Employee Recognition on a Budget

         I’m sure we can all agree that now is not the time to ask senior management for more money for lavish employee recognition programs.  Although we may be able to present a compelling argument for the additional money, most senior managers are in a cost-saving mindset given the current state of the economy. 

        Well, there are ways to reward employees without breaking the bank or the budget.

 In his book, 1001 Ways To Reward Employees, author Bob Nelson provides the HR professional with a myriad of low-cost incentives to reward and recognize employees for a job well done. If I were to list all these incentives in this post, it would end up being a very-long post. Thus, I’m going to discuss the one I liked the most.

 

Bravo Cards 

     Janis Allen, a performance management consultant, tells the story of a group of officers she was training in the Department of the Army. One person in particular, a colonel, showed great resistance to the use of any reinforcers. A week or so after the seminar, the colonel’s manager—a general–wanted to praise him for his handling of an important presentation. The general found a piece of yellow construction paper, folded it in half and wrote “Bravo” on the front. Then he wrote his reinforcing remarks inside.

     The colonel was called in, praised and handed the card. “He took it and read it.” Allen says. “He didn’t even look up when he finished. He just stood up abruptly without even making eye contact, turned and walked out of the office.” The general thought,  “Wow, I’ve done something wrong now.” He thought maybe he had offended the colonel.

     When the general went to check on the colonel, he found that he had stopped at every office on the way out and was showing off the “Bravo” card. He was smiling and everybody was congratulating him.

      The colonel subsequently printed his own recognition cards with “Wonderful” on the front. They became his signature reinforcers.

      I like the “Bravo” idea, because it only requires a sheet of paper—a very inexpensive way to recognize an employee. 

Pie-A-Manager 

      Here’s an idea from my own playbook. It’s called: Pie-A-Manager. This is how it works:

      Tickets are sold to the employees for the opportunity to throw a pie at their favorite manager. Once the employee purchases a ticket, they write their names on the back and placed it in a jar. The tickets are sold for an entire month. At the end of the month, several tickets are drawn and those employees who purchased the selected tickets are given the opportunity to throw a pie at the manager of their choice.

       It’s a lot of fun for the employees and provides an inexpensive fund for employee cookouts and other employee recognition programs. Of course, it doesn’t cost the company a dime and that’s what makes it such a great way for rewarding employees.  

Recognition Saves Organizations Money 

      During her 2008 SHRM conference session, Mindy Chapman, the president of Chicago–based Mindy Chapman & Associates cited a study in the Harvard Business Review. The study found that  “presenteeism” or just showing up at work and doing the minimum, “is responsible for $150 billion in direct and indirect cost to American businesses [annually}.” 

      We, as HR professionals, have to continually prove that we do add value and save the company money. Implementing a few of Bob’s low-cost recognition programs can help us prove our worth. A $150 billion is a lot of money.  Thus, I invite all of you to purchase 1001 Way to Reward Employees and show your organization that HR is more than the people department. It also generates revenue and saves the company money. 

About the Author 

      Bob Nelson is the founder of Nelson Motivation, Inc., and a vice president of Blanchard Training and Development, Inc. He has authored several books on management and best business practices.

In addition, he writes a monthly column, Rewarding Employees. He can be contacted through his website: www.nelson-motivation .com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

        

 

        

The Success Effect

HR professionals strive for success. We get advanced degrees, get SHRM certified, and enroll in all kinds of workshops and continuing education classes. I’m not sure that all this additional training is the key to success, but it’s better than not doing anything.

In addition to all this additional enlightenment, we also purchase the latest-and-greatest biographies by some of America’s top business leaders, hoping to gleam that little bit of insight that will get us that promotion or that raise we dream of. Yet, if you have ever read one of these biographies, you’ll often find that the all important details have been edited or left out.

Well, we finally get the details in John Eckberg’s book The Success Effects. This book contains over forty-seven interviews of some of America’s most successful business leaders in an unconventional question-and-answer style that reveals many of the details that are often left out of biographies. As a result, you learn the kinds of things that illustrate that there are several paths to success. Now, let’s look at some of their stories.

Good habits trump talent. This is the belief held by one of the world’s premier golf coaches David Pelz. In the first chapter “Good Habits,” coach Pelz tells Mr. Eckberg that he had hoped to earn a spot on the PGA tour. However, after twenty-two attempts to beat Jack Nicklaus, he finally gave up and focused his career on space and physics.

While working as a space research scientist for Goodard Space Flight Center in Maryland, he realized that there were a lot of other scientists smarter and better than he. Furthermore, he really loved golf and not space. Then, it dawned on him that he could use the scientific laws he had learned as a scientist and apply them to what he truly loved–golf.

I think my favorite response from Coach Pelz is when he is asked, “What was the pivotal point for you when you just finally said, “I’ve got to walk away from science and go back to this sport that has a grip on me?”

Coach Pelz responds by saying that he believes he didn’t become the great golfer he dreamed of because he practiced the wrong things. Sure he worked hard, but he didn’t work hard on the things that would make him the best golfer. Like most of us, he really didn’t know what things he needed to focus on to become a world-class golfer. As he says, “I’ve learned that when you practice something the wrong way, all you do is groove the wrong thing. If you’re a poor practicer, you will become permanently poor at whatever you are attempting to do.” 

