Pulling Out The Chair For Human Resources

I have heard more than one human resources professional express some frustration for not having a seat at the executive leadership table.  This is only natural.  The demands placed on human resource professionals are great.  The employment world has become increasingly complex.  Competition for quality staffing today imposes procedural sophistication onto any employer that hopes to survive.  Hiring, training, paying and separating employees have become a major departmental assignment for almost every employer.  Indeed, many larger organizations have an HR executive.   But including HR in the leadership ring doesn’t always seem to be a priority in some circles. 

There is one way that the stature of the HR world may be elevated.  Perceptions may change when HR begins to apply their acumen to targeting the bottom line of the organization itself.  And I’m hardly referring to simply keeping the budget in mind.  Instead, it’s more about the capital investments.  That is; human capital investments.

The human resources professional plays an impactful role in the performance of the organization, in spite of generally not being considered a leader.  The chief officers of the organization rely on HR to make certain that each employee is hired, trained, paid and separated in a fashion that will keep the organization out of the court room.  That is their ultimate challenge. The only other primary fire that their ‘feet are held to’ is much the same as with everyone else in the organization.  They must adhere to the budget.

But what if the HR pro were to think more in terms of being a revenue generator for the company?  Consider that very few organizations have a budget for employee turnover.  Many don’t even know what their turnover percentage is.  Many don’t want to know.  Worse yet, many don’t know how much it costs them every time they lose an employee.  And even more frightening is that I’d actually heard a corporate leader say that they really didn’t want to know!  It’s often expressed as a cost of doing business that they must simply absorb.

The Harvard business review published a massive 20-year study which dramatically identified Job Fit as the most critical factor in determining an individual’s success as an employee.  Knowing this, it seems reasonable that the HR professional’s primary and ultimate function would be identifying the right person for the right job.  This also means that the protocol for selecting a job candidate should be insightfully structured.  Consider the due diligence required to predict a long term successful employee.  The U.S. Department of Labor identifies the following criteria for predicting job success; the right cognitive skills, personal on-the-job behavior, and the candidate’s interest in the duties of the position.  To accomplish this, here are some time-honored practices that should be applied and re-evaluated frequently.

1. A carefully crafted Job Description must be generated to accurately identify the duties to be performed and the qualifications necessary for the position. 
2. Who initially reviews the application and resume?  Is the reviewer qualified to know what to look for?
3. Are background investigations necessary and if so, how thorough must they be?
4. Is there an effective evaluation and assessment incorporated into the process? Do they provide reliable information that is valid for predicting performance for the position?
5. Who conducts the interview? What information and philosophy is really incorporated into the interview? How many interviews/levels should be included?

Think about this:  You have 50 employees.  You have a 20% turnover rate, replacing 10 employees every year.  The average annual salary is $35,000.  Using the conservative formula of 150% cost per employee who must be replaced, that’s $525K a year that may or may not be in the budget.  If HR could minimally maintain that new turnover rate of 16%, that would be a savings of almost $105,000!

That is a payroll savings of over 21%.  Imagine what that means to the leadership of an organization?  They may see it as just lucky. But when HR can sustain this savings and even drop the turnover rate lower, it becomes more evident of the creative leadership skills that it possesses.  Like good leadership everywhere, their strength lies in their ability to make a positive impact on their ROI; a return on the human capital investment.  

BOB RINGSTROM EARNS FAMILY BUSINESS ADVISOR CERTIFICATION

Bob Ringstrom completes the Galliard Level One Certification

Sartell, MN (November, 2012) – Bob Ringstrom, President of Strata Personnel Solutions recently completed the comprehensive Galliard Family Business Advisor Level One training program in Minneapolis, MN. Completion of the certification equips Ringstrom with comprehensive tools to assist family-owned and closely-held businesses

“Family Business Advisor training enables professionals in the network to take clients through a solid process to assess the business and best determine the steps to move forward to meet needs for growth and the future,” said Lise Stewart, founder of Galliard Group.

The philosophy behind the Galliard Family Business Advisor program is to allow transition of the business with dignity intact. The advisors work to help the business create an exit strategy, succession plan and build an advisory board not only as a means to transition the business in the future, but also to help create a clear roadmap of how the business will operate to reach its goals.

Having completed Family Business Advisor training and becoming a member of the Galliard Family Business Advisor Network, Bob Ringstrom, will be further engaging in assisting family owned and closely-held businesses in developing transition plans and creating the strategy unique to each company to achieve the desired outcome.

About Strata Personnel Solutions.

SPS specializes in human capital analysis.  We provide organizational leaders validated and reliable information to better understand their staff, so they can be coached to their highest achievement.  Strata Personnel Solutions enables managers place the right person in the right job. www.Strata-PS.com

About Galliard, Inc.

