Welcome to the March 30, 2005 issue of The Total View

Published by Success Performance Solutions, Written by Ira S. Wolfe

Visit our Human Resources Blog and Perfect Labor Storm Blog where we can post daily (and more often) human resource updates, news, and Perfect Labor Storm facts. 

Don't miss the April 5, 2005 edition of the Wall Street Journal.
Read the Career Journal interview with Ira S. Wolfe.

What's Inside:

1. Should employee tardiness be overlooked for great customer service skills?

A few days ago, an employee recently fired from her job called me. To protect confidentiality, let’s call her April. Here’s the conversation:

“I think you’re the person who came to our office the other day and spoke with all the employees. Well, I was fired today and would like to talk with you. I don’t understand why. All of a sudden my manager decided I wasn’t doing my job. I think she had a personality conflict with me.”

I hung up the receiver and thought for a moment. I know her manager fairly well and had an inkling that what I heard was part of the story. I called the manager to learn all the facts. My instincts were correct. April was not fired out of the blue.

I learned that April had been late for work twenty times in the past six months, plus a few other things. In fact, April was late for work the day she was fired. Apparently that was the final straw. But the decision was not capricious. Her manager documented all her late arrivals and other performance issues, including several verbal, written and final warnings, with employee services two weeks prior to her termination date.

Everyone I spoke with agreed that April had a great personality, one of the best for customer service. Patients loved her. In her defense, April had documentation from a few staff, management, and physicians praising her customer service skills. One supervisor said she wished everyone had April’s personality.

Out of courtesy, I returned April’s call fully expecting anger or tears. Was I ever surprised! April answered with top-notch professionalism. She showed a great phone manner — articulate, with a friendly, almost perky voice that gave no hint of a problem. I now understood why she received high marks for customer service.

During the course of the conversation, April mentioned again that being fired was an unexpected shock. When I asked if she was made aware of any performance issues, the answer caught me by surprise.

“It happened, all of sudden, in April 2004”, she replied. “You mean last year, almost twelve months ago?” I asked. “Yes, I had no idea there was a problem before that,” April continued. “Since then, the practice manager has had it out for me. My supervisor and a few other staff members suggested my manager and I had a ‘personality conflict’.”

Wait a minute. All of a sudden twelve months ago? A personality conflict or poor performance? What was the root of April’s being fired?

April was fired because she was tardy too often. How can the root of what is clearly a time management issue be caused by a personality conflict? It goes back to “core personality.” Allowing that generalizations can be misleading, it safe to say that people who prefer ordered and predictable lives favor timeliness and planning. Then, there are the folks who place value on other things. That’s what makes life interesting.

Sadly, what makes life interesting can cause chaos in the workplace. When the company culture, or personality of a supervisor, favors order and discipline, a laid-back person may be seen as sloppy and disorganized. As I’ve mentioned repeatedly, changing these basic traits isn’t easy and won’t happen unless the person is highly motivated.

That’s why I chuckled to myself when April complained about being caught off guard by the firing. Yes, she admitted to being warned for the first time more than a year ago, and repeatedly during subsequent months. April, who is gregarious and easy-going, defines customer service as being nice to people. Her manager, however, considered that just one component of good customer service, with timeliness and initiative sharing importance for necessary satisfacory performance.

Given the difference in how these two people behaved, the decision to fire April could be considered, at least in part, the result of a personality conflict. Had April worked for another manager in another practice, her tardiness might have been tolerated, even excused, because of her good customer service skills. This employer, however, placed high value on time management. April had to change her behavior which would require her to change her basic personality to succeed.

April’s experience highlights the importance of personality assessments when making hiring decisions. A good job fit means matching the person to the job, the team, and the company culture. April, who had the right personality for the job, was a bad fit for the team and the practice culture.

April suffered from being fired. So did her employer who has to go through the time and expense of recruiting, interviewing, hiring and training a replacement. Here are some low-cost, high-benefit solutions to this problem:

1.  Use attitude and work integrity pre-employment tests to screen out candidates prone to counter-productive behaviors such as absenteeism, tardiness, theft, substance abuse, computer abuse, aggressive tendencies and poor customer service attitudes. Examples of these pre-employment tests include Counter-Productive Behavior Index and SELECT Associate System.

2.  Pre-screen candidates to avoid hiring those whose work integrity values don’t fit your culture. Use  personality tests to evaluate a person’s disposition toward organization, planning, detail-orientation, and customer service. These tests also assess the importance a worker will place on teamwork and team participation.

