The Right People

There are many theories devoted to the best means of achieving business productivity and success. In examining key business success factors you have no doubt been faced with the proposition that ‘people (your employees) are your most important asset’. While this is a nice ‘motherhood’ statement, it is in fact misleading. In truth, the right people are your most important asset. Therefore the question that needs to be answered is: who are the right people for my business? There are as many theories related to getting the right people as there are to business success in general, however, when it comes to selecting and retaining the right people, there are two schools of thought that require closer examination.

 

The first suggests that business owners need to have clear direction as to where they are going and then select (or retain) the people most likely to help them get there. This means that strategic planning with regard to target markets, sales, marketing, technology, and innovation often takes place prior to decisions about who will be the best people to assist in the achievement of established goals.

 

In his book ‘Good To Great’ Jim Collins uses the analogy that leading and managing a business is like taking a bus trip. The scenario above means that business owners need to decide where the bus is going and then get the right people on the bus to help them get to the destination. This raises the question that if people join the bus because of where it is going, what happens if you get ten kilometres down the road and need to change direction? It is highly likely that this will create a misalignment between the new direction of the bus and the skills, values, needs and aspirations of the ‘passengers’?

 

In researching “Good To Great”, Collins assembled a team of twenty researchers who examined twenty eight productive, successful companies and compared them to underperforming companies over a five year period. His research revealed an alternative strategy used by many successful businesses whereby they first decide who is going to be on the bus and then decide what direction the bus is going to take. In other words the right people will help you determine where you need to go and then help you get there.

 

This finding supports the belief that if you start with “who” rather than “what”, you will be able to adapt more readily to change. It also reinforces the fact that if you have the wrong people on the bus it won’t matter if you discover the right direction, you still won’t achieve your goals. As Collins states, “great vision without great people is irrelevant”.

 

So how do you determine who should get on (or stay on) the bus? A good place to start is the need to be clear about values. These guide your business decisions and the way you want to conduct your business. If you recruit or retain staff based on an alignment between their values and your own, in addition to evaluating their technical and other job-related skills, it is more likely that they will make a significant contribution whatever direction the business takes. They will also play a more active role in helping you decide the direction to take.

Building Trust

Like many of the best things in life, trust really is free. Doing without it, however, will cost you dearly, especially in business. What’s at stake is productivity, innovation, and ultimately, profits.

High functioning teams share goals that drive day-to-day activities. Their mutual self-interest greases the wheels of collaboration, but trust is the solid ground they ride on. Capitalizing on their energy and motivation so your team is productive requires that they collaborate freely, and for that, people need to trust each other.

Trust is based on a history of honest relationships. Do people at your company talk directly to a person when they have an issue with them or just complain about that person to someone else? Teams are subtly strengthened or gradually divided by the way simple, everyday differences are communicated.

Unified teams have integrity, demonstrating honesty through actions. Having integrity means that what an individual says and what they actually do are consistent with each other. Can your team count on one another to do what they say they will do?

Teams that operate in the absence of trust are guarded, and by necessity more cautious about everything they say and do. Communication becomes a way to defend and protect oneself, avoiding risk rather than reaching for results. The consequence for your business is more of the status quo, instead of the collaborative risk-taking that exemplifies off-the-charts growth.

Harnessing their inspiration and creativity depends on employees being able to trust each other and their managers. Groups innovate when they are comfortable sharing ideas, exploring “What if…?” and can rely on each other to keep the process moving. They need to feel safe discussing “what’s not working” in the context of exploring ways to make it better.

The answers to these questions are a good indicator of whether your company is already recognized as a creative industry leader or one that follows trends set by more innovative competitors. When trust levels are high, so is the potential that the talented people you’ve hired will coalesce to become a powerful team.

Crucial interpersonal skills such as personal accountability and effective communication are enhanced with The Productivity Coach’s unique approach, and the team’s true potential comes into focus when you use our team behavior and motivator reports. For more information, contact James on 0421 210 444

The Key To A Really Successful Business

James explains in this short video exactly what you have to get right first in order to build a successful business. As you’ll see, once you are clear on the qualities that make up a successful business owner, all you have to do is….

 

Recruitment – Common Mistake No 1

Know What You Want

In this short 2 minute video, James takes a look at what you need to consider before you advertise for a new employee…

What To Look For In A Resume

With dozens, or sometimes hundreds, of replies to a job placement advertisement, you or the person designated to assess/study the resumes will need to pay careful attention to the information in each  application.  From the resumes you will gain your first impression of your applicants’ qualifications, skills and abilities. The information that is ‘not there’ is just as important as the information that is included.

It is important to note that the way resumes are written and presented can reveal a great deal about your applicants.  For instance, how they addressed all the criteria asked for, their spelling and grammar, style and presentation all give clues as to their competency, abilities and level of education.

Some important things to keep in mind……

Presentation
·    Needs to be cleanly and neatly printed on high quality paper
·    It should be obvious that a lot of time and effort was spent in building the resume
·    Layout should be professional and uncluttered and have adequate white spacing
·    Have bullet points, bold or italic fonts and/or indented paragraphs
·    Important information should be easy to find without having to search through the whole document

Content
·    Typing, spelling or grammar mistakes
·    Objectives and/or goals. Are they in line with yours?
·    Educational qualifications
·    Similar job experience to the one being applied for
·    Volunteer experience
·    Inclusion of useful and/or transferrable skills and knowledge or qualifications
·    Action verbs such as; supervised, managed, organised, achieved, initiative etc
·    Any significant achievements in their previous employment

With a large number of applications to consider, those who are savvy and want to grab your attention will place their most important/relevant information early in the first part of the resume.