Galliard’s network of consulting experts partner closely with clients to provide high-quality, customized services, at affordable rates, to build viable, sustainable businesses that positively contribute to the economic and social health of their employees, clients and communities. For more information visit: www.galliardinc.com.

From Baseball Manager to CEO in the Fortune 500

Or Not?

Great managers come out of nowhere.  For those of you who have followed major league sports, you may have found it interesting that some of the finest managers in baseball have a somewhat invisible playing history. The 6^th ‘winningest’ manager of all time, Sparky Anderson, was in the major leagues for only a year. Close behind him in the 9^th position, Walter Alston of the Dodgers also only played in the majors for a year.  Two others on the list of leading managers, Jim Leyland and John McNamara never played a single game in the major league!  Yet each of them managed their teams to championships.

The list of great ball players who failed miserably as managers is too lengthy to go into and would serve only to tarnish their image.  But how does this happen?  More importantly to most of us, do we see the same pattern in the workplace?  Whenever I pose that question to workers, managers and owners everywhere; the response is universally in the affirmative!

Most managers have an 'up through the ranks' climb in their industry or within their company.  They tend to have produced, sold or distributed the product then moved on to the role of manager.   An incredibly successful employee would seem to hold promise as a manager.    Indeed, many hard workers are rewarded with a promotion to a management position and they do quite well; at least sometimes.  But according to the American Society for Training and Development, about 30 percent of new managers and executives fail at their new jobs and leave with 18 months.  Other studies place the figure as high as 40%.  More narrowly at the executive level over the past two decades, 30% of Fortune 500 CEO’s have lasted less than 3 years.

Good performance at one level in the organization does not necessarily predict success as an employee accepts another position.  This may become exceedingly critical when the new assignment is a managerial position. Going from one industry to the next can be a challenge.  Going up the corporate ladder can also present some obstacles; while transferring from one department to another may present its own unique challenges. As the leader of an organization, we don't want the headaches that can be generated by new managers who may be at lease temporarily, in over their head.  The ramifications, can at a minimum, be fiscally disappointing.  Worse yet, they can be terminally ugly.  On a more compassionate level, what about the disastrous black mark that's left on the vitae of the failed employee?

It is essential that careful consideration be used in creating relevant and accurate job descriptions for any position. Subsequently, very close scrutiny must be made of the job finalists for the position.  A review of a candidates performance in other capacities or other jobs can be very misleading.  Even when duties would seem to match, there may be differences of technical tolerance, or organizational culture.  I would also caution against relying too heavily on ones's abilities as a judge of character; or as someone who can drill down to the heart  of an individual with their personal interviewing skills.  Consider a University of Michigan study findings which showed that a typical interview increases your chances of choosing the best candidate by less than two percent.  Why not toss a coin?  Interview criteria and results must be independently validated as reliable to truly provide value.

The simple truth is that no one is the perfect employee for all positions.  Instead the demands of the position must be understood completely before a capable candidate can be selected on their skill set, their critical job behaviors and their interest in specific duties.  Indeed; there may in fact be a legendary former major league baseball player who is infinitely better prepared to lead a world-wide technology company than to manage a team to the World Series.

What is Great Service?

Measuring public service for excellence can provide a benchmark for client relationship.

It would seem that the concept of great service would be a household word that carries with it a single commonly understood meaning. But there are probably as many ideas to describe great service as there are clients who experience it.  Still there are a few ideas that transcend industry sector, size of company, geography or types of products and services provided.

The research by Berry, Parasuraman & Zeithaml (1994), although nearly 20 years old, is still a great yardstick for measuring service excellence.  They suggested ten lessons learned from their ten-year (cross-industry) longitudinal study of service in American-based companies. 

Lesson One:  The first lesson they declare is the ability to listen (really listen) to the customer.  Understand fully what the customer is telling you; how they’re telling you and why they’re telling you. 

Lesson Two: Provide a reliable set of products and services.  Five criteria used to evaluate service excellence, including dependability, responsiveness, knowledge and expertise, empathy and appearance. 

Lesson Three: Basic Service is not fancy; it’s just demonstrated accountability, and ownership. 

Lesson Four: Service design, equipment, service personnel, service system and service environment (appearance, cleanliness, supplies, location, etc.)

Lesson Five:  Recovery or response time, time to correct and satisfaction with the correction. 

Lesson Six: Surprise the customer. Go beyond expectations with exceptional speed of delivery or repair, outstanding courtesy, over-the-top commitment to resolve an issue.

Lesson Seven: Fair play. Just do the right thing for the right reasons.  Demonstrate fairness even when it doesn’t play to your financial advantage. 

Lesson Eight: Teamwork.  Let the client see you working together.  Never sell out another team member. Rush to the aid of a team member in order to impress the client.

