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| Volume 6, Issue 2 |
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In This Issue:
 U.S.: One big reason to expect a good year for jobs
Stamping out cookie-cutter managers
A tale of two goof-off employees
When Chutzpuh crosses the line
The struggle to measure performance
 Plan your recruiting to ensure successful selection
The two most important management secrets
How to manage gossip
Employment terminations – avoid legal problems
 Quantity, not Quantity
Out with the old, in with the new
Survey findings indicate talent retention problems
The rise of the apprentice
Pensions are no longer guaranteed
 Making credibility your strongest asset
What really drives your strategy?
 Convergys rising
 Are you tone deaf?
Best stress relievers
 The science of love
Detecting hidden bias
Using temps in HR
High-deductible headaches
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U.S.: One Big Reason To Expect A Decent Year For Jobs
Companies can no longer meet demand with existing forces.
The Labor Dept.'s monthly employment report contains perhaps the government's
most politically sensitive data, especially in an election year.
Take the December
jobs numbers. The Bush Administration and other Republicans are playing up the good
news in the 4.9% jobless rate. Democrats are pouncing on the
much-smaller-than-expected 108,000 rise in payrolls. By the time politicians and
media folk run it all through the spin cycle, it's hard to know what to think...
Read the article. Back to top
Stamping out Cookie-Cutter Managers
People who use the same approach to any challenge can hinder your business.
Here's how to spot them -- and how to improve their performance.
A few months ago, my husband and I sold our house. Based on advice from a few
friends, I called in a "stager" -- a person who would help us spruce up the
place and get it ready to go on the market -- and asked for her recommendations...
Read the article. Back to top
A Tale of Two Goof-Off Employees
What should you do about a co-worker who doesn't get the job done? The answer depends on how it affects you.
I speak to a lot of employee groups, and the folks in the audience always have
terrific workplace questions. There's one question that comes up in almost every
group, and everyone laughs when it does, but it's almost impossible for me to answer
it on the spot. The question is: "What do you do about a co-worker who goofs off
all the time?" When I get that question, I have to ask the inquirer to see me
afterward, so I can learn more about the situation. The reason is that over the
years, I've learned that there are two very different kinds of workplace
work-shirkers. One might be called the Optical Slacker, and the other could be
nicknamed the Physical Slacker. And there's a huge difference between them.
ACTION REQUIRED. The Physical Slacker works with you so closely that you rely
on his or her results. That's a problem, because the Physical Slacker doesn't do
what he or she promises to. When you say you need something by Friday and he
says "Sure," you're lucky to get it the following Tuesday...
Read the article. Back to top
When Chutzpah Crosses the Line
Whether you're an employer or a job candidate, be mindful of attitudes and
behaviors that signal it's time to walk away.
My friend Sue got a call from a recruiter about an out-of-state job opportunity.
She had a great talk with both this person and the company recruiter, then one more
with a vice-president of marketing. Then they asked Sue to send over her references.
"Sure, I'll send them right away," she said, "but you're not going to call them
right now, are you?" The company recruiter said, "Of course we are. We need to know
more about you, before deciding whether to spend the money to bring you in for
a face-to-face interview."Now, that's chutzpah! If you want to express the
recruiter's statement as a mathematical expression, it would be "x > y," where
"x" is the cost of Sue's round-trip plane ticket, and "y" is the value of
those treasured reference-givers' time.Expressed in words, the company's statement
would be: "Your trusted reference-givers' time and energy costs us nothing, but
the plane ticket costs us something, so we don't mind leaning on your references
now in order to check you out, even before we've laid eyes on you." Sue did not
send her references' contact information -- and did not pursue the opportunity...
Read the article. Back to top
The Struggle To Measure Performance
Rigid rankings hinder the teamwork and risk-taking necessary for innovation. But what combination of methods works best?
Holiday shopping, yearend deadlines, and emotional family dramas aren't the
only stresses in December. 'Tis the season for companies to embark on that
dreaded annual rite, the often bureaucratic and always time-consuming
performance review. The process can be brutal: As many as one-third of U.S.
corporations evaluate employees based on systems that pit them against their
colleagues, and some even lead to the firing of low performers. Fans say such
"forced ranking" systems ensure that managers take a cold look at performance.
