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With a less than shining economy, it is more important than ever to make your dollar stretch as far as it can. Beyond going green and trading hardcopy versions of documents for digital ones, how can your company get the most bang for its buck? We suggest stepping up efficiency starting with developing your organization’s most valuable asset, its employees.

It’s on every businessman’s mind, “Will the return be a higher value than the investment?” Not one supervisor would purchase a worn-out, problems-included, less beneficial piece of equipment when he has an opportunity for an extremely efficient competitor’s version for the same price. So why would any supervisor employ a C player when he could benefit so much more from an A player? Some don’t even realize that their employees are on the lower end of the performance scale. Organizations that hire solely based on interviews and resumés are missing out on the bigger picture: this potential employee might have experience and education, but does he fit well with the job and the culture of the company? Behavior, motivators and values assessments along with job matching will answer these questions and ensure that the organization is getting the most out of its investment on its most valuable (and most likely expensive) asset.

The time and effort invested to turn your C teams into A teams is well worth it. Both employers and managers may be concerned regarding an adverse effect on their productivity when they take time from daily activities for assessment surveys, and participation in professional development and job matching sessions. However, they can rest assured that this investment in defining jobs in terms of behavior, rewards and attributes will result in the ability to better match employees with jobs. When a person is well matched, instead of the stress of struggling to keep up, the employee’s energy flows into building momentum on the job, and he enjoys an experience of success. Productivity goes up and labor costs come down because there is a higher level of performance requiring fewer staff members. Not only that, but employees who like their jobs take fewer sick days and tend to show up on time because they want to come to work.

When thinking about the return on investing in A players, it is also important to look at the downfalls of keeping your C players. Low performers have a poor quality of output for several reasons, some of which can be attributed to their lack of engagement to the job because they are not well matched in definable terms of behavior, rewards or attributes. It is undeniable that when an employee isn’t engaged, their productivity suffers. But there is also a wider cost to the organization of lost opportunity. There are untold business benefits that the person could have contributed if their energy and creativity were flowing into their work. Imagine an employee who does not fit well with his key accountabilities. This employee is generally the one standing at the water cooler or surfing the Internet to entertain himself. And when that person goes beyond being disengaged to becoming negative, the effect on the organization can be devastating because the potential for teams to collaborate effectively is lost.

While it might seem like a time consuming effort to transform your C teams into A teams, the benefits of top performers in your organization heavily outweigh the steps it takes to get those winning teams in order. Still concerned about your ROI? Let’s break it down. What is being invested? Time and effort to distinguish which employees are top performers and which need some guidance. After identifying your two groups, time will need to be spent developing C players into A players. Now let’s review the return for your organization. When more top performers are present, there will be a higher level of efficiency, which means greater productivity and in turn an increase in profits. Those are the monetary advantages, but there are other benefits that may be overlooked. Top performers are such because they have an excellent job match. This suggests the employee is happy doing their job. An office full of content employees means an office with great morale, leading to positive talk about the organization and a stronger brand. In short, the benefits from having A players in the organization is unparalleled to improvements made on other assets.

Want to know more about ROI or understanding the cost of a C team? Don’t forget to take a look at TTI’s white papers, ROI: Big Results in a Small Growth Economy and Understanding the Cost of a C- Team. E-mail us at hireMAX and we will send you a copy. info@hiremax.com
May 16, 2011 TTI Performance Systems

Motivating employees can be one of your biggest challenges as an employer, but learning how to inspire each individual — especially those with quirky personalities — is the key to a successful organization.

Whether it’s a raise, a promotion or simply the chance to work on a new project, all people are motivated differently, that is undeniable. People have different priorities in the workplace, the intern is hungry for experience, the young sales rep trying to meet goals for that juicy bonus, the VP struggling to balance home and work life.

Of course, money is the main reason we all get up to go to work in the morning, but even motivational theories such as Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs stemming back to the early 1900′s outline how so many other factors come into play in regards to motivating people. Unless you know your workers’ differences, the music they make together may sound more like a cacophony than a symphony.

