Welcome to the August 18, 2004 issue of The Total View

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

Special Announcement!   Reserve this time and date - August 23, 2004 at            8 PM EDT. Ira Wolfe will be the featured guest on Money Matters broadcast by CN8 (Comcast Cable). To hear more interviews with Ira, go to http://www.super-solutions.com/cds-and-tapes.asp

1.Get Rid of Negative Employees Once and For All.

2. Don't Let The Government Read This!  How Pension Plans Got Started

3. Best Practice Tips and Resources

4. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #226 to #230

5 . Employee Motivation: It Takes Two to Tango...and Tangle

6 . Hire High Motivation Employees like the Experts

7 . Exploring Generational Differences and Interview for Success

8 . Summer/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.  Get Rid of Negative Employees Once and For All

Question: Why is a negative employee's attitude like a dangerous hurricane?
Answer: Because where ever they land, devastation results.

While listening to the news about Hurricane Charley ripping through Florida, I was reminded of a recent consulting gig. I was called in to diffuse a bad workplace environment caused by one negative employee. Let's call her Meg.

You know Meg. Maybe she works for you. Meg and Hurricane Charley have this in common. Wherever and whenever they touch down, they leave a path of destruction. With Charley, it's a mass of battered homes, twisted wire and steel, shattered lives. With Meg, it is employee turnover, workplace disruptions, and one conflict after the other.

Many of you are surely asking, "Why would any employer tolerate Meg’s behavior?" Others might have that gnawing feeling everyone gets when a story hits a little too close to home. The reasons employers tolerate negative employees are too numerous to list here, but let me tell you one thing: A negative employee never helps a company be more productive and profitable.

Regardless of the reason why negative employee behavior is tolerated, there is a cure. It begins with the just-released, must-read book "How Full is Your Bucket", by Tom Rath and Donald O. Clifton and published by Gallup Press.

Go buy it, then turn to page thirty-seven and read this paragraph. It nearly jumped off the page and grabbed me:

"It is possible for just one or two people to poison an entire workplace. And managers who have tried moving negative people to other departments to alleviate the problem know that 'location, location, location' doesn’t apply to these people; they bring their negativity along with them wherever they go. Negative employees can tear through a workplace like a hurricane racing through a coastal town."

I love this book. It fits so comfortably with the "bucket" analogy I use to describe Business Values and Motivators.

Rath and Clifton say each person carries an invisible bucket. Fill the bucket and an employee is motivated. Empty the bucket and motivation turns into negative behavior. Good managers fill the buckets of people they supervise. Bad managers drain them. It's that simple.

My book, "Understanding Business Values and Motivators" takes the bucket analogy a bit deeper. (You must buy this book,too.)

When you read my book, you'll learn about the six personal values that drive behavior – either positively or negatively. Each bucket represents a personal value. When the appropriate buckets are full, people are motivated, energized and satisfied.

These six values, or "buckets", are based on the work of Dr. Eduard Spranger, an early 20th-century behaviorist. Spranger's six values are:

• Conceptual
• Aesthetic
• Economic
• Power and Authority
• Social
• Doctrine
  
  

Every employee carries two of these six values, or buckets, to work. When these two buckets get filled, an employee responds positively to other people and the job. If others attempt to fill the remaining four buckets first, little motivation or even negative behavior may result.

What fills your employees' buckets? You can learn what your employees value most and which buckets to fill with a 10-question assessment. The personalized 9-page Business Values and Motivators report then describes each motivator and value in detail, including which buckets the employee wants to have filled.

Without an employee evaluation tool like Business Values and Motivators, the solution is hit or miss. With the tool, you can identify an employee's potential motivators or irresolvable conflicts before you start meddling.

What if that doesn't work? Can an employee change? Yes, but values tend to be consistent over time and change occurs only after significant emotional triggers. It comes down to this. When the job and a company's culture and benefits don't fill an employee's buckets and motivating this employee requires a change in the employee's values and motivators, the best solution is to part ways.

Just like Hurricane Charley, the damage caused by a negative employee is swift and powerful, the pain long-lasting, the recovery expensive. Despite this enormous cost, managers continue to divert valuable resources and time to retain negative employees. Why? I certainly have no good answers.

What I do know is a negative employee's bad attitude tears through an organization disrupting productivity, uprooting employees and destroying morale just like Charley tore up Florida. How vulnerable is your organization to the effects of a negative employee and what are you doing about it?

Success Performance Solutions offers proven online personality tests for predictable hiring decisions and team building assessments, including the TotalView Assessment and Business Values and Motivators. With these easy-to-administer tools, hiring managers can take advantage of the valuable diversity of the potential workforce, save money, and make the best hiring decisions.

How can you learn more about the tools and techniques used by our clients? See "Best Practice Tips and Resources" below.

2.  Don't Let The Government Read This!  How Pension Plans Got Started

In the 1880s, Otto von Bismarck crafted Europe’s first pension plan. He had to pick an age at which people would be too feeble to work and therefore eligible for state support and entitlement. Bismarck picked 65.

In that year, the life expectancy in Europe and the United States was only 45. Life expectancy at birth today is 79 for women and 73 for men.

Call a 65 year-old "old" today and he will likely out-work you, out-golf you and maybe even out-run you. Ok, old isn't what it used to be. Ask a Generation Xer or Millenial how old is old and yes, they might say age 60 or 70. But ask a 60 year old the same question and they proudly consider themselves middle-age.