As HR professionals, we often find ourselves focusing on the wrong things. For example, we may spend most of our day doing administrative tasks in order to avoid some of the crucial conversations we should be having with employees regarding their performance or failure to comply with company policies. Yet, if we are listening to our boss and our company leaders, we may find that administrative tasks aren’t nearly as important to the success of the business as employee productivity and performance. In essence, we are practicing the wrong things. And as Coach Pelz would say, “we are just going to get worse rather than better.”

If we want to get promoted and be more successful as HR professionals, we have got to become the best at what the organization wants us to be. Unfortunately, this may not be what we want to be the best at doing. If this is the case, you may want to consider doing something else or working for another company or yourself.

If you are interested in becoming a successful HR professional, reading the stories contained in John Eckberg’s book The Success Effect is a strong step down that path. It just like having the voice and guidance of 47 mentors at your fingertips. You will not be disappointed with this fresh take on personal and professional success.

About The Author

John Eckberg is a business columnist for the Cincinnati Enquirer. In addition, he is the writer and director of the website: The Printed Owl. His stories usually focus on issues related to career development, retail, and leadership and development. 

Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive

HR professionals have advanced their careers by reading the HR Practitioner blog.

This may seem like an unusual introduction for a book review. However, it helps to illustrate one of the many concepts discussed in the book, Yes! 50 Scientifically Proven Ways to Be Persuasive. In this fascinating and data-based book, Goldstein, Martin, and Cialdini, show that being persuasive is an art and a science. Thus, if you have ever wondered how to be more persuasive, you’ll want to buy the Yes! book.

As you might have guessed, the book is divided into 50 different sections. Each section illustrates one of the scientifically proven ways we can be more persuasive HR professionals.

In the first section, the book describes an intriguing example of persuasion that is familiar to all of us.

Collen Szot, a program writer, changed three words in a standard infomercial line that caused a huge increase in the number of people who purchased her products. Even more interesting, is that the three words conveyed to customers that ordering her products may be a bit of a hassle. So, what were these three words, and how did they increase sales? The magic words, “If operators are busy, please call again.” Previously, the words, “Operators are waiting, please call now” had been used.

It may seem like a very minor change, and one that would not have a very substantial impact on persuading people to purchase Ms. Szot’s products, but if we explore the concept used in this anecdote, we find that there is a social psychological concept at work here. It’s a concept known as “social proof.” Social proof is the tendency of people generally looking to others to guide their behavior. As HR professionals, we have all participated in “social proofing.” 

The HR professional often comes across applicants who are currently unemployed. When we notice this, we subconsciously have a tendency to think , “There must be something wrong with this applicant. Why has he/she gone so long without a job?” This is an example of “social proofing”, because we are looking to others (HR professionals) to assist us in determining whether or not the applicant will be the most qualified for the job.

In another example, the authors discuss another technique for persuading others. It’s through the use of testimonials.   

A testimony can be very persuasive. This is why you find organizational websites with videos of current employees expressing what a great place company ______ is to work. A testimony is another example of “social proofing” because it, like the previous example, sets out to use the actions of others to guide behavior. The more similar the person giving the testimony is to the targeted applicants the more persuasive the message becomes. Thus, if we are trying to persuade the most qualified job applicants, who may be mostly from Generation X, we are going to use the testimony of another Generational Xer to persuade them to submit an application.

We can also use testimonies when we need to introduce a new process or new policy. The smart HR professional would ask some of the employees that have already used the new process or agree with the new policy to give their testimony expressing the benefits they have experienced by using the new process or following the new policy. How many times have we as HR professionals stood before a group of employees and outlined a new policy and then can’t even get passed the first slide without being ambushed with a barrage of naysayers? An employee’s testimony will help convince the cynical employees.  In the end, we should use testimonies that convey, “If others like me have gotten good results by using this process or following this policy, then I will too.

In Chapter 25: “When Can the Right Way Be the Wrong Way?” The book describes a case study conducted by behavioral researcher Wendy Joung and her colleagues. They were interested in determining whether certain types of training programs would be more effective than others at minimizing errors in judgment on the job. To be more specific, they wanted to know if focusing on the past errors of others, or focusing on the good decisions made by others, would be more effective. 

The researchers decided that the best group to test their hypothesis on would be firefighters. One group of firefighters learned from case studies where the firefighters made poor decisions which led to negative consequences. The other group learned from cases studies where firefighters avoided negative consequences by making good decisions. Joung’s research found that firefighters who participated in the error-based training showed improved judgment and were better at thinking more adaptively than those who underwent the error-free training.

In most companies, the HR professional is in some way tasked with overseeing some sort of training. When we think about it, training is all about influencing others. Thus, if we want to maximize the effectiveness of a training program, then we need to include training that focuses on how others have made errors in the past and how those errors could have been avoided. 

Should the HR professional admit to mistakes they have made? According to social scientist Fiona Lee and her colleagues, the HR professional will be better off admitting ther mistakes. Once we have admitted our mistakes, we will put ourselves in a position of greater influence, because we will be perceived as not only capable, but also honest.