Lesson Nine: Build strong internal service.  External service is heightened when internal service excellence is realized. Listen to each other and respond to each other’s needs.  Like other important values, service begins at home.

Lesson Ten: Encourage leadership service. When leaders exemplify a service mentality toward their followers, the followers will likely deploy the same style of service toward their clients. 

Ten Lessons of Service Success – Research Results from         Berry, Parasuraman & Zeithml (1994) p. 32-42

Getting Extraordinary Results from Ordinary People

What’s the secret of those people who seem to get such incredible results despite the fact that they are working with basically the same pool of people as we are?

We live in a results based world. We’re judged by what we produce and what we contribute to our families and communities. In the last 20 or 30 years, there’s been a lot of focus on developing management skills because we’re told that good management skills result in good results. Although this is not untrue, it’s not the full story either. Certainly a strong set of management skills will ensure you get results (or worst case show you’re trying), but getting extraordinary results from ordinary people requires more than just a finely honed set of management skills.

When researchers look at those people who achieve extraordinary results, they certainly find good management skills, but they also find good management skills in those who get lack luster results too. Good management skills are vital to achieving success, but they aren’t enough.

The secret of those people who tend to get extraordinary results is people who work with and for them want to help them get results. They are distinguished by the fact that they are not just managers, but leaders. Those who get extraordinary results tend to be extraordinary leaders. Here are the attitudes and habits research shows makes the difference between ordinary managers and extraordinary leaders. Understand and assimilate them and you’ll see your own results improve dramatically.

There are no ordinary people

Extraordinary leaders recognize every one of their people, given the right circumstances and challenges, have the potential to produce extraordinary results. They know there are no ‘ordinary people,’ just ordinary leaders who get ordinary results from people with the potential to do much more. It is this recognition that, a ‘weed is just a flower growing in the wrong place,’ that describes the way they treat their people and, in turn, the way their people choose to give their all to help them achieve the results they crave. Look for strengths in your people.

Set the tone

Great leaders lead by example. The company becomes the boss. If you are positive, dedicated, persistent, and goal-oriented then you’ll develop this sort of atmosphere in your department or organization. If you are negative about your people, depressed about the future, and disinclined to go the extra mile then don’t be surprised when you’re employees begin to mirror your attitude. Model the attitude and behaviors you want from your people.

Give your people a great reputation

Dale Carnegie outlined ten timeless principles for perfect human relationships, one of which is “Give people a high reputation to live up to.” Tell your people what you are trying to achieve, explain the importance of their contributions to these goals, train and skill them to be effective, and then invest confidence and belief in them. Tell them how certain you are they will excel. People will go to the ends of the earth to preserve a good reputation, so give them one!

Use your coaching time well

In his book ‘How to become a better boss,’ Jeffrey Fox suggests that you spend 90 percent of your one on one coaching and management time with your top performers. So, if you spend ten hours of your week working with your people, you should spend six of those hours with those people who are delivering 70 percent of your results (the time tested 80-20 rule applies everywhere); spend three of those hours with your emerging ‘stars’ (those who have the potential to make the top performer group) and spend just 10 percent of your time with those who are not contributing and never will. Effective investment of your coaching time will pay big dividends.  Don’t assume that your top performers need no time just because they are getting results; these people are your gold, treasure them.

Give lots and lot of recognition

Every study on why people leave jobs, or stay in jobs, excel in jobs, or ‘die’ in jobs, highlights the key role of recognition. Institutionalize as many initiatives as you can to catch people doing something right. When you do, thank them privately, but praise them publicly. Not even money has the motivating power of public recognition for a job well done. The great motivational speaker Zig Ziglar said ‘the easiest way to knock a chip off someone’s shoulder is to let them take a bow.’ 

Catch even your worst people doing something right and praise them publicly and you’ll see their attitudes change.

Evolving from a good manager to an extraordinary leader requires nothing more than additional focus. Doing all of those things that make the people who work for you look and feel good about what they are doing will result in the best possible results.

How to be THE Expert in Your Field

You do not have to be a genius to become an expert. You just need to work a little harder than anyone else at doing so.

As you can read in Leadership Charisma, our research demonstrated that employees found leaders who were focused on their own personal development charismatic. Those leaders who displayed a clear commitment to their own ongoing development, who continually sought to improve themselves and their knowledge, were more charismatic than those who did not.

That research also showed that leaders who appeared creative – approaching their jobs with imagination and originality, taking bold, calculated risks, or inspiring innovation – were also highly charismatic. There is undoubtedly a certain creative spark that some people have and others don’t, but knowledge and a high level of expertise can go a long way to enabling any leader to be much more creative – and therefore charismatic – in the eyes of his or her people.

