Welcome to the June 23, 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 Interviews - Looking Through Rose-Colored Glasses.
2. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #166 to #170.
3. Fundraising Opportunity for Non-Profit Organizations.
4. Eight Steps to Sound Ethical Decision Making in Business
5. What Motivates Employees?
6. Back By Popular Demand - 21 Reasons Why Performance Reviews Fail.
7. The Whole Person Approach To Competency ID and Employee Evaluation.

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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

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1. Pre-employment Screening Tests Save Managers Time and Money.
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Continued from June 2, 2004 - Putting Observation to the Test. And June 9, 2004 - Employee Interviews - Looking Through Rose-Colored Glasses? To view Part 1, go to http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/tv_observation_and_interviewing.htm.
To view Part II, go to http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/tv_why_performance_reviews_fail.htm.

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Pre-employment Screening Tests Save Managers Time and Money.
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The sole purpose of evaluating job candidates is to predict, or forecast ,how they will perform on the job before they are hired. Over the past two weeks, I've written about two time-tested techniques for hiring and promoting candidates into jobs - observation and interviewing.

The biggest problem with these unstructured "tell me a bit about yourself" methods is that they are becoming less and less effective at evaluating a candidate.

Research shows that traditional interviews have a predictive validity of just slightly better than flipping a coin or playing "eenie-meenie-minie-moe". Businesses that place a heavy emphasis on traditional interviewing are at a terrible disadvantage in today's war for talent. It's not that managers still can't pick a good fit with the interview but more and more bad hires are slipping through the door too.

So, how do you combat this unreliability?

Personality assessments have been used for employee evaluation since World War I. Recently many organizations have begun to use personality tests, or more appropriately called personality or performance assessments, to help screen out individuals who are not qualified or will not fit well within the company culture.

But selecting the right assessment is not always that easy.

At one time, employee evaluations required the services of an industrial psychologist. Thanks to technology, many high quality, state of the art assessments are now available online. In fact, the market is now flooded with assessments. While availability and variety are no longer a problem, the difference between assessments can be really subtle enough to drive anyone crazy.

Often a pre-employment screening test or personality assessment is selected based on referral from a friend or just heresay. Many but not all tests are validated and reliable. If an assessment isn't validated and reliable, it may not be providing information that is predictive of success or related to the job. While the reports provided may be interesting reading, they are not very defensible if an employer is ever challenged.

With the advent of the newest generation of assessment tools and the delivery via the Internet, assessments for behaviors, values, cognitive abilities, interests and personality can now be incorporated into an evaluation process that looks at the whole person, the model recommended by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission for fair, unbiased selection. These newest generation assessment tools now can put predictive information about how well candidates will fit the position with considerably more accuracy and lower cost than ever before. This level of specificity has elevated talent selection and team building from a science to an art.

What assessments should you use?

Out of the hundreds of assessments available, I advise clients to divide them up into two big categories: those that screen out the highest risk candidates and those that job fit the right person to the job.

If you have ever been face-to-face with a candidate and thought for even a moment, "why you were wasting your time with this clown", you know what I'm talking about. For managers interested in weeding out candidates right from the outset, several assessments are available such as Counter-Productive Behavior Index (CBI), SELECT Associate System, and FirstView Job Fit.

Both CBI and SELECT evaluate a candidate's work ethics including dependability, honesty, aggressive tendencies and drug use. SELECT adds several dimensions including if a candidate has a positive work attitude, accepts diversity, is willing to accommodate others and has the energy to do the job. FirstView screens for basic personality traits and cognitive skills.

The advantage of these pre-employment screening assessments is that they identify which candidates early in the selection process shouldn't be considered. Little time is wasted on interviewing and background checking candidates who clearly don't have the right attitude and work ethic to do the job. In addition to the employee evaluation, all three assessments provide structured interview questions personalized to the candidate's responses.

Our client results indicate these types of assessments predictably eliminate two to three out of ten high-risk candidates very early in the hiring process, saving the manager hours of time and valuable resources.

These pre-employment tests are cost effective, easily administered and often are translated into several languages, including English and Spanish. Little training is required to interpret these as well.

But what happens to the remaining seven or eight candidates? How can a manager improve his or her chances of selecting the right person after he or she has narrowed the pile of resumes down to the final few?

Next week: Job Matching - Assessments That Fit The Right Person To The Job

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/pdf/Testing_and_Assessment_Guide.pdf).

Reduce your risk and hire competence with confidence. Visit our assessment center at http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/entry-level_tests.htm.