Fiona and her colleagues proved this by conducting a study in which the participants were given annual reports of two fictitious companies that had performed poorly. Half of    the participants were given an annual report that blamed internal (potentially controllable factors) for the poor performance. The other half was given an annual report that blamed external (uncontrollable) factors for the poor performance. When the participants from the first group (internal factors) were questioned about how they viewed the company, they viewed the company more positively on a number of different dimensions than the participants in the second group (external factors). Thus, if we ever find ourselves in a position where we, or our organization has failed in keeping our promise(s), it would be wise to blame the failures on internal rather than external factors.

I could go on and on about all the ways to be more persuasive—fifty to be exact. However, a summary of all these 50 scientifically-substantiated ways to be more persuasive would not do the book justice, because there are so many anecdotes that I would have to leave out that really add another dimension to the each of the persuasive techniques. 

After reading the book, I have found myself re-reading several of the chapters when I am faced with an opportunity as a HR professional to be more persuasive. It is definitely a book every HR professional should have. 

 

 

 

 

 

About the Author

Robert Cialdini is the President and founder of Influence at Work. A professional resource and consulting firm dedicated to assisting individuals and organizations with strategies to improve performance by deploying ethical influence methodologies. Dr. Cialdini is also a Regents’ Professor of Psychology and Marketing at Arizona State University. In addition, he is the author of the bestseller Influence.

 

The Medici Effect

The Medici Effect isn’t a typical book for the HR Professional. At first glance, it seems to be a book geared more towards the entrepreneur and those who work in research and development. However, about halfway through the book, we find an entire section dedicate to one of the core valves of the HR Professional—having a diverse workforce.

 

The Medici Effect is a book that shows how extraordinary ideas can be develop when there is an intersection of existing ideas, disciplines and cultures. The author, Frans Johansson, illustrates the “Medici Effect” with a story about Mick Pearce.

 

Mick Pearce, an architect from Zimbabwe, is challenged to design a building that uses almost no air conditioning. This building will be located in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe—a very hot and humid climate. For most architects, this would seem like an impossible feat. Yet, it wasn’t for Mick, because he decided to turn to the insect world for help.

 

Termites must keep their mounds at a constant 87 degrees in order to grow an essential fungus. This is by no means an easy task, because the temperatures on the African plains can range from 100 degrees during the day to below 40 at night. Yet, the termites have managed to maintain the necessary 87 degrees in their mounds by directing breezes at the base of their mounds into chambers with cool, wet mud and then redirecting this cooled air to the peak. By constantly building new vents and closing old ones, they are able to regulate the temperature very precisely.

 

By connecting the ideas Pearce gained by studying termites to architectural principles, he was able to design a building that maintains a steady temperature of 73 to 77 degrees and uses less than 10 percent of the energy consumed by other buildings its size. Mick’s building exemplifies the “Medici Effect.”  Now, what has all of this got to do with us, the HR Professional? 

 

In order for the “Medici Effect” to occur, there must be an intersection of ideas, disciplines, and cultures. Thus, if we were to hire employees who were all the same, this intersection of ideas from different cultures would not occur.

 

Steve Miller, the former CEO and chairman of Royal Dutch/Shell, believes that having a diverse workforce is a key ingredient to gaining or maintaining a competitive advantage in the global market.  He says, “You begin to find that you get some really neat ideas generated from creating a culture where people of different ethnicities, cultures, backgrounds, [and] countries… come together.” He goes on to say, “Invariably you find that the best ideas come from a mosaic of players working together in a team on a project. They will come up with an answer that is different from what any one of them would have come up with individually.”  As Mr. Miller found, having a diverse workforce increases the likelihood of there being a “Medici Effect.”

 

It seems obvious that having a diverse workforce is a no-brainer when it comes to maintaining or gaining a competitive business advantage. Yet, we often find that people tend to stick to their own kind. They stick to their own ethnicities and cultures and have a tendency to hire people just like them.

 

Why are we so hesitant about working in diverse teams? For the most part, it is our nature. We have a tendency to want to be around people like us and avoid those who are different. Psychologists have a name for this tendency. They call it the “similar-attraction effect.” The “similar-attraction effect” can destroy our efforts as HR Professionals to create diverse work teams.

 

There is saying in the HR world: “We hire the people we like.” In most cases, we like them because we find some commonalities between them and us. As Frans says, “…studies show conclusively that the unstructured interview has virtually no validity as a selection tool. Such an interview does not give us enough information to understand the candidate’s qualifications.” Thus, for the most part, we really don’t hire the most qualified individual. But rather, the applicant who seems to be the most like us. So how do we overcome this tendency?

 

Professor Robert Sutton of Stanford University suggests a number of methods that can be used to overcome this tendency in his book Weird Ideas That Work. His first weird idea is to hire people who make you uncomfortable, even those whom dislike. If you are thinking of recruiting a candidate just because “I like her” of “She’s just like one of us,” this could lead to a less creative work team.

 

Sutton also suggests that we monitor signs that we are hiring too many others like ourselves. For example, check the percentage of graduates from the same school, geographic area, discipline, functional background, former employers, age, race and sexual orientation. He also feels that organizations should hire people they don’t need, at least not yet (although this may be a bit difficult given the current state of the economy). In most cases, the new-hire is almost expected to produce from day one. As a result, they know they have to quickly acclimate, and in a way become like everyone else, and aren’t given the opportunity to find the intersection between their skills and the organization’s needs.