Thankfully, modern research found six different segments in the American workplace. All workplaces, especially large ones, will likely employ some of each type of worker. The list includes:

1. Fair & Square Traditionalists - who want their work to provide stability & a secure future. Motivate them by;
- Asking for and giving them feedback
- Talking to them frankly
- Discussing the company mission and their role in making it happen

2. Accomplished Contributors - who prize team-work. Motivate them by;
- Nudging them toward team leadership roles
- Giving them specific measurements of their success and growth
- Asking them what they want to do next

3. Stalled Survivors -who see work as work, not life. Motivate them by;
- Focusing on work-life balance and what to do when one is out of kilter
- Putting them on teams that provide support, empathy and role models
- Helping them plan for their career future

4. Demanding Disconnects, your least satisfied workers. Motivate them by;
- Giving them non-routine tasks
- Discovering their strengths to use on the job
- Paying attention to their ideas

5. Maverick Morphers are enthusiastic and like trying new things. Motivate them by;
- Providing a congenial work environment
- Letting them know what’s going on
- Discussing their progress

6. Self-Empowered Innovators like work for the sake of work. Motivate them by:
- Giving them responsibilities that allow for learning and growth
- Ridding their path of obstacles
- Allowing them to stretch the company’s vision

Whether a leader, manager or supervisor, the key to motivating employees is to understand what drives them. We know that in many large organizations you may not have time to go through the above list when analyzing each employee. Therefore, our recommendation is simple: assessments.

Employee assessments will provide you with insight that could lead to higher productivity and job satisfaction throughout your organization. The information collected from assessments provides company leaders with perspective on the current reality in their organization’s workplace and highlights areas of concern affecting the total workplace experience.

With emerging trends and new technology today, leading an organization is no simple task. Ancient motivational theories such as Maslow’s will not suffice. Think of managing today as trying to put together a jigsaw puzzle with millions of tiny pieces. You cannot force the pieces together; you must examine each one to see where each fits in the picture. Your goal is not to finish the puzzle, because it is ever-changing; your goal is to keep putting the pieces where they fit.

If you need to help your managers better motivate their people and team, we suggest test driving our Management/Staff assessment – 100% risk free!.

Dr. James M. Wendling a Positive Moment Newsletter 12/8/2011

With the current times, each of us needs to understand the magnitude of social and economic change in the world. In the past, change in business and social life was incremental and a set of personal strategies for achieving excellence was not required. Today, in the knowledge-based world, where change is the rule, a set of personal strategies is essential for success, even survival.

Never again will you be able to go to your place of business on autopilot, comfortable and secure that the organization, state or government will provide for and look after you. You must look in the mirror when you ask who is responsible for your success or failure. You must become a lifelong learner and leader, for to be a follower is to fall hopelessly behind the pace of progress. The power brokers in the new global arena will be the knowledge facilitators. Ignorance will be even more the tyrant and enslaver than in the past.

As you look in the mirror to see the 21st Century you, there will also be another image standing beside you. It is your competition. Your competition, from now on, will be a hungry immigrant with a wireless, hand-held, digital assistant. Hungry for food, hungry for a home, for a new car, for security, for a college education. Hungry for knowledge. Smart, quick thinking, skilled and willing to do anything necessary to be competitive in the world marketplace. Working long hours and Saturdays, staying open later, serving customers better and more cheerfully.

To be a player in the 21st Century you have to be willing to give more in service than you receive in payment. These are the new rules in the game of life. These are the actions you must take to be a leader and a winner in your personal and professional life. By mastering these profoundly simple action steps, you will be positioned to be a change master in the new century.

Action Step Number One – Consider Yourself Self-Employed, But Be a Team Player. What this means is that you are your own Chief Executive Officer of your future. Start thinking of yourself as a service company with a single employee. You’re a small company that puts your services to work for a larger company. Tomorrow you may sell those services to a different organization, but that doesn’t mean you’re any less loyal to your current employer. Taking responsibility for yourself in this way does mean that you never equate your personal long-term interests with your employer’s.

The first idea is resolving not to suffer the fate of those who lost their jobs and found their skills were obsolete. The second is to begin immediately the process of protecting yourself against that possibility – by becoming proactive instead of reactive.

Ask yourself these questions:
How vulnerable am I? What trends must I watch? What information must I gain? What knowledge do I lack?

Again, think of yourself as a company. Set up a training department in your mind and make certain your top employee is updating his or her skills. Make sure you have your own private pension plan, knowing that you are responsible for your own financial security.

Entrusting the government or an employer, other than yourself, with your retirement income is like hiring a compulsive gambler as your accountant.

