Talent availability goes up and down, up and down all through the town—and the country and the world. Thanks to a strong global economy and an aging population talent has been in short supply for awhile, so if the economy slows and more talent becomes available staffing should be easier—right?

Not really. It was still difficult during the last recession when all the information channels were saying that there was an abundance of well trained, highly qualified workers available.

A looser talent pool doesn’t mean that it’s easier to hire; it doesn’t mean that turnover is less costly, because the 80/20 rule still holds true.

The overt costs (20%) during good times include recruiters, relocations, and over-sized salaries/sign-on bonuses and they all but go away during lean times. But the covert costs (80%), including interviewers’ time, slipped schedules, lost opportunities, lost productivity, and lowered morale, are still present.

Hiring itself isn’t easy, either. In 1999, an ad might generate 80 responses, 90% of which weren’t a fit; in 2002 the same ad generated 500 responses, but 90% still didn’t fit.

Other fundamentals don’t change, either.

• A corollary of Murphy’s Law states, “No matter the condition of the labor market, the specific skills being sought by any given company at any give time will be
  a. the least available skills
  or
  b. the same skills that are being sought by every other company,
• No matter how long or hard you work, your organization will not meet its objectives without the right talent.
• A manager’s raises, bonuses, stock options, and even job, depend on the ability to hire the right person, at the right time, for the right reasons.
• Without the ability to hire and retain people in a timely, cost-effective manner, managers are gambling with their own success. After all: You are who you hire.
• People retention is critical, and retention is the result of good hiring practices.

The days of labor famine come and go, but even in days of labor feast, staffing is too costly to ignore good retention practices.

What do you do to retain your talent?

Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Your comments-priceless

Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Sphere: Related Content

What kind of exercise do you indulge in at work?

Your comments-priceless

Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Sphere: Related Content

Yesterday, a client said to me, ‘How do you manage to stay so laid back? When I can’t do everything I’ve planned, I still find myself very frustrated. Sometimes I feel that I’m running out of time—not to achieve greatness, but to just get done all the things that need doing. I know you’re in the same situation, but it doesn’t seem to affect you.’

Part of my answer is that I burned myself to the point that I don’t over-commit the way I used to, but mostly my solution falls under the heading of “head-games.’

Years ago I learned that overcoming a bit of frustration would heighten my feelings of accomplishment and success, but more than a bit would leave me feeling that it (no matter what “it” was) was hopeless.

Then, one time when I was super stressed, I really got to thinking. What really would/did happen if I didn’t get something done? My boss/clients would holler, but, lo, no thunderbolt shot down from the heavens to incinerate me; the sun continued to rise in the east; and the task was still there at the dawn of the new day.

Since that finally sank in, I find it much easier to prioritize and schedule me (both biz and personal) by applying what I call the Thunderbolt Theory of Importance.

Since then, I’ve been a lot happier and rarely stressed. I find very few things stand up to my Thunderbolt Theory, so I have very little that falls in the do-or-die category—of course, this applies to my clients, also. Knowing that I can’t let a thunderbolt hit them, either, keeps me from making commitments that I can’t realistically meet. It doesn’t always work, but it sure helps!

What do you do to reduce your stress?

Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Your comments-priceless

Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Sphere: Related Content

I’ve written on and off about the importance of, and how to do, performance reviews. So in yet another effort to convince you doubters out there that honesty is the best policy and that your people really don’t want to hear feel-good fudging, prevarications or outright lies.

Social psychologist William B. Swann in a new study published in the Academy of Management Journal… People don’t like to be treated positively if they know it is not heartfelt. If people are coming across as inauthentic and forcing you to come across as inauthentic in return, that can be enormously stressful… His work has centered on an idea known as self-verification theory. All people carry around an image of themselves that tells them who they are, whether they are good-looking or average-looking, for example, or clever at math, or kind and thoughtful or largely self-centered. Inasmuch as people want to be recognized for the things they are good at, Swann’s work suggests many people also want honest acknowledgments of their flaws, and that when these flaws are minimized or wished away, people end up feeling worse rather than better.

Just remember, honest and authentic don’t mean abusive or destructive. Offering recognition of what the person does well and being candid about areas that need improvement are two hallmarks of a good review.

Finally, there are no surprises, which means that you’ve been giving candid feedback throughout the year.

Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Your comments-priceless

Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Sphere: Related Content

Whether you head a company, run a department, or lead a team, you are responsible for that ‘vision thing’ as it applies to those subordinate to you.It’s your responsibility to clearly identify (if you are the CEO/Prez/Owner) or articulate (at all other levels) the goals of the company.

Then it’s up to you to involve your people, working with them to turn those goals into specific actions for which they are responsible.

Most people are vaguely aware that work isn’t done in a vacuum, but often individuals, teams, or even departments, fail to understand truly the domino effect created by allowing their schedule to slip.

You can minimize this problem, and improve the quality of your workforce, by making certain that they understand how their own goals, those of the company, and others’, both internal and external (customers and vendors), interact.

The biggest rewards at all levels (using whatever incentives are available) should go to those who understand the company’s goals, and ethically do whatever is necessary to achieve them—especially when they put the company’s goals ahead of their own!

How do you communicate your company’s goals?

Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Your comments-priceless

Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Sphere: Related Content

Whether actively or by facilitating employee input culture starts at the top; departmental subcultures exist as a result of the CEO’s encouragement, benign neglect or stupidity as the case may be. And such cases often end up in court.