 

Similarly, we will stifle our own creativity if we only seek out environments where people are just like us. As we learned earlier from Frans, the “Medici Effect” is an intersection of ideas from combining disciplines and cultures that seem to have nothing in common. Thus, it would only make sense that we would be less creative if we only work on teams where everyone is just like us.

 

In summary, The Medici Effect should be read by every HR Professional, because it validates the competitive advantage of having a diverse workforce. In addition, we learn about a couple of techniques to help us recruit a more diverse workforce that should be shared with anyone on our management team who is involved in the recruiting and hiring process. Lastly, after I read the book, I found myself trying to combine concepts from the HR discipline with other disciplines that would improve process within my organization. In the end, I came up with an idea that combined the principles of employee motivation and waiting on tables to improve customer service.

  

About the Author

 

Frans Johansson earned his MBA at Harvard Business School and his B.S. at Brown University. He is an author, speaker, and managing director of Medici Capital Management. His bestselling book, The Medici Effect, has been named as one of the best innovation books by several organizations and selected as one of the 10 best business books of 2004 by Amazon.com. Furthermore, it has been translated into 13 different languages.

 

Frans was raised in Sweden and is the son of an African-American and Cherokee mother and Swedish father. He currently resides in New York with his wife. 

Fire Them Up!

Fire Them Up!  promises to reveal 7 simple secrets to:

1)    Inspire colleagues, customers, and clients.

2)    Sell yourself, your vision, and your values.

3)    Communicate with charisma and confidence.

 

After reading the book, I can truly say that it delivers what it promises.

 

Fire Them Up! is one of those books that makes it hard for the reviewer to write a review and do it justice—every part of the book is extraordinary. However, since I am always looking for ways to improve my presentations, I am going to focus more on “Chapter 4: Paint a Picture—Tell Powerful, Memorable, and Actionable Stories.”

 

Give a Popping Presentation

Did you know that Al Gore’s award-winning documentary An Inconvenient Truth started out as a PowerPoint presentation? Did you know that a Houston trail lawyer used a simple PowerPoint presentation to convince a jury to award a $253 million settlement against the drug giant Merck? Well, it is true. Thus, don’t underestimate the importance of a well-crafted and well-delivered presentation.

 

In Fire Them UP! Carmine Gallo shares the secrets used by Al Gore, Steve Jobs, Barack Obama, and Hillary Clinton to create powerful and persuasive presentations.

 

In order to understand the elements of a good presentation, Carmine takes us back to the ancient Greeks who were the first to discover and study the incredible power of language to inspire and persuade. “The Greek outline for a persuasive speech…has never been significantly improved upon. It is the chief insight the Greeks have to offer that can still significantly strengthen your presentation today, 2,500 years later.” As Carmine explains, the Greek rhetorical structure was made up of five parts: introduction, narrative, argument, refutation, and conclusion. A phenomenal presentation must contain these five parts.

 

Introduction

 

The introduction needs to make an emotional connection with the audience through stories and observations. In his We’re In It Together presentation, Barack Obama begins with a story about a visit by Robert Kennedy to the Mississippi Delta. During this visit, Robert Kennedy meets a hungry and listless child who has suffered so much that his attempts to talk to the child are futile. He then turns to the reporters traveling with him and asks, “How can a country like this allow it?” It’s a question Obama uses to set the stage for his argument about poverty in America. In addition, the story is told by Obama against the backdrop of Weinland Park in Columbus, Ohio—a city struggling with poverty. It’s an excellent example of an introduction that quickly makes an emotional connection with the audience through stories and observations.

 

The Narrative

 

After introducing the audience to your message through emotional stories and observations, “…you must get to the heart of the matter, whether it involves something you want your listeners to do, something you wish to persuade them of, or something you want to tell them about.”

 

Hillary Clinton’s infamous Telephone Ringing at 3A.M. presentation, does an excellent job of illustrating the effective use of this element in a presentation.  The commercial begins with scenes of children sleeping and a phone ringing. Then, the narrator begins with the narrative of the presentation:

 

“It’s 3AM and your children are safe and asleep. But there is a phone in the White House ringing. Something is happening in the world and your vote will decide who answers that phone. Whether it’s someone who already knows the world’s leaders, knows the military. Someone tested and ready to lead in a dangerous world. It’s 3AM and your children are safe and asleep. Who do you want to answer the phone?”

 

Hillary’s presentation does a superb job of using the narrative element. It asks its listeners to do something—vote for Hillary. It attempts to persuade the audience that voting for Hillary will keep your children safe at night. Lastly, it tells the audience a little bit about Hillary’s experience working with world leaders and the military.

 

It’s a very compelling message that reinforces Hillary’s claim that she has  more experience and knowledge when it comes to working with international leaders and the military.

 

The Argument

 

Once you have introduction your message and presented the heart of your message, you must present the proof for your thesis, or message. In other words, you have to present facts that support your claim–an argument. We can claim we are the best HR manager in the world, and tell everyone that we are, but until we provide the proof that we are, it is just an opinion. 

 

In An Inconvenient Truth, Gore supports his message with graphs, charts, statistics, and facts. For most presenters, this is probably the hardest part of pulling off an inspirational presentation. Let’s face it, for most of us, numbers, charts, and linear lines are boring. Yet, without facts, you will leave your audience wondering if the claims you are making are really true.