But the practice increasingly is coming under fire. Following a string of
discrimination lawsuits from employees who feel they were ranked and yanked based
on age and not merely their performance, fewer companies are adopting the
controversial management tool. Critics charge that it unfairly penalizes groups
made up of stars and hinders collaboration and risk-taking, a growing concern
for companies that are trying to innovate their way to growth. And a new study
calls into question the long-term value of forced rankings. "It creates a zero-sum
game, and so it tends to discourage cooperation," says Steve Kerr, a managing
director at Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS ), who heads the firm's leadership
training program...
Read the article. Back to top
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Plan Your Recruiting to Ensure Successful Selection
New Spotlight Article: Do you select new employees based largely on an
attractive resume and the candidate’s performance at the resultant interview?
If so, you are missing the opportunity to use additional recruiting and
screening methods that will ensure a superior hire. Learn how a recruiting
planning meeting can ensure you hire candidates who will perform successfully in
your work place.My best ideas come from readers, so please keep the ideas coming.
I was asked recently to expand upon how you make sure that the candidate you select
for your open job is the person most capable of succeeding once on the job. There
are no easy answers to this question, but the methods you use in recruiting
and selecting your new employee really do matter...
Read the article. Back to top
The Two Most Important Management Secrets
Your expectations of people and their expectations of themselves are the key
factors in how well people perform at work.
Known as the Pygmalion Effect and the Galatea Effect, respectively, the power
of expectations cannot be overestimated. These are the fundamental principles you
can apply to performance expectations and performance improvement at work. How a
person feels about himself really matters...
Read the article. Back to top
How to Manage Gossip
"Who gossips to you will gossip of you."
--Turkish proverb |
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New Spotlight Tip: Readers have sent me several notes recently asking
if I would address gossip in the work place.
So, I'm writing a coupe of articles about managing gossip and using gossip in
the best interests of the company. Gossip is rampant in most workplaces. Sometimes,
it seems as if people have nothing better to do than gossip about each other.
They gossip about the company, their coworkers, and their managers. You can expect
a certain amount of gossip in a work place. Here are tips to manage gossip when
gossip gets out-of-hand...
Read the article. Back to top
Employment Terminations – Avoid Legal Problems
New Spotlight Article: The decision to terminate an individual’s employment
carries with it the risk of a possible legal challenge.
Depending upon an employer’s policies or whether an employee has an
employment contract, an employee may, for example, have a breach of contract
or “wrongful discharge” claim. An “at-will” employer - that is, an employer
who reserves the right to terminate employees without cause - generally does not
need to worry about such claims. Like all other employers, however, an at-will
employer still must be concerned about many other possible claims - including,
potentially - discrimination...
Read the article. Back to top
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Quantity, Not Quantity
In the beginning, there was The Monster Board (today’s Monster.com). Then
came HotJobs, CareerBuilder and a flood of other online job boards, where
companies could pay to post their talent needs and job seekers could post resumes.
Back in those pre-dotcom-bubble days, employers sought out this fascinating
thing called the World Wide Web, looking to find a new, easy way to manage
their talent pipelines. On the flip side, job seekers wanted to get their
credentials in front of the right eyes in a much less painful process. Today,
while Monster and the rest of the online boards are still going strong (Monster
was on pace to generate $630 million in 2005 revenue at press time, which is
about 12.5 percent of the estimated $5 billion help-wanted marketplace), the
Internet is spawning a new breed of job sites...
Read the article. Back to top
Out with the Old, In With the New
The phrase “paradigm shift” appears on many people’s lists of buzzwords, a
sure indication the term is both well-known and overused. Yet it seems to
describe what’s happening in human resources today.
Major changes mean that what’s worked in the past isn’t working very well now,
and certainly won’t in the future. As senior executives, the authors believe HR
vice presidents themselves are the experts in the issues they are facing. However,
we also believe we have some expertise in the perceptions our management
colleagues have of the HR field. This may guide you in staying ahead of the
curve regarding your own professional career...
