~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Total View
The Whole Person Approach for Selecting and Managing Top Performers
January 21, 2004
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-- CEO on the hot Seat
-- Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #71 to #75
-- New articles posted on the Success Performance Solutions website.
-- Words to live by?
-- The Art of Giving and Receiving Feedback
-- Now Available! Audio Clips on Why This Worker Shortage Will Not Go Away
-- Pathfinder(tm) - Track Individual and Team Goals On-line!
-- Measure Five Vital Areas of Leadership Effectiveness
-- FirstView(tm) - PreScreen Candidates Quickly, Easily and Inexpensively for as little as $15
-- Employee Evaluations Made Easy - 360s too!
-- Reserve Your Copy Now - Understanding Business Values and Motivators
Greetings!
Welcome to this week's issue of The Total View.
It's here - almost! Order your advance copy of
Understanding
Business
Values and Motivators.
One reader wrote: "Your book has shaken my soul
and said to me there is more in life and yes i can do it."
Another wrote: "You hooked my right away."
"This
book is filled with practical advice and should be a must-
read primer for
every manager and executive who has the responsibility
of selecting the
right people for their organizations and then keeping
them motivated."
Order your copies below and save $3 off the cost
of each book (Retail - $12.95) - Plus! Receive a FREE
Business Values and Motivators Report valued at $49
while supplies last.
The Total View is written and
published each
Wednesday by Ira S.
Wolfe, founder of Success Performance Solutions.
(Yes, Ira writes every article, every week!)
Ira S. Wolfe ©2003 - All Rights
Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission
only.
To learn more about Success Performance
Solutions or read back issues of The Total View, visit
our website at www.super-
solutions.com.
CEO on the hot Seat
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Well, well, well. Another CEO on the hot seat.
Many of you might never have heard of this CEO.
In fact, his official title isn't CEO at all. He is the
Superintendent of a city school district.
Now I must admit that I've never met this
gentleman. And until recently I took very little interest
in him personally or professionally.
But this past Wednesday a headline caught my
eye -
Flap arises over SDL:Superintendent to
discuss why wife's cousin was
hired.
What was the big deal? He wouldn't be the first
manager to hire or promote a relative. There had to be
more to the story.
Then in BIG BOLD HEALINES the next day:
State Probing City District; Consultant jailed 5
times
And just a few days later, the front page of the
Sunday News shouted:
School chief falters on pop quizzes:City
superintendent caught up in controversy
over hiring of consultants, including a relative, who is a
felon
So what's the real deal?
Without going into all the detail, this consultant
was hired to provide professional development training
in August. There is nothing wrong with that and in fact,
I'd believe most people would encourage our teachers
and administrators to learn continuously and grow
professionally.
The problem seems to be that no one ever
remembers attending the training and no recalls
recommending or even interviewing this consultant.
Initially the superintendent denied the consultant
had any relationship to his wife. Then a few days later
he acknowledged the consultant was a cousin of his
wife. Later he admitted the consultant was actually
raised by his wife's parents.
At the time I am writing this, not all the facts are
known. What is known that during this
superintendent's reign (of less than one year) several
consultants have been hired and paid without a trace
of work they provided.
The reaction of the school board, parents, and
community is that more and better oversight is the
answer. Currently there are no state or local
regulations governing how and why consultants are
hired for school districts. So the natural management
response therefore is "let's clamp down on consultants."
I'm all for oversight but is oversight really the
root cause of this problem? Oversight
sounds to me like micro-management. In hindsight more
oversight sounds quite reasonable but again I ask, was
lack of oversight really the problem?
Only if the consultants were being
hired unnecessarily. Then more oversight might
actually reduce more wasteful spending.
The waters in this case however run much deeper.
The real problem in my opinion is not the lack of rules
but the obviously
poor judgment and decision-making ability of the person
in charge.
"Judgment and perception" and
"decision-
making ability" are not unique skills for
superintendents but among the most common core
competencies identified as critical for successful
management and leadership in any organization. They
are also just two of
thirty-six competencies identified in the Janus
Performance Management System. (Janus is based
on critical core competencies found in leadership,
managerial and administrative top performers and
follows the principles of The Balanced Scorecard.)
Perception/Judgment is described as effectively
synthesizing what you see, hear, or sense in order to
form a clear view of what is viable and practical action.
An individual with good judgment:
1. Asks or looks for the criteria to make a
reasonable judgment or decision.
2. Thinks about whether conclusions follow logically
from prior debate.
3. Looks for questionable dilemmas or questionable
premises.
4. Quickly sees the pros and cons of people's
arguments.
