My Job Sucks: How to Love (Tolerate) the Job You Can’t Afford to Quit…Yet
February 1, 2011
How to Love (ok, Tolerate) the Job You Can’t Afford to Quit… Yet
If you’ve seen the movie “Office Space” you’ll remember the scene where the female coworker overhears the main character, Peter, saying he’s about to lose it because his commute stinks, his bosses are idiots, his work is meaningless and he thinks his girlfriend is cheating on him. “Uh oh…” says the Sally Sunshine coworker. “Sounds like somebody’s got a case of the Mondays.”
Not to be crass but, really, you want to inflict on her exactly what Peter’s neighbor suggests. (Rated R for language; not for little ears.)
Let’s Get Real
In all seriousness, do you have a case of the Mondays? Every day? Do you feel this way at work? Stuck. Wishing for something better. Knowing that there just has to be more to work than TPS reports (again, from “Office Space”).
A few words of encouragement:
- YOU control your professional and career development. Not your boss or the company you work for. It’s up to you to make something positive happen… and YOU CAN DO IT.
- And, a favorite idea from Claire Colvin, Senior Editor for TruthMedia Internet Group, your job does not define you but how you DO it does.
How do you show up at work now? Are you pouting or positive? Do you mope with a little black cloud over your head or do you find something productive to do every day (or at least week) that is in alignment with your career goals and personal brand?
It starts with clearly defining what you want from your career and what you want to be known for (your career vision), then making those opportunities happen for yourself even in — especially in — a job you can’t afford to quit.
Because here’s the best news: It won’t last forever if you are intentional about reaching your career goals. You can start looking for a new job whenever you want. In the meantime, until you find something “better”…
Add Something New
Find … better yet create … an opportunity for yourself at work to shine. To do what YOU do best.
Fact Finders: Find a new or existing project that needs your data-digging strengths. A new research project, a feasibility study, a fact-checking assignment. You naturally need and seek the facts, figures, data to justify and prioritize your work. Volunteer to do what you do best to make sure work the company is doing is worth the investment of time, energy, money. The natural strategist, you’ll make sure what everyone is working on helps move the company toward meeting its business goals.
Follow Thrus: Is there a project that isn’t being managed as effectively as it could? Without ruffling feathers of the current project owners, offer your natural expertise in creating a plan, defining the steps, helping to manage those steps and measuring the results. It’s what you do… you can’t help it. Put your talents to use to help your team or organization complete what they’ve started and measure the outcomes. The natural project manager, you’ll make sure it gets done.
Quick Starts: You’re the natural brainstormer. Are any of your colleagues “stuck” and can’t seem to think what to do to make progress on a project or set of tasks? You are the natural “unsticker.” Offer to brainstorm different solutions with your counterparts to help them work their way out of the paper bag and get moving again. You’ll save them from wasting time in “analysis paralysis.”
Implementors: You strive for quality outcomes, not just band-aid quick-fixes. Jump in and support a project that needs “beta testing” before a full roll out. Run the project through quality tests to ensure the biggest bugs are worked out before the whole team or organization has to implement something new. It’s what you do best! You’ll have your company time, money and other precious resources.
Delegate Something Old
Is there something in your job description that you’ve done a 1000 times and, well, you’re “over it?” Could it be a development opportunity for a junior colleague? A chance for growth for someone else on your team or someone you manage?
Three reasons to delegate it:
- When you delegate a task, activity or project that empowers someone else to put their strengths to work and do what they do best, you’re not only giving them the opportunity to show the team and organization what they’ve got but you’re increasing their level of engagement.
- When you give it away to someone whose natural talent(s) fits the task, that task will be accomplished more productively and efficiently than if you try to complete something that pushes you against your natural modis operandi (M.O.).
- When you give up one thing, you’re freeing yourself to take on more in your role to fit your unique strengths… to do what YOU do best. Please reference “Add Something New.”
Stay Positive
Get rid of the black cloud. And fast. No one likes to work with a Negative Nelly (or Ned). Fake it if you have to for a while. But put on a positive attitude and focus on doing something productive. Especially if you suffer from what I call “workplace depression,” the best cure for on-the-job doldrums is helping someone else accomplish something great. (See #2 on this list of 10 tips for staving off depression.