 

Facts can be made entertaining. Al Gore makes the graphs and charts in his presentation entertaining by using a mechanical lift to point to points of the graph where there are increases in the levels of CO2 emissions. His actions garner a bit of laughter from his audience. After presenting the facts, the presenter is now ready to move to the fourth part of a good presentation.

 

The Refutation

Another important element of a good presentation is to address objections and counterarguments, and attack with facts and stories that disprove them. In his, Acceptance Speech at the DNC in Denver, Obama uses the refutation  element so well that most people never realize it. Here are a couple of lines from his speech where he refutes the objections of him not being a viable candidate for President. He says, “I realize that I am not the likeliest candidate for this office.  I don’t fit the typical pedigree, and I haven’t spent my career in the halls of Washington.” He goes on to say, “What the naysayers don’t understand is that this election has never been about me. It’s about you.” In essence, he knows that he doesn’t fit the typical presidential profile and that’s okay. It isn’t about him, but rather it’s about you (the American people) and the need for change.

 

Later in the speech, he addresses McCain’s comparison to Paris Hilton. He says, “I don’t know what kind of lives John McCain thinks celebrities lead, but this is mine.” In other words, this is Obama’s life and not the life of Paris Hilton. They don’t lead the same life.

 

The Finale

As I was reading Carmine’s explanation of this element of a presentation, I quickly thought about JFK’s Inaugural Address Speech. It’s the speech where he asks, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.” It’s a perfect example of what a finale should be. It is powerful, planned, memorized, and memorable. In addition, it makes an appeal for the audience to take action.

 

As I stated at the beginning of this blog, Fire Them Up! , is a difficult book to review, because every word contained in the book is motivational and makes you want to get to work and start using Carmine’s seven simple secrets. It’s written so well that I could write two or three more blogs about it. Thus, you really need to buy Carmine’s book and determine for yourself whether or not it is as good as I am claiming it to be. I guarantee your next presentation will be anything but boring.

 

About Carmine Gallo

Carmine Gallo is the communication’s coach for some of the world’s most admired brands. In addition, he writes the Leadership Communications  column for Businessweek.com. Furthermore, he is an Emmy award-winning journalist for CNN, CBS, CNET, Fox, and Paul Allen’s TechTV.

 

His first book, 10 Simple Secrets of the World’s Greatest Business Communicators, has been translated into more than one dozen languages.

 

If you are interested in contacting Carmine please visit his website.

 

Note: For the sake of space, I didn’t embed the videos highlighted in this post. However, all of them can be viewed on YouTube.

Career Contentment

About the Author 

      In addition to being a coach, speaker and career Human Resources professional, Jeff Garton is an HR innovator who coined the term and developed the concept of career contentment. He is author of the first and only book on this new topic. Jeff’s firm produces one-of-a-kind learning resources and train-the-trainer programs that guide employers through the process of establishing a culture that leverages the increased productivity and financial rewards of a contented workforce. His background prior to starting his business in 2001 includes 23-years inside HR with the Philip Morris Companies.

      I came across Jeff’s book, Careeer Contentment, while looking for something to read on the SHRM website. After reading the overview, I was intrigued and decided that I needed to get a copy of the book and take a closer look regarding Jeff’s notion that everyone can become content in their careers.

      What is career contentment? Jeffrey describes it as the feel-good-feeling you get when “everything in our lives seems to align and both our work and personal life are going so well we feel relaxed, comfortable, and confident about the future.” It is a feeling that must come from within. Interestingly, it doesn’t come from the salary, benefits or other perks provided by our employer. Thus, if you think that finding a job that pays you more will make you more content, you will be disappointed.

      The idea of career contentment was developed based on research in the areas of positive psychology, resilience, self-efficacy, and self-motivation, that were distilled into three principles that employee’s control to enable their own career contentment. They are: 1) choice of work that is meaningful to one’s calling and most meaningful purposes for working; 2) the control of one’s self-reliance, as opposed to remaining dependent on employers to make you satisfied; 3) the control of one’s thoughts and emotions to affect performance enhancing emotions; and 4) reasoning to recognize the agreeable middle ground, and develop a more favorable predisposition to deal with circumstances, rather than being limited to the either/or conditions of job satisfaction.

      What are the benefits of career contentment? According to Jeff, there are three main advantages or benefits, they are 1) career contentment acts like a homing device that provides the emotional link to discovering your true calling and purposes – the closer you get to your calling, the more contentment you feel, and vice versa, and you can experience this independently of what employers do to make you satisfied, dissatisfied, engaged or disengaged; 2) it is the source of an employee’s enduring resilience to deal more effectively with instances of job stress and dissatisfaction. It’s the same principle as your ability to love someone unconditionally, despite their tendencies to frustrate and dissatisfy you; and 3) it is the source of an employee’s self-motivation, improved performance and retention. Contentment enables your mind to focus on what you’re doing as opposed to wasting time and energy complaining.

      The book is divided into two main parts. They are 1) Attracting Meaningful Work, and 2) Choosing to Be Contented with Your Life and Career.  