Take Alarm One, a 300-employee company based in Anaheim, CA. It took more than one executive turning a blind eye to allow the incredible stupidity of spanking as a team exercise to provide motivation to the sales force with the males adding their own moronic comments such as “Spank that bitch. Slap that ho”

I’m not just thinking about the legal implications, although they are substantial, …the company has since gone into bankruptcy and its insurance was exhausted battling Orlando’s claim and settling with three other co-worker…

I’m wondering about the sheer, total stupidity exhibited by the management/leadership of the department, the company, and the salesmen.

What do you think?

What stupid things have you experienced or heard about in the workplace?

Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Your comments-priceless

Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Sphere: Related Content

Your comments-priceless

Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Sphere: Related Content

Vendor Retention in a Downturn (cont’d)

Frankly, I believe this is stupid and immature. Just because executives find their company in difficulty is no reason to clam up and try to pretend everything is all right. Vendors aren’t dumb, and they know what’s happening. It’s happening to everyone. So why refuse to communicate? Do you think if a vendor’s bills are 30 days overdue the vendor won’t notice it if you keep silent and don’t mention the subject? Come on; get real!

No one likes to be stiffed, but after all, if a vendor’s been a partner in good times, they’ll be one in bad times, too, if you keep the lines of communication open. So instead of retreating to your office and refusing to take their calls, why don’t you take the initiative? ‘Hi, Bob, this is Amelia at Acme. You know that the business slump is really hitting us hard. Our volumes are off and cash flow is really slow. Can you help us out? I know it’s hard, but can we work out a delayed payment schedule for the amount we owe you?’

Bob won’t like it, but the alternatives are worse, so he will try to work out a plan.

And what are the alternatives for you? If you don’t tell him what’s going on, he may be sore enough to take legal action. He may put you on C.O.D. And when times get better (and they will), you’ll be at the bottom of Bob’s list when it comes to getting his product. ‘Hi, Bob this is Amelia at Acme. I wonder if we can get 5,000 of your MCX3118’s in two weeks?’

Guess what Bob’s answer will be?

How you treat people, whether vendors, employees, friends or family, is a function of your MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophyâ„¢) as is susceptibility to outside pressure.

If your basic MAP is one of ‘every company for itself’ then you’re more likely to shaft your vendors when problems arise—and suffer the consequences down the road.

But even MAP that understands and believes in the importance of team effort can be pressured into the wrong actions by outside forces in the form of investors, media, etc.

Although wise MAP knows that no good comes from mushroom management it still needs to be strong enough to stand up to the short-term, fast buck attitudes so rife in today’s business world.

What have you done to successfully negotiate an economic slowdown path?

Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Your comments-priceless

Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Sphere: Related Content

All the talk of an economic slowdown reminded me of an article written by Al Negrin for RampUp Solutions‘ newsletter the last time this happened. It’s excellent information and worth republishing, so here is the first of two parts.

Vendor Retention in a Downturn

One of the significant advances in modern business practice has been “partnership procurement.” Instead of the style of the fifties, sixties, and seventies, where vendors were treated as indistinguishably as if they all sold so many sacks of potatoes, partnership procurement tries to foster a symbiotic relationship between customer and vendor. “Just in time” delivery schedules, cooperative design efforts, and on-site vendor quality assurance are just some of the manifestations of partnership procurement which have improved quality and cut procurement costs over the last ten years.

Partnership procurement takes as its basic premise that bringing a vendor into a customer’s manufacturing processes and keeping the vendor well informed as to how his products are being utilized will improve efficiency of both vendor and customer. The success of partnership procurement has validated the correctness of this basic premise.

Most of the period during which partnership procurement has flourished has been one of prosperity, strong economic growth, and good profits. Partnership procurement in this country has not had to suffer through hard times such as high tech industries are now facing. Yet, just because times are difficult is no reason to suspect that partnership procurement would be any less effective.

However, many companies are starting to act as if a fundamental change needs to take place in customer-vendor relationships, and vendors suddenly need to be treated according to the mushroom theory of management: “Keep them in the dark, heap fertilizer on them, and cut off their heads when they stick out above the ground.”

Just because a company is starting to experience hard times is no reason to communicate less effectively to vendors. Yet, suddenly many vendors aren’t being given timely information about postponements and reallocations of purchases, aren’t being involved in cost-saving design changes and, worst of all, aren’t being paid on time. When frantic vendors call, they are either told “she’s in a meeting and will call back later” (which doesn’t happen) or are diverted to subordinates, who “can’t approve these invoices.” Suddenly, the once active lines of communication go dark.

(Continued tomorrow)

Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Your comments-priceless

Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Sphere: Related Content

Culture stems from one of two basic MAP (mindset, attitude, philosophyâ„¢) stances and managers at all levels espouse either one or the other—not a little of each because they are polar opposites.

• People are intelligent, motivated, and genuinely want to support the company in achieving its objectives.

This belief creates a culture that is highly productive, where people grow, thrive, and stay.

• People are incompetent, don’t care, and, will screw up if you give them a chance.

This belief creates a culture of fear, micro-management, low productivity, and high turnover.

If asked publicly, CEOs and managers will usually claim allegiance to principle number one—rarely is anybody as candid as ‘Chainsaw’ Al Dunlap, who is a number two guy all the way.

Some companies try and fake their culture, talking about how great it is in the media and during candidate interviews, but for today’s workforce what they see and hear better be what they get, or they’ll be gone.

Which kind of MAP do you work for?

Don’t miss a post, subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Your comments-priceless

Don’t miss a post! Subscribe via RSS or EMAIL

Sphere: Related Content