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The Total View
The Whole Person Approach for Selecting and Managing Top Performers
September 10, 2003
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-- Integrity is #1 competence - But can you trust these results?
-- Managing the Generation Mix
-- How much is employee turnover costing your company?
-- 3 Steps to Accurately Identify and Assess Talent?
-- Get certified now! Register today for Oct 30 - Nov 1.
-- A powerful new business tool for evaluating core employee skills.
-- Burned out or looking for a new career? Hate getting up in the morning?
-- Reduce no-shows, theft, aggressive behaviors with the Best Screening Tool for Hourly/Entry-Level Employees
-- "Grand Opening" - Emotional Intelligence section in our bookstore
-- Marching to a Different Bucket
-- The Perfect Books for Energizing People and Exploring Values
Welcome to this week's issue of The Total View.
WOW! Welcome back from vacation. Last week's
response to The Total View was the best in months.
Or maybe we just hit a nerve with last week's topics.
The most popular link last week was the Cost of
Turnover Calculator. For those that might have missed
it, we've included it again below.
Also included in this week's issue are the results
of our Competence Survey. And the #1 most important
competency is - well, you'll just have to keep reading.
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.
Have a comment? Disagree? Need advice? Visit our
Free
Discussion Board.
Integrity is #1 competence - But can you trust these results?
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It's a given these days. Organizations need leaders and
managers who can make effective decisions in complex
situations in a timely manner even when all the
information they need is not available. But that's
apparently easy to say but not easy to do.
Effectively leading today's organizations, team, and
workforces goes beyond inspiration and drive. Effective
leadership requires the ability to think analytically
without getting bogged down in the details, making
timely decisions without reacting impulsively, building
consensus without compromising results, and getting
people to want to do what you want them to do.
But apparently not everyone agrees. What are the
skills that managers absolutely need today? We asked
you, our Total View readers, over the last few weeks
this very question. Here's what we found.
Integrity was the hands-down winner in what
respondents felt was the most essential competency
for top performance from a manager. Ethics was not a
so far behind second place. In third place was customer
service.
Surprisingly the results were not unanimous. Ten
percent or more felt that integrity and ethics was
merely "nice to have" or "not important at all".
To get these results, we asked respondents to rank the
importance of 10 managerial core competencies in their
workplaces from essential to not important at all. The
competencies selected for the survey were chosen
based on results from our job position benchmarking
services in dozens of organizations like yours as well as
the research of several leading-edge consultants in the
area of competency-based performance consulting.
Comparing our respondents opinions to the results of
other organizations, it's clear that getting agreement
on what's makes top managers tick is about easy as
herding cats.
The response to ethics blew us away!
"Walking the talk" and acting in line with the core
values and beliefs of the organization was felt to be an
essential competence held by only 58 percent of the
respondents. An amazing thirteen percent felt that
ethics was only nice to have or not important at all.
(So much for agreeing that ethics is important for
effective leadership.)
Being able to trust the manager, or integrity, as
mentioned above was an essential ingredient for top
performing managers for 64 percent of the respondents.
Although this was the top vote-getter, 10 percent felt
integrity was just nice-to-have or not important.
I guess this begs the question - if integrity and
ethics is not essential for nearly 40 percent of the
managers, what overrides it and for what positions and
organizations are they not important at all?
If anyone cares to shed some light why and when
ethics and integrity in business is not important, please
email me or visit our new discussion board at "Free
Discussion Board". I'd love to hear from you.
Senior managers often vocalize a lot about
accountability and motivation. Well according to our
respondents, only 45 percent felt taking responsibility
for his/her own mistakes or inefficiencies was essential
for top management performance! More surprising was
that 8 percent felt accountability was just a nice to
have skill or was not important at all.
In addition, persistence, or following through
especially when faced with adversity or challenges, was
an essential skill for only 40 percent of the respondents.
Interpersonal skills always falls in the top 3 skills listed
for nearly every management and leadership position.
And yet only 33 percent felt that relating well to all
kinds of people in a variety of situations was essential.
Building effective teams is another highly
requested and interviewed for skill. Forty percent felt
that defining success in terms of the whole team or
organization was an essential skill required to be a top
performer in their organization.
