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Jumat, 15 Oktober 2010

Coaching for Improved Performance Avoiding Disciplinary Action Part II

From Robin Nitschke

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Coaching Approach in Practice

Let me give you an example of the effectiveness of this technique in a non-performance situation.

Recently the manager of one of our departments told me he couldn't work with a member of his staff because she didn't do anything she was told and he didn't want to "have to write everything down for her." Instead of approaching this from a disciplinary perspective, I used the coaching feed back technique and set the situation up so that she asked me for help, rather than me forcing the help upon her.

Broadly speaking this process involves three parts: Commendation, Recommendation, and Commendation:

Commendation:

First, commend the employee on any significant duty that has been carried out well - this will help set the tone of the meeting and help diffuse any hostility. Be careful, though, not to sound patronizing.

Recommendation:

Get straight to the point. Say, "The purpose of this meeting is to ____" or, "I want to spend some time discussing with you the situation around this issue."
State why you are having this conversation. Say, "I have a concern about ____" or, "A problem has occurred in this area."
Describe the behavior causing the problem. Say, "I noticed that you ____" or, "When I was told that you made this decision, I looked into it and discovered this result." (Provide evidence, if necessary. Never, ever try to coach or discipline on hear-say. Also, during the discussion, make sure you focus on behaviour, and never on personalities.)
Explain the consequences of this behaviour. "The customer would see your behaviour as uncaring." Or, "The effect of your lateness caused your workmates to ____."
Tell how this behavior makes you feel."When you behave in this way, I feel _____."
Ask for the individual's view. "But that's how I see it; what's your view of the situation?"
Ask her to assess her own behavior. "How do you think he felt when you ____?"
Review the employee's job competency requirements. As an example, check his understanding of his job description to ensure that you both have the same expectations of the task or duty.
Ask the person how she will correct her behavior and how she can convince you she will do it. Ask, "What's getting in the way for you?" Or, "How confident are you that you can change?" Or, "What can you do to convince me that you will change this behavior?"
Ask the employee to say, in his own words, what specifically he will do to change his behavior. "Say in your own words what you will do differently as a result of this discussion? What will the outcome that I can anticipate look like if you are successful in making the changes? (In this way you are effectively empowering the employee to change himself. By approaching the change in this way, the employee is setting his own standards by which he will assess his own behavior.)
Decide on the actions that the employee will take. "Let's both agree, then, that you will do the following and we'll review the situation in three months."
Summarize your agreements. "To recap, you said you will do the following, and I will do this."

The manager had written the employee off as totally lazy and stupid, a real hopeless case. When I got to number nine above, I suddenly realized that she was not lazy or delinquent - far from it. She just learns things differently than most of us. I discovered that she understands everything in a visual way, so telling her what to do was ineffective. What was required from us was a checklist, so we made a checklist and the difference was truly amazing. She's now a very motivated and conscientious employee.

Commendation:

Finish with another positive comment. In my view, it is vital to end the conversation on a positive note because the last thing said is what is remembered the longest. Dignity is everything. If you destroy this, you undermine the employee's self-confidence which will reduce her commitment to change and create hostility and general apathy. While the employee still feels valued, she will want to change. If the employee feels under valued she just won't care.

That's basically the structure for feedback we use for coaching employees. With the exception of totally defiant employees, it really does work.

I don't discipline my staff. I coach them in a way that makes them aware of the consequences of their actions, allowing them to tell me what they will do to change their behavior. In this way I am "empowering" them with the responsibility of changing their own behavior and this makes them feel directly accountable and involved with the situation, the problems and outcomes. This feeling of involvement makes them committed to the change required and, almost without fail, will result in no loss of dignity, a higher level of motivation and improved performance.

Coaching for Improved Performance Avoiding Disciplinary Action

From Robin Nitschke

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Avoiding Disciplinary Action

Executive Summary: Looking for a step-by-step coaching approach you can use to help an employee improve his work performance? This approach avoids the need for discipline and produces great results.