Read the article. Back to top
Survey Findings Indicate Talent Retention Problems
Source: Spherion 2005 Emerging Workforce Study, November 2005, Spherion Corp.,
Fort Lauderdale, Fla. A recent survey from Spherion Corp. has uncovered a
big disconnect between what workers want and what employers think they want.
The results don’t bode well for talent retention, according to Spherion.
“Our latest study sheds light on just how differently employers and employees
view key issues in the workplace,” says Roy Krause, president and CEO of the
Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based staffing-services company. “Employers that choose
not to react could seriously hamper their ability to compete for top talent.”...
Read the article. Back to top
The Rise of the Apprentice
Upon hearing the word "apprentice," the image that comes to mind might be that of
Donald Trump rejecting one more would-be executive with the words, "You're fired!"
But apprenticeships were common long before anyone had heard of The Donald. In
the Middle Ages, craftsmen learned their trades as apprentices, and the
tradition continued in colonial America and on to the present.As old as this
practice may be, the use of apprentices is far from outdated. In fact,
apprenticeship training has taken on new life in recent years. According to the
U.S. Department of Labor, nearly half a million workers participate in more than
32,000 registered apprenticeship programs yearly, and the numbers are growing in
an expanding array of occupations. Apprentices start out as trainees who work under
the tutelage of more experienced employees. Unlike interns, they are regarded
as permanent employees who benefit from a progressive wage scale as they
gain experience. In most cases, they must complete at least 2,000 hours of
work experience and a minimum of 144 hours of related instruction. Requirements
of 8,000 to 12,000 hours of supervised job experience are not uncommon. Once
they complete their training, they're designated as journey workers, and they
earn certification from the U.S. Department of Labor or a state
apprenticeship agency...
Read the article. Back to top
Pensions Are No Longer Guaranteed
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IBM. Verizon. Sears. Hewlett-Packard. Motorola. The list of corporations that
have put a halt to guaranteed pension plans comes as a jolt to Baby Boom
employees entering what they thought would be their peak pension-building years.
At the same time, new accounting rules and Congressional legislation are being
drafted to close the U.S. pension-funding gap, now estimated at $450 billion.
While some proposals under discussion could make it easier for companies to
discontinue defined-benefit plans, others would create incentives to support
investment in defined-contribution programs, such as 401(k) plans, according to
Wharton faculty and pension experts.Olivia Mitchell, director of Wharton's
Pension Research Council, says the recent rush to freeze guaranteed pension benefits
is a continuation of a long-term trend in abandoning defined-benefit plans in
which workers receive a guaranteed retirement payout. The announcements are
eye-popping now, she says, because they come from large, well-established
companies that seem to be in good health, compared to steel and airline companies
that cut pension commitments under severe financial strain. "These are companies
that seem viable. They are not going bankrupt and dumping their plans on
the government." While the idea of a guaranteed pension in old age may be
comforting, Mitchell says the changing nature of pension plans reflects
today's economy, in which little is assured. "There's a common perception
that defined-benefit plans are safe and guaranteed and defined-contribution
plans are risky, but I think the last 10 years should have removed that
misimpression from people's minds. Defined-benefit plans are risky, too." Changing
the game plan for existing employees will generate fallout, predicts Wharton
management professor Peter Cappelli, who is also director of Wharton's Center for
Human Resources. Older employees hit directly by a pension freeze and
younger colleagues who have never been part of a guaranteed plan will
question employers' credibility about other areas of compensation, such as bonuses,
or what they are told about their career prospects...
Read the article. Back to top
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Making Credibility Your Strongest Asset
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| Dealmakers often forget the power of a good reputation. In this article from Negotiation,
HBS professor Michael Wheeler tells why having a
storehouse of credibility will put you head and shoulders above the competition. | |
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You can succeed without explicitly swapping favors.
The fact that [Tony] Lucci didn't condition his helpfulness made it more likely he'd get calls in the future.
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Negotiation is a breeze if you're selling a unique product or service that others desperately need: Just sit back and let the bidding begin.
Likewise, if you're a buyer in a buyer's market, getting a bargain is a snap.