This was pretty much as we had expected. All of the existing charisma research we reviewed before we started our own study indicated that a very common attribute of charismatic people is an expert reputation. Those with a charismatic persona are generally viewed as having above-average expertise or ability in some key area that is of interest to those who find them charismatic. It’s easy to see why others would find expertise attractive. We would all like to perform at above-average levels and the opportunity either to learn from people who do, or even just to be associated with them and the results they achieve, makes them attractive. Expertise is a common component of charisma.

Before we look at how you can build a reputation as an expert, let’s first define an expert – in what some might think are somewhat cynical terms. For our purposes, an expert is simply someone who is seen to know more than the majority of people on any topic. So to be an expert you do not have to know everything about your chosen topic, just more than the majority of people around you.

So how do you become an expert? Two basic steps:

Part 1. Develop your expertise continuallyHow do you achieve this? Read. It’s that simple. Almost everyone around you tells themselves that they no longer have the time to read as much as they’d like (though the reality is that they’ve just made something else a higher priority). If you wish to build expert power you need to read much more than anyone else on your topic. Stay on top of your industry, read widely, and educate yourself so that you are as up to date as anyone else on developments in your industry or profession.

"Read books. Read websites. Read other people. Circle the pitfalls and highlight the opportunities. Then build a vision of how it all could be better and work like hell to make it happen"– Michael Dell, founder, Dell Inc.

If yours is a broad-ranging profession, then select a strategically important slice of industry to focus on. Pick the topic that is of most critical importance to whomever it is you would like to find you charismatic.  Remember, charisma is about others’ perceptions. Make it a goal to become the authority on that segment – first in your immediate group, then in your organization, afterward in your region, then in your country – and, ultimately, in the world.

Focus on those books that specifically address the newest developments in your field, the most innovative new approaches to addressing the key challenges in the target segment of your profession or business. The more you study the latest trends and developments in your field, the greater the distance you put between yourself and your peers. Most people learn about new developments third or fourth hand. By reading the latest works in your field before your peers, you steal a march on most people you’ll encounter.

Set a goal of reading one of these books per week. That’s 50 books per year. Your reading rate will increase with practice, but it takes 30-60 minutes per day, six to seven days per week to read a typical book.

Buy your books monthly and take the time to select the four or five each month that are the freshest and most relevant available at that point in time.

We strongly recommend e-book readers (e.g., the Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, or the Sony Reader) as an aid to this objective. With these excellent devices you get instant online access to just about any decent new book that hits the market. Not only do you have instant access, but the books also tend to be less expensive than their paper counter parts (especially when you factor in the cost of shipping or the time to go book shopping). Most e-book readers also have a very nifty feature that allows you to highlight passages in the books you read, and even add your own notes – with a view to later exporting those passages for use in your word processor, for example. A great investment!

Part 2. Coming soon will cover How to Build Your Expert Reputation. 

High Impact: Retention and Development Strategies in a Competitive Workforce

 

Would you say that all your employees are top performers? Probably not! Did you know that unless all your people are ‘superior’ performers, you are losing money unnecessarily . If you can move performance of an employee from ‘bottom’ to ‘average’ or ‘average’ to ‘superior’, the results can be tremendous.  Regardless of the size of your organization, these moves can have a dramatic and measurable financial impact. Profiles tools’ and solutions allow you to identify your top, middle and bottom performers.

Say for example you are manager of a sales team in your organization:

John’s Sales Team

• 10 salespeople
• Total quota of $8,400,000
• Total sales of $8,203,000
• Average sales per sales person is $820,300

Here we see the team carrying a combined annual quota of $8,400,000 that has fallen short by $197,000. Next step is to identify your top, middle and bottom performer’s annual sales.

Top performers (2 employees)

-Total sales $2,200,000

-Average quota performance 184%

Middle performers (3 employees)

-Total Sales $2,960,000

-Average quota performance 115%

Bottom performers (5 employees)

-Total sales $3,034,000

-Average quota performance 67%

Worrying facts: Your bottom performers were 67% complete against their quota and that 50% of the team are bottom performers.  Your top performers are proving that more can actually be done and in reality no one was hired for middle or bottom performance. Sales are now being lost unnecessarily.

Imagine the impact if you could change one thing, developing your bottom performers to be average performers.

Imagine if…..

Performance improvement	Additional annual sales	New total sales
Raise one bottom performer to middle	$452,467	$8,655,467
Raise ALL bottom performers to average	$2,262,333	$10,465,333

That is over $10 million dollars in new business from a simple performance shift that can be easily done once you understand how to make your team work as efficiently and effectively as possible.  Learn today about the cornerstones of performance.


Don’t take my word for it; hear from organizations that have already impacted their business in such a way.