5. Creates context or a frame of reference before
making a judgment.
6. Remains intellectually independent.
How would you evaluate this superintendent so far?
Decision-Making Ability is described as how well you
maintain a focus on the results or goals that matter or
that are important, and then make clear decisions that
help you and others move forward positively. The
individual demonstrating success in decision-making
ability:
1. Establishes priorities decisively for themselves
and others.
2. Works positively and effectively in highly
confused or ambiguous circumstances.
3. Looks at the sensitivity of major decisions.
4. Quantifies the influence that major decisions
are likely to have.
5. Doesn't necessarily go along with a decision
just because it's popular.
6. Is effective in dealing with trivial matters
quickly.
Again this superintendent appears to have missed
the mark on these performance criteria.
Rather than oversight, his bosses - the school
board
directors - should be concerned about his
ability to be the CEO or manager in any organization, no
less their school district. If he suffered a huge lapse in
his ability to make effective and efficient decisions,
how do they know he won't falter again? Was this a
lapse in judgment or does he lack competence in the
area of judgment? The difference is huge. On one
hand, it's just a mistake. On the other, it will become a
pattern.
Did anyone ever question how this superintendent
makes decisions before he was hired? Does he rely on
gut feelings or facts? Is he easily swayed by personal
opinions
rather than the analysis? It seems so. Does he take
other
people's recommendations at face value or further
investigate their validity? How does he verify the
information is correct? And does he have the ability to
do this? Does he tend to make decisions by engaging
other people in the process or is he a committee of one
who asks people to accept his choices after he alone
has decided?
Get the picture? In benchmarking top performers
for
dozens of supervisory, management and leadership
positions, decision-making and good judgment are
always listed near or at the top of a list that
differentiates the best from the rest. And yet many
hiring managers we work with haven't focused on
interviewing and qualifying candidates in these critical
areas during interviews.
In last week's The Total
View, I discussed hiring by
values. Certainly "good" values are critical guideposts
for conduct but
ultimately an
individual
needs abilities, too. In the case of this leader,
not
unlike the managers and leaders in many organizations,
good judgment and decision making are missing in his
bag critical core
competencies.
This school district is not alone. Many
organizations
continue to struggle with successfully qualifying its
leaders and
managers before they are hired or promoted. It's not
that the solutions are not available but it seems old
habits are hard to break.
Mis-hirings aren't only about hiring the wrong
people. Hiring right also protects the integrity of the
organization. In the case of the school district, one
inidividual caused an entire school district to fall under
the eye of the State Auditor. So instead of the school
board and community focusing their attention on
education, valuable personal energies and resources are
being allocated to investigate non-productive and
possibly even fraudulent activity.
When will organizations recognize that employee
selection is not about just giving people a shot at a job
but serious business? When will managers learn to hire
by
competence and values and stop being surprised after
the fact by
poor performance and "lapses" in judgment?
Learn more about Janus for Competency Identification and Employee Evaluation
Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #71 to #75
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Fact #71
American businesses spend $61 billion a year on
Alzheimer's Disease.
Fact #72
This amount is equivalent to the net profits of the
top 10 Fortune 500 companies.
Fact #73
Lost productivity of caregivers accounts for $36
billion
Fact #74
Healthcare and research accounts for $24.5 billion.
Fact #75
The number of people with Alzheimer's in the
workplace will explode from 4 million today to 14 million
in the next 50 years.
Source: "Alzheimer's Disease: The Costs to U.S.
Businesses in 2002"
New! Visit the Perfect Labor Storm website.
New articles posted on the Success Performance Solutions website.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Productivity in the U.S. is up 9.4 percent. What this
means is that workers in this country have produced in
2000 hours what it used to take 2188 hours. That
increased productivity is equivalent to 24 fewer days
needed to produce the same product or service as it
did before all the layoffs, downsizing, and business
closures.
What's in Store for 2004?
Words to live by?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The definition of a committee:
A group of people appointed to do an assigned
task - which they can do if the committee consists of
three people, one of whom is sick and the other is out
of town.
Abraham Lincoln
The Art of Giving and Receiving Feedback
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Employee appraisals are one of the most dreaded
activities a manager has to do. On top of that, there
are dozens of traps managers fall into. Click on the link
below for tips on "The Art of Giving and Receiving
Feedback"
"The Art of Giving and Receiving Feedback" is just
one of
hundreds
of pages of reproducible facts, tips and sample
evaluation forms included in Janus Performance
Managerment System Volume 1.
Begin to improve your employee appraisal process
today with the Janus Performance Management System.
