Three sure-fire ways to sabotage your new hire

EDITOR’S NOTE:
If you like what you see here, check out the longer version of this article published in Inside Indiana Business.

Are you inadvertently undermining the success of your new hire? Here are three common mistakes employers make in the early stages of onboarding.

1. Fail to prepare work essentials.
   Before your employee sets foot on your grounds, make sure you have everything ready that he needs to perform his job: ID, desk, computer, phone, security codes, email address, system logins, parking pass and so on. A tiny welcome gift is also a nice touch—anything from a note on his desk to a company T-shirt.

2. Keep the new hire’s arrival a secret.
   Make sure you inform the front desk and the new hire’s department of the employee’s start date. Designate someone to meet her in the lobby, and make sure her manager or supervisor is available to spend some time with her the first day.

3. View onboarding as a one-time event.
   According to TTI Success Insights, the onboarding process should last six months. It should be personal, purposeful and focused on setting up your employee for success.

TAKE THE NEXT STEP
To learn more about onboarding or see if you qualify for a free assessment, contact:

Tom Moellering, president
tmoellering@moellering.com
888-906-4111, x302
moellering.com

Let your job talk

Job benchmarking. It’s the best way to get the right people in the right job, whether you’re in the midst of hiring, succession planning or employee development.

The key? Let the job talk.

Imagine, for example, if your job could talk, what talent would it identify as being critical for consistent superior performance? Completing this exercise will help you determine if your candidate has the talent necessary to do the job.

In addition, through job benchmarking, you’ll:

• Define why the position exists
• Identify what really matters in the job
• Discover behaviors, motivators, skills and acumen needed for the job and candidate
• Create a tangible, objective framework for the review process
• Provide a solid foundation for coaching, hiring and onboarding

Laying the foundation for talent management has never been easier. All you have to do is listen.

TAKE THE NEXT STEP
To learn more about benchmarking or see if you qualify for a free assessment, contact:

Tom Moellering, president
tmoellering@moellering.com
888-906-4111, x302
moellering.com

Avoid cloning yourself when hiring

Remember Dolly the Sheep? In 1996, she was the first mammal cloned from an adult cell. Cloning is rare in the animal world, but in the business world—well, it’s all too common.

In fact, one of the top hiring mistakes is to hire someone just like you. That’s because we’re drawn to people who are similar to ourselves. And left to our own subjective methods, we tend to hire people who are just like us.

Assembling a strong team means you need ALL KINDS of the right players, not lots of “Little Dollys” running around.

The next time you hire someone, avoid relying on your gut or intuition. Instead, use assessments to identify the skills and talents you need. The difference is “unbaaaaa-lievable”!

 

TAKE THE NEXT STEP

To learn more about hiring assessments or see if you qualify for a free assessment, contact:

Tom Moellering, president
tmoellering@moellering.com
888-906-4111, x302
moellering.com

 

What’s the big deal about assessments?

Some leaders think assessments are a waste of time and money. We disagree.

Companies that use assessments make better decisions about people and placement—and that always leads to a stronger bottom line.

Assessments provide you with valuable data and insight about an employee, job, team or job candidate. They also help you:

• Ÿ  Hire the right employees for the right positions
• Ÿ  Communicate with your employees
• Ÿ  Increase engagement and interaction
• Ÿ  Increase productivity
• Ÿ  Manage and motivate 
effectively

Don’t take our word about assessments. Experience it yourself. Contact us today to see if you qualify for a free assessment ($300 value).

TAKE THE NEXT STEP
To learn more about assessments or see if you qualify for a free assessment, contact:

Tom Moellering, president
tmoellering@moellering.com
888-906-4111, x302
moellering.com

The Secret You Won’t Learn in Business School

What’s the biggest decision that leaders make? According to Jim Clifton, chairman and CEO, of Gallup, Inc., the answer is something that most business schools don’t teach. It’s who you name manager.

“When you name the wrong person manager, nothing fixes that bad decision,” says Clifton. “No compensation, no benefits – nothing.”

Clifton’s comments appear in the introduction to Gallup’s 2013 State of the American Workplace Report, a study showing only 30% of employees are engaged and inspired at work—and blaming poor managers for the majority of the problem.