“It’s a shift from ‘low performer thinking’ to ‘maybe they are not in the right job, and we should find them a better fit.’ It is a mentality shift, and (by applying data from the PXT), I can figure out that if poor job fit is the case, I can help them go into a different job and do better” – Eastman Chemical Company
"Before implementing the ProfileXT® the average sales per sales rep was $169,409. After one year of implementation with the ProfileXT®, annual sales increased to an average of $233,952 per sales representative. The ProfileXT® assessment increased the Bard Medical’s Critical Care sales by $64,543 per sales representative, a 28% annual increase." - Bard Medical 

Money Doesn't Buy Happiness: 2012's Happiest and Unhappiest Jobs

Job satisfaction can highly depend on the type of person and how well they match a position. Count yourself lucky if you are one of those people that genuinely loves your job. Although all jobs can be stressful and trying at times, there are many things that can increase stress levels. Difficult hours, low pay and lack of room for promotion can all act as stress factors and contribute to dissatisfaction on the job.

Have you ever wondered what jobs people are the most happy doing and which ones they are most unhappy doing? Career Bliss just released 2012’s Happiest and Unhappiest Jobs in America lists.

These people LOVE what they do: 

1. Software Quality Assurance Engineer
2. Executive Chef
3. Property Manager
4. Teller
5. Warehouse Manager
6. Administrative Assistant
7. Customer Service Representative
8. Accountant
9. System Engineer
10. Construction Manager

The average salaries for these positions range from 26K to 89k, what’s surprising is that the highest paid positions aren’t the highest ranking positions. Construction Manager is the highest salary at 89K but Teller, being the lowest salary at 26k is ranked higher. I guess money doesn’t really buy happiness!

People in these positions rated the unhappiest:

1. Security Officer
2. Registered Nurse
3. Teacher
4. Sales Engineer
5. Product Manager
6. Program Manager
7. Marketing Manager
8. Director of Sales
9. Marketing Director
10. Maintenance Supervisor

The ‘unhappiest’ positions have a significantly higher salary average, from 40K to 94k. According to Career Bliss, the most common reasons for job dissatisfaction in these positions is limited growth opportunities and lack of rewards.

If you find yourself unhappy in your job, or if you are the manager of an unhappy team, Strata Personnel Solutions offers reliably powerful tools to really make a difference in your happiness and in job satisfaction. But not only do you feel the weight off your shoulders, the organization will thrive!  

Maintaining Momentum Through a Merger

You have heard it through the grapevine- there is going to be a merger. It is often a situation saturated with fear, worry, mystery, and confusion.  Do you know what to do when the company you work for plans to merge with another company? How or will your role within the organization change once the merger has taken place? Mergers can be a scary time for everyone involved. Employees fear the unknown, managers fear an increase in staff and responsibilities, and leaders worry about the change in their company culture.

Instead of letting fear and worry take over, organizational leaders should embrace the change head on and create an action plan that focuses on how to help managers handle additional responsibilities and how to help employees adapt to the new company culture. Strong leadership before, during, and after a merger will ensure that employees and managers are not overlooked and that the new company culture is adopted as quickly as possible.

According to an article in the Harvard Business Review, here are 5 things leaders can do to keep the company moving forward during the merger process:

• Open up communications
  Remember, employees are scared of the unknown. Giving them the opportunity to voice their concerns without fear is essential. Leaders need to provide a way for employees to anonymously ask questions and then make sure they provide answers in a way that employees know that their concerns have been heard.
• Find the true influencers
  It is unrealistic for organizational leaders to speak to each and every employee directly. Leaders should seek out and depend on “influencers” within the company to share the organization’s vision. These people can generate enthusiasm and support for the organization’s plan, calm the fears that employees have about changes that may occur as a result of the merger, and gather feedback about how the process is going.
• Make the integration swift
  A merger can make for a turbulent environment and leaders must brace themselves for difficult decisions regarding workforce redundancies and corporate culture integration. Determining who gets what information, when, and how can be tricky. Leaders should integrate at a systems level as soon as possible. They should make sure employees have all the tools they need to do their job, from cell phones and laptops to key company information like e-mail and phone lists.
• Deliver a clear, concise vision and celebrate success
  Leaders must deliver a clear vision and infuse the “where the company is now, where the company is going and how the company is going to get there” message at every opportunity and at every level. They need to create a culture of enthusiasm and responsibility. It is important to hold employees accountable for their part in making the vision a reality and to celebrate the victories of individuals and teams.
• Expect discomfort
  Leading a company through a merger is always challenging. It usually requires tough decisions to be made about resources and resource allocation. Having an action plan for the merger process will be extremely beneficial, but leaders should expect some discomfort along the way.