Tuning In to Your Organization’s Greatest Asset
January 19, 2011
Empowering Employees to [really] Participate in 2011
The idea of “employee engagement” isn’t foreign yet it seems that few organizations give the idea little more than lip service. In a recent Financial Times post, one CEO makes clear the business value of an engaged workforce.
To illustrate his underscoring the bottom-line importance of an engaged workforce, consider this. Think of the potential damage to the brand of and customer loyalty for an organization in which customer service is delivered by disengaged — or worse yet disgruntled — workers who don’t care about the mission or vision much less the product or service or even customers. What will the “customer experience” look like? And in a recession (recovery?) consider how especially detrimental the effects.
Conversely, think of the different experience a customer will have with an organization whose employees are truly “engaged” and not just willing but enthusiastic to participate and be fully present in their jobs. A much prettier picture, non?
Now, is it easy to achieve a fully engaged workforce? Nope. Is it worth it? Well, are higher productivity, increased efficiency, more effective results and higher profits “worth it?”
Focus on Them in 2011
Engaged employees who participate, collaborate and produce results through true teamwork are valued not only for the fact that they are warm bodies completing tasks day in and day out. They valued for what they uniquely bring to the work of the organization, given opportunities to use their brains and participate in tackling real organizational challenges (you did hire them because they were smart, right?) and enthusiastically fulfill their role in pushing the business forward.
Align Employee Strengths with Business Objectives
Managers and leaders select people for what they bring to a role and to the enterprise and for how they personally can help an organization achieve its goals. Then, in too many cases, on day one instantly forget why they’ve hired them… for their natural talents, skills, knowledge, experience… and treat them like minions who must be given direct orders and micromanaged at every step.
The formula is actually quite simple.
- Pinpoint the global organizational goals and objectives.
- Then hire the right people to accomplish those goals, not just for performing mundane minutia.
- Create a clear vision for that role’s importance in meeting the 30,000-foot objectives.
- Guide the employee in contributing her personal best every day.
- Constantly make a clear connection between her individual contribution and the organization’s ability to achieve its strategic objectives.
And it starts with getting not only the right people on the bus, but the right derrieres in the right seats to drive organizational success.
Re-Evaluate Role Fit Enterprise Wide
Organizations preparing for or recovering from downsizing, reorging, “right-sizing”… whatever we call it… tend to reassign roles based on “proximity.” Think about it… a marketing department has been “downsized” and now the golden-girl graphics guru suddenly inherits trade show logistics responsibilities because one of her colleagues who was let go once owned that piece of the marketing pie. “Well, we all have to pitch in now,” is not an uncommon managerial response.
Agreed… but how much more effective the results of the work if we considered first
- Recording and analyzing the strategies and activities necessary to achieve business goals.
- Comparing that to the inventory of employee strengths (see above).
- Inviting employees to participate in defining new roles based on maximizing the talent within the organization (vs. assigning by proximity).
Which methodology – roles according to strengths vs. proximity – will surely result in increase collaboration, higher participation and plain ol’ better business results?
Otherwise, Suffer the Consequences
New claims for unemployment benefits dropped more than expected [in December 2010] to their lowest level in more than two years, suggesting the labor market recovery was gaining strength.
~The Economist, Dec. 30, 2010
In addition, several surveys point to a trend in growing dissatisfaction among American workers. The reality of the job market of the past two years, however, has allowed the “You should just feel lucky to have A job” brand of management to rear its ugly head. However, Employees previously afraid to jump ship are going to turn their attention to the improving job market to find an employer who does value them and their participation.
When they do, say buh-bye to your highest performers and hello to increased personnel costs in selection, hiring and training.
Your Career: Tuning In to Career Success in 2011
January 19, 2011
Whether you seek a new job or want to achieve more in the position you have, ask yourself these questions to tune into everything you offer to an organization in 2011m whether in a current role or with a new company. Then write down the answers to help you articulate the answer to every manager’s toughest question: “What’s in it for me if I hire [promote] YOU?”
Tune in to your own strengths and needs first so it’s easier to articulate the value you bring to the business.
“How do I solve problems, make decisions, take action?”
Because isn’t that what you do all day, every day on the job?
