Welcome to the October 27, 2004 issue of The Total View

Your resource for cutting-edge news, tips, and tools to help you hire, manage,
and motivate top-performing employees.

If you are receiving this issue as a forward, and want your own subscription, visit
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/newsletter.htm

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In This Issue
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1. Just Hangin' In There - Employee Attitudes and First Impressions.

2. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #271 to #275.

3. Tips You Can Use - NEW! Background Checks.

4. What Would You Do if You Could Get Inside The Head of Your Customers?

5. Test Your Interviewing I.Q.

6. A Women's Work Is Just Never Done!

7. You don't need a huge budget and staff to hire the best employees.

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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!) and is distributed with permission by The Chrysalis Corporation.

Ira S. Wolfe 2004 - All Rights Reserved. Reprints and other distribution by permission only.

To learn more about The Chrysalis Corporation or to read back issues of The Total View, visit our web site at http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/totalview_backissues.htm

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1. Just Hangin' In There - Employee Attitudes and First Impressions.
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By Marilyn Walker and Ira Wolfe

It was before noon at the Lancaster County Chamber of Commerce and Industry Business Expo. While making my rounds around the exhibit hall, I met dozens of business owners and salespeople. I noticed a woman, standing alone, alongside her display, not doing much of anything at that moment. I walked up and introduced myself.

“Hello. My name is Marilyn Walker and I’m with Success Performance Solutions. How are you?”

Her response was totally unexpected. “Oh, I suppose I’m just hanging in there,” she said. It didn’t take a genius to realize that she did not want to be there – and she had six more hours to go.

First impressions are critical in today’s marketplace. With almost everything imaginable available over the Internet, relationships rule in the face-to-face world of attracting business. In this case, the relationship came to an abrupt end.

Businesses like the one this salesperson represented invest thousands of dollars in exhibits and giveaways to attract visitors into their areas and engage them in conversation. The business represented by this woman should have save its money.

Contrast this with the response from Andrew, representing one of the several web development companies competing for new customers at the expo.

While I don’t recall Andrew’s specific words, he gave me the immediate impression that he was excited to be there and equally delighted to tell me about his business. He had my attention. He maintained eye contact, smiled often, and asked good engaging questions. While I would have liked to continue talking, I recognized other prospects were waiting to speak with him. We shook hands and I moved on with his business card in hand.

I wish I could say Andrew was the norm and the first woman the exception. But I hear “just hanging in there” comments more frequently than I care to admit. Just this morning, I heard “not bad for a Monday” after asking “how are you today?” Often I hear, “I’ll be better in a few hours when I’m out of here.” I’ve even heard, “if I could find another job, do you really think I’d be here?”

In the October 3, 2004, edition of the Lancaster Sunday News, the Pennsylvania Dutch Convention & Visitors Bureau announced the creation of the “Center of Excellence in Hospitality and Customer Service.” They contributed $24,000 to begin eight-hour courses which would train hotel workers in hospitality skills. At the end of the training participants will receive a certificate from the American Hotel and Lodging Association.

What an excellent idea if the dollars are invested in training the right people. Too often businesses try to “fix” the poorly performing employee and ignore those individuals who have naturally good skills but could be great with the right coaching and training.

Imagine the waste of time and money sending the “just hanging in there” employee to a customer service training. Sure, she needs all the help she could get, but what would she do with her new skills. Surely not use them. It was obvious that she didn’t enjoy meeting new people or selling her services and training wasn’t going to help.

Ironically, while this woman was turning away customers on the floor, dozens of visitors were participating in the Disney Institute workshops taking place nearby. Organizations like Disney, Ritz-Carlton, and Southwest Airlines invest millions of dollars and thousands of hours training their employees to excel at customer service. But they don’t train just any employee – they train the right employee. For example, Disney hires people who are "aggressively friendly". This means that all cast members (Note: workers are not employees but cast members)are urged to stop whatever they're doing and offer help whenever they see a guest (Note: customers are called guests, too) in need.

Are Disney employees the "right" employees for you? Well that depends. When we ask clients to describe their ideal employee, we hear descriptors like friendly, dependable, honest, courteous, and loyal. They sound good, but these qualities are difficult to measure.

Just try it. Describe friendly. Do you consider Robin Williams friendly or hyperactive? What about George W. Bush or Bill Clinton? Katie Couric or Oprah? How does friendly differ from courteous, caring, compassionate or empathetic? Better yet, when you meet someone is friendly, how do you measure it? When do you know some has enough friendliness? Is it possible to have too much? Have you ever met anyone who is so friendly they actually annoy you?

Southwest Airlines is known for having the friendliest employees in the sky. They are profitable for 54 consecutive quarters in an industry that considers bankruptcy a daily activity. And yet, I know family and friends who won't fly Southwest because they "don't like employees who joke around so much".

That brings me to three biggest mistakes businesses make when listing the core competencies for hiring and managing the right employees.

First, competency identification is not a shopping list. Too often, managers create the dream list of skills. While it never hurts to ask, expecting any employee to be highly competent in more than 10 competencies is unrealistic. For entry-level employees we recommend no more than three competencies, for semi-skilled four to six and for upper management, highly skilled and professional positions you can go as many as ten.

Second, managers often list behaviors and attitudes along with skills. Competencies are skills that can be learned. You can train someone to be courteous but have you ever tried to train compassion and empathy? At best, you can modify someone's behavior and have him "act" friendlier. But let's face it - we all know how well that works. Communication and listening skills are competencies, too. Friendly is a behavior. People who are naturally outgoing might make more friends and have an easier time being friendly but they are not necessarily more capable to deliver excellent customer service. Customer service is a skill, one that is obviously lacking in a lot of people.

Third, businesses try to change and train behaviors without understanding the personality and motivators of the employees. Submissive, reserved and easily excitable workers can certainly learn the Disney and Southwest way to excellent customer service. But the idea of being aggressively friendly may be too much of a stretch. Joe Kraus, one of the founders of Excite, says that hiring a bad employee is far worse than not hiring anyone. We agree.

This leads me to the fourth and final mistake. Hiring the right people is a three-way fit. Not a two-way, not a one way, but three ways. Disney and Southwest employees are hired only if they can do the job, fit on the team and value the company culture. Too many managers hire people who can do the job but don't get along with other team members or share the company values. Hiring the right people begins with finding and retaining workers who value your values, value teamwork and have the skills to do the job. Disney and Southwest know this and stick to their plan.

It was now almost 6 p.m. The exhibits were coming down. My feet were killing me, my back was aching and I just couldn’t wait to get home and get into my pj’s. Just then, an energetic young woman approached me with fliers from her company. With a smile she handed me her flier and said, “Hi. How are you?” Immediately thinking of my sore feet as well as my earlier experience, I smiled back and said, “Great! How about you?” “Pretty good,” she responded.

Then we talked. After nine hours of meeting and greeting she made me want to listen. She is the “right” person for her company. How do I know this? Even after nine hours of greeting and meeting people, she wasn't "just hangin' in there".

Hiring the "right" people is easy when you know what to look for. Why not call us today for a complimentary consultation and assessment valued at $250? To qualify (US and Canada only), contact us today by visiting the following link and completing the contact form:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/contact_us.htm

Our clients report great success with one or more of these three assessments: the Counter-Productive Behavior Index (CPBI), SELECT Associate System, and FirstView Job Fit Indicator.

For more information about any of these products or services, follow any of the links below:

Counter-Productive Behavior Index:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/first_view.htm

SELECT Associate System:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/select_main.htm

FirstView JobFit Indicator:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/first_view_jf.htm

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2. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #271 to #275.
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Many people believe education is the cure for the impending (and even current) skilled worker shortages. Few however are willing to address how serious the situation really is.

Fact #271: Fewer than one in four high school graduates who took the ACT test have taken the coursework necessary to succeed in college. (Source: ACT, Inc)

Fact #272: Only 22 percent of the 1.2 million high school graduates who took the exam this year (2004) were ready for college coursework in math, English and science. (Source: ACT, Inc)

Fact #273: Skills that employers are increasingly demanding are ability to work in a team, solve complex problems, and communicate clearly in print and in person. (Source: Coplin, 10 Things Employers Want You to Learn in College)

Fact #274: Skills that will keep workers marketable in the near term are self-motivation, time management, strong oral and written communication, relationship building, salesmanship, problem solving, information evaluation and leadership. (Source: Futurist Update, Feb 2004)

Fact #275: In the future, even more emphasis will be placed on skills that cannot be automated - caring, judgment, intuition, ethics, inspiration, friendliness, and imagination. (Source: Futurist, Sep-Oct 2004)

This knowledge gap was confirmed recently when nearly 50 percent of the 564 jobseekers at the 2004 Lancaster (PA) Chamber Job Fair rated their problem solving and business knowledge skills as average or lower. To receive a copy of these results and more, send a blank email to jobsurvey@chrysaliscorporation.com with the words "I Want a New Job" in the subject line.

Don't be caught in storm without all the facts. "The Perfect Labor Storm Fact Book: Why Worker Shortages Won't Go Away" is a must-read leading edge forecast that predicts workforce trends for decades to come. Order your copy today - $7.95 includes no shipping costs for limited time only. Follow this link to learn more:
http://www.perfectlaborstorm.com

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3. Tips You Can Use - NEW! Background Checks.
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To provide our clients with one-stop shopping for employee evaluation from pre-employment to career succession, we are very pleased to introduce our new partnership with Information Architects, a leading provider of Employment Screening and Background Investigations. IA's premier background screening solution utilizes a state-of-the-art web based interface to provide you with the fastest, easiest, and most customizable ordering/delivering platform in the marketplace today.

If, like Pinocchio's nose, each lie a candidate told on his/her resume or during the interview became immediately apparent, business owners could easily weed out employees who cheat and deceive. So, how can you tell if an employee is lying about their work experience, education, criminal record or even if they are who they say they are?

BACKGROUND CHECKS. Sixty-one percent of the human resource (HR) professionals surveyed said they find inaccuracies in résumés after carrying out background checks. (Source: SHRM Background Checks/Résumé Inaccuracies online survey, 2004)

Services include:

Employment Verification
Criminal Records Search
Civil Records Search
Workers Comp Search
SSN Verification
Credit Reports
DMV Reports
Bankruptcy Search
Degree Verification
Professional License Verification
Drug Screening

To Learn more about background checking, follow this link:
http://www.ia.com/perceptre/affiliates/chrysalis.asp

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4. What Would You Do if You Could Get Inside The Head of Your Customers?
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Have you ever imagined how valuable brutally honest feedback from your customers would be to your company or organization? I'm talking about no B.S. feedback about how your customers REALLY feel about your products, services, and support. What would it be like if your clients provided you with suggestions that actually increased your profits and bottom line and eliminated the "hit and miss" approach to sales and marketing? Stop imagining and start knowing!

The easiest and most cost-effective way to get this information is to conduct a survey. A survey eliminates the psychological pressure for clients to tell you what they think you want to hear. Some people, regardless of how unhappy they are with a product or service, refuse to voice their dissatisfaction with a company because it makes them feel uncomfortable. They simply "vote with the feet" and tend to go away without you ever knowing the reason why. The end result -- you lose business without ever knowing the reasons why. Surveys neutralize a potentially awkward and uncomfortable situation for clients by providing a way for them to provide you with honest and direct feedback in an anonymous manner.

We have taken all the stress and hassles out of creating, deploying, inputting, and analyzing survey results.

Contact us today to learn about about real-time e-mail and web based surveys. No more hassles with entering results and creating presentations. Let us do the work for you. We can help you write, set-up, distribute (electronically), process and present in less time for less cost than you can imagine.

For more information about the survey solutions we can provide you with, including our Rapid Survey Option, follow the link below and type "Surveys" in the comment box. You can also contact us by phone at: 229-257-0665:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/contact_us_surveys.htm

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5. Test Your Interviewing I.Q.
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Interviewing is still the most commonly used selection tool even though the traditional interview is effective at identifying a top performer as few as 1 in every 14 times. It's not always the fault or due to the inexperience of the interviewer either. The laws are complicated, time is always too short and the candidates are a lot more savvy and have more time to prepare.

Test your interviewing skills (see link below).

Take this test and determine how well you know the ins and outs of effective interviewing.

Don't hesitate to forward this test to your manager or boss. We won't tell where it came from! Follow this link to test your Interviewing IQ:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/interviewing_iq.htm

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6. A Women's Work Is Just Never Done!
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Not only will millions of boomers be leaving the workforce during the next few decades but many active workers may be missing in action while caring for elderly parents and relatives.

According to research by the Richmond, Va.-based FamilyCare America Inc., there are 11 million to 16 million U.S. employees - the vast majority of whom are women - juggling employment and long-term eldercare responsibilities.

The impact on the workplace is staggering. While the average length of eldercare is eight years, some working women spend more years caring for dependent elderly relatives than they do for their children. The FamilyCare study estimates employers lose up to $29 billion annually from eldercare distractions that affect productivity.

The study estimated caregivers forfeit roughly $659,000 over the course of their careers to lost wages, benefits and missed promotions. Those numbers are expected to balloon to unprecedented amounts as the working caregiver population soars to more than 50 million over the next 20 years.

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7. You don't need a huge budget and staff to hire the best employees.
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Eliminate The Hassles and Headaches Associated With Screening Candidate with Total APS.

The Total Applicant Processing System enables the small and medium sized employer to do online recruiting and screen applicants with customizable and scorable filtering questions with a click of the mouse.

Use Total APS to recruit and screen applicants for your next job opening. Follow this link to learn more:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/employee_applicant_processing_system.htm

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Contact Information:

The Chrysalis Corporation
2001 Hammock Drive
Valdosta, GA 31602
229-257-0665

To learn more about The Chrysalis Corporation, visit:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com