Other competencies included in the survey were:
Business knowledge: Only 42% felt that
understanding how the business worked was an
essential skill for a top performing manager.
Coping Skills: Fifty-four percent fell that maintaining
composure under stressful conditions was essential.
Customer Service: Fifty-four percent felt that
meeting and exceeding the expectations of customers
on a regular basis was essential. Hmm. Could this be
the reason why both internal and external turnover and
attrition is so high?
Dealing with ambiguity: A mere 1 out of 3 felt that
making effective decisions when you do not have all
the information was an essential managerial skill.
Maybe we just had a lot of respondents from Missouri,
the show-me state, but this definitely bucks the
opinion of much of the research that says digital age
decision-making requires quick but accurate outcomes.
When asked what percentage of their management
staff were proficient in computer, Internet, and writing
skills 59 percent felt their managers were 100 percent
proficient in using the Internet including email. Of
course our sample base may have been tainted
because the only way to complete the survey was on
the Internet.
Competence in basic computer skills including the use
of Microsoft Office® programs fell to 28 percent at 100
proficiency and 43 percent at 75 proficiency. Writing
skills fared a little better with 42 percent of our
respondents feeling their management staff could write
emails and memos with the best of them.
Those numbers are the half-full glass optimistic
scenario. Considering that writing, computer and
Internet skills are considered essential competencies for
any top performer in management today, our
respondents felt there is a lot of room for improvement.
Seven out of 10 managers need to improve their
computer skills, 6 out of 10 need to improve their
writing skills, and 4 out of 10 need to brush up on their
skills using the Internet and email.
To view the complete results of the SPS Workforce Competence Survey, click here.
Managing the Generation Mix
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Your workforce is aging. You are committed to hiring
new young talent. Everyone agrees you need some
new energy injected into your organization. You've had
it with Gen-Xers but like what you see in the younger
Generation Ys who are just entering the workforce.
But before you go there, what will you talk about?
What events have shaped their lives?
Just to put you in the right frame of mind, Gen-Ys
only know that Paul McCartney has been the leader of
Wings.
Most students entering college this fall were born in
1985. To them:
1. Ricky Nelson, Richard Burton, Samantha Smith, Laura
Ashley, Orson Welles, Karen Ann Quinlan, Benigno
Aquino, and the U.S. Football League have always been
dead.
2. Iraq has always been a problem.
3. "Ctrl Alt Del" is as basic as "ABC."
4. Bert and Ernie are old enough to be their parents.
5. An automatic is a weapon, not a transmission.
Next Week - Take the Gen Y IQ test!
Read more - Order Managing the Generation Mix today.
How much is employee turnover costing your company?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Click, click, click. Employee turnover, despite high
unemployment, has obviously not disappeared from the
HR pile. Last week my column about "Employees are
assets - with feet" was our most popular in months and
the calculator we posted was certainly busy.
We did hear from a number of readers interested in
sharing
results but it's only fair - we need more to make it
valuable and worth everyone's time. Please send your
result to my email. I'll keep your name and company
confidential and will post only your industry, company
size, position and turnover costs.
Click here to calculate the cost of turnover.
3 Steps to Accurately Identify and Assess Talent?
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Competency identification, or knowing what essential
skills are required for top performance, is easier said
than done. Everyone seems to have their favorite list
of traits and skills but until now gut feelings didn't
always translate to success. It's like going to the
grocery store and purchasing all the ingredients for
your favorite meals. If you can't cook or bake, they
don't do much good.
CriteriaOne job analysis takes what was a
cumbersome, time-consuming task into a dynamic,
easy-to-learn, just-in-time job benchmarking and
selection process.
Step 1. List the responsibilities and tasks of the
job. I like to ask this question to build this list: "What
are the absolutely, drop-dead activities this individual
needs to do on a day-to-day, week-to-week basis to
succeed?"
Step 2. List the essential competencies that are
required to do these activities. We recommend limiting
the list to 5 to 7 for mid-level positions and no more
than 10 for senior positions. Depending on the position
we use several well-researched compentency programs
identifying nearly 100 different skills required for all
types of jobs.