Attracting meaning work begins by recognizing and building your own sense of career contentment. In other words, what type of work would be meaningful to you? For some of us, we may not know what type of work would be meaningful to us. It’s okay, because Jeffrey’s book provides us with an approach to finding out that he calls the “Four Ps” which contribute to our ability to recognize our contentment. The “Four Ps” are:

1. People-Look for a career where you will work with people who seem to share the same morals, ethics, and values that you do.
2. Place-Seek a workplace that is genuinely stable, safe, and attractive within the community overall.
3. Particulars-Review the whole gamut of the job (e.g. job competencies, expectations, and available resources).
4. Personal-What’s most important about me that makes this the right choice? The reasons should come down to whether you’re pursuing authenticity, passion, emotional maturity, competence, professional image, and balance.

   In Part II: Choosing to Be Contented with Your Life and Career, Jeff explains that most of us confuse contentment with job satisfaction. However, they are not the same. Job satisfaction is usually something we measure in relation to time and talents. In other words, job satisfaction stems from those things we can usually measure. For example, we can measure a job’s income, benefits, training and development and budget and resources. And in most cases, if our career is insufficient in any of these countable items, we usually proclaim job dissatisfaction and see it as “just a job.”

   Conversely, career contentment can’t be measured. It comes from within you. Thus, it is not contingent on other people or material things. In essence, it is defined as our willingness to acknowledge our situation and make the best of it. Yet, it doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t continue to seek other career options. Career contentment is about loving what is as you work towards what you desire.

      My favorite parts of the whole book are the stories Jeff interjects to illustrate the topic previously discussed and the self-assessments found at the end of the book.

      Now is the perfect time for the HR Practitioner to foray into Jeff’s notion of total job happiness—career contentment. We know, better than anyone else that with the downturn in the economy organizations are scaling back on the amount of pay increases and benefits. Thus, if we are just looking for a job that pays well, we probably aren’t going to find it. As Jeffrey explains in his book, we should be looking for that career which is aligned with our values. If we do not, we will never be happy doing what we do, and we will never reach the blissful state that comes with career contentment.

A Practical Guide to Litigation-Free Management

I recently attended the HR Southwest Conference. I have to say that all four of the sessions I attended were phenomenal. For those of you who did not get the opportunity to attend, I am going to give a brief overview from each session over the next few weeks here on my blog.  

The first session I will be discussing was presented by Michael Mirarchi. Mr. Mirarchi is the founder of the Mirarchi Management Group—a company whose mission is to provide managers with a practical guide to litigation-free management. Mr. Mirarchi is a former defense attorney for Frito-Lay who won every employment-related case that went to trial during the last five years of his eleven-year tenure. Afterwards, he served as the Vice President of Human Resources for UT Southwestern Medical Center.  

Mr. Mirarchi began the session by defining the term “Reset the Clock:” A formal process by which an employer maximizes the effectiveness of its policies and implements changes to them such that policies and the changes are recognized for legal purposes. Thus, if we want to avoid litigation, we must have processes in place that will “reset the clock.”  

Let’s say that an organization has decided that all of customer service associates must score a 90% or better on product-knowledge assessments. In the past, the scores didn’t matter—they just had to take the assessment. Since the standard has now changed, the organization would be required to make sure that this new standard has been communicated to every associate before holding them to this standard. In addition, each associate would have to have been given adequate notice before implementation, the change would have to be reasonable, and the change would have to be presented conspicuously. Once this has been done, they have “reset the clock” and created conditions that should minimize potential litigation.  If any litigation were to follow, they would be entitled to move pre-trial for summary judgment successfully.  

Mr. Mirarchi recommends the following procedure for implementing changes to attendance, performance, or conduct standards:

1)      Meet with employees.

a.      Explain what the change is, why their commitment to it is important and when it is going into effect.

b.     Ask for and answer their questions.

c.      Confirm that they know what they must do to comply with the new standard.

d.      Ask for their commitment to comply with the new standard.      If anyone voices an objection, tell the group: “I’m          available to discuss in private any personal concerns about the new standard.”

e.      State that failure to comply is subject to corrective action.

2)    Document the date and content of the meeting, who conducted it and who attended it.

According to Mr. Mirarchi, following this procedure will validate all new changes to existing policies and procedures implemented in our organizations. In addition, it will help us avoid any liability.  

Mr. Mirarchi concluded the session by illustrating how to address previous unaddressed behavior. This is what he suggested:

1)      Prior to taking any corrective action, have a group meeting.

2)    Tell employees: “We are committed to maintaining a harmonious working environment. As part of our continuing effort to initiate improvements in this regard, I want to discuss with you certain misbehavior. When any of us ___________(identify the misbehavior), our harmonious working environment is disrupted. From this point forward, each one of us must demonstrate a commitment to refrain from such behavior. I know I can count on your cooperation. If, however, someone chooses to ignore their commitment, that act will result in consequences. Irrespective of our past response, from now on such behavior will result in appropriate corrective action.”

3)    If there are any “Free Speech” assertions, respond: “Thanks to the 1^st Amendment, none of us have to worry about being thrown in jail for what we might say at work or anywhere else. It is also good for all of us that his law does not apply to the enforcement of policies designed to maintain a harmonious working environment.”