So what’s the “state of your workplace”? How are your managers engaging and inspiring your staff? Today’s takeaway is one you don’t have to go to school for. It’s easy. Managers matter.

TAKE THE NEXT STEP
To learn more about helping your managers engage employees or to see if you qualify for a free assessment, contact:

Tom Moellering, president
tmoellering@moellering.com
888-906-4111, x302
moellering.com

Finding & Fixing Performance Potholes

We all know the damage a pothole can inflict upon a vehicle. Just imagine what performance potholes are doing to your company.

The simple truth is no pothole ever filled itself.

In today’s changing and competitive business environment you cannot afford to leave the “potholes” unfilled. Your role as a leader is to initiate and sustain the momentum around performance improvement for your people. It is essential that you equip your leaders with the right information, tools, metrics and actions to fill the performance potholes in the organization.

I suppose you could say that your people have a lot in common with roads. Over time, their deficiencies become more obvious and present greater challenges. In a road the weak points grow into potholes. In employees they develop into lower productivity, missed business goals, squandered opportunities, and ultimately lost revenue.

One of the best methods to fill “potholes” is conducting a 360 survey assessment. The 360 process provides your people with accurate, quantitative information about their capabilities, while making it easier for you to identify their key strengths and development needs. Ratings are collected from multiple perspectives – self, manager, peers, and direct reports. Then, the results are analyzed and reported back in a way which makes it easy to determine which issues are most important.

By using a 360 assessment your organization can quickly and accurately diagnose the strengths and weaknesses of an individual employee in key areas like:

Leadership
• Visioning & Strategic Focus
• Driving For Results
• Building High Performance Teams
• Acquiring & Developing Outstanding People
• Interpersonal Skills
• Leading & Managing Change
• Leading Through Personal Excellence

Management
• Make Things Happen
• Problem Analysis and Decision Making
• Communication Skills
• Interpersonal Skills
• Leadership Skills
• Technical/Functional Expertise
• Leading/Adapting to Change

The result is a real opportunity to develop and grow your people in ways which increase profitability.

Stop hitting performance potholes.

Our 360 process and tools are easy to use, accurate, cost effective and help you to maximize performance and positively add to your bottom line.

Right Talent to Reach The Next Level

By Tom Mollering, VP & Executive Coach
In today’s economy, every business executive, owner, CEO and president should be asking themselves one important question: “Does my company have the talent to take this business to the next level?”

If the answer is no, you probably want to begin looking for people with the right talent, but if the answer is yes, then employee retention should be at the top of your list. With employee retention statistics that prove your best employees may be sitting on your payroll while patiently waiting for the “right” job, you need to be sure that you are managing employee retention with specific individuals in mind and long-term goals in place. After all, 55% of job seekers are currently employed. These employed job seekers may be comprised of your most talented employees.

Employees Are Not All Alike
As a good leader you know the strengths and weaknesses of your employees, but do you know what motivates them? In employee retention studies, it has been found that money is NOT the reason most employees leave a job, which seems contrary to popular belief. In a recent study of over 19,000 job seekers, only 19% said money was the reason they were looking for a new position. Instead, more popular reasons included stress, mismanagement, lack of room for advancement and lack of employee development.

In order to effectively manage employee retention, it is important to determine the core values of each individual. What drives them to take action? What keeps them engaged and motivated? What needs do they have that should be fulfilled on the job?

Employee Retention Must Fit Your Corporate Goals
Developing an employee retention strategy that is specific to each individual must start with an in-depth look at your company’s long-term goals and what it needs for success. It may be helpful to answer the following questions:
• What is the next level?
• What skills do we need to get there?
• Who has those skills and what skills are missing in the company?
While it is not an easy task, it is an important step in the process of creating an employee retention strategy that will help you meet your long-term goals. Perhaps you will find that job roles should be re-organized, skills of certain employees are better utilized in another way, or certain employees are key to future success. Once you have determined how your workforce needs to adapt to meet company goals, you can implement an employee retention strategy that ensures your best talent is there to help you reach the top.