But what happens when lots of other people are selling what you've got, or many
others are bidding for what you want? One solution to distinguishing yourself
in competitive environments is to build your bargaining endowment—storing up
credibility and resources by developing relationships, burnishing your reputation,
and controlling key assets.When you're trying to prevail amid fierce
business competition, your bargaining endowment can spell the difference between
closing the deal and being shut out. A healthy bargaining endowment explains how
Darren Rovell won a job on national television while other journalism graduates
were lucky to be doing programs on cable access. It's also how Tony Lucci got box
seats for the World Series when thousands of others were shut out. And it explains
how Bob Kraft positioned himself to buy a professional football team.Although
Rovell, Lucci, and Kraft operated in very different contexts, they all met their
goals by enhancing their own credibility and discerning the interests of other
key players. Their three stories illustrate different elements of the process of...
Read the article. Back to top
What Really Drives Your Strategy?
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| For better or worse, why do so many companies veer off
their strategic plan? Look for a disconnect between
strategy and how resources are allocated, say Harvard Business School’s Joseph L. Bower and Clark G. Gilbert. | |
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If I’m the top management, how can I shape that process,
manage it, and give it direction? —Joseph L. Bower
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"While companies might have an intended strategy, the strategy that actually
emerges can be very different," says HBS professor Clark G. Gilbert.
It is a topic that Gilbert and professor Joseph L. Bower have explored at length
for a new book they have edited, From Resource Allocation to Strategy, published
by Oxford University Press. Contributors to the book include Harvard Business
School's Clayton M. Christensen, Walter Kuemmerle, and Thomas R. Eisenmann, as
well as nine other scholars.Bower and Gilbert recently sat down with HBS
Working Knowledge to explain how internal and external factors play a surprising
role in strategy formulation and execution. As Gilbert explains, "A lot of our book
is about understanding (a) that realized strategy is often different from
intended strategy, and (b) there are forces that shape strategy in unintended
ways."...
Read the article. Back to top
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Convergys Rising
"Our experience is when suppliers have growth spurts, more often than not they suffer from delivery problems down the road."
--Michael Janssen, Everest Group |
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Last year, Convergys won a $1.1 billion HR outsourcing deal with DuPont in
what's been called the biggest HRO contract ever. Following a year of
high-profile deals that vaulted Convergys to the No. 2 player in HR outsourcing,
the company now steps up to the real test: putting those contracts into action
while still serving its existing clients.
It’s 2:30 a.m. on October 31, and handful of tired Convergys executives watch as
a fax machine spits out a contract in the works for 14 months. They call their
client counterparts and make a champagne toast. Forty-eight hours later, the news
is out: Convergys, which had been considered a second-tier outsourcing industry
player, has won a 13-year deal with DuPont worth an estimated $1.1 billion. It’s
called the biggest HRO contract ever. The deal, brokered by a team led by senior
vice president Morris Applewhite at the company’s Jacksonville, Florida,
office, signaled the expanding stature within Convergys of the company’s HR
operations. Though the newest of the $2.6 billion corporate outsourcing
specialist’s three main businesses, it is on a fast track toward becoming a big
driver of profits and revenue. The DuPont contract capped a year in which Convergys’
HR outsourcing operation, called the Employee Care Group, signed three
other significant deals--with Whirlpool and two companies that haven’t publicized
the pacts but are known to be Boston Scientific and Solectron. The new business
brings the number of Convergys HR outsourcing contracts to 13, covering a total
of 3 million employees. According to estimates from Convergys executives and
analysts, that makes the Cincinnati company the No. 2 HR outsourcer in the
country, second only to Hewitt Associates...
Read the article. Back to top
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Are You Tone Deaf?
It's my first coaching session with Steven, a senior executive whose aggressive
style has been cited as a key reason that his firm is starting to lose some of its
top talent to competitors.
Steven is blissfully unaware of any problems with his style. To protect himself
from uncomfortable feelings, Steven has mastered the art of focusing on a swift
and decisive course of retribution against anyone who tells him what he would
prefer not to know. "Why do you think I'm here?" I ventured. "It’s bloody HR and
their obsession that I need charm school or some such nonsense!" Steven bellowed.