Since Robin submitted this article for publication, I asked two managers in one of my client companies to use his approach in talking with several employees who needed to improve their performance. The meetings were positive and I believe we will see their performance improve within the ninety day agreement. Both managers were very comfortable using Robin's recommended approach.

Why don't you decide to try it, too? You'll be happy you did. (Executive Summary by Susan Heathfield)

I've always regarded problems as opportunities to do better, gain experience, and learn more, just to be a little bit smarter and perhaps "street wise" on how to handle life issues and situations. After all, we learn best, not by being taught and not by studying or reading, but by experiencing and then reflecting on what we did and what happened and then drawing conclusions and experimenting.

As a coach, I've practiced this method with considerable success. If we don't learn from the past, we are doomed to repeat the same mistakes and have the same problems over and over again. Then, we'll never grow and develop as a person; we'll effectively stagnate both emotionally and intellectually.

Kolb's Learning Cycle Expanded

In my coaching I have advocated and expanded David Kolb's Learning Cycle:

Life gives us "gifts" in the form of opportunities to have EXPERIENCES.
Coaching provides the opportunity to get FEEDBACK from these experiences - this is achieved by questioning and clarifying.
Further probing and questioning creates insights and common themes which lead to the learner REFLECTING on the experiences, the action that was taken and the consequences of this action.
From these insights and personal discoveries, CONCLUSIONS are drawn that, if sufficiently powerful, can relate back to other current or past situations.
The valuable lessons learned from this exercise are then applied to future situations in the form of EXPERIMENTS.
From these experiments, EXPERIENCES are provided as well as further opportunities to learn more and the cycle goes around again.

I have found that Kolb's learning cycle becomes so much more effective when approached from a coaching perspective. It incorporates the "empowerment causes involvement which causes commitment which results in increased performance" coaching technique with the "commend, recommend, commend" Toastmaster principle.

Robin Nitschke is a Certified Career, Business and Life Coach. Robin has had 22 years in various management roles where he has been involved with training and motivating people to achieve their potential. He has worked with both large and small businesses, managing all aspects of human resources, training, management development, marketing and customer service departments. The enthusiasm, dedication and passion he brings to coaching, inspires, motivates and empowers people to achieve their life long goals.

As a professional, certified coach, Robin is committed to helping you identify what is really important in your life, guiding you to discover hidden opportunities, helping you set and achieve challenging and inspiring goals, and aiding your journey to be the person you really want to be.

Employee of the Month Recognition

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Ban Employee of the Month Recognition

The designation, Employee of the Month, is an organization’s positive effort to recognize an employee’s achievements and contributions. Employee of the Month is an organizational recognition that companies have used - both successfully - and unsuccessfully - for years.

In some organizations, Employee of the Month recognition is a joke, a popularity or take-turns contest for management-fawning employees. In others, Employee of the Month is a cherished form of recognition.

My most important concern with Employee of the Month recognition is that employers will believe their job of creating a motivating, rewarding work environment for employees is complete with this award. Employee of the Month recognition is not a substitute for day-to-day positive recognition, reasonable pay and benefits, company sponsored activities and events, and an environment of appreciation.

With so many opportunities available to provide employee recognition, what employees want from work, why offer an Employee of the Month award with its inherent problems?

Problems With Employee of the Month Recognition

The problems with designating an Employee of the Month rest with the usual implementation. But, even if the implementation process is improved, the award is employee unfriendly and fails to accomplish the goals of employee recognition. Ban Employee of the Month awards because Employee of the Month, as a form of employee recognition, is not recommended for these reasons.

Publicized criteria for selection as Employee of the Month is most frequently non-existent. The employee who is recognized as Employee of the Month rarely knows why he or she was selected. Lacking criteria, other employees find the selection process an unmotivating fog. In any selection process, stated criteria, most often measurable, is key to employee understanding of the award.

For an employee to become Employee of the Month, he or she should have accomplished or exhibited the stated criteria so all employees are clear about why this individual was selected. Most organizations fail to establish measurable and recognizable criteria. The Employee of the Month selection is not transparent, so it fails in its goals for employee motivation and retention.