Step 3. This is the step that few people
implement. How do you accurately assess if a
candidate or employee has the competence - and if
they will use it? CriteriaOne Assessments help
managers identify candidates for hire and employees for
promotion or re-deployment that have the right work
styles, motivation, values, personality and abilities to
perform consistently and do a job well.
To learn more about CriteriaOne Competency ID and Job Benchmarking, click here - or register below for our next CriteriaOne certification.
Get certified now! Register today for Oct 30 - Nov 1.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In search of the Holy Grail of employee
performance? Then get trained in CriteriaOne - the best
hiring
and employee evaluation workshop.
But don't just take our word for it.
"Light years ahead of the competition" says one
CriteriaOne participant.
"A must for anyone interested in lowering turnover
and improving productivity."
Here at UGI Utilities, Electric Division we are a
believer in the product (
TotalView) as one of the tools useful in finding the
right fit when selecting an employee. The TotalView
product provides much more information about a
potential candidate than you can ever obtain from
reviewing a
resume or conducting lengthy interviews.
D.L. UGI Utilities, Electric Division
The
techniques and information
I received through CriterionOne training is economically
feasible and is a
great fit for our system of operations. Ira, I appreciate
your willingness
to impart your knowledge to others and to serve as a
resource to
participants following the workshop. I wish you
continued success.
L.A., The Durham (NC) Center
With this background, (and the
tools) I can now more effectively assist our staff as
they
construct their personal development plans.
N.S., Department of Finance Training Administrator
Learn to interpret behavioral,
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The first five registrants will receive
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Register more than
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Become
certified in CriteriaOne: The Whole Person Approach. Cllick
here. Please indicate the best time and day to contact you.
Burned out or looking for a new
career? Hate getting up in the morning?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thinking about leaving corporate America to start your own business?
Stalled in your career and don't know why? Searching for a career
that puts the bounce back in your step, a smile on your face?
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Personality Assessments can help you choose a new career path
or fast-track your current one. Learn what careers will best
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Contact
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you.
Reduce no-shows, theft, aggressive behaviors with the Best
Screening Tool for Hourly/Entry-Level Employees
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
You offer the job. He accepts -
But when he doesn't
show up or arrives 45 minutes late.
A few days later,
you suspect he might be allowing a few friends to "lift" a few
items he thinks you'll never miss.
You confront him and
he loses his cool but not before making a few racial slurs and
sexual innuendos.
STOP! Counter-Productive
Index is the answer. For as little as $12 and 60 seconds of
a manager's time you can now pre-screen for:
Dependability
Dishonesty
Workplace aggression
Drugs
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Sexual Harassment
Save time, money and stress in your workplace by
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and aggressors BEFORE they become a management
headache and hiring mistake.
Learn more about reducing no-shows, theft and more. Click here.
"Grand Opening" - Emotional Intelligence section in our bookstore
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To make it easier to shop and browse, we've built
special web pages for our readers. Check out the new
Emotional Intelligence section by clicking the link below.
Check out our "Sales Skills
Assessments" and
"Leadership Effectiveness"
Visit our Emotional Intelligence online bookstore and save 10% off your order.
Marching to a Different Bucket
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Just published in the August 2003 Business2Business
magazine.
A good employee might want pay that won't cost
you anything
Roll the tape. If all your friends jumped off the
bridge, would you jump too?
Bring back any memories? These statements when told
to us over and over again become beliefs. Based on the
outcomes we experience, we learn that all things told
to us are not always true. We learn to trust certain
beliefs and value them positively and disbelieve others
and view these negatively.
Read "Marching to a Different Bucket" by Ira S. Wolfe
The Perfect Books for Energizing People and Exploring Values
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Just released by Judy Suiter, one of the country's
experts on understanding human behavior and values.
In Exploring Values: The Power of Attitude, Judy
outlinesthe six values clusters (personal motivators) in
an easy-to-read primer format with examples of how
the different values clusters play out in real life - and in
the workplace.
Energizing People: The Power of DISC is a quick
reference guide to understanding the needs based
behavior of yourself and others. It brings the DISC
model to life with real examples and fun quips.
Order today and receive a FREE personalized DISC and
Values report.
Order Energizing People and Exploring Values today.
Contact Information
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email: iwolfe@super-solutions.com
voice: 717.656.4632
web: http://www.super-solutions.com
