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The Total View
The Whole Person Approach for Selecting and Managing Top Performers
October 29, 2003
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-- Why Fair-haired Superstars Fail
-- Leave It to Beaver Meets Queer Eye for the Straight Guy >>> Perfect Labor Storm Alerts # 16 to #20
-- How Well Can They Sell?
-- Take the mystery out of employee motivation >>>>>>
-- An Employee Incentive System that Finally Works
-- Different Stages of team development require different leadership behaviors.
-- 2003 Job Fair Survey - Employees on the move
-- Diabetes Not So Sweet for Medical Care Costs
-- The Perfect Books for Exploring Values - Personal Business Motivators
Greetings!
Welcome to this week's issue of The Total View.
Have you ever hired a fair-haired superstar on the fast-
track to the top when his personality implodes? Then
you don't want to miss "Why Fair-Haired SuperStars
Fail" -----plus more Perfect Labor Storm facts and
introducing the new PathFinder Integrated Performance
Management System.
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.
Why Fair-haired Superstars Fail
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For the past few years, Randy graced your
presence. It was just 3 or maybe 4 years ago that
Randy applied for a manager position at your company.
He interviewed brilliantly. He demonstrated intelligence,
resourcefulness and an ability to innovate. He
displayed a quick wit and a dazzling ability to charm
you and everyone he met. Randy was a winner.
Randy appeared to have it all. He was on the fast-
track for promotion into a senior position. In fact, word
around the company was that Randy was being
groomed to be the successor to the boss.
>>>>> until now, when the wheels began to fall off
the "Randy-career-express". It is a dangerous illusion
that people have about themselves that often leads to
fatal overconfidence. And when that happens, it is like
someone else inhabits your body and takes over your
mind..
What once was valued as Randy's drive for results
is now viewed as a need to win at any and all costs -
even when he is wrong. Randy was hired for his
competitiveness and rewarded for his "2nd place is the
1st place for losers" attitude. His penchant for
innovation and resourcefulness led to his favorite
quote: "rules are for fools".
In the beginning his managers praised his candor
and willingness to question the status quo. Now he
was being criticized for always testing the limits and
taking unnecessary risks. When Randy couldn't go
through the front door, he always found a back door -
or a side door if he had to - even if they were off
limits. Golden-boy Randy now considered himself
exempt from rules that govern other people's behavior.
He stopped paying attention to others around them,
squashing anyone who disagreed with them.
This wasn't entirely Randy's fault since management
encouraged and rewarded his behavior for the past 3
years. "Why can't you act more like Randy" was the
mantra from management. His file was filled with
exemplary standard performance appraisals from
Randy's managers. Too bad no one checked with his
peers.
His resourcefulness became exposed as conniving
and cunning. His ability to innovate crossed the line
into creative accounting, budgeting and deal-making.
His quick wit became sarcasm. His charm became
seductive and Randy's previously admired hustle now
conjured up thoughts of the "hustler".
The life cycle of Randy-like employees is repeated
day after day in thousands of businesses every day.
What goes wrong when a potential super-star gets
drunk with his own success? How and why does this
happen? Was Randy, with all his talent and smarts, a
victim of the organizational culture or is his behavior
predictable and inevitable.
We all have shortcomings. Our natural tendency is
to ignore them or cover them up. Talented candidates
and employees have become more skilled at highlighting
their strengths and covering up their flaws than
interviewers and background checkers are at exposing
them.
Natural talent only takes an individual so far. As
employees assume more responsibility and move up the
career ladder, two things must take place. First the
employee must recognize that what got them in the
door and to the place they are today may not be good
enough to get them where they want and need to go.
Continuing to rely only on the skills and talent that got
them hired and promoted and ignoring their
undeveloped or poorly developed skills eventually sinks
their ship.
But just learning new skills and minimizing your
weaknesses is not enough. Having the skills is one
thing. Knowing when to use them is another. The
difference between being cooperative and competitive,
tolerant and tough-minded, patient and decisive, or
candid and discreet is what separates the best from
the rest. It is the difference between being the week-
end warrior handyman who owns a garage full of the
very best tools and the craftsman whose handiwork
rivals art.
To continue to grow market share and increase
profitability, employers need to start hiring, developing,
and retaining artisans, not street vendors.
It's time to inventory your talent. Success Performance
Solutions is a leading authority in competency
identification, employee evaluation and integrated
performance management.
Start with our proprietary competency
identification analysis and then manage individual
performance by linking employee performance to
business profitablity - online, real-time.
Contact us today for a CriteriaOne (r) talent audit.
Leave It to Beaver Meets Queer Eye for the Straight Guy >>> Perfect Labor Storm Alerts # 16 to #20
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Fact #16
Gay couples with kids
1990 - 5%
2000 - 22%
Fact #17
Lesbian couples with kids
1990 - 22%
2000 - 34%
Fact #17
The buying power of Gay men and lesbians is $450
billion.
Fact #19
40% of children live with mom and boyfriend
Source: National Institute of Child Health and
Human Development
Fact #20
People are living longer.
Life expectancy at birth
Male
1950 - 66 years
2000 - 74 years
Female
1950 - 71 years
2000 - 80 years
The Workforce is changing. How will recruitment, retention and benefits need to change to keep up? Schedule Perfect Labor Storm Expert, Ira Wolfe, for your next meeting or keynote.