We each have a unique way of doing these things, our M.O., that is hardwired for a lifetime. Unlike skills that can be learned or personality that changes over time, our M.O. is hardwired. And how we use that circuitry is instrumental in career success when we embrace our M.O…. or failure when we try to “do it” someone else’s way.
Start with identifying how you uniquely tackle challenges when they come up at work:
- Look for all the information to help make sound decisions?
- Create order from chaos, creating a work plan, schedule, charting a course for mitigating the challenge?
- Jump in and figure it out as you go?
- Create a “model” of the solution and beta test for quality?
Your way IS the right way… for you. Start with understanding your unique M.O. then sell yourself as the ideal person for the functional role that allows you to operate “in your zone.”
“How do I want to make a difference, a true, positive impact?”
What does meaningful work look like to you? It’s different for everyone. For some it’s the honorable pursuit of finding the cure for cancer. For others it’s closing a sale. Forget what society, the boss, your colleagues, significant others say is the right thing to do and take time to define what “meaningful work” looks like for you. What would make you jump out of bed every morning and think, ” I GET to go do this today!”?
Then focus on finding opportunities to make that kind of difference. Even if it means adding responsibilities to your current role or finding a job that pays a little less in exchange for a purpose. There’s more to a job than just a paycheck!
“What kind of environment brings out my best work?”
And by environment we mean everything from your personal workspace to the people you work with and for. Get intentional about articulating exactly that you need to do your best work.
- Office with a door for quiet focused work?
- Windows and bright colors to give you energy?
- Open space for open collaboration and constant sharing of ideas?
- Being outside?
- A boss who allows you to work from the occasional coffee shop for a change of scenery?
- Colleagues who share your sense of humor? Values?
Understanding this about yourself will help you know to whom to attach yourself politically in your current role, what to ask for in terms of workspace and justify why you need it. It also helps job seekers ask the right questions to know if a new company is a good fit culturally.
Career Tips from Phineas & Ferb
July 24, 2010
In a recent episode of my family’s new favorite show, step-brothers Phineas & Ferb learn about reverse engineering, defined by the host of the “Uncovery Channel” show they’re watching as the process of closely examining [an object] and its individual parts to figure out “what do it do?” and “how it do what it do?”.
Eureka! Career tips from a Disney cartoon! (A stretch that perhaps only a mom of a 6-year-old who happens to be a career coach can finagle.)
Let me connect some dots…
“WHAT HAVE I DONE?”
We’ve all done it at one time when looking for a job. Open the job board (or, showing my age, opening the Sunday paper looooong ago) and start with a keyword search, maybe. Marketing, IT, sales… See something of interest (for God only knows what reason at that particular moment) and think, “I could do that.”
In a land far far away, a long long time ago it may have gone something like this…
We do the resume to fit that job perfectly and get the interview. We tell them everything they want to hear and by week’s end we have the offer. We start the next Monday and within the first 90 days we awake one Monday morning, sweating uncontrollably over some unnamed source of stress and suddenly it hits us, “What have I DONE? This job isn’t ME!” But we stick it out and promise ourselves we’ll stay two years so we don’t look like a job-hopper on our resumes. Then…
“HOW DID I GET HERE?”
15 years later we wake up one day after chasing jobs and promotions in the same area because those are the skills we have now and say to ourselves, “How did I get HERE? This job isn’t ME!” Ah if we’d only trusted our gut earlier…
[Do you hear the voice of experience in this story? <ahem>]
Where did we go wrong?
CAREER REVERSE ENGINEERING
For starters, we did the job search backwards. Sure it may be the somewhat conventional way job seekers do what they do. But it’s certainly backwards from a job satisfaction point of view.
So I offer this: Instead of starting with what’s out there, the most successful job-seekers-turned-happily-employed start with what’s inside themselves.
Career reverse engineering is the best way to kick off a job search that results in finding that ideal position… the role that will bring the new employee a higher measure of self-worth and <gasp> joy. Yes, it IS ok to actually be HAPPY AT WORK.
5 STEPS & ACTION TIPS
To reverse engineer your own ideal career to jumpstart your search for the next job on that path, it starts with a close examination of YOU. To understand “what do it do” when the it is you.
1) Pay Attention to Your Energy Level
We are each uniquely programmed, if you will, to do something (maybe several things) really well. Those tasks that give us energy — versus deplete it — give us clues about what we are hardwired to do better than anyone else.
