Welcome to the October 20, 2004 issue of The Total View

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

In the News!

Central Penn Business Journal - October 8, 2004

Companies struggle to replace good, retiring managers

Business2Business - October 2004

The Truth About Workplace Stress

What's Inside

1.  Just Hangin' In There  - Employee Attitudes and First Impressions

2. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #271 to #275

3. Tips You Can Use - NEW!   Background Checks

4. LIVE!  Can't Get No Job Satisfaction?  An interview with Ira Wolfe

5. For the 1st time! The Complete Manager's Pocket Guide Library

6 . Take the Age Test

7.  Over 250 Supervisors Have Attended Managing to Excel Workshops

8 . Fall Workshop and Speaking Schedule

9 . You don't need a huge budget and staff to hire the best employees

10 . Thousands of Small Business Owner Now Build High Motivation Teams Who Never Thought They Could

1.  Just Hangin' In There

By Marilyn Walker and Ira Wolfe

It was before noon at the Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce and Industry Business Expo. While making my rounds around the exhibit hall, I met dozens of business owners and salespeople. I noticed a woman, standing alone, alongside her display, not doing much of anything at that moment. I walked up and introduced myself.

“Hello. My name is Marilyn Walker and I’m with Success Performance Solutions. How are you?”

Her response was totally unexpected. “Oh, I suppose I’m just hanging in there,” she said. It didn’t take a genius to realize that she did not want to be there – and she had six more hours to go.

First impressions are critical in today’s marketplace. With almost everything imaginable available over the Internet, relationships rule in the face-to-face world of attracting business. In this case, the relationship came to an abrupt end.

Businesses like the one this salesperson represented invest thousands of dollars in exhibits and giveaways to attract visitors into their areas and engage them in conversation. The business represented by this woman should have save its money.

Contrast this with the response from Andrew, representing one of the several web development companies competing for new customers at the expo.

While I don’t recall Andrew’s specific words, he gave me the immediate impression that he was excited to be there and equally delighted to tell me about his business. He had my attention. He maintained eye contact, smiled often, and asked good engaging questions. While I would have liked to continue talking, I recognized other prospects were waiting to speak with him. We shook hands and I moved on with his business card in hand.

I wish I could say Andrew was the norm and the first woman the exception. But I hear “just hanging in there” comments more frequently than I care to admit. Just this morning, I heard “not bad for a Monday” after asking “how are you today?” Often I hear, “I’ll be better in a few hours when I’m out of here.” I’ve even heard, “if I could find another job, do you really think I’d be here?”

In the October 3, 2004, edition of the Lancaster Sunday News, the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau announced the creation of the “Center of Excellence in Hospitality and Customer Service.” They contributed $24,000 to begin eight-hour courses which would train hotel workers in hospitality skills. At the end of the training participants will receive a certificate from the American Hotel and Lodging Association.

What an excellent idea if the dollars are invested in training the right people. Too often businesses try to “fix” the poorly performing employee and ignore those individuals who have naturally good skills but could be great with the right coaching and training.

Imagine the waste of time and money sending the “just hanging in there” employee to a customer service training. Sure, she needs all the help she could get, but what would she do with her new skills. Surely not use them. It was obvious that she didn’t enjoy meeting new people or selling her services and training wasn’t going to help.

Ironically, while this woman was turning away customers on the floor, dozens of visitors were participating in the Disney Institute workshops taking place nearby. Organizations like Disney, Ritz-Carlton, and Southwest Airlines invest millions of dollars and thousands of hours training their employees to excel at customer service. But they don’t train just any employee – they train the right employee. For example, Disney hires people who are "aggressively friendly". This means that all cast members (Note: workers are not employees but cast members)are urged to stop whatever they're doing and offer help whenever they see a guest (Note: customers are called guests, too) in need.

Are Disney employees the "right" employees for you? Well that depends. When we ask clients to describe their ideal employee, we hear descriptors like friendly, dependable, honest, courteous, and loyal. They sound good, but these qualities are difficult to measure.

Just try it. Describe friendly. Do you consider Robin Williams friendly or hyperactive? What about George W. Bush or Bill Clinton? Katie Couric or Oprah? How does friendly differ from courteous, caring, compassionate or empathetic? Better yet, when you meet someone is friendly, how do you measure it? When do you know some has enough friendliness? Is it possible to have too much? Have you ever met anyone who is so friendly they actually annoy you?

Southwest Airlines is known for having the friendliest employees in the sky. They are profitable for 54 consecutive quarters in an industry that considers bankruptcy a daily activity. And yet, I know family and friends who won't fly Southwest because they "don't like employees who joke around so much".

That brings me to three biggest mistakes businesses make when listing the core competencies for hiring and managing the right employees.