In summary, Mr. Mirarchi believes that an organization can create a litigation-free environment through the implementation of the ten principles outlined in his training sessions. The implementation starts by training all of the management staff on how to effectively use these principles. Once the management team begins to use these principles, they will be more confident addressing employee issues and holding their employees accountable without fear of litigation. Furthermore, the HR Practitioner will have to spend less time doing investigations and damage control.   

 

Release Your Brilliance

 

About the Author 

Simon T. Bailey is the founder of The Brilliance Institute, an organization dedicated to building the world’s most valuable resource—people. He has worked with some of Fortune’s 100 best companies to develop programs that encourage their workforce to release their brilliance, which has lead to an increase in productivity and employee retention. 

Simon developed his unique leadership and speaking style during his 20 year tenure at Hyatt Hotels, Walt Disney World Resort, and the Disney Institute. In addition, he has written four books, including, Simon Says Dream: Live a Passionate Life, Brilliant Service Is the Bottom Line, and Success Is An Inside Job. 

Simon also has a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Faith Christian University. Moreover, he was named Central Florida’s “Man of the Year” for 2000, and Speaker of the Year by the San Diego, CA Chapter of Meeting Professionals International. 

If you are a SHRM member, you may have watched a presentation given by Simon during a webcast a couple of years ago. This is when I was introduced to Mr. Bailey and his passionate and engaging speaking style. I was immediately impressed and quickly went out and purchased a copy of his book, Simon Says Dream: Live a Passionate Life.  As a result, I was made a fan for life.

In his new book, Release Your Brilliance, Simon presents the HR Practitioner with a 4-Step process for transforming his/her life and revealing his/her genius to the world. The 4-Step process is paired with the metaphorical process of mining diamonds. This makes the process easier to remember and apply. The four steps consist of the following:

Step One-Clarity: Seek Profound Insight. Our goal is not perfection, but discovery.

Step Two-Color: Discover Pure, Unwavering Belief. Believe in ourselves and our intuition.

Step Three-Cut: Take Bold Action. In order to release our brilliance, we must take actions that polish our relationships, fears, habits, language, and influence.

Step Four-Carat: Decide How Big You Want to Be. Cease letting the expectations of others determine our belief in ourselves and what we can become. We need to get out of our current comfort level of thinking about ourselves. 

Each step provides the HR Practitioner with “personal appraisals,” “diamond polishing,” and “a gem for you.”  

The personal appraisals are designed to help us identify and clarify our value and worth through a series of questions and written responses.

Diamond Polishing is a tool containing three action steps for unlocking our potential. A Gem for You is a quote that sums up the essence of the concept presented. 

My favorite part of the book is Simon’s own personal account of meeting his life coach Dr. Mark Chironna and being transformed from a struggling young man from the ghetto full of self-hate into a man filled with the belief and confidence that he could transform his life and be successful. It invoked memories of some of my own moments of self-doubt and insecurities. But at the same time, it made be remember events in my life that were truly transformational. Furthermore, it made me realize that there were things I could do in my life today that would help me live an even more brilliant life. 

Of course, Simon knows how important we, the HR Practitioners are, because he makes it a point refer to us directly in his book. He says,

“It’s not the HR department’s responsibility to promote you or show you how to get ahead. It’s up to you to create your own career path.” Furthermore, “…to survive in the workplace of the future, it will be crucial to do four things: take responsibility for yourself, remain nimble, keep a great attitude, and constantly learn new skills.” How many times have employees in our organizations come to us and told us we must promote them? I agree with Simon that we, and our employees, promote ourselves. 

The HR Practitioner must know how to release our brilliance and the brilliance of those in our organizations. The business world has become more global and more competitive. There is always someone else ready to deliver the same services and products delivered by our organizations. For the most part, the products are the same. However, the people that deliver and sell them are not. Our competitive advantage is the people we employ. Helping employees discover their talents and strengths will ultimately make them more content in their careers. This leads to increased productivity, greater customer satisfaction, and a reduction in employee turnover. All you have to do is read about some of the “success stories” Simon has had in working with some of the world’s most prestigious organizations to confirm that this is true. 

The guidelines offered in Release Your Brilliance truly do work. I challenge each of you to read Simon’s book and implement the concepts and see how your life, and the lives of your employees, are transformed.

 

It’s the Economy Stupid

In his 1992 presidential campaign, Bill Clinton frequently used the phrase “It’s the economy stupid” as a central theme to his campaign. It was a phrased coined by James Carville and was put on a sign and hung at campaign headquarters to keep everyone “on message.”

 

In this time of economic uncertainty, our employees are much more concern with paying their mortgages, paying higher fuel prices, and a host of other economic woes. As a result, the HR practitioner shouldn’t continue the “business-as-usual” approach for keeping our workforce engaged. Instead, we need to focus on ways to help our employees get through this time of uncertainty.  But how do we do this?

 

In a recent article, “Managing Amid Economic Uncertainty” by Liz Ryan featured on Business Week Online, she discusses some things we can do as HR Practitioners to address the economic concerns of our workforce during this economic crisis. Liz suggests that we begin by talking about the company’s current state of affairs honestly and often. In addition, we must provide as many details as possible and what the future holds for the company. Moreover, we need to talk about current projects that may possibly generate additional income. And, we must discuss how our organizations are faring compared to our competitors—maybe everyone is having a rough time.  And if they are, we need to make sure our employees know it.