Order Volume 1 today and save $50. Or order Volumes
1 -2 -3 and save $200.
More tips for managers on completing successful employee evaluations. Click here to download a one page excerpt from the Janus Performance Management System.
Now Available! Audio Clips on Why This Worker Shortage Will Not Go Away
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just Added to the super-solutions.com website are
Streaming Audio clips from Ira Wolfe's Keynote Address
at the 2004 PA HR Conference.
Listen here!
Pathfinder(tm) - Track Individual and Team Goals On-line!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
We are also pleased to introduce Pathfinder IPM (tm),
an online integrated performance management system.
Benefits of Pathfinder IPM:
Links individual bonuses to employee
productivity
and business profitability.
Pays for results not tenure.
Takes the hassle out of employee evaluation.
Holds the employee accountable for meeting
their
individual goals and personal development.
Gives managers the ability to track employee
productivity 24/7
Call us today to schedule a web-based demo in
your office or to receive an invitation for our next
Executive breakfast
introducing PathFinder, the integrated performance
management system. Seating limited to first 15.
Reservations restricted to CEO/Presidents/Owners, VPs,
HR and/or Hiring Managers.
Reserve my seat in the next Introduction to Pathfinder(tm)
Measure Five Vital Areas of Leadership Effectiveness
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
PS (Performance Skills) Leader is a research-based
leadership competency assessment that gives leaders
an objective needs analysis of their leadership
effectiveness, and helps them target areas for
improvement. The core of the assessment is a set of 24
clearly defined competencies that have been shown to
be an essential part of effective leader performance.
Download your PS Leader Sample report here!
FirstView(tm) - PreScreen Candidates Quickly, Easily and Inexpensively for as little as $15
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
FirstView Job Fit assesses a candidate's performance
and compares his/her behavior mostly effective
behaviors in 15 job categories.
What FirstView Job Fit Measures:
FirstView is designed to measure an individual's
cognitive and interpersonal competencies such as:
Rules - consistency, ability to deal with
change, need for structure, ability to follow rules and
policies
Extroversion - need to work with others,
communication of enthusiasm, ability to talk or listen
Assertiveness - decision making, selling and
closing abilities, ability to handle confrontation,
willingness to take direction from other
Teaming - teamwork, collaboration with
others, competitiveness
Sensitivity - emotional stability, handling of
criticism and feedback, dealing with stress
Organization - planning, spontaneity, time
management attitudes, ability to handle details
Social Desirability - an internal validity
scale to determine if the candidate is being frank with
their answers
Cognitive Ability - an overall aggregate
measure of cognitive skills
A hiring manager can then select from 15 primary
job-type reports to quickly get a basic picture of an
applicants likely suitability for a position.
Persuasive Sales
Management
Financial
Healthcare
Production
Telemarketing
Sales
Customer Service
Information Technology
Food Service
Warehouse
Retail Sales Administrative
Engineering
Hospitality
Driver.
Each report contains specific Behavioral Interview
Questions Driven by Advanced Psychometric
Measurements.
FirstView provides state of the art behavioral
interview questions automatically. FirstView questions
are selected by advanced psychometric measurements
and probe only those areas that target an individual's
weaknesses in the prospective job.
More on FirstView -Request a FREE link for a personalized FirstView report.
Employee Evaluations Made Easy - 360s too!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Janus Performance Management System - tailored to
match individual needs by developing the competencies
that are most relevant for every job.
Ten stand-alone individual module workbooks are
divided into three volumes.
Janus provides a comprehensive, step-by-step
planning design to help manage this process effectively.
Janus not only provides a suite of goal setting and
appraisal forms and templates to help this action
planning process, but also helps to ensure that all
written documents are in plain language, complete,
comprehensive, and easy-to-use.
Online 360 assessments now available!
To view sample employee evaluation forms available in the Janus Performance Management System.
Reserve Your Copy Now - Understanding Business Values and Motivators
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don't miss out on the pre-publication savings to Ira
Wolfe's long awaited book on "Understanding Business
Values and Motivators", due for release on February
15.
Understanding Business Values and Motivators is
an introduction to understanding how people are
already motivated and how to tap into those motivators
for their success and yours in the workplace.
Order today and save $3.00 per book off the regular
price of $12.95 - no limit. (Additional volume discounts
available for orders of 25 or more).
Bonus - receive
one Business Values and Motivators per book until
supplies last- a $49 value!
Order your copy of Understanding Business Values and Motivators today.
Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: iwolfe@super-solutions.com
voice: 717.656.4632
web: http://www.super-solutions.com