How Well Can They Sell?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The newest generation of CriteriaOne sales
assessment instruments is
online, all the time. P4 Sales Style Indicator and
Business Values and Motivators are here.
The CriteriaOne P4 Sales Style Indicator reports on
eight (8) key results areas relating to the business of
selling. It describes how an individual attempts to
achieve sales success.
These 8 key results areas are:
Control of the Sales Process
Competition
New Ideas and Change
Selling Style
Presentation
Close
Service
Response to Management
Each report includes the
"Style Insights Map", a visual guide
how the individual will "fit" with buyers of other styles.
Other versions include Individual, Manager,
Interview Assistant.
Free Report. Achieve sales success with CriteriaOne Sales Style Indicator. Click here.
Take the mystery out of employee motivation >>>>>>
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Learn what values your employees bring to your
workplace? Learn what values are necessary to keep
your employees motivated. Business Values and
Motivators measures how people value:
Learning
Economic Return
Power and Position
Creativity and Uniqueness
Other People
Their own Belief System
Click here to view a Business Values and Motivators sample report - then contact us about our special introductory offer.
An Employee Incentive System that Finally Works
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Have you ever promoted an employee into a
position for which he or she wasn't qualified?
Have you ever lost a good employee because they
needed more from their work?
Have you ever paid out a bonus to an employee
who didn't deserve it?
We are pleased to introduce Pathfinder IPM (tm), an
online integrated performance management system.
Benefits of Pathfinder IPM
Link individual bonuses to employee productivity
and business profitability.
Pay for performance not tenure.
Take the hassle out of employee evaluation.
Hold the employee accountable for meeting their
individual goals and personal development.
Give managers the ability to track employee
productivity 24/7.
Take the hassle out of employee evaluation. Please type "Pathfinder" in the comment box and indicate the best time and day to contact you.
Different Stages of team development require different leadership behaviors.
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The four stages of team development require effective
leaders to flex their styles as team stages change.
What are the four stages:
Forming - Need direction, structure and
decisiveness
Storming - Conflicts tend to grow so leaders need
to be good mediators and listeners
Norming - Norms for doing things develop and
conflict lowers
Performing - Teams peak at a level of excellence.
Each stage requires different leadership behaviors.
Can you identify your team's stage and your preferred
leadership style?
Insight Inventory is a self-scored assessment.
Completed within 15 minutes, INSIGHT moves
quickly from developing a profile to applying the
learning. Participants develop important behavior skills,
including how to:
How to better communicate with "opposite" styles
How to better communicate with "similar" styles
How to work better with other leaders
How leaders can be more effective with their
employees.
Get Insight with a 16-page team-building booklet.
2003 Job Fair Survey - Employees on the move
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If there is even a lick of truth that employees will stick
with their jobs if they like their supervisor, then
employers should stand up and take notice.
Despite the doom and gloom of the jobless recovery
you read about almost daily, employees are still out
there actively looking for the better opportunity. Over
700 of the 1000-plus job seekers who attended the
September 2003 Lancaster (PA) Chamber Fall Job Fair
completed an anonymous and confidential survey. The
survey was sponsored by Success Performance
Solutions, a Lancaster (PA) workforce management and
employee selection consulting firm.
Key Findings
Nearly two out of five job seekers who attended
the Job Fair and completed the survey are currently
employed, with 69 percent dissatisfied with their
current job.
72.9% of employed respondents are dissatisfied
with their current pay; while 74% were dissatisfied with
their current benefits.
53.8% of employed respondents were satisfied with
their direct supervisor's/manager's ability to manage.
When rating the importance of benefits, employed
respondents indicated that better pay, health care
benefits and respect and recognition from supervisors
were the top three benefits they are seeking in their
next job. A pension plan ranked last.
For more facts, download your FREE report here.
Diabetes Not So Sweet for Medical Care Costs
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The total health care costs of a person with diabetes in
the USA are between twice and three times those for
people without the condition.
The costs of diabetes affect everyone,
everywhere, but they are not only a financial problem.
Intangible costs (pain, anxiety, inconvenience and
generally lower quality of life etc.) also have great
impact on the lives of patients and their families and
are the most difficult to quantify.
Direct medical and indirect expenditures attributable
to diabetes in 2002 were estimated at $132 billion.
Attributable indirect expenditures resulting from lost
workdays, restricted activity days, mortality, and
permanent disability due to diabetes totaled $39.8
billion.
Per capita medical expenditures totaled $13,243 for
people with diabetes and $2,560 for people without
diabetes.
People with diabetes had medical expenditures that
were 2.4 times higher than expenditures that would be
incurred by the same group in the absence of diabetes.
The nation spends $13,243 on each person with
diabetes, compared to $2,560 per person for people
who don't have diabetes.
Source: World Health Organization
Obesity is taking a heavy toll, too.
The Perfect Books for Exploring Values - Personal Business Motivators
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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
outlines the "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.
Order today and receive a FREE personalized Values
report.
Order Exploring Values today.
Contact Information
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
email: iwolfe@super-solutions.com
voice: 717.656.4632
web: http://www.super-solutions.com