You’re the CEO of your daily life who must have the vision to set your goals and allocate your resources. The mindset of being responsible for your own future used to be crucial only to the self-employed, but it has become essential for us all. Today’s typical employees are no longer one-career people. Most will have five separate careers in their lifetimes. Remember, your competition is a hungry immigrant with a laptop. Action Step Number One is to consider yourself to be self-employed, but be a team player.

Action Step Number Two – Be Flexible in the Face of Daily Surprises. We live in a time-starved, overstressed, violent society. Much of our over-reaction to what happens to us every day is a result of our self-indulgent value system, where we blame others for our problems, look to organizations or the government for our solutions, thirst for immediate sensual gratification and believe we should have privileges without responsibilities. This condition is manifested in the high crime rate and in the increase in violence in the work place where employees blame their managers for threatening their security.

I have learned how to be flexible in the face of daily surprises, which is one of the most important action traits for a leader. I really haven’t been angry for about 17 years. During that time, no one has tried to physically harm me or someone close to me. I’ve learned to adapt to stress in life and reserve my fear or anger for imminently physically dangerous situations. I rarely, if ever, get upset with what people say, do or don’t do, even if it inconveniences me. I do react emotionally when I see someone physically or emotionally abusing or victimizing another. But I’ve learned not to sweat the small stuff.

by Denis Waitley
The Wendling Group Newsletter 11/15/11

Initiate Change from the Bottom (or Middle) Up

Actually, I’m describing characteristics of a democratic workplace, and some of today’s most successful companies — such as Great Harvest Bread Company, Whole Foods, Linden Lab and Southwest Airlines — already operate like this. They realize it’s a powerful way to attract and retain top talent, stimulate innovation and boost the bottom line.

Admittedly, organizational democracy usually begins at the top. But what about those of us who are junior or midlevel employees working in companies that aren’t democratic? Can you bring democracy to your workplace, too? You may not have the power (yet) to turn your company democratic overnight, but there are some things you can do now to start creating change.

10 Principles for a Democratic Workplace
After a decade of research, here are the 10 principles I’ve discovered that all democratic companies practice, along with ideas for how you can implement them in your organization.

1. Get Naked
Be as authentic, open and as transparent as possible. In your next meeting, don’t have a “hidden agenda.” Be open and share what you might otherwise keep secret. Watch how it helps build trust with others.

2. Have a Conversation
Don’t perpetuate the dysfunctional silence that characterizes most companies. Invite people to engage in a dialogue about the issues that matter.

3. Loathe Rankism
Treat others fairly and with dignity. Forget the high school clique mentality of treating people like “some bodies” or “nobodies.”

4. Understand the Meaning of Life
Understand what your purpose and vision is for your life and make sure it’s aligned with the work you are doing. If it’s not, think about changing or finding a new job.

5. Point Fingers
Not in a blaming way, in a liberating way. Get crystal clear about who is responsible for what and then hold yourself and others accountable.

6. The Individual Is as Important as the Whole
Each person has unique gifts. Overcome the feeling of being a cog in the machine by recognizing the value each person plays in achieving collective goals.

7. One Size Doesn’t Fit All
Do what you can to make sure you and your colleagues have a choice regarding the kind of work you do and the schedule you work. Choices keep people from feeling trapped.

8. Have Backbone
Integrity is the name of the game, so make sure all work is done ethically. Freedom takes discipline.

9. Be Vain
Commit yourself to looking in the mirror each day and asking, “How can I be better?” Reflection leads to improvements that help you and your company perform on a whole new level.

10. Say No to Pyramid Schemes
Although there are times where we all want to pull a power-trip, don’t. Do what you can to empower your colleagues by distributing power rather than hoarding it.
Get a buddy, start practicing these principles and watch the results. The best way to win at work is to create an environment in which everyone can thrive. Find a way to make progress in a democratic direction each day, and your workplace will never be the same again.

By Traci Fenton – The Wendling Group A Positive Moment Newsletter 11/10/11

Think about your last day at work before you went on your most recent vacation. Didn’t you get as much done in that day as you would normally get done in two, three, or even four days? Have you ever considered how this could be used to motivate employees? Look at what Zig says you probably do on the day before your vacation:

Two nights before your vacation, you likely sat down with a piece of paper and listed all of the things that had to get finished the following day – your gottas (“I gotta do this and I gotta…”). Then, you committed to completing them all before you left the office the next day. These principles are essential to motivate employees.