If you were to use Bismarck’s formula to craft a retirement age today, the age we would be retiring people would be 115.

3.  Best Practice Tips and Resources

Learn the secrets about how to match an employee's capability, motivation, and behavior to the core competencies required by the job. Includes training on the TotalView Assessment System, Business Values and Motivators and DISC, too.

To participate in our hands-on CriteriaOne training on August 18-20, 2004, visit or order
"The Best Kept Secret for Hiring The High Motivation Employee - Job Profiling".
Your fee of $1595 includes fees for two participants.

Where can you receive more information about behavior and personality tests like TotalView and Business Values and Motivators, and DISC?

4. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #226 to #230

Problem drinking, including alcoholism, can strike anyone, even your most valued employee. It reduces the productivity of your workers and increases your health care costs - two of the labor storm "fronts" moving in on businesses today. What are employee alcohol problems costing you?  Click here for the Alcohol Cost Calculator.

Fact #221: Alcoholism causes 500 million lost work days annually. Absenteeism among alcoholics or problem drinkers is 3.8 to 8.3 times greater than normal (Bernstein & Mahoney, op. cit.) and up to 16 times greater among all employees with alcohol and other drug-related problems. (US Department of Labor)

Fact #222: Family members of alcoholics and substance users use ten times as much sick leave and have higher than average health care claims than family members of non alcoholic and substance using families. (HSS and NCADD Fact Sheet)

Fact #223: Up to 40 percent of industrial fatalities can be linked to alcohol use. Forty-seven percent of all industrial injuries are attributed to alcohol use.(NCADD Fact Sheet)

Fact #224: 60% of alcohol-related work performance problems can be attributed to employees who are not alcohol dependent, but who occasionally drink too much on a work night or drink during a weekday lunch (JSI Research & Training Institute)

Fact #225: Drug-using employees take three times as many sick benefits as other workers. They are five times more likely to file a worker's compensation claim (Strategic Planning for Workplace Drug Abuse Programs, NIDA)

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.

Get the forecast LIVE at your next meeting or conference. Now scheduling 2004-2005 keynotes - Ira Wolfe, What's Ahead In Hiring Trends or Generations in the Workplace - You can't work with them, You can't work without them.

5. Employee Motivation: It Takes Two to Tango...or Tangle.

Sustained productivity and profitiablity doesn't just happen. Employees have varied needs. Managers have preferred leadership styles. These needs and styles don't always match.

But managers and leaders can now get the results they want with a revolutionary new approach to leadership. It's called Strategic Leadership.

Strategic leadership gives leaders the knowledge and insights to adjust their approach to match the varied capabilities and commitment of employees.

To schedule Strategic Leadership training in your company for the Fall 04/Winter 05, contact us today.

New! Strategic Leadership Type Indicator.(SLTi)
Help leaders understand their own leadership habits and learn how they can respond more effectively in the future. The first part of the SLTi is a self-assessment that gives leaders feedback about their use of multiple leadership strategies. The second part guides them in selecting the best strategic leadership style to use, and the third part illustrates how leaders can develop their direct reports using these strategies.

View Brochure here.

Email for more details or pricing.

6. Hire High Motivation Employees like the Experts

It is finally here. After three years and hundreds of hours, The How to Hire The High Motivation Employee audio series is complete. Six 30-minute CDs - more than three hours of interviews - guide a manager through each section of the TotalView(tm) Assessment System, complete with examples and stories you can use to hire the right employee and build the best teams. Why TotalView? It is simply the best job matching and employee evaluation system on the market today.

The first CD begins with an overview of the TotalView(tm) Assessment System and explanations of each of the Abilities scales. The second CD focuses on Motivations and Interests. And CDs three through six discuss the four major personality traits and eight sub-scales in detail.

As a thank you for reading The Total View newsletter, we're offering the complete audio series for only $159 through August 31, 2004.

Order How to Hire The High Motivation Employee today.

7. Schedule Your Fall/Winter Workshops Today

Exploring Generational Differences is designed to explore the differences between the four workforce generations and how to build bridges between them. If you've ever heard "what's wrong with the younger generation" or "I'm too old to learn this stuff", this is the perfect program for your workforce. Half-day or Full-day.

Learn more about bridging generation gaps


Interview for Success: This disciplined approach to interviewing candidates, identifying competencies and developing questions and target behaviors for specific positions, is nearly 50 percent more effective than traditional interviewing at hiring the right employee. Half-day or full-day.

Improve your behavioral interviewing skills.

Speak with Ira or Marilyn about scheduling Exploring Generational Differences or Interview For Success.

8.  Summer 2004 Workshop and Speaking Schedule

Just announced! Ira will be a presenter at the 2005 International Builders Show in Orlando, FL at the end of January. Watch for more details.

September 1, 2004 - Ethical Shenanigans: How Susceptible Is Your Business? Small Business Group Breakfast. To reserve your place, call The Lancaster Chamber at 717.394.3531. Speaker: Ira S. Wolfe

September 13, 2004 - What is This Thing Called Emotional Intelligence
….And Why We Need It In The Workplace?" Sponsored by Clemson University; Location - Harrisburg, PA. Speaker: Marilyn Walker

September 27, 2004 – Best Practices in Performance Consulting, Atlanta, GA. Sponsored by International Quality and Productivity Center. Speaker: Ira S. Wolfe. Ira will join leaders from Dell, Microsoft, HomeBanc, Harley-Davidson,Hewlett-Packard, Putnam Investments, EDS, Synovus and Internal Revenue Service.

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