In these organizations, jokes about brown nosing and “must be your turn” are commonplace. They diminish the recognition power of the designation as Employee of the Month.

The second reason is even more powerful. If a number of employees accomplish or exhibit the stated criteria, each of the employees deserves the award. Selecting one employee turns the recognition into management’s opinion, once again. This defeats the purpose of the criteria. Provide the award for each employee who accomplishes what it takes to achieve Employee of the Month recognition. Anything else defeats your purpose.

Combat accusations about a lack of transparency and fairness; avoid claims of favoritism, one of the top ten employee complaints about workplaces. Find more motivational forms of recognition than Employee of the Month. Ban Employee of the Month recognition.

Is Distance Learning Right for You?

By Jamie Littlefield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Find Out if You Have the Five Qualities of Successful Distance Learners

Before you enroll to take classes through an online school, check to make sure distance learning is really right for you. Earning a degree online can be an enjoyable and rewarding experience. But, distance education is not for everyone. While some people thrive on the independence and freedom offered through such classes, others find themselves regretting their decision and wishing they had enrolled at a traditional school instead.

Successful and happy distance learners have a few characteristics in common. Compare yourself to the following list to determine whether or not online classes are a good fit for your personality and habits.

1. Successful distance learners do just as well, if not better, without people looking over their shoulders.

2. Successful distance learners never (or at least rarely) procrastinate.

3. Successful distance learners have good reading comprehension skills.

4. Successful distance learners can resist constant distractions.

5. Successful distance learners feel alright about missing the social elements of traditional schools.

If you have few of the qualities of these successful students, you may want to reconsider applying to an online school. Remember that online learning is not for everyone and, while it is an excellent choice for some, others will always struggle with learning independently. But, if, after comparing your personality and habits to those of successful distance education students, you’ve discovered that you have a lot in common, online classes may be the perfect option for you.

The 7 Mistakes Distance Learners Make

By Jamie Littlefield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Navigating the distance learning world can be tricky. Online students must learn to dodge the shallow promises of disreputable schools, manage their work, and use their diplomas to their advantage. As you continue your journey through the maze of virtual learning, avoid these seven common mistakes of distance learners and save yourself some hassle:

1. Choosing the wrong school.

2. Procrastinating.

3. Failing to connect with their peers and professors.

4. Paying too much.

5. Scaring potential employers.

6. Not getting credit where credit is due.

7. Remaining ignorant of online resources.

Online College Residency Requirements

By Jamie Littlefield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Residency Requirement Basics:

A "residency requirement" is a set amount of time a student must spend on campus in order to complete a degree. Many brick-and-mortar colleges mandate residency requirements for their online students. If you enroll in one of these programs, you may have to travel to campus for several weekends or even several semesters in order to earn your degree. Before enrolling in any online program, make sure its residency requirements will meet your needs.

This article explores some of the most popular residency options available.

No Residency:

Programs with no residency requirements allow students to complete their degrees without visiting a physical campus. If you live far from your chosen school and prefer not to travel, a no residency option may be right for you.

Limited Residency:

Programs with limited residency requirements ask students to visit campus for less than one semester. These programs may require students to attend weekend seminars or summer institutes. They often give students the chance to get hands-on experience, work directly with their professors, and network with their peers. If you are a working professional, it may be possible to fit these limited residency requirements into your vacation schedule.

Extensive Residency:

Programs with extended residency requirements ask students to attend physical classes for one semester or more. Such programs allow students to gain a more traditional college experience. However, if you do not live near the college’s brick-and-mortar campus, it may be very difficult to fulfill these requirements.

Blended Learning:

Blended learning programs mix distance learning and traditional learning. In such programs, individual courses may require both physical class attendance and online assignments. Blended learning programs are almost always designed for students living locally.

Choosing a Program:

Considering a college’s residency requirements is a matter of personal needs and preferences. Carefully consider your work schedule, your ability to travel, and your desire to have in-person educational contact. There is no right answer; choose the option that works best for your life.

