixing the problems in the economy. But a difference is the lives of the people (we) lead at work. "
--- Ray Miller

Suzie: What things do you personally do to stay energized, focused and interested in your work?

Ray: Partly what I mentioned above but for me, I simply love the skill development and getting to do what I do. I think that that is probably the best prescription for anyone: Do what you are passionate about and love doing. =

Suzie: Tell us about your consulting, skill development, training and facilitating business.

Ray: The Training Bank is built on four key pillars.

1. Custom training design. We have the capability to design both technical and non-technical training on virtually any subject matter.
2. Customer Focus and Service Excellence Training. We have five unique and effective customizable classroom training programs for both leaders and employees in how to build and sustain customer focus and deliver exceptional service
3. Management and Leadership Training. We have developed a number of very effective fully customizable classroom training programs on a broad range of management, supervision and leadership subjects. Our experience with these programs is what led to the development of our management books and online courses.
4. Online Training. We have used our expertise to develop a number of online courses and packages in Management Development and Employee Development Skills.

   We have also negotiated with other experts and offer their online courses as well. And we also offer an extensive range of extremely effective online Health and Safety Courses

Suzie: Let's let people know how they can contact you...

You can also visit via Priceless Professional's affiliate links and read Suzie's review of our management training books:

Suzie's Book Review: Basic Management Skill Development,
Don't Let It Bite You in the Butt!
That's Customer Focus!
Management Training By the Book
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