"Why do you think you are here? Aren't you supposed to be the professional in
these matters?" he demanded...
Read the article. Back to top
Best Stress Relievers
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The more successful one is, the more stressful one's life becomes. Every
new promotion means added responsibility and added stress. The challenge is
how to handle that stress.
"Every successful person has learned to handle stress well," says
Dr. Woodson Merrell, of Beth Israel Hospital in New York City. "It's those
with a positive outlook on stressful situations who decrease their risk of
heart disease, whereas those with increased rage from stress have increased risk
of heart disease." Unless one is a newborn infant or a Buddhist monk, to greater
or lesser degrees one has stress in one's life. In school, it is the stress of a
big test, pimples and finding a prom date. In college, it's about the big test,
pimples, prom dates and getting a decent job after graduation. And while at the
time it all seems very stressful, one finds out later that they were only on a
nodding acquaintance with stress. It isn't until you get a job, start earning your
own way and, eventually, supporting a family and moving up the career ladder, that
you not only get to know stress, but stress moves right in, takes your favorite
chair and even raids your refrigerator in the middle of the night...
Read the article. Back to top
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The science of love
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What goes on in the brain during attraction, bonding.
Consider, this Valentine’s season, what we would think of attraction, desire,
sex and love if the scientists got hold of it. Take, for example, the story of
Sam and Margo who meet in the local grocery store. (Warning: If you’re
the hearts-and-flowers sort of romantic, you might not want to read any further.)
There, by the bunches of cilantro, an herb that confuses Sam, he first sees Margo.
He notices two things about her. First, she seems to understand cilantro, and
second, she’s hot. How does he know she’s hot? Is it that certain spark? That
mysterious “connection”? Probably not, says Robert Kurzban, a University of
Pennsylvania psychology professor. It’s her body mass index, or BMI. Then, when
she turns around, it’s her facial symmetry. According to Devendra Singh, an
evolutionary psychologist at the University of Texas, it’s her waist-to-hip
ratio which, in Margo’s case, is the ideal...
Read the article. Back to top
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Detecting Hidden Bias
You may not see it, but it’s probably lurking among your managers—and perhaps even in you.
Two people—one a nattily dressed young white man, the other a middle-aged black
woman who is slightly overweight—apply for a job with your organization. They
seem equally qualified, but the hiring manager has an inexplicable and slightly
negative reaction to the woman. “I just can’t put my finger on it,” he tells you,
“but I don’t think she’ll be a good fit.” You agree, admitting you just have a
feeling the male applicant would be a better performer. Are you, or is your
hiring manager, harboring a bias against this female applicant—perhaps one based
on age, sex, race or physical appearance? If so, is that bias unduly influencing
your collective hiring decision?...
Read the article. Back to top
Using Temps in HR
Making contingent workers part of your HR management strategy requires
planning, communication and knowledge of the law.
As HR director of AAF International, a manufacturer of air filtration products
and systems in Louisville, Ky., Cindy Burns, PHR, understands the predicament
facing HR managers who come up short-staffed at peak periods. Because they lack
the budget and the long-term need for more full-time HR employees, they’re likely
to opt for contingent workers—either temporary workers sent from agencies,
or independent contractors. But keep in mind “you’re going to invest the same amount
of time with a contingent [worker] as you are with an employee,” Burns notes...
Read the article. Back to top
HR’s New Breed
Coming to an office near you: HR professionals with wide-ranging business skills and a desire for challenging work.
Today’s up-and-coming HR professionals, those now in undergraduate and
graduate programs, are learning things that weren’t necessarily part of
traditional HR—from finance and operations to statistics and strategy. When
these newly minted professionals begin their HR careers, what will they expect—and
what can employers expect from them? These future professionals expect to use
the business training they’re investing in today. They want challenging jobs,
not administrative tasks. They believe that the HR function is increasing in
importance and that they can help demonstrate HR’s relevance to companies’ bottom
lines. And bottom lines are familiar to them because many of them have
business experience in fields outside HR. Take Don Miller, for instance...
Read the article. Back to top
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