PUT IT INTO ACTION: Pay attention for a full week at work or think of your most recent position and it’s daily requirements. Make a list of the energizing activities from each day. Do you see any trends? Categorize these tasks into 3-5 themes. You now have a starting place for your ideal duties and responsibilities on the job.
2) Separate Strengths from Skills
You learn skills. You’re born with certain inalienable strengths. Ignore them at your own peril! [Again, voice of experience here.] Conventional development plans insist, “Work on your weaknesses to improve the things in which you do not already excel.” Really? “Fixing your weaknesses” or “maximizing your strengths,” that is getting better at those things at which you’re already naturally good. Where’s the better return on investment?
PUT IT INTO ACTION: We are our own worst critics, aren’t we? Especially when it comes to valuing what we do best. Ask friends, family, coworkers and others in your circles to write down 5 things they appreciate about how you operate. You may be surprised when you see the words they use. “Really? But that’s just what I do.” Exactly. Now, how do you get to do “that’s just what you do” in your job every day?
3) Stick to Your Core Values
One of the worst things that can happen in an economy such as we’re in now is that we lose sight of what’s most important to us when we get desperate for a paycheck. Might there be compromises along the way? I’m not so Pollyanna to think we might have to give up a few perks to make sure there’s food on the table. But beware sacrificing the principles that are woven into the fabric of your very being.
PUT IT INTO ACTION: This article includes a list of common personal values. Cross out the ones that are unimportant to you. Next, try to narrow the remaining values to 10. Now, take an even closer look. Can you settle on the top 5? How about 3? If these 3-5 values are not shared or at least respected by a potential employer, is it worth taking a position knowing you’ll be compromising what you hold most dear?
4) Articulate Your “Why”
Highest job satisfaction happens when we feel that we’re making an impact, when we care about the work and its outcomes. It’s about finding what is personally meaningful. So, what is it that will elicit, “I get to go to work today!” when the alarm goes off each morning?
PUT IT INTO ACTION: Just for fun, imagine you’ve won the lottery. And I mean the never-have-to-work-another-day jackpot. You no longer need a job for financial security. What do you have to do anyway? What do you care enough about that you will invest your time to see it through? Call it passion, cause, mission… This is your work.
5) Outline Your Success Factors
PUT IT INTO ACTION: Think on these things that can directly impact your professional and personal career success. What do you know you need to be truly successful? What does your physical space look like? Who are you teammates? What kind of leadership support do you need? How are you managed? How do you manage your direct reports? What’s the ideal culture that will bring out your personal best?
OTHER RESOURCES
It’s challenging to try to uncover and articulate our own strengths. One of my favorite resources that can help you do just this is StrengthsFinder 2.0 by Tom Rath. All major book stores are likely to carry it. For about $20 you can purchase the book and take the online SF 2.0 assessment that will help you pinpoint natural talents that when practiced, developed and put to good use become true strengths.
Here’s to getting to do what you do best… every day!
MEET PHINEAS & FERB
The quickest summary: P&F, as it’s now known at the Masse home, is about step-brothers who, as a means to beat Dog Days boredom, devise outrageous activities throughout their summer vacation… like building a large-scale roller coaster throughout their hometown of “Danville,” opening a fine dining restaurant in their backyard and other mega shenanigans. Trust me, it’s way more hilarious than I’m portraying here, I swear.
The short relevant clip is from 1:15-1:40 but by all means watch more…
DISCLAIMER: I take no responsibility if you too get hooked. Enjoy!
What Do You REALLY Want to Be When You Grow Up?
May 26, 2010
If you’re anything at all like me, you grew up in a time when parents told offspring either…
“Success is all about hard work. Work hard and you’ll go as far as you want.” Or… “You can be anything you want to be, dear, if you only put your mind to it.”
The fact is, to be truly satisfied, engaged and content (even happy!) with your career:
- Start with YOU and your goals.
- Intentionally design The 3 Elements of Your Ideal Career your “must-haves” are less likely to fall through the cracks.
- Take your unique 3 Elements for a test-drive to make sure they fit as designed. Tweak if not until you get it just right.
- Call on an expert career professional to help you think outside the job title box.
Reality Or…
To those parents I now say with all due respect and several years of confidence-building experience: HOGWASH.
Ballerina was never on my list of careers to pursue but it was fun when I was 4.
Growing up as a people-pleaser, comments like these did absolutely nothing to help me identify my talents, pinpoint my strengths and help me find ways to take my innate abilities for a test-drive in order to find my fit in the world of working professionals.
Quite the opposite infact: I was confused, left hanging and wondering if I was good at anything at all. So as the people-pleaser I started to think of vocation possibilities based on what those around me did themselves or thought I should do.
Accounting! Sure. My father was a numbers person as a financial planner. I could do accounting, just like several of my cousins. I loved playing on the now-considered-behemoth adding machine on his office desk. That was it: accounting. Until I saw my first manual cost accounting “spreadsheet.” Run!
Next: Teaching! Why didn’t I think of it before? My mother was a preschool teacher and became a middle school and high school English teacher later. My father had been a high school vocal music instructor prior to the financial planning shift. My grandfather devoted his entire career to academia eventually becoming a high school principal. Of course: teaching! It was in my blood! Then I reached my rebellious teen years and wanted nothing to do with any career path previously cleared by my elders.
Flight Attendant! That was surely it! Oh the adventure! The glamorous lifestyle! Yet, these first thoughts of pursuing a selfish desire (to travel… as far away from not-terribly-exotic Oklahoma as possible) was also short lived.
Finding — or better yet Designing — Your Sweet Spot
It wasn’t until I truly allowed myself to focus on where I knew I excelled (or could), on what I was passionate about and on what kind of place would bring out my best that I was able to be intentional about what I really wanted in my career.
Now I know. To be truly satisfied in a career, it must be comprised of exactly those three elements above and a somewhat selfish perspective. Before you start looking for a new house, for example, you make a list of “must haves” and “nice to haves.” Same with a new car, yes? Treat your career plan or job search no differently.
It has to start with YOU and your goals.
Get intentional about first carefully understanding what constitutes the three key elements of your ideal role, at the intersection of which you’ll find the sweet spot: your ideal career.
3 Elements of Your Ideal Career
Whether you are a highly motivated job seeker looking for a new position or a gainfully employed professional looking for the “next opportunity” internally, consider these three elements when asking yourself, “What do I really want to do?”
3 Elements of Your Ideal Career
3 Elements of Your Ideal Career
FUNCTION
This is the what you do piece. The tasks and activities you’re responsible for completing, the role you play, the duties and responsibilities in the job description. Marry your unique MO – how you naturally do the things you do – and your strengths with a role that needs those talents to accomplish the job most effectively and you have a match that allows you to do what you do best every day.
For example, if you are a gregarious brainstorming type who adapts every documented process to address the needs of the current situation and who thrives on experimenting with new ideas to see if they work… perhaps a role in direct marketing planning and analysis isn’t for you. (That was me, by the way. For the first 15+ years of my professional life.) No, no, leave that job to a systematic planner who decides, through strategic data analysis, what is feasible to try then carefully measures the results to gauge success and gather information on how to do it better next time. (Thank goodness for me there are people out there like this!)
PASSION
The why you do what you do piece. What difference do you want to make? What impact? What will be your legacy? What would make you excited to get out of bed every morning to work on and invest 8+ hours a day?
I’m not necessarily talking about finding the cure for cancer or saving the whales here. Unless that’s truly your thing. I’m talking about what you feel is important… what is meaningful to you. Just because your father wanted to fill the world with song doesn’t mean that’s what would make you race into the shower after turning off the alarm every morning. When you can work toward making a difference in some area that you feel strongly about, you will apply what you do best every day to something that matters.
ENVIRONMENT
The where you do what you do best piece. What does the “place” look like that will allow you to do your best work? Bright, open shared space? Private office? Your car? Outside? What is the culture/core values of the organization? Who are your colleagues (if any) and what are their attitudes, beliefs, work ethic? What are the ideal benefits and compensation?
From the physical space to the intangibles like values and benefits, outlining the characteristics of the right environment is just as important as what you do and why you do it in order to find — or design — the exact right fit for YOU.
