Basic Common Sense in Generating Smiles Through-out Your Workforce

As an Executive Recruiter, Trainer, and Hiring Process Consultant, I have the privilege of visiting over 50 companies a year and getting to know their executive and managerial teams. I’ve been doing this for over 25 years.

That’s a lot of companies.

Is Your Culture De-Motivating?

I am dumbfounded why so many company environments and cultures are de-motivating. Many company environments and cultures could be described as painful, suffocating, soul crushing and (insert here any word or phrase that conveys negativity).

These company executives then ask me why they are having so much difficulty in attracting and keeping great talent at every level. Duh!

It doesn’t have to be that way. We can climb out of the pit of a dysfunctional and de-motivating culture. It starts with the people who are in charge of managing others in your company.

I was reading one of the blogs we’ve identified as part of our best practice collection on workplace issues, The Smartblog on Workforce.

A guest post caught my eye talking about such fundamental basics in motivation that I wanted to slap my forehead.

Fundamental Elements of Motivating Employees

Sometimes, companies make the process of motivating employees, engaging employees, hiring and retaining great employees – for too complex and difficult.

The guest author was Arne Nathan, who publishes his own blog titled “The Arte of Motivation“.

Let me summarize a few key points that Arne made in his guest post.

• Welcome Employees Every Day
• Follow the Golden Rule
• Explain “why”
• Catch People Doing Things Right
• Ask Questions and Really Listen to the Answers
• Be Fair These simple guidelines or elements could transform your culture. Some of my clients instill these behaviors in their managers and executives, embed these core motivating concepts in the fabric of their culture.

Tough Questions Regarding the Motivation of Your Employees

Here are 6 tough questions that might cause you to lose a few hours a sleep. Are you asking these questions in your company? Is one of your key executives asking these questions? If no one is asking the questions, your culture might be headed in the wrong direction?

1. Are your managers and executives required to demonstrate competency in a comparable list to the one described above?
2. Do you train your managers and executives in how to motivate, such as applying the golden rule, or teaching them to explain the “why” of their directions/requests?
3. What techniques do you use to teach managers and executives to catch employees doing things right?
4. Listening is one of the most important skills a manager or executive can possess. Do you continually train around deep listening skills?
5. If you did a 360 review, would your managers and executives get high marks for motivating or would they be tagged as de-motivating?
6. When was the last time you gave your culture/environment a check-up from the neck up? Is it possible that there is a disconnect between how you perceive the culture and how your rank-and-file perceive it?

Implications for a De-motivating Culture and Next Steps

I’ve been crying “wolf” for sometime about the coming wave of turnover most companies are about to face as the job market begins to reverse itself from an employer’s market to a candidate’s market. We’ve got about 6-12 months before the shift occurs.

Are you ready for some of your best talent to bolt once more jobs start to open up? Now might be the time to revamp your culture and environment so that you can emerge from the recession with a highly motivated workforce.

Starting right now – what’s your first step?

• Shoot me a note or fill out our contact form and ask for one of our audio programs on motivating and engaging your workforce.
• If you’re a member of Vistage or TEC, have your Chair book our “You’re the Person I Want to KEEP!” Speaker Program.
• Review the wealth of information in the Vistage Library on Culture, Motivation, and Employee Engagement.
• Create an action plan to improve one dysfunctional element of your culture.
• Take our Culture Survey.
• Conduct a 360 degree review of your management team or do a employee satisfaction survey.
• Join our LinkedIn Discussion Group for Hiring and Retaining Top Talent and benchmark yourself against some of the processes, tools, and methods other companies are using to motivate and engage their employees. These are but a few of the hundreds of things you can start to do to create a motivational foundation within your company to begin to create a passionate and engaged workforce.

To read the full article by Arne Nathan, click the following link:

How good managers keep their workers smiling | SmartBlog on Workforce

Barry Deutsch

P.S. Download our FREE Culture Assessment to discover what your culture says about your company – and your ability to hire and retain top talent (There’s a little humor built into the assessment).