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2. Perfect Labor Storm Alerts #166 to #170.
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Fact #166
For dual career couples with kids under 18, the combined work hours grew from 81 a week in 1977 to 91 in 2002. Source: Families and Work Institute

Fact #167
72% of mothers with children under 18 are in the workforce, up from 47% in 1975. Source: Families and Work Institute

Fact #168
Husbands are unemployed in 6.4% of all married couples. Source: Time, March 22, 2004

Fact #169
1 in 3 women with M.B.A.s are not working full-time; it's 1 in 20 for males with M.B.A.s Source: Catalyst

Fact #170
Women in high positions: In 1971 only 9% of women earned medical degrees, 7% law degrees, and 4% M.B.A.s. In 2001, 30% or women earned medical degrees, 47% law degrees, and 41% M.B.A.s.

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3. Fundraising Opportunity for Non-Profit Organizations.
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There a quite a few non-profit organizations who subscribe to this newsletter, so we wanted to extend an offer specifically to you.

One of the biggest challenges facing non-profit organizations in the new economy is finding creative ways to generate revenue while using a limited amount of resources.

Imagine this scenario. Instead of seeking contributions in the traditional way, you are able to organize an event which takes a minimal amount of prep work, people clamor to attend - and best of all - it generates THOUSANDS of dollars for your organization.

Sound Interesting? If so, follow the link below and fill out our online contact form to receive additional information on a program that we make available exclusively to qualifying non-profits. Please note that this offer valid ONLY for bona fide non-profit organizations.

Follow this link, fill out the form, and learn how The Chrysalis Corporation can help your organization generate revenue. Be sure to type "Fundraising" in the comment box.
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/contact_us.htm

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4. Eight Steps to Sound Ethical Decision Making in Business.
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1. Gather the facts.
2. Define the ethical issues. Don't jump to conclusions.
3. Identify the Stakeholders. Who will be impacted?
4. Identify the consequences of the decisions.
5. Identify what are the obligations of the parties involved and why these obligations exist.
6. Consider your character and Integrity. Can you live with your decision?
7. Think creatively about Potential Actions.
8. Check your gut. Does it "feel" right?

Source: Managing Business Ethics, Trevino and Nelson

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5. What Motivates Employees?
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What employer isn't looking to motivate employees more while paying them less? Thanks to new research just released by the National Bureau of Economic Research, a private group in Cambridge, Mass., economists David Blanchflower of Dartmouth College and Andrew Oswald of Warwick University in England, employers may have found the Holy Grail of motivation.

Mr. Blanchflower calculated that going from having sex once a month to having it at least weekly is roughly equivalent to the amount of happiness that an extra $50,000 of income would bring to the average American. "The effect of sex on happiness is statistically well-determined ... and large," the authors conclude. "This is true for males and females, and for those under and over the age of 40."

The paper is titled, "Money, Sex and Happiness: An Empirical Study." It is based on data from the National Opinion Research Center's General Social Surveys.

For those of you who might not agree that sex is the best motivator in the workplace - or at least not the most appropriate, I might suggest you order your copy today of Understanding Business Values and Motivators.

You can read a sample chapter online or order a copy by following this link:
http://www.understandingbusinessvaluesandmotivators.com

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6. Back By Popular Demand - 21 Reasons Why Performance Reviews Fail.
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Many of you e-mailed us last week saying how helpful the information about performance reviews was. Incase you may have missed last weeks newsletter, we've included the information again for your convenience.

You are welcome to forward this article to managers, and anyone else, in your organization who may be responsible for conducting performance reviews.

1. The reviewer and employee have a personal friendship outside of work and both individuals can't differentiate their manager-employee role from their friend-friend relationship.

2. The reviewer and the employee see themselves as part of a team. Team members are supposed to encourage one another, be supportive in good and bad times. But when the manager has to provide negative feedback or discipline the employee, these actions are viewed as divisive.

3. When not provided regularly, annual (or even less periodic) reviews can be based on most recent performance, not performance over the course of the year. The results go both ways. Employees who put on their best behavior around review time get favorable ratings and the employee who has a bad couple of weeks gets punished.

Source: Ira S. Wolfe.

To read the remaining 18 reasons, follow this:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/why_performance_reviews_fail.htm

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7. The Whole Person Approach To Competency ID and Employee Evaluation
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Become a certified CriteriaOne consultant. Learn to identify competencies, complete a job analysis and interpret behavioral, values, and personality assessments. The next Train-the-Trainer will be held from August 18-20, 2004 in Lancaster PA.

To learn more about the CriteriaOne Model and to review an outline of the training session, follow this link:
http://www.chrysaliscorporation.com/criteria_one.htm

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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