3 Ways to Put These Ideas Into Action
1. Look back to past (or current) roles. At work. At home. In volunteer capacities. Pick one or two and list all the tasks for which you were responsible. As many as you can think of. From reading e-mails to project management to strategic planning. Then rank how you felt doing them 1-4:
1=LOVE IT! I love doing this and know I’m adding value! I could do this all day!
2=Good. I feel good about being productive and the work is essential to getting the job done.
3=Eh. A necessary evil. I could live without it but I know it has to be done.
4=HATE IT! Please don’t make me.
Those activities you ranked 1 are must-haves in your next career adventure and deal-breakers if they aren’t part of the job. The 2s are likely keepers. The 3s, well, we all have tasks that have to be done that may not be a favorite activity so which of these can you stand to do once in a while. That is compared to the 4s that drain you of energy and motivation. Are your 4s non-negotiables for your next position?
2. Ask yourself this question and write down all the answers you come up with: If I won the lottery tomorrow (and I’m talking the never-have-to-work-another-day prize), what would you do anyway? What is important enough to you that you would continue to work at it even though your financial security was no longer at stake? Now, go volunteer in some of these capacities to see if it’s worth pursuing as a vocation.
3. Remember your values. Write down the most important ideas about how you want to live your life and what you want people know about you. Write it down, post it where you’ll see it every day, and remind yourself that the new environment you will work in will respect and support these values.
“But I’m Stuck…!”
If your roof is blown off in a hurricane you would call a roofer to fix it, right? If your books are complicated, you would hire a CPA wouldn’t you? Need to build a bridge, hire an engineer to design it. You can also avoid costly career mistakes by getting help up front. It really isn’t as easy at 1-2-3 unless you’ve known since you were 5 that you wanted to be a prosecuting attorney cleaning up the mean streets of your hometown or until you’ve invested time for serious thought on all three elements with the help of someone who can hold up the mirror for you.
MPOWER can help. If you’re feeling stuck (either in your job search or in your current job), use me as a resource. Let’s schedule time to talk.
Creating Your Human Resources Plan: An Interview with Business Strategist Mark Bittle
February 4, 2010
I recently sat down with Mark Bittle, founder and owner of Progressive Impact, a strategic planning consultancy dedicated to the success of small businesses. His new book (Spring 2010) walks business owners through a comprehensive yet easy-to-follow process for completing a thorough strategic plan for success. Our conversation revolved around one piece of the strategic puzzle: the Human Resources Plan.
Q&A with Mark Bittle, Owner, Progressive Impact
In your new book People Who Know How, Will Always Work For The People Who Know Why! you encourage small business owners to have a Human Resources Plan. What are the elements of a Human Resources Plan and how does this fit into the business’ overall strategic planning?
Human Resources is the essential stuff that makes your organization go around, and there are many elements to address when developing this type of plan: Hiring, firing, employee development, training manuals, recognizing your employees, as well as having on file the appropriate paperwork for each person who works within your organization. The Human Resource plan is not something that business owners can afford to do without.
Developing a business through the creation of an active strategic plan must include plans for developing the people within an organization. Aren’t the leaders, managers and employees the ones that help you to accomplish the goals of that strategic plan? Sharing the values, vision, mission, and goals with players within your organization makes it easier to find the right people, put them in the correct seat, on a bus that is going to a purposeful destination.
Having a human resources plan, employee handbook, and updated training materials has alleviated many time bombs in the organizations in which I have coached. This specific plan in and of itself helps to increase the efficiencies and productivity of everyone working “in” the business, and, when done effectively, will increase the profitability of the organization.
What would you say is the worst thing small business employers can do when hiring new employees?
That’s easy… not taking the time to screen them… not only for their skills (via the resume) and personality and attitudes (behavioral interviewing) but also for their “fit” for the job (how they make decisions, solve problems, take action… that is what they bring to the game and what they need to be successful). Small business owners are not experts in all areas. They are doing what they do best, and at some point they decided to take risks to start their own business. Hiring the wrong person is an expensive risk I encourage business owners never to make.
“The biggest fear that most managers have is
to train their employees so well that they will leave.
While my biggest fear as a leader is to
not train my staff and have them stay.”
When a business, especially a small business, hires new employees, it is much easier to train and retain those that are a good fit, than those who are put in the position as a placeholder until something better comes along. I cannot emphasis enough the importance in making sure that organizations take the time to put the right people, in the correct seats, on a bus that is going to the same destination. [Read more about the cost of a bad hire here.]