Your Hiring Process Shouldn’t Resemble A Rodney Dangerfield Comedy Skit

We all know the comedian’s most famous line : “I get no respect.”

Many candidates might say the same thing about the way they are treated in the hiring process by hiring managers and human resource professionals.

I recently wrote on our Vistage Leadership Community Blog an article about candidate respect. Our Vistage Leadership Community Blog is where we highlight some of the very best bloggers, writers, and experts on the Web regarding Management and Leadership, particularly those specializing in Hiring, Human Resources, and Recruiting.

Many of you might know that Brad and I are two of the most popular speakers and resources for the Vistage/TEC Community, which focuses on improving the lives and effectiveness of their members and their companies. You can learn more about Vistage/TEC by checking out their amazing site by clicking here (don’t forget to read my latest blog posting on their homepage in the Buzz Blog).

Why is Candidate Respect Important?

I came across this great post on candidate respect on the About.com Human Resources site.

The primary point that the blog author, Susan Heathfield,  makes in her post, is that candidates deserve a response and they deserve the right to know where they stand in your hiring process. They especially deserve the right to know on a timely basis if you reject them.

She claims — and I agree 100% — that the candidates you reject deserve the same courtesy of notification as the candidates to whom you are offering the job. Communication should be respectful, courteous, empathetic, and responsive.

In thousands of conversations with candidates, we have discovered a general level of dismay, anger, and frustration with most human resource departments and hiring managers. Susan sums it up best by stating:

Among job searching candidates currently, their biggest complaint is the disrespect with which they are treated by HR offices. Unfortunately, no communication appears to be the norm.

This issue of candidates NOT getting enough respect from a company during the hiring process piqued my interest so strongly that I’m going to run a survey of how candidates are either respected/NOT respected during the hiring process. I’ll run the survey through our LinkedIn Discussion Job Search Discussion Group.

Here Are Some Painful Questions About Your Hiring Process:

Do you have a procedure or policy to ensure that candidates are treated with respect in your hiring process – even those whom you reject?

Has every one of your hiring managers and human resource professionals been trained in how to legally and respectfully reject a candidate?

Do you have a guideline or checklist of steps in how to treat candidates at various decision points in your hiring process?

Do you solicit feedback from candidates about how they felt they were treated in your hiring process?

Do you monitor the dialogue of candidates on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and other social media/networking sites as they post on-line about their experiences with your company through your hiring process?

Are you creating a positive vibe about your company and brand through your treatment of candidates in the hiring process – OR – are you damaging your company’s reputation and brand image due to negative experiences.

The Implications of Mistreating Candidates For Your Open Positions

In over a 1000 searches stretching over the last quarter of a century, and in the research preparation to write our popular book on hiring, You’re NOT the Person I Hired, we found that companies can significantly improve their local image as a desired employer or they can damage their reputation to the point that everyone knows to stay away.

Providing a timely and respectful communication to candidates you reject in the hiring process is one small element of an overall approach to NOT mistreating candidates. Respecting candidates include:

How you greet them when they arrive for the interview

Offering a glass of water/cup of coffee

Not subjecting them to an inquisition or interrogation during the interview

Explaining the interview process and steps

Ending the interview on a upbeat note by sharing a positive factual comment (no matter how deep you have to go to find one). VERY IMPORTANT step! Not ending the interview by saying something positive will lead the candidate to leave the interview and justify why they don’t want to work at your company (by the way – they’ll be sure to tell everyone they know why your company is NOT a good place to work).

What are you going to do to ensure your hiring process does NOT mistreat candidates?

To read the entire article on candidate respect from About.Com’s Human Resources Blog, click the following link:

Candidates Deserve Respectful Communication

Barry Deutsch

P.S. Have you given your hiring process a check-up recently? Download our 8- Point Assessment to determine if your hiring process is capable of hiring top talent consistently at all levels by clicking this link.

photo courtesy of ibtrav