Many employers will only consider applicants who have had similar experience in a previous job.  We say give equal consideration to those applicants with excellent transferrable skills and abilities….they could even be more suitable.

Watch out for everything from just a little bit of truth stretching to outright lies and fraud.

Everyone wants to present themselves in the best possible light by using a little spin and they will also leave out information that they feel may prejudice their application such as race, religion, gender, marital status and age. Information of this nature is not generally considered to be relevant to employment.  And to a certain extent employers invite this type of spin by their own set of expectations and prejudices.

However, the number of outright lies being told on resumes is becoming increasingly common.  The most common lie will be stretching the dates of employment to hide periods of unemployment.  Some people will say that they were paid a higher salary at a previous job to get more money from a new employer.  And there are other far more serious lies such as inventing University degree qualifications and previous employment positions

For further advice on how to assess resumes and identify top performers using Harrison Assessments in a more objective way, contact James Bryden, The Productivity Coach on 0421 210 444 or leave a comment below.

The Recruitment Process

When business owners decide to employ someone, they often pay little attention to the
importance of having as objective a recruitment process as possible.

Commonly, the following happens:

• Advertisement is placed

• Resume’s received and checked

• Those with the best experience invited for in an interview

• Employ the person who has the most experience and you like the most

As an interviewer, you unknowingly filter the candidate to your own subconscious likes,
dislikes & prejudices. And as any top marketing expert will tell you, we make decisions
emotionally and justify them logically.

The fact is, past experience is not a very good indicator of future performance but past
behaviour IS. There are many people in the workforce who are well qualified but do not
actually like what they do. Add to this their personality, which may cause problems with
existing staff.

There is a better way that will dramatically increase your chances of making the right
choice first time.

What you are looking for is evidence of not only qualifications and experience but also
behaviours that will suit the position. Doing this in as objective a way as possible can
make the recruitment process much more predictable and successful.

You might want to call me to find out how The Productivity Coach Recruitment Process can be
applied to your business, it may well save you a fortune.

Recruitment & Productivity

 

 

 

Hiring Great Staff For More Productivity

Many businesses have huge problems when it comes to hiring quality staff they can trust. The one thing owners don’t realise they need is a comprehensive system that will weed out the potential problem employee BEFORE  the REAL EXPENSE kicks in.

James explains more in this short two and a half minute video.

Committed to YOUR Personal Productivity,

James is a productivity coach specializing in working with people who are procrastinators and those who want results quickly. His ability to get brilliant results with his clients is quite amazing…

The Productivity Coach

Extraordinary Results for Professional and Personal Freedom

To Find Out the “5 Secrets of REALLY Successful People” go to…

The Productivity Coach

P:      0421 210444

Recruiting High Performers

In this short two and a half minute audio James explains what is needed when you are recruiting and hiring great staff members to enhance your business.

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Committed to YOUR Personal Productivity,

James is a productivity coach specializing in working with people who are procrastinators and those who want results quickly. His ability to get brilliant results with his clients is quite amazing…

The Productivity Coach

Extraordinary Results for Professional and Personal Freedom

To Find Out the “5 Secrets of REALLY Successful People” go to…

The Productivity Coach

P:      0421 210444

Are Your Staff Slowly Killing You?

And three emotions you need to avoid if you want to survive.

How do you rate your health?

If you rate your health as very good give yourself a five out of five. If you rate your health as very poor give yourself a one out of five.

Why this is important

It’s important because research indicates the lower you rate your own health, the earlier you will die even if you currently have no disease or risk factors. This self rating system has been research and validated by studying over 44,000 identical twins.

So how does rating ourselves impact our health? It has been discovered that how we feel about our situation in life has a big impact on us physically. Therefore if we feel bad about a certain situation for example lame and lazy staff who are unproductive and drain your energy, then your thinking will trigger an emotional reaction that may well be prematurely aging you and even slowly killing you.

“Thoughts and emotions are interwoven: every thought, however bland, almost always carries with it some emotional undertone, however subtle”

Restak

How quickly thoughts can kill you.

In 1964 a newspaper headline read “Man Freezes to Death in Refrigeration Car”. The man had become trapped inside when the door accidentally slammed on him. When he was found the next day he had all the physical symptoms of having been frozen to death. Yet the refrigeration unit was switched off and at no time had the temperature been at or even close to freezing. The man had in one night talked himself into dying. Your thoughts have a dramatic impact on your body.

“Life consists in what a man is thinking of all day.”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The emotional black spots.

There are four emotions that have the potential to send a flood of toxic chemicals through your brain that not only increase the risk of memory loss but also prematurely age you and reduce your life expectancy. These emotional black spots are depression, anxiety, anger and low self esteem. Since 1929 the life span of Oscar winners have been measured against other actors and the findings suggest that winning an Oscar increases your life expectancy by 3.9 years because it elevates the recipient’s self esteem and reduces the prevalence and the impact of the four emotional black spots.

How business owners can protect their brain

Today no business owner should have to put up with prolonged worrying staffing situations that make them prone to bouts of depression, anxiety, anger and low self esteem. There are now brilliant psychometric tests and selection processes that can eliminate the risk of ever hiring a stressful staff member and it makes more than complete sense to use them. The focus of the Profitable Personnel recruitment process is to assist business owners to find staff that will not only build their business, but will do so in a stress free manner that enhances the business owners quality of life both financially and emotionally.

Committed to YOUR Personal Productivity,

James Bryden.

James is a productivity coach specializing in working with people who are procrastinators and those who want results quickly. His ability to get brilliant results with his clients is quite amazing…

“Fast Tracking YOUR SUCCESS… SuccessFULL Living!”

To Find Out the “5 Secrets of REALLY Successful People” go to…

The Productivity Coach

P: 0421 210 444

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