How important is management training — that is, training managers at all levels in the art of motivating direct reports to perform at their highest level — in the Human Resources Plan?
It is imperative that there is a training and development program. For example, understanding the difference between “managers” and “leaders” is an important distinction that can be addressed with training when the right people are in the right seats. Managers are those who are put in a position to make sure that things get done according to goals and objectives. Managers essentially work “in” the business. Leaders are the visionaries that work “on” the business to shape those goals and objectives, and are able to put together groups to move the organizations forward. A key idea of course is that “managers” can also be “leaders” when trained well.
How important would you say is the relationship between the manager and direct reports to the success of any small business?
Establishing effective group dynamics is often overlooked when hiring people, and is certainly under-appreciated within many organizations. Having positive relationships, understanding the different ways we each communicate and recognizing the value each member of a diverse team brings to the game helps to increase productivity and efficiency as well as to foster a healthier working environment. Intentionally creating an “engaged organization” will have a great effect for every business’s bottom line.
And what about professional development for employees and teams? Is this relevant in the Human Resources Plan?
Everybody wants to be national champions, but nobody wants to go to practice. Hiring a “coach” for the team’s development can often accelerate progress within an organization. Professional development helps on so many different levels including but not limited to the following: employee retention, speed of innovation, customer satisfaction and proactive decision-making. I personally allocated up to 3% of my gross revenue towards professional development, and the results are amazing. Hiring an objective professional to come in and help to overcome personnel challenges and shortcomings is an essential tool that should be considered.
Prep for the Turnaround: Hire Right the First Time
July 13, 2009
RIGHT FIT = SKILLS + INSTINCTS
You meticulously reviewed the resume. Used your best behavioral interviewing techniques. Checked references until you were blue. But the new hire still turned out to be a dud. What was missing? He looked great on paper and blew the interview out of the water. But once on the job he not only didn’t play well with others and ran with scissors, he didn’t fulfill the responsibilities of the job even though his skills indicated he could. What happened?
More importantly, how do you make sure that never happens again?
To quote an article from Landscape Management — featuring friend and fellow Certified Kolbe Consultant Jason Cupp — “There is solid evidence suggesting that defining an employee’s or candidate’s natural instincts will often provide the information you need to make your best job placement decision. While employers can choose from many assessment tools, the Kolbe Index is a simple and accessible tool to outline and reveal a person’s initiating and supporting instincts.”
Bingo! The missing link: instincts.
When a hiring manager can rate candidates in an unbiased (by gender, age, race, national origin…) way based on matching their natural instincts to the instincts required for the job, they have the ability to identify the required methods of operation of the ideal candidate. In addition to skills listed in a resume or motivators discovered in behavioral interviewing. The power to predict performance — based on those instincts that drive actual, observable behaviors — can save another bad hire, which saves an enormous amount of time and financial resources. Can you afford afford not to do this triple-check?
COST OF A BAD HIRE
I’ve read several articles, blogs and tweets recently talking about hiring and the cost of making a bad choice. Some of the information I read included results from a 2007 survey by Right Management reporting that the cost of a bad hire ranged from one to five times annual salary. Twenty-six percent of respondents reported that replacing an employee that doesn’t work out cost their organizations three times annual salary and another 42 percent said bad hires cost two times annual salary.
“How do they figure that?” I wondered, which prompted me to throw together this perhaps unsophisticated yet telling formula:
Total cost of a bad hire =
% of salary paid
+ portion of benefits paid
+ direct management time (supervisor’s time spent with employee face-to-face)
+ indirect management time (time on planning for arrival, coordinating training, etc.)
+ management stress time (time spent not focused on work, putting off the inevitable)
+ IT time for computer, phone, and other systems set-up (and take-down for security purposes after the firing)
+ HR time setting up benefits, payroll, etc.
+ % salary of colleagues’ time spent/wasted on the time-sucker
+ cost of time to rebuild postpartum team morale
Yes, I’d say this adds up to somewhere between one to five times the annual salary of the departed disappointment. So the question then is…
Is it worth investing a small amount up front to ensure a candidate’s fit with the role, the team, the organization?
