TheSPSLogoTakesOff

1. The SPS logo "Takes Off"

2.  Perfect Labor Storm Warnings

3. New Perfect Labor Storm interview

4.  Leading Others Seminars for Supervisors and Managers

5. Managing to Excel for front-line supervisors

6.  Speaking Schedule

7.  New Book: Coming Job Boom

8. Quotes from the Hire Authorities

In response to last week's newsletter contest for describing what our logo meant to you, I received dozens of responses.

First, let me thank all of our readers who took the time to respond. Your insights were just amazing. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!

Larry Brower, Saratoga Resource Group, wrote it is "the rocket ship leaving orbit (the status quo) symbolizing your client's companies "taking off" as a result of your help. The rocket and space are metaphors for the science you bring to the process." Thank you, Larry.

Rhonda Taller had us helping businesses fly far above their competition too when she wrote, your logo "reminds me of a space shuttle, flying over what looks to be the planet and going up in space. With the shuttle anything is possible and your new logo is a way to help others achieve goals they might not have believed was possible. I think the logo is very inspirational." What more could we ask for!

Chrisanne Cross also had us flying high. It reminds me of an "airplane. I believe it represents 'get the message out worldwide' that Success Performance Solutions will make a difference. We couldn't agree more with you, Chris. I hope others will see SPS exactly the way you did.

Bryant Robinson saw SPS in a slightly different way. He pictured an image that "conveys the yin and yang of success and failure. This logo symbolizes the success that individuals and businesses are capable of achieving once they undergo a partnership with SPS."

We hope everyone sees what Bryant and other contest participants saw. It is exactly the image we wanted to present!

And here's what I had in mind when I created the SPS logo over 12 years ago. I pictured us pioneering and leading a paradigm shift. Organizations at some point simply outgrow the usefulness of their tried and true management practices. Human resources are no exception. What SPS does is help businesses lead an organization from its stale hiring and managing practices to best practice talent management.

More specifically, the downward curve of our logo represents the slippery slope many organizations are traveling when they attempt to use old recruiting, hiring and retention practices. The upward arrow on our logo represents our innovative hiring, managing and retention solutions that help managers shift their approach. We start slow, making incremental changes until finally - our clients breakthrough the status quo to become industry and business leaders in attracting and keeping the best employees.

We are thrilled with the stories you told us. They are exactly what we hoped you would see: SPS helps businesses soar above the competition in a global marketplace.

According to the 2008 Talent Shortage Survey conducted by Manpower, 22% of the 2,000 employers participating in the survey indicated they were having difficulty filling positions even in a slowing economy. On a brighter note, this is less than the 41 percentage of U.S. firms having difficulty filling positions in 2007. Nevertheless unfilled positions in key roles are de-railing the business plans of many organizations. For instance, energy industry can't keep up with demand. Backlogs for drilling rigs are out 3 to 5 years because the companies can't find enough qualified people. Machinery is breaking down for longer periods of time in manufacturing because employers can't find enough maintenance technicians.

Song now available for easier viewing on YouTube.

Read more about skilled worker shortages in the NEW Perfect Labor Storm 2.0 (soft and hard cover versions)

NEW Chapters! Generational Conflicts in the Workplace, Managing the Future Workforce, Attracting Young Employees in a Seller's Job Market plus hundreds of new facts, trends and stats.

To order Perfect Labor Storm 2.0, call 800.803.4303. Discounts for orders of 10 or more. Specify hard or soft cover.

Linda Zumstein, CEO of Sales Success Strategies, LLC recently interviewed author Ira S. Wolfe about how the Perfect Labor Storm is affecting the staffing industry and their clients.

The Leading Leaders Seminar is an assessment-based management development program. Rather than focusing on a single theory of management, this seminar addresses universal leadership principles as well as key management competencies which support the vision and strategy of the organization.

The Leading Leaders seminar is designed specifically for managers and executives. The seminar provides comprehensive feedback using our exclusive Leading Others Development Report, an understanding of fundamental leadership principles and key management competencies, and a series of exercises and activities that reinforce essential people management skills.

A manager's time is precious. Too often, formal training tries to accomplish too much. Managing to Excel works from the premise that if training is to succeed, learning objectives need to concentrate on just a few key behavioral change goals.

Excel is a collection of 12 half-day off-the-shelf workshops, each dedicated to the development of a single critical competency. These 12 competencies group in four distinct clusters:

Administrative Cluster: Managing Your Job
Communication Cluster: Relating to Others
Supervisory Cluster: Building the Team
Cognitive Cluster: Thinking Clearly

June 3 - Hiring Tool Kit 101: PreEmployment Tests - Associated Builders and Contractors, Lancaster PA

June 10-11 - Workforce Trends That Will Change the Way You do Business, TEC FL, Pensacola.

September 8 - Electrical Generation Systems Association - "The Perfect Labor Storm"

7. Hot Off The Press! "Coming Job Boom" - Buy Today!

Ira recently collaborated with Bonnie Kerrigan Snyder on a new book, The Coming Job Boom. Bonnie is the author of The Public School Parent's Guide to Success. The Coming Job Boom is the "ying" for the "yang" of The Perfect Labor Storm. While the Perfect Labor Storm is beginning to make managers feel like storm chasers looking for qualified workers, high school and college students must be smiling at this Upcoming Job Boom. For those young workers with the right skills and motivation, the job market will make these kids feel like - well, like kid's in a candy store!

"The best minds in government? If there were any, business would hire them away."
Ronald Reagan

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 2008 Ira S Wolfe." We also hope you will forward the newsletter in its entirety and recommend to others that they subscribe.