A merger can be difficult for both companies involved and how leaders choose to handle the situation can make all the difference in the world. Developing an action plan, opening up the lines of communication, finding influential people to help share the vision, integrating systems as soon as possible, celebrating successes, and expecting some bumps in the road will help leaders make forward progress during a merger.

“It’s now time for all of us- those who supported the merger and those who opposed it- to pull together for the benefit of the company.” – Carly Fiorina (Executive and President of Hewlett-Packard Co. in 1999)

Worthy of the Gold: Business Takeaways from Olympic Athletes

The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad, began a week ago this past Friday and will continue through Sunday.  Between July 27th and August 12^th,  an estimated 10,500 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees will compete for the chance to win an Olympic Medal.

The Olympic athletes can teach us a great deal and many of their lessons can apply to the corporate world as well as the athletic arena.  Persistence, hard work, training, strategy, perseverance, goal setting, and preparedness are all valuable in business as well as in sports. While there are countless lessons to be learned, here are a few key business takeaways from the Olympic athletes:

Training is important!

Athletes train for years for the chance to compete in the Olympics.  Michael Phelps, American swimmer and Olympic athlete since 2004, has one of the most physically demanding training routines ever.  According to an article by Muscle Prodigy, Phelps trains 5-6 hours a day, 6 days a week and swims a minimum of 80,000 meters a week (nearly 50 miles) during peak training phases. His diet consists of more than 12,000 calories a day!

Luckily, business training doesn’t require you to consume 12,000 calories a day or swim 50 miles a week, but it is something that you need to do on a continual basis. The business world is constantly evolving, and as a result so should you. Training is how you can expand and polish your skills, abilities, and experience. You should always take advantage of training and development opportunities provided by your organization, local colleges, or business networks.

Know your competition!

In addition to the countless hours that athletes put into training for the Olympics, they also spend a great deal of time studying their competition.  Jen Kessy and April Ross, one of the women’s American beach volleyball teams, making their Olympic debut this year are taking every opponent seriously.  In their first match, Kessy and Ross found themselves facing an Argentinean team that they had not seen on the FIVB World Tour.  Instead of looking past this team to focus on tougher opponents, they scoured YouTube for video of their Argentinean opponents and studied a Pan American tournament video provided by their coach.

One of the most important things you can do in business is to distinguish yourself from your competition. In order to do that you must learn as much as you can about competing businesses. You need to research and find out what products they sell, what services they provide, what industries are their strongest, what geographic area they cover, etc.  Differentiating your business from similar businesses is a key way to turn prospects in to customers and win market share.

Set goals!

It is a safe bet that the ultimate goal for all Olympic athletes is to win a gold medal; however, they have had to establish and achieve many other goals before getting the opportunity to compete in the Olympics.  For Ariel Hsing, American table tennis player, not all goals on her Olympic journey have been related to her sport. Ariel has had to focus on academic goals as well as sports-related goals.  Since elementary school, Ariel’s parents have required her to get straight A’s in order for her to keep playing table tennis.  Now a junior in high school, Ariel has, so far, managed to hold up her end of the deal but admits that it hasn’t always been easy.

Goals are a crucial part of building your self-confidence as they give you strength and assurance about what you are doing presently and in the future.  They allow you to take control of your life and career, and live it to the fullest.  Even more so, clear and compelling goals provide focus and direction for your actions at any given time.  Make sure you set smaller goals that will help you achieve your ultimate goal; create milestones with dates that you can work on daily, weekly, and monthly.  Prioritize your goals now and make them work for you! Invest in your present moments so they can produce a future return on investment.

The Summer Olympics only occur every four years, but the lessons demonstrated by the athletes can be applied to your professional and personal life year-round!

“The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well.” - Pierre de Coubertin (primarily responsible for the revival of the Olympic Games in 1894)

Employees as Assets: Three Ways to Increase Your ROI

Employee utilization seems to be one of those over-used business terms that poorly describes one of the most important elements in productivity.  America’s Most Productive Companies know that successful employee utilization is an active ingredient for overall success.

When human capital planning is at the top of a company's priorities, they are sure to achieve their goals despite a potentially lean number of employees.  So, what do the most productive companies mean when they say they have impeccable employee utilization?  To successfully utilize employees, organizations should consider three elements:

1. Each employee should have a detailed job description
2. Employee engagement should remain a top priority
3. Employees should be assigned an amount of work that is manageable based on their personal capabilities

Despite the complexities one might expect, human capital planning tools have made these processes easier to achieve.  Here are 3 simple steps to ensure you are utilizing your team.

1. Detailed job descriptions for all employees

Each employee's job description should be detailed and thorough.  Just because an employee holds a specific title does not always mean that he or she will understand what is expected of them.  Setting clear boundaries for employees allows them to acknowledge their goals and understand what they are expected to accomplish.  Employees should be utilized based on their job descriptions; they will aim to be more productive if they know their limitations.  It is a common occurrence for many employees to end up working on projects that are not part of their job description.  As a manager, make sure that employee’s duties and responsibilities are clearly and effectively communicated to them on a regular basis.