First, competency identification is not a shopping list. Too often, managers create the dream list of skills. While it never hurts to ask, expecting any employee to be highly competent in more than 10 competencies is unrealistic. For entry-level employees we recommend no more than three competencies, for semi-skilled four to six and for upper management, highly skilled and professional positions you can go as many as ten.

Second, managers often list behaviors and attitudes along with skills. Competencies are skills that can be learned. You can train someone to be courteous but have you ever tried to train compassion and empathy? At best, you can modify someone's behavior and have him "act" friendlier. But let's face it - we all know how well that works. Communication and listening skills are competencies, too. Friendly is a behavior. People who are naturally outgoing might make more friends and have an easier time being friendly but they are not necessarily more capable to deliver excellent customer service. Customer service is a skill, one that is obviously lacking in a lot of people.

Third, businesses try to change and train behaviors without understanding the personality and motivators of the employees. Submissive, reserved and easily excitable workers can certainly learn the Disney and Southwest way to excellent customer service. But the idea of being aggressively friendly may be too much of a stretch. Joe Kraus, one of the founders of Excite, says that hiring a bad employee is far worse than not hiring anyone. We agree.

This leads me to the fourth and final mistake. Hiring the right people is a three-way fit. Not a two-way, not a one way, but three ways. Disney and Southwest employees are hired only if they can do the job, fit on the team and value the company culture. Too many managers hire people who can do the job but don't get along with other team members or share the company values. Hiring the right people begins with finding and retaining workers who value your values, value teamwork and have the skills to do the job. Disney and Southwest know this and stick to their plan.

It was now almost 6 p.m. The exhibits were coming down. My feet were killing me, my back was aching and I just couldn’t wait to get home and get into my pj’s. Just then, an energetic young woman approached me with fliers from her company. With a smile she handed me her flier and said, “Hi. How are you?” Immediately thinking of my sore feet as well as my earlier experience, I smiled back and said, “Great! How about you?” “Pretty good,” she responded.

Then we talked. After nine hours of meeting and greeting she made me want to listen. She is the “right” person for her company. How do I know this? Even after nine hours of greeting and meeting people, she wasn't "just hangin' in there".

Hiring the "right" people is easy when you know what to look for. Why not call us today for a FREE consultation and assessment valued at $250?  To qualify (US and Canada only), contact us today.

SPS clients report great success with one or more of these three assessments: the Counter-Productive Behavior Index (CPBI), SELECT Associate System, and FirstView Job Fit Indicator. 

For more information about any of these products or services, click on any of the links above or email me directly.

2.  Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #271 to #275

Many people believe education is the cure for the impending (and even current) skilled worker shortages.  Few however are willing to address how serious the situation really is.

Fact #271:  Fewer than one in four high school graduates who took the ACT test have taken the coursework necessary to succeed in college. (Source: ACT, Inc)

Fact #272:  Only 22 percent of the 1.2 million high school graduates who took the exam this year (2004) were ready for college coursework in math, English and science. (Source: ACT, Inc)

Fact #273:   Skills that employers are increasingly demanding are ability to work in a team, solve complex problems, and communicate clearly in print and in person.  (Source: Coplin, 10 Things Employers Want You to Learn in College)

Fact #274:  Skills that will keep workers marketable in the near term are self-motivation, time management, strong oral and written communication, relationship building, salesmanship, problem solving, information evaluation and leadership. (Source: Futurist Update, Feb 2004)

Fact #275:  In the future, even more emphasis will be placed on skills that cannot be automated - caring, judgment, intuition, ethics, inspiration, friendliness, and imagination. (Source: Futurist, Sep-Oct 2004)

This knowledge gap was confirmed recently when nearly 50 percent of the 564 jobseekers at the 2004 Lancaster (PA) Chamber Job Fair rated their problem solving and business knowledge skills as average or lower.  To receive a FREE copy of these results and more, click on the 2004 SPS "I Want a New Job" Survey. Then check your email for the link.

Do you sit on a program committee for your local civic, business or professional association?   "The Perfect Labor Storm" is the perfect topic for meetings, conferences and keynotes.  Schedule Ira Wolfe today.  Find out what's ahead in employment trends and how it will affect career opportunities, education, quality of life issues and more.  Call 717.656.4632 for more information.

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 - $7.95 includes no shipping costs for limited time only.

3.  Tips You Can Use - Background Checks

To provide our clients with one-stop shopping for employee evaluation from pre-employment to career succession, we are very pleased to introduce our new partnership with Information Architects, a leading provider of Employment Screening and Background Investigations. IA's premier background screening solution utilizes a state-of-the-art web based interface to provide you with the fastest, easiest, and most customizable ordering/delivering platform in the marketplace today.

