Welcome to the July 25, 2007 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. 

What's Inside:

1. Employee/organization Fit Generates Big Gains in Profit and reductions in turnover for small businesses  

Every organization seems intent on finding skilled employees these days.  But focusing only on job skills might leave these companies a few employees short and a bit light on the profits.   

For several years, I've been encouraging managers to hire and promote employees based on a three-way fit:  job, team and company culture.  A study just released by Gevity, an HR outsourcing firm, and conducted in partnership with Dr. Christopher Collins of Cornell University's Center for Advanced Human Resource Studies, confirmed how certain HR management practices were positively related to workforce alignment and resulting firm performance.  

The findings should be immediate reading, especially for small businesses.   Overall, companies that followed a person-organization fit showed significanlty higher firm performance than did companies following a person-job fit strategy.  

Results of the 243 small business study suggested that firms have 7.5% higher revenue growth, 6.1% higher profit growth, and 17.1% lower turnover when following a hiring strategy of attracting, finding and selecting employees that are a fit to the culture and values of the organization.  

When person-fit/organization fit is integrated with a self-management strategy, - as opposed to a controlling management strategy - as well as implementing a family-like environment/community, the results for retailers are nothing short of remarkable - 74.7% lower turnover! They are not alone. Low-skilled services enjoyed 57.9% lower turnover and manufacturing watched 19.4% fewer employees walk out the door.  

A few key take-aways from the study include:  

 1. Select employees based on their ability to do the job (or have the potential to learn to do it).
 2. Select employees who can work effectively with other employees.
 3. Select employees based on their overall fit with the organization's values.

In other words, fit employees to the job, on the team and in the culture and watch your profits go up and turnover go down.  

Success Performance Solutions has set a new standard for hiring success using best practice assessments for fitting the right employees to your organization's values. Learn more about aligning people with performance. For training and certification, register for CriteriaOne certification - continue reading the newsletter for more information.  

Simplify the complexity of talent management by calling 800.803.4303 or visiting www.super-solutions.com.  

Full results and executive summaries of all Gevity research.

2. Perfect Labor Storm Indicators

Never Seen Before!  Where Have All Your Workers Gone?  In less than 5 minutes, you will view the future.  Watch how The Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 will change the way every organizations will do business.

Watch Where Have All The Workers Gone? Now.  Then send it to co-workers, colleagues, bosses, reports, and customers.

3. Questions of the Week:  Assessments for Management Succession  

"Is there a test to predict leadership potential.  I'm planning on retiring within the next three years and want to make sure I leave the company in good hands."   

The answer is a resounding yes.  Choosing the right successor requires an assessment of the candidate's leadership competence, leadership style and culture fit. As too many organizations have learned, talent and potential alone don't always ensure a successful transtion and the age of transferring leadership roles in exchange for year of service is long gone.  

Similar to my recommendations for hiring, I suggest three assessments for key positions and leadership roles:  

1. ASSESS to evaluate job fit and competence, including key personality traits and cognitive skills, as well as potential to grow and develop.
2. BUSINESS VALUES AND MOTIVATORS to assess personal drivers and cultural fit.
3. CRITERIAONE DISC to identify leadership style.

To learn more about assessing your future managers and leaders, call us at 800.803.4303.  

To view our online personality tests, visit our Online Assessment Center

4. Just announced! Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 (soft and hard cover versions) release set for October 2007.   Did you know?  

Read the pre-publication reviews:  

• "A tremendous work and one that could (and hopefully will) change attitudes and promote proper hiring/training/retention actions."
• "Powerful stuff - enough to make any manager gasp."
• "The policy and practical ramifications of the Perfect Labor Storm are astounding.  It should be required reading for every Human Resource Professional."

• If you took every single job in the U.S. today and shipped it to China  -

• China's Generation Y accounts for nearly one-sixth of the Chinese population, equivalent to two-thirds of the entire U.S. population. 
• By 2025 more than 75 % of the workforce in India will be from Generation Y and younger generations.
• In the United States, Gen Y and younger will make up just less than 60 %.

Trends and stats like this are just an inkling of the information you'll find in the revised, updated and expanded Perfect Labor Storm 2.0, including several chapters about managing generational clashes.  

Keep reading future issues of this newsletter for more announcements about the book release and updated Perfect Storm Indicators.  

Perfect Labor Storm e-book published earlier this year is still available.

You can order a download copy of PLS, a great value at $9.95. 

5. "Leading Leaders, Leading Others" Leadership Development Seminar

Develop leaders to take a strategic approach to managing employees. The working seminar series addresses universal leadership principles (values) as well as key management competencies such as decision making, problem solving, managing others, motivating others, negotiation - over 38 competencie which support the vision and strategy of the organization.

The Seminar focuses on the personal development of current and future leaders plus these specific skills sets:

Achieving Results Through Others
Motivating Others
Communication
Holding Others Accountable
Coaching and Developing

Experience the most comprehensive leadership development program with measurable results by calling us at 800-803-4303 for more information or by sending an email.

We are now accepting applications for "Leading Leaders, Leading Others" tentatively scheduled to begin in November 2007 and meeting monthly (except December) through May 2008. On-site training available too.

Read more about ASSESS Leadership Workshops

6. CriteriaOne Certification Workshop: October 31-November 2, 2007

Learn to build a competency-based selection and performance management system to align employees with the right skills to meet the competitive demands of your business.

"Light years ahead of the competition" says one CriteriaOne participant.

"A must for anyone interested in lowering turnover and improving productivity," says another.

Don't miss the only certification workshop in 2007.

More about CriteriaOne Certification, the whole person approach to selecting and managing employees

7. Wolfe to keynote PA Chamber Skilled Worker Shortage Crisis roundtable

The Pennsylvania Chamber Foundation invites you to a free public service roundtable "Help Wanted: The Skilled Worker And Business Leader Shortage Crisis", from 8 a.m. to noon Tuesday, July 31, 2007 at the Holiday Inn Harrisburg-Hershey, Grantville, PA. Ira S Wolfe will open the event with an update on The Perfect Labor Storm.

Designed for presidents, business owners, HR professionals, supervisors, department heads and other business executives who hire in Pennsylvania, in addition to local chamber executives and state
association executives, this event will provide practical, concrete advice on how the business community can cope with the current and anticipated shortage of qualified, skilled employees and business leaders.

Read more about The Skilled Worker and Business Leader Shortage Crisis

8. Quotes from Hire Authorities

"However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results."
Sir Winston Churchill

Permission is granted to consultants, managers, business owners and HR professionals to reproduce content from this newsletter for your internal publications, or to distribute copies to your workforce, on the condition that you reproduce the credits and contact information as follows: "Reprinted with permission from Ira S Wolfe and Success Performance Solutions. Copyright 2007 Ira S Wolfe." We also hope you will forward the newsletter in its entirety and recommend to others that they subscribe.

Ira S. Wolfe Copyright 2007 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission