Welcome to the July 14, 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.

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In This Issue
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1. Employee Evaluations: A Change of Tune Has Executives Dancing To the Bank.
2. Labor Shortages in The News: New audio and video featuring Ira Wolfe.
3. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #181 to #185.
4. Are You Wasting Too Much Time Sorting Through Unqualified Resumes?
5. Have You Viewed Our Best Practice Tips and Resources?
6. Question of the week: Is it legal to create our own pre-hire test?
7. Survey Says. . . Things are changing.
8. Give a gift that costs you NOTHING.

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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/remote.html?ltk=1093363_31118865

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1. Employee Evaluations: A Change of Tune Has Executives Dancing To the Bank.
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It goes without saying. If you have ever terminated an employee for poor performance, the experience is disturbing and costly -- both stress-wise and economically.

Two keys to avoid involuntary terminations, the politically correct term for giving an employee the old heave-ho, is first to hire the right person right off the bat. After they're on board, managers need to monitor their performance and provide feedback. Monitoring employee performance means having accurate measuring systems of individual performance.

Individuals need feedback about their strength and weaknesses. For organizations to grow, these employees need performance information to correct performance problems and assess the effectiveness of their improvement efforts.

Sloppy performance management was not an issue for employers even as late as the 1980s. As recently as 1982, sixty-two percent of the value of an organization was measured by its tangible assets. By 2002, nearly eighty percent of its value shifted to intangible assets, Yes that's right, the human capital of any organization now accounts for eighty percent of its value but until recently balance sheets still gave priority to equipment and buildings over its people.

But the tide is turning. Smart organizations finally seem interested in optimizing the way these precious human assets are managed. Establishing an effective employee evaluation system is an organization's way of doing just that.

Employee evaluation is more than having a form completed once a year and stuffing it in the employee's file just in case you ever choose to discipline or terminate him or her. Effective performance management is about linking individual performance to corporate strategy and providing continuous feedback, positive and constructive.

Another hurdle for managers to jump is that most employees aren't being evaluated consistently. For those who are, they aren't receiving a fair appraisal. Traditionally this lack of frequency, consistency and fairness has been a concern only for the HR department. Employee performance reviews have been avoided like the plaque and managers scattered when they saw HR walking down the corridors with those dreaded employee evaluation forms.

That is all about to change. Dollar signs are singing a new tune and the ears of executives and other business owners have perked up. CEOs, COOs and now even CFOs have caught the beat and are forcing managers to get a little rhythm. The traditional dance that managers chased managers to their cubicles has all of a sudden forced them center stage in many organizations.

Why all the fuss? In an 11-year study that included more than 200 companies from 22 industries, the financial and operational performance measure of companies who "lived" performance management and those organizations who did not was compared. The economic impact of this study was enough to give any executive chills up and down their spine - or just want to throw up his/her hands and cry.

The revenue growth for organizations with performance enhancing culture was 682%; for those without, these organizations grew by 166%. While many organizations might be happy with 166% growth, you'll probably want to keep reading. The net income growth (the bottom line) of the performance enhancing organizations grew by 756% while their counterparts grew by a measly 1%!

In a second study representing 2,800 firms, the top 10% verses the bottom 10% were compared. At the conclusion of the study, the top 10% sales per employee were $617,575 compared to $158,101 for the bottom ten. The turnover rate was 20.87% to 34.09% respectively. The combined results of these and other factors resulted in a 391% Return on Investment for the performance enhancing organization.

What can managers do to turn compliance-focused annual employee reviews into performance enhancing systems? The first place to start is by establishing three major goals for the system:

1) Help individuals to achieve specific performance objectives in order to be successful in their organizational role and to develop their skills and abilities at a personal and/or professional level;

2) Ensure that these objectives and individual skills development is linked to company strategic initiatives and the bottom line; and

3) Meet not only short-term but long-term development goals over a whole career for an individual.

That sounds easier said than done. But The Chrysalis Corporation offers a solution to managers and an alterative to the ineffective and time-consuming employee annual review. The Janus Performance Management System provides a comprehensive, step-by-step planning design to help manage this process effectively. Janus not only provides a suite of goal setting and appraisal forms and templates to help this action planning process, but also helps to ensure that all written documents are in plain language, complete, comprehensive,and easy-to-use.

To read more about Janus Performance Management System, follow this link:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/remote.html?ltk=1093366_31118865

Our consultants, who can help you avoid hiring mishaps, are an email or phone call away.

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2. Labor Shortages in The News: New audio and video featuring Ira Wolfe.
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Worker Shortages Loom Ahead. Jim Plummer, PA Radio (a Public Radio affiliate), interview Ira on The Perfect Labor Storm. To listen to the interview, follow this link:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/remote.html?ltk=1093368_31118865

The "Resu-mess" on WHP-TV (Harrisburg, PA). View the interview with Sherry Christian and Ira Wolfe, the developer of the CriteriaOne process.

To view the clip, follow this link (you must have Windows Media Player
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/remote.html?ltk=1093371_31118865

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3. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #181 to #185.
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Fact #181  In 2002, an estimated 22 million Americans suffered from chemical dependence or abused drugs, alcohol or both.

Fact #182  Illicit drug use is highest among adults 18 to 25 years old.

Fact #183  15.9 million American s considered themselves to be heavy drinkers.

Fact #184 - Treating the short-term and long-term medical complications of addiction costs $133 billion a year.
Source: Department of Health and Human Services; National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Fact #185  15 percent of all full-time workers and 19 percent of all part-time workers  about 23 million workers  used an illicit drug in the past year.

Source: 2002 National Household Survey on Drug Abuse
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Yes - there are workers for hire. Just like during the late 1990's, prisons have an ample supply of candidates. But do they have the skills and work ethics you want? As employers begin to hire and expand, many will be unprepared to survive The Perfect Labor Storm. Will you?

"The Perfect Labor Storm Fact Book: Why Worker Shortages Won't Go Away" is HERE! Order your copy today - $7.95 includes no shipping costs for limited time only.

http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/remote.html?ltk=1093373_31118865

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4. Are You Wasting Too Much Time Sorting Through Unqualified Resumes?
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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. View more information at:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/remote.html?ltk=1093375_31118865

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5. Have You Viewed Our Best Practice Tips and Resources?
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To learn more about hiring best practices, download the U.S. Department of Labor publication, TESTING AND ASSESSMENT: AN EMPLOYER'S GUIDE TO GOOD PRACTICES
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/remote.html?ltk=1093377_31118865

Interviews Questions - What You Can and Can't Ask
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/remote.html?ltk=1093379_31118865

Test your Interviewing IQ at
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/remote.html?ltk=1093381_31118865

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6. Question of the week: Is it legal to create our own pre-hire test?
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One manager writes: For several months, I have been reviewing different pre-hire assessments to use in our organization. During this week's managers meeting, one of the managers announced he was creating his own test and the rest of management bought into the idea. His arguments were convincing. First he outlined how it would save money if they didn't have to purchase a system. Second he felt that he and the other managers knew what it took for an individual to succeed in their organization.

Is is safe for us to use a manager's do-it-yourself test?

Answer: The Internet is now clogged with dozens of inexpensive, easy to administer, quick to score personality tests. So it seems logical that you too can create your own assessments. But how do you know which tests have the proven validity to protect you against EEOC law suits and which ones should be restricted to validate your weekly horoscope?

Creating your own test to save money is like buying vitamins instead of buying health insurance because you are young. As long as you don't get in trouble, you save money. Get challenged by a disgruntled employee even one time and what you saved by doing it yourself is a drop in the bucket to the cost of defending it in court.

The U.S. Department of Labor (See above for a complimentary copy of the of Testing and Assessments) and Equal Employment Opportunity Commission clearly states that any assessment used for selecting employees must meet the guidelines. Developing your own list of questions or creating a test, especially for non-technical skills or soft skills, may seem like a good idea until someone challenges you on the grounds of the test or interview.

What is important for any manager responsible for selecting employees is not to let ego get in the way. It's amazing how many times a manager rejects a proven test because he or she didn't score as well as they thought they might or they didn't like what it said about them even if everyone else agreed it was accurate. The same goes for interview questions - they reject questions they find difficult to answer or deem as silly despite the fact that they are proven successful in predicting performance. For a test to meet defensible psychometric guidelines, a test must be valid (accurate) and reliable (predictable). To be valid a test must be proven to test what is says it is testing. Its accuracy is dependent on the type of questions or choices, the type of response items (true/false, Likert scales), the number of questions as well as the number of response items, and well, much more technical detail than most of our readers really care to know. Suffice it to say that constructing an employment test that can be proven valid and reliable and legally defensible should be left up to the professionals.

As I learned over twenty-five years ago on my anesthesia rotation during my residency, it is easy for anyone to put another person to sleep. The real skill of an anesthesiologist is being able to wake up the patient when it counts. When it comes to creating test, it is easy to come up with a list of questions to ask on a test or during an interview. The real skill is identifying which questions can actually predict job performance and asking them in a way that is legal and defensible.

To learn more about building a valid, reliable and legally defensible selection and promotion process, follow this link http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/remote.html?ltk=1093383_31118865 to read about CriteriaOne: The Whole Person Approach.

CriteriaOne is based on the criterion validity, a blueprint for selecting, promoting and retaining employees based on job-related competencies, behaviors and attitudes.

Got questions about testing and assessment? E-mail them to questions@chrysaliscorporation.com. We'll address them in a future issue of The Total View.

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7. Survey Says. . . Things are changing.
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The paper/pencil method of conducting surveys has gone the way of the horse and buggy. Heck, the printing and postage costs of conducting surveys the old way make it hardly seem worth it. Then there is the the hassle of inputting survey results and the labor intensive experience of querying the data and creating reports.

If your company or association is planning to conduct a survey, contact us today to learn 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 compared to paper/pencil surveying.

Are you putting off getting much needed feedback from customers and employees?

For more information about customer satisfaction, employee morale, or any other type of survey, follow the link below, fill out the contact form, and type "Surveys" in the comment box. We'll provide you with a no-cost, telephone consultation about your survey project.
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/remote.html?ltk=1093385_31118865

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8. Give a gift that costs you NOTHING.
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If you found the information in this newsletter useful, chances are you have colleagues in other departments of your organization who would also benefit from reading it. Forward this newsletter to them TODAY so that they can check it out and sign-up to receive it directly.

They'll thank you for it!

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Contact Information:

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

e-mail: mike@chrysaliscorporation.com

To learn more about The Chrysalis Corporation, visit:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/remote.html?ltk=1093363_31118865

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