3.  Once you’ve made a hiring decision, make performance expectations clear. Maybe things would have turned out differently for April if her manager stated that tardiness was simply unacceptable. April always tried to be on time; it was just that things like alarm clocks, traffic, weather and sick children always upset her plans. Her best efforts just weren't enough and April continued to come in late. (See 212 below!)

4.  Likewise, every employee needs to know how performance is evaluated. A performance review process that identifies key performance areas and prioritizes their importance works best. Let’s go back to April. If she understood that being on time was as important as good customer service, April might not have tried to excuse her tardiness with praise from co-workers about her “people skills" or maybe would have not accepted the job in the first place.

New e-book: Seven Surefire Steps To Hiring High Potential Employees.  FREE for a limited time - a $19 Value.

More about online personality tests

2. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #381 to #385
http://www.perfectlaborstorm.com/facts.html

Don't miss day-to-day updates on Perfect Labor Storm. Save the Perfect Labor Storm blog to your favorites.

Fact #381:   60 percent of managers and executives are happy with their pay, compared to only 44 percent of non-management workers. The pay satisfaction has widened by 45 percent since 1997. (Source: Sirota Consulting, 2005)

Fact #382:  In a survey of HR managers and CEOs from 54 U.S. companies, respondents were asked the most common reasons for unscheduled absences in their organizations. The top 3 reasons were employee's minor illness (70%), child's illness (65%), and employee's chronic medical condition (35%). (Source: The Segal Co.)

Fact #383:  The top traits of those most likely to succeed in the international business arena are: flexibility (97%), open-mindedness (97%), supportive family (82%), good listening skills (77%), and sense of self-direction (76%). (Source: RW3)

Fact #384:   Despite management's best efforts to communicate business strategy, only 64 percent of employees think management has set a strategic direction and only 62 percent say they know what the direction is. (Source: Novations Group)

Fact #385:   Unclear objectives, lack of team communication and ineffective meetings are among the top time wasters that workers around the world say make them feel unproductive for as much as a third of their workweek on average, according to results of an online Microsoft® Office survey (March 2005). According to the survey of nearly 40,000 people in 200 countries, U.S. workers clock an average of 45 hours per week, but consider 16 hours are wasted.

Don't be caught in storm without all the facts. "The Perfect Labor Storm Fact Book: Why Worker Shortages Won't Go Away" is a must-read leading edge forecast that predicts workforce trends for decades to come. Order your copy today - Only $7.95.

3.  NEW! Customer Service Skills Profile

This easy-to-use assessment solves one of your biggest headaches in customer service - ensuring consistency in your staff's performance.

How? By giving employee a clear picture of their unique strengths and areas they need to work on - and the motivation to acquire all the skills of an all-around good customer service giver.

Employees can rate themselves in seven competency areas widely considered to be critical to the ability to provide exemplary service:

Temperament / disposition
Communicating clearly
Engaging in joint problem solving
Building warmth and empathy
Attentive listening
Resolving conflict
Carefully negotiating

More about Customer Service Skills Excellence.

4. Customer Service Excellence - Close isn't good enough

At 211 degrees, water is hot.
At 212 degrees, water boils.
With boiling water, comes steam.
With steam, you can power a train.

As with sports, close is not good enough in customer service.
Professional golf tournaments are comprised of four rounds of 18 holes played over a four-day period. There are four major tournaments each year - The U.S. Open, The British Open, The PGA Championship, and the Masters.

The average margin of victory between 1980 and 2004 (25 years) in all tournaments combined was less than three strokes - less than one stroke difference per day. From 2000 through 2004 (five years), the winner across all tournaments took home an average of 76% more in prize dollars than the second place finisher (before endorsement and other dollars.

Source: (212: The Extra Degree, S. L. Parker)

5. SELECT employees with the Right Work Attitudes

A pre-employment screening tool to identify work-related behaviors such as Absenteeism, Honesty, Positive Service Attitude, Accountability, Frustration Tolerance, Acceptance of Diversity, Multi-tasking and more.... plus a Validity Check and Integrity Index. Each customized report includes a step by step interview guide including recommended interview questions. SELECT is available on-line, by fax, or by purchasing software for on-site licensing.

7. We've Moved!
Success Performance Solutions has a new home as of March 1. Our new address is 2137 Embassy Drive, Suite 218, Lancaster, PA. Our phone number is 717.291.4640 and new fax is 717.427.2020. Of course, our online home remains the same at www.super-solutions.com.

Syndication available - call us.