2. Employee engagement is critical

Employee engagement is another major factor when considering how to use an employee to the best of their abilities.  Employees who are disengaged are less likely to achieve their goals and more likely to avoid exceeding expectations, but employees who feel respected and valued will produce double the work that a disengaged employee produces.  Personalized assessments are valuable tools that managers can use to better understand how to increase employee engagement.

Every employee will respond differently to the same motivators, but a good manager recognizes these differences and works with employees to create a productive work environment.

3. Workloads should be manageable (not too much, not too little)
Finally, the amount of work employees are expected to produce is the quintessential element of employee utilization.  Workload capabilities are just as diverse as employees’ engagement levels.  Organizations need to understand that an employee's workload capabilities do not always directly correlate with their intelligence or activity levels.  Each employee can handle a certain number of tasks at a time, but this number will vary greatly throughout all levels of the company.
Strategic human capital management tools can assist organizations with the complexities involved in the employee utilization process.  The results from assessing employees can teach managers about an individual's workload capabilities and engagement levels.
Managers should also consider open communication when trying to encourage that employees work to their full potential.  Weekly one-on-one meetings or an open-door policy will encourage employees to communicate when they are having trouble managing their projects or meeting their goals.
In order to successfully master productivity, companies should administer accurate job descriptions to each employee, keep employees engaged, and adjust each employee's workload so that they never feel tired or burned out. Using employees to their fullest potential will result in higher productivity and a happier workforce.

Learn from JC Penney’s Mistakes: 3 Ways to Reduce Employee Turnover

Learn from JC Penney’s Mistakes: 3 Ways to Reduce Employee Turnover

Posted by Christina Krenek on Tue, Jul 03, 2012i

JC Penney has been making headlines, and not in a positive light. An article from The Washington Post shares the company's latest news. First there was the brand’s makeover “disaster” which resulted in confused customers, angry employees and an 18.9 percent drop in same-store sales. Most recently, the company’s president, Michael Francis, has resigned after eight months.
So what went wrong? How could a company that was once so customer-friendly and family focused fail so badly? Everyone has their theories. In an article from Forbes titled, JC Penney's Misfire: What Went Wrong, a fellow retail industry CEO said, “my feeling is that the company entered into a brand relaunch with the best of intentions; however those intentions were lofty to say the least.”
Who knew that Francis, the former chief marketing officer for Target and a 21-year retail veteran, would be leaving the company after only eight months. JC Penney’s CEO Ron Johnson has decided not to hire a replacement and will assume the responsibilities of overseeing the marketing and merchandising activities.
With the resignation of a president, companies can be faced with unhappy workers and employee turnover. An article from BusinessInsider got the inside scoop from store employees and sales associates about the changes and hardships they’re dealing with. One sales associate even quoted he will be quitting at the end of the month.
Let's learn from JC Penney's mistakes. From what some of the company's employees quoted in BusinessInsider, here are three lessons to reduce employee turnover:

• Reflect company values. An organization’s mission and beliefs are the heart of the company and should be seen throughout all departments. During JC Penney’s rebranding, the company seemed to stray from this. First, the core messaging strategy was not included in the store’s advertisements and the messages were altered multiple times. Such inconsistency confused both customers and employees. The new campaign also promises a “fair and square” shopping experience; but as a JC Penney sales associate quoted, the recent pay-cuts and fewer hours are certainly not fair and square. The promises you make to your customers should align with the promises you make to your employees!
• Communicate with ALL employees. Poor communication is another reason why JC Penney is losing employees and customers. During the store’s makeover, the CEO’s message to employees was to “change and adapt.” But change for sales associates creates fear and uncertainty. One shoe sales person said, “Every week is different and it’s hard to see where they are going with some of the changes.” Effective communication is essential. All employees in the company, from C-level executives to frontline salespeople, need to be on the same page.
• Respect employees. With all the miscommunication, pay-cuts and confusion, some of JC Penney’s employees are feeling undervalued. One employee said that he feels the CEO, Ron Johnson, "cares more about the stakeholders’ interests than the employees." All employees need to be respected for their contributions. Once employees begin to feel devalued, productivity and company morale are in trouble! Don’t let that happen to you. Show your employees you care. Here are four great tips for motivating sales people with recognition and praise.

Has your organization ever been through a change like JC Penney’s? How do you deal with employee turnover? 