On the morning of the day before your vacation, you arrived at the office on time -maybe even early. But you didn’t head for the coffee machine. No, you headed straight for the first gotta on your list (the sign of a motivated employee). You probably also did things out of order. You took your least favorite, most distasteful task on your list and got it out of the way quickly, instead of having it hanging overhead all day long (the way you normally would). With that tough one out of the way, you were feeling pretty good, and so you tore into the next task on your list, and then the next one after that. When someone came to chat about last night’s game, you politely but firmly informed that person that you were just too busy – and then you got back to business.

As you completed each of your gottas, you felt your energy rising, so that by halfway through the day you were buzzing with a sense of accomplishment that drove your enthusiasm level ever higher. Your obviously energized and enthusiastic demeanor began to motivate employees and colleagues around you. They started to ramp up their efforts and became similarly enthusiastic. The atmosphere in the office got a little extra spark, and this lifted you even further. At the end of the day, you had all of your gottas completed. Let’s have a look at the principles behind this focus, and how you apply it to your employees’ performance and implement it in your employee development program.

First, Create a Vision
When your employee’s vision gets knocked offline by events around him, he’s like a $10 billion guided missile without a target. He can fly around in circles looking pretty impressive, but eventually he’s going to run out of fuel and crash and burn. Motivate employees in an organized way that will make them more productive. Help him envision his target clearly in his head and then paint it in front of him every day so that you are maximizing productivity.

Second, Formulate a Set of Goals
Having a great vision is useless unless your employee formulates clear, achievable goals to ensure that his vision becomes reality. He must plot a course to take him from where he is now to a target with checkpoints along the way that let him know when he has gone off course. Successful employee motivation is rooted in meaningful goal setting.

Third, Make a Commitment
This is the most common stumbling block; even if its victims are used to creating compelling visions and formulating achievable goals, they fail to commit. If he has ever made a New Year’s resolution he failed to complete, he knows what happens to plans that aren’t backed by commitment. If there’s no commitment, then his vision simply isn’t compelling enough. Otherwise, the commitment naturally would follow. He knows that his vision is right when it has the same sense of urgency. A real commitment will immediately motivate the employee to get him off the ground and in search of his target. Before he spends one more day out of focus, motivate the employee to stop and look carefully at his goals.

The Wendling Group – A Positive Moment Newsletter 9/29/1

Decide What You Stand For

What are your values? What do you stand for? What are the organizing principles of your life? What are your core beliefs? What virtues do you aspire to, and hold in high regard when you see them demonstrated by others? What will you not stand for? What would you sacrifice for, suffer for, and even die for? These are extremely important questions that are only asked by about three percent of the population, and that small minority tends to be the movers and shakers in every society. What are your values? What do you stand for? What are the organizing principles of your life? What are your core beliefs? What virtues do you aspire to, and hold in high regard when you see them demonstrated by others? What will you not stand for? What would you sacrifice for, suffer for, and even die for? These are extremely important questions that are only asked by about three percent of the population, and that small minority tends to be the movers and shakers in every society.

Write Out Your Key Values
When I first began this values clarification exercise some years ago, I wrote out a list of 163 qualities that I aspired to. I think I eventually came up with every virtue, value or positive descriptive adjective that referred to personality and character in the dictionary. And I agreed with all of them. I felt that they were all important and I wanted to incorporate every single one of them into my character.

Focus on Very Few Core Beliefs�
But then reality sets in. I realized that it is very hard to learn even one new quality, or to change even one thing about myself, let alone dozens of things. So I scaled down my ambitions and began narrowing the values down to a small number that I could manage and work with. Once I had settled on about five core beliefs, I was then able to get to work on myself and start making some progress in character development.

Select Your Five Key Values
You should do the same. You should write down the five values that you feel are the most important for you to live by. Once you have those five values, you then organize them in order of priority. Which is the most important value in your hierarchy of values? Which would be second? Which would be third, and so on?

Learn To Make Better Decisions
Every choice or decision you make is based on your values. Whenever you decide between alternatives, you invariably choose the alternative that you value the most. Because you can only do one thing at a time, everything you do is a demonstration of what you consider to be the most important at that moment. Therefore, organizing your values in an order of priority is the starting point of personal strategic planning. It is only when you are clear about what you value, and in what order, that you are capable of planning and organizing the other activities of your life.