 

We all know that until the basic needs of our employees are addressed, it would be fruitless for us to attempt to get them engaged in the company’s mission and give it 100% of their attention and energy. It’s something we all learned about in Psychology 101 and from Maslow’s pyramid. As Liz says, “When a person is worried about his ability to take care of basic needs, his attention to lesser matters—the new product launch being one example—goes out the window.” It’s human nature, which time has proven over and over, to focus on our primary needs before focusing on anything else.  

 

A few years ago, the company I was working for laid me off. When the company’s stock went from $60 a share to $2 a share essentially overnight, we all knew that most of us would be looking for a job. Up until the day this happened, the CEO was still telling us that the company was doing well and was still growing. Of course, once this happened, senior management had to come clean about the situation, but it was too late. We turned from the company’s mission to our own missions—finding a job. Thus, productivity plumented, because everyone was looking for a new job. No one was telling us who may go and who might stay—the job sites must have seen an increase in traffic by tenfold, because we all got nervous and didn’t want to be unemployed. I believe that this organization would possibly still be in business today if they had handled things differently during this time of crisis–the cubibles were replete with layoff gossip.

 

The HR Practitioner must remember that it isn’t always about “us” (the organization). Although we want our employees to stay on task, and continue to deliver 100%, it’s important that our employees feel that it’s really about them.  Once they believe it’s about them, they can make it about them, and the organization, and its mission.

 

 Now that you have read this blog, I won’t have to come to your organization and put the same sign Bill Clinton had at his campaign headquarters to keep you “on message”.  

Success for Hire

About the Author

 

Alexandra Levit is the president of her own career consulting firm. She has authored several career-development books, and she is a former nationally syndicated columnist. She has the appellation “Millennial Generation” expert.

In addition, Alexandra is frequently asked to write articles for major magazines and newspapers. She has been on various television programs and talk-radio. As an expert on career development, she has been a consultant to various Fortune 500 companies and the Federal Reserve. And if this is not enough, she also blogs on her website: www.alexandralevit.com

 

Success for Hire is an A-Z guide to attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent. Alexandra Levit provides the HR professional with every tool imaginable for ensuring our organizations don’t suffer from the “brain drain.” In the book, she gives us a myriad of sample forms, worksheets, and checklists for hiring and keeping the best. In short, we don’t have to reinvent the wheel.

 

Attracting, hiring, and retaining top talent is not a hit-or-miss process. It requires a very methodical and rigorous procedure. Yet, for most of us, the process goes something like this: First, we post an ad on one of the major job boards without even thinking that we may not be attracting the type of candidates best suited for the position. Next, we call them in for an interview that consists of a very standard and often rush-to-the-next-candidate format. As soon as we have finished interviewing the candidates, we hire the one we liked the most rather than the most qualified.  When he/she comes to Orientation, this too is rushed, because those mountains of paperwork are calling our names. Then, we send them out to their designated work area and wish them luck and hope they well never ask us for another thing. Finally, we return to our office and breath a sigh of relief that the process is over, and we can go back to doing our administrative tasks.  

 

I don’t believe we intentionally set out to do such a poor job of attracting hiring and keeping superstars.  Most HR professionals have never really been shown how to do it or been given an easy-to-follow process. Thus, if you are looking for a tried and proven way to successfully hire and retain superior employees, you must buy and read Alexandra’s book.

 

In her book’s introduction, Alexandra gives us a synopsis of each chapter. They are as follows:

 

Chapter 1: Analyze Your Required Positions. Here we learn how to carefully analyze the job we need to fill. What does the job specifically entail?

Chapter 2: Search for the Best Candidate. We learn where and how to get a large group of qualified candidates.

Chapter 3: Narrow the Field. She discusses using web-based technology to effectively pre-screen applicants.

Chapter 4: Create a Strategy for Interviewing. We are introduced to a dynamic interviewing process that asks the right questions and employs work simulations that can be related specifically to our individual organizations.

Chapter 5: Do Effective Background Research. Doing a background check is more than just checking for a criminal record. It also requires calling references. Levit provides you with some of the best practices for getting the information we need from references.

Chapter 6: Make the Job Offer. Here we are given the necessary materials for making an official job offer. Alexandra also weighs in on using an employment contract.

Chapter 7: Improve New Hire Orientation: Did you know that an effective Orientation can increase retention by 25 percent? Thus, Levit teaches us how to design a Orientation that will keep them from going elsewhere.

Chapter 8: Develop Strong Training and Growth Plans. She provides us with processes for developing and implementing formal courses, a 90-day training plan, and a mentoring program.

Chapter 9: Achieve Long-Term Retention. Here is where we learn to add to our organization’s bottom line by reducing turnover. Alexandra shows us how to provide advancement opportunities, incentives, promote work/life balance, and foster more effective supervisor/employee relationships.

 

As I stated at the beginning of this blog, Alexandra provides us with a complete and methodical process for attracting, hiring and retaining the “superstars.” We all know that our people are our organization’s competitive advantage. Thus, if the HR professional doesn’t know how to attract, hire or retain the best, or have an effective methodology of ensuring the organization’s talent pipeline is always full, he/she is not doing what we in the HR profession are suppose do best—use our people power to gain a competitive advantage. Thus, if we want to be the best HR professionals around, we must read Success for Hire.