2 Critical Questions to Ask for Effective Succession Planning

Posted by Christina Krenek on Thu, Jun 14, 2012

Succession planning is often misunderstood or undervalued in the workplace. A research poll from SHRM found that only 23 percent of organizations have a formal succession plan and 38 percent have some informal planning in place. These numbers are low compared to just how important succession planning is to an organization’s success. The research also found that larger organizations (with 2,500 employees or more) are much more likely to have succession plans.

Whether you’re a large corporation or small business, the economy is constantly changing and unpredictable. You never know when employees may leave or retire, and you’re faced with vacant job positions that are critical to your organization’s function. So, you need to be prepared! An effective succession plan benefits the organization and its employees in many ways, such as: identifying the current and future needs of the organization, identifying top performers and leaders, and assisting in employee development.

An article from Harvard Business Review even says to “change the name from succession planning to succession development.” Effective succession planning helps organizations develop their internal talent in areas that will prepare them to succeed in higher-level and leadership positions. A great leader needs to be able to work effectively with people and make successful transitions to higher levels of responsibility and accountability. Succession planning will identify the people who are capable of leadership and identify the areas one needs to develop to become successful.  

The heart of succession planning is the evaluation of employees’ performance and potential. In doing this, you must ask these two questions:

How is the employee being perceived?
When evaluating and assessing employees, it’s important to know how they interact with others. Do they demonstrate leadership skills and confidence in the workplace? To gain this valuable information, it’s important to look at employees through the eyes of their coworkers and leaders who they interact with on a day-to-day basis. That’s where assessments, like the CheckPoint 360°™, can help. 360-degree assessments evaluate a person’s leadership performance and potential with direct feedback from peers, supervisors and even customers.  

What are the employee’s unique characteristics?
When looking at an employee’s performance and potential, you need to take into account what job positions and responsibilities will be the best fit. To determine this, you need to know your employees’ behaviors, motivations, interests and values. What makes them tick? Will they be capable of working under more pressure? To gather this data objectively, you can use full-person assessments. For example, the ProfileXT®measures over 20 performance factors including behavioral tendencies, thinking and reasoning skills, aptitude and interests. The assessment results then indicate how strongly an employee matches different job positions and identifies areas he or she needs to develop to become successful.  

How does your organization deal with succession planning? Leave a comment below or connect with us on Twitter.

FULFILLING THE REAL POWER OF MOTIVATION

Zig Ziglar was a masterful motivator. A client once challenged him by stating that his motivational efforts only lasted for a day. Zig replied, “You’re right; and that‘s why I suggest motivation on a daily basis.” He also offers his “Day Before Vacation” story. Think about your last day at work before you went on vacation. Did you get as much done in that day as you would normally get done in two, three, or even four days? Have you ever considered how this could be used to motivate employees?

How many people sit down a day or more before a vacation and make a to-do list? It’s quite common. The list is pretty clear. As you complete a task, it’s scratched off and your mind jumps to the next step. You probably even tackle the hardest or most critical ones first. You’re performing like a “clean-up” engineer on steroids, tearing through the list efficiently and by the numbers. You know that you want no distractions to your planned “vacation mind-set”. As the list gets shorter, you feel your energy rise. Everyone had better get out of the way; this race horse wants to run!

Let's have a look at the principles behind this focus and how it would apply to your employees' performance and development. Of course, it’s probably not very practical to schedule rapidly-impending vacation days on a regular basis simply to build up ‘organizational steam’. But with some initial positive experiences, the internal sense of satisfaction can ultimately transition into a pattern of motivation every time the slate is cleaned.

Over-arching goals are very useful in keeping the focus on quarterly or annual objectives; or even 5-year plans. But the short term goals are the ones that ultimately close the gap. Helping staff learn to appreciate the value of goal achievement is critical to consistently ending up the year where you want everything and everyone to be; on top of the world!

Every employee should have their own personal set of goals; each one demonstrably connected to the achievement of the organizational goals. These should be mutually identified and agreed to by the individual and by management. It would be imperative that mandatory quality achievements would supersede any rate-of-completion standards. This is really nothing new here, but it is one of those minutiae that can get lost in the fray as organizations become more obsessed with “just working harder”.

The goals are really about making everyone happy. Objectives are a measure of goal achievement. Happiness is discovered by reaching the objective of the goal. Can the boss count the dollar signs of durable success of the organizational efforts at the same time that each participating member realizes the satisfaction of completing a job well done? No one is jumping down anyone’s throat and the smiles can be counted everywhere; happiness abounds. That is motivating! You can almost hear the birds chirping.

Keep in mind these three essentials of goals:

1. Objectives must be measurable.

2. Objectives must have a timeframe.

3. Objectives must be attainable.

It’s a sign of a struggling workforce when people simply ‘show up’ for their job. That is really more about collecting a paycheck. It does not reflect an engaged workplace. How engaged are the people where you work?

Bob Ringstrom