If, like Pinocchio's nose, each lie a candidate told on his/her resume or during the interview became immediately apparent, business owners could easily weed out employees who cheat and deceive. So, how can you tell if an employee is lying about their work experience, education, criminal record or even if they are who they say they are? 

BACKGROUND CHECKS.  Sixty-one percent of the human resource (HR) professionals surveyed said they find inaccuracies in résumés after carrying out background checks. (Source: SHRM Background Checks/ Résumé Inaccuracies online survey, 2004)

Services include:

• Employment Verification
• Criminal Records Search
• Civil Records Search
• Workers Comp Search
• SSN Verification
• Credit Reports
• DMV Reports
• Bankruptcy Search
• Degree Verification
• Professional License Verification
• Drug Screening

Learn more about background checking here.

4.  Can't Get No Job Satisfaction?

Live! on the web. Listen to Ira Wolfe's interview with Margot King, the host of the nationally syndicated radio talk show Job Talk.  During this interview, Margot questions Ira about his new books "Understanding Business Values and Motivators" and "The Perfect Labor Storm"....plus his thoughts and advice on employee motivation, job stress, career changes and personality testing. 

Listen to the Job Talk interview here or order your FREE CD-ROM of the "Can't Get No Job Satisfaction" interview.

5.  The Complete Manager's Pocket Guide Library

Today's busy leaders and knowledge workers are looking for informative, to the point self-study resources that will answer questions, stimulate new thinking and help solve problems.

These management development pocket guides are ideal for self-directed learning, training and coaching workers, corporate universities, or to use in seminars and workshops.

Each guide covers an important topic such as managing generations, mentoring, creativity, project management, knowledge management or strategies for handling people issues such as conflict management, sexual harassment and performance.

Order the complete library of these 32 best selling Manager's Pocket Guides for only $279 - that's like getting 5 books free, a savings of $39. 

Order the Manager's Pocket Guide Library for Management Development today.

Plus this bonus!  We'll include a copy of "Understanding Business Values and Motivators"

at nor additional charge, a $12.95 value.

6.  Take the Age Test

1. Name the four Beatles.

2. Finish the line: "Lions and Tigers and Bears, ____ ____!"

3. Hey Kids, what time is it?

4. What do M & M's do?

5. What helps build strong bodies 12 ways?

6. Long before he was Mohammed Ali, we knew him as ________ _____.

7. You'll wonder where the yellow went, ______ ____ _______ ______ ______ ____ ____________.

8. Before his role as Skipper's little buddy, we knew Bob Denver as Dobie's best friend __________ __ _______.

9. Brylcream, _____ _____ _____ ___ ___.

10. Bob Dylan advised us to never trust anyone over __.

Click here for Answers to the Age Test.

No doubt about it.  The newest diversity issue in the workplace is age diversity. Many organizations have finally figured out how to recruit young talent only to watch them drive down a collision course with seasoned employees over issues like work ethic, respect for authority, dress code and every work arrangement imaginable. To learn what you can do about dealing with Generational Conflicts, see "Managing the Generation Mix" above.

7. Over 250 Supervisors Have Attended Managing to Excel Workshops

Ever since Success Performance Solutions introduced Managing to Excel in 2002, Central PA supervisors and managers have been learning and developing proficiency in the twelve competencies that highly effective managers and supervisors have that average performers don't. 

To read more about Managing to Excel, visit Managing to Excel - Management Competency Workshops.

Managing to Excel is also available for purchase by in-house trainers and human resource professionals.  The per participant cost per program is as low as $20!

8.  Fall 2004 Workshop and Speaking Schedule

January 16, 2005 - 2005 International Builders Show,  Orlando, FL

February 28, 2005 - IQPC''s Best Practices in Disease Management,   Las Vegas, NV

9. You don't need a huge budget and staff to hire the best employees

Eliminate The Hassles and Headaches Associated With Screening Candidate with Total APS.

The Total Applicant Processing System enables the small and medium sized employer to do online recruiting and screen applicants with customizable and scorable filtering questions with a click of the mouse.

Use Total APS to recruit and screen applicants for your next job opening.

10. Wondering if you have the right people on your team?

Everyone wants to build the High Motivation Employee Team. Do it with team building activities packaged exclusively for small businesses and home businesses.

Contact Information:
Success Performance Solutions 2481 New Holland Pike, Suite 2, Lancaster, PA 17601

email: tv@super-solutions.com
voice: 717.656.4632
web: http://www.super-solutions.com

To learn more about Success Performance Solutions or read back issues of The Total View, stop by our website at www.super-solutions.com.

Order your personal copy of Understanding Business Values and Motivators.


Order your personal copy of The Perfect Labor Storm


Ira S. Wolfe. 2004 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission only.

Syndication available - call us.