Action Exercises
Here are two things you can do immediately to put these ideas into action:

First, clarify your core beliefs and your unifying principles. Write them down and compare your life today with the values that are really important to you. How are you doing?

Second, organize your values in order of their importance to you. Which of your values is most important? Which is second? And so on. Do your current choices reflect this order of values?

 by Brian Tracy    From A Positive Moment   2/3/2011   The Wendling Group

No one intentionally wastes their own time, money or opportunities. Yet it’s common knowledge that a lot of new gym memberships will languish unused, despite the spectacular success stories of those who make good use of them. For many people, good intentions are overwhelmed in the day-to-day flow of activities and information, and the result is that something with a tremendous potential for success gets lost in the shuffle.

We would never willingly let this happen in our business. But we know that from social networking options and innovative technology products to the latest marketing tools, somewhere in the flow of new information we encounter every day there are great business ideas that we could be taking advantage of. Sooner or later, we’ll read that they were the key to a business success, and we’d prefer that the success be in our business.

The resource that could be the key to a new growth phase for your business may have already crossed your radar recently. When you think about increasing productivity and profits in the coming year, consider the resources you have access to but haven’t taken advantage of yet. Are there products and services that you’ve been telling yourself you will investigate further when you have time? A terrific opportunity for building your business may be waiting for your attention.

If you have a good working relationship with someone who has been suggesting that you consider a new product or service, it’s time to follow up. Your prospects for the coming year go up exponentially when you build on previous successes and relationships of trust.

“If we did all the things we are capable of doing, we would literally astonish ourselves.”
Thomas Edison

People—whether they are the hidden talents of those already in your ranks or the ones you have yet to hire—are at the top of the list of resources you can’t afford to miss out on. When you make the most of the resources you’ve got, you make this a stand out year for your organization.

TTI People Energizing People Newsletter Jan 14, 2011

How often do you find yourself looking back? When you do look back is it with regret or is it with a sense of achievement? We’re often too busy looking forward, focused on what we want; on the vision of how we want things to be instead.

Vision is a great thing. It calls us forward. But, comparing yourself to your vision can be discouraging. You tend to only see what is missing, how far you still have to go. If you never get to feel good about what you’ve already achieved, you spend your whole time feeling like you’re ‘not enough’.

So let me ask you this…Do you FEEL successful? Or are you not quite there yet? I see a lot of people that live trapped by the past, who feel they don’t measure up to the future self they’ve envisioned.

The most successful people I know are the opposite. They HAVE a vision for their future, but COMPARE themselves to their past. The vision gives them direction – and recognizing how far they’ve come gives them a sense of success, pride and momentum. They also know how to take the opportunities that are right there in the present!

Are you following?

It’s a New Year, and I invite you to look at how far you have travelled in the year that was. Praise your progress, not perfection. My challenge for you in 2011 is to reflect on your 2010 – and to slow down to the now.

How far have you come?

Take Action Now:

List 10 achievements, 10 magic moments (big and small) from this past year. For each one, what is it about that moment that makes you feel so fulfilled? Are you surprised at how much headway you made? Were those things you rated highest different to what you expected?

Now let’s make 2011 your best year yet… Here’s how!

Step 1: Create a vision for 2011. Lock that vision in with a mental film of your aspirations for the year ahead. Make your ‘film’ as real as possible, add as much colour, sound, smells and feeling as you can, let your imagination run wild. Before you can achieve something you must conceive it first. If you’ve got goose bumps then you achieved step one. If you’re having problems with this step then see below I have a solution for you.

Step 2: Now I want you to consider what you need to achieve in 2011, to make that vision a reality. Once you’ve listed your achievements then break them down into goals and smaller steps. Then you need to add deadlines.

Step 3: We make New Year resolutions with the best of intentions every year. For the most part by March they’re history. Imagine this time next year; you’ve experienced the best, most rewarding year ever. As you list your 10 magic moments, you are overcome with a sense of achievement and accomplishment. You have come so far, and you look forward to 2012 as an even better year. You’re so grateful that you invested in you and signed up for those focus coaching sessions. Thirty minutes well spent each month, focused on making your goals stick – and for such a small investment. What’s more you have learned how to recognize and implement the changes that matter, the ones that achieve your desired results.

Lee Strauss   Veranovia Success News    January 2011