Performance Management: 5 Steps to Stop the Insanity
June 9, 2009
“The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”
~Albert Einstein
Stop a second and think. Does this quote apply to the way you lead and manage your direct reports?
Is the “traditional management” method (a.k.a. “my way or the highway”) working for you? Seriously… what are the results this produces? Outcomes I’ve seen mostly include dissatisfied, disengaged and un-empowered employees. Not to mention frustrated, exhausted and overworked managers. Exactly who is this good for?
STOP THE INSANITY!
The “my way or the highway” management technique may work for a time. But for long-term success I say it’s time to try something different. I worked with a group of managers on performance improvement and management issues in which one manager could not understand nor grasp why his direct reports couldn’t just get off the dime and get the work done. He talked a long time about he just wished his team would hurry up and do the work (a.k.a. use his work style), how he couldn’t understand why it took them longer to “get it” (a.k.a. apply his modus operandi), and how frustrated he was that they still couldn’t produce better results under his “management” (a.k.a. why the same ol’ same ol’ wasn’t working). Oy.
The Manager’s True Duty
The primary job of any manager, regardless of which rung you occupy on the company ladder, is to provide your employees with the tools, training and room they need to do their work. Otherwise, why not just go ahead and do it all yourself? Oh, you’re trying to do that now, you say, because you’re afraid it won’t get done correctly? How’s that working for you?
For those managers who are trying to same techniques over and over expecting different results, I challenge you to try these five steps to create a more productive workforce… and less stress for yourself.
1. Set the Bar High & Measure
We will strive for that place where the bar is set. Think about it. When we set goals and expectations high and hold ourselves and our teams accountable, we accomplish more. As a manager, when you continually accept mediocre results as the norm that’s about all your team will produce. Invite your team into the conversation about goals. Be clear about what is expected of them, how you will contribute, how you will measure success. Then do it. Revisit your goals and where that bar is set on a regular basis and don’t be afraid to adjust as necessary. But keep it high and watch new and improved outcomes replace mediocrity.
2. Uncover Hidden Talents
You’ve set the bar, detailed your goals, discussed how success will be measured. But it’s easy to pigeonhole employees based on job descriptions and lists of duties and responsibilities. They may even be highly skilled at doing what the job description says. And traditional management will keep them there as long as the results are, well, OK. What if, just what if, you considered who the right person was for each task based on their natural talents? Eureka, now that’s different! But how do you uncover those talents? For starters, Kolbe Wisdom™ helps us understand how each of us naturally solves problems and takes action. Uncover your employees natural instincts (their unique MO) and put them to work using those innate talents. When you try it, think you might get different results? In fact, I guarantee if you take time to uncover hidden talents and make assignments based on who can accomplish each function most naturally (and efficiently), you will get different — better! — results.
3. Assess Roles
You have your goals, your metrics and now understand who can get the work done most efficiently. Uh oh… you think some people are in the “wrong” roles? Can you ask them to do a different job than what they were hired to do? And you might have to spend time building new job descriptions? Yes, yes and yes. Consider who is the best person to play each role to get the work accomplished most efficiently based on their strengths and talents. When they work against their grain, so to speak, it takes more energy and produced more stress and less-than-best results. Rearrange roles to make the best use of those talents and *poof* you will have more productive, more engaged employees. Yes, it takes a time investment up front. But it will make your job easier in the end. Did you hear that? It will MAKE YOUR JOB EASIER to have the right people in the right roles. How? Because as you put the right people in the right roles, your team will be more productive (get more done), more efficient (more done faster) and more effective (produce better results). Why wouldn’t you try that?
4. Empower Them
Ask them what else they need to get the job done to meet the goal you’ve established together. Then listen… really listen to what they need and work with them and other leaders to give them what they need — training, tools and room to experiment and make mistakes. When you do this you will be creating a culture of empowerment and begin to give decision-making skills and power to employees. Now that IS different.
5. Move It or Lose It
Set the goals, uncover hidden strengths, put the right people in the right roles, give them what they need to get the job done… then GET OUT OF THE WAY. Imagine a day when your direct reports aren’t coming to you to make every single decision no matter how small. Will you be less frustrated, less exhausted? Maybe even more productive yourself?
Seriously, man: stop the insanity! You’ve been banging your head against a wall, losing your mind long engough.