A Formal, Professional Dress Code

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Your Company's objective in establishing a formal work dress code is to enable our employees to project the professional image that is in keeping with the needs of our clients and customers to trust us. Because our industry requires the appearance of trusted business professionals and we serve clients at our site on a daily basis, a more formal dress code is necessary for our employees. You must project the image of a trustworthy, knowledgeable business professional for the clients who seek our guidance, input, and professional services.

Formal Dress Code Guidelines

In a formal business environment, the standard of dressing for men and women is a suit, a jacket and pants or a skirt, or a dress paired with appropriate accessories.

Clothing that reveals too much cleavage, your back, your chest, your feet, your stomach or your underwear is not appropriate for a place of business. In our work environment, clothing should be pressed and never wrinkled. Torn, dirty, or frayed clothing is unacceptable. All seams must be finished. Any clothing that has words, terms, or pictures that may be offensive to other employees is unacceptable.

Dress Down Days

Certain days can be declared dress down days, generally Fridays. On these days, business casual clothing, although never clothing potentially offensive to others, is allowed. Clothing that has the company logo is encouraged. Sports team, university, and fashion brand names on clothing are generally acceptable. You might want to keep a jacket in your office for the days when a client unexpectedly appears on a dress down day, especially if the client is wearing a suit.

Formal Business Attire Recommendations

This is an overview of appropriate formal business attire. The lists tell you what is generally acceptable as formal business attire and what is generally not acceptable as formal business attire.

No dress code can cover all contingencies so employees must exert a certain amount of judgment in their choice of clothing to wear to work. If you experience uncertainty about acceptable, professional formal business attire for work, please ask your supervisor or your Human Resources staff.

Slacks, Pants, and Suit Pants

Slacks that are similar to Dockers and other makers of cotton or synthetic material pants, wool pants, flannel pants, pants that match a suit jacket, and nice looking dress synthetic pants are acceptable. Inappropriate slacks or pants include any that are too informal. This includes jeans, sweatpants, exercise pants, Bermuda shorts, short shorts, shorts, bib overalls, leggings, and any spandex or other form-fitting pants such as people wear for exercise or biking.

Skirts, Dresses, and Skirted Suits

Dresses, skirts, skirts with jackets, dressy two-piece knit suits or sets, and skirts that are split at or below the knee are acceptable. Dress and skirt length should be at a length at which you can sit comfortably in public. Short, tight skirts that ride halfway up the thigh are inappropriate for work. Mini-skirts, skorts, sun dresses, beach dresses, and spaghetti-strap dresses are inappropriate for the office.

Shirts, Tops, Blouses, and Jackets

Shirts, dress shirts, sweaters, tops, and turtlenecks are acceptable attire for work if they contribute to the appearance of formal, professional dress. Most suit jackets or sport coats are also desirable attire for the office. Inappropriate attire for work includes tank tops; midriff tops; shirts with potentially offensive words, terms, logos, pictures, cartoons, or slogans; halter-tops; tops with bare shoulders or plunging necklines; golf-type shirts; sweatshirts; and t-shirts.

Shoes and Footwear

Conservative walking shoes, dress shoes, oxfords, loafers, boots, flats, dress heels, and backless shoes are acceptable for work. Not wearing stockings or socks is inappropriate. Athletic shoes, tennis shoes, thongs, flip-flops, slippers, and any casual shoe with an open toe are not acceptable in the office.

Accessories and Jewelry

Tasteful, professional ties, scarves, belts, and jewelry are encouraged. Jewelry should be worn in good taste, with limited visible body piercing.

Makeup, Perfume, and Cologne

A professional appearance is encouraged and excessive makeup is unprofessional. Remember that some employees are allergic to the chemicals in perfumes and makeup, so wear these substances with restraint.

Hats and Head Covering

Hats are not appropriate in the office. Head Covers that are required for religious purposes or to honor cultural tradition are allowed.

Conclusion

If clothing fails to meet these standards, as determined by the employee’s supervisor and Human Resources staff, the employee will be asked not to wear the inappropriate item to work again. If the problem persists, the employee may be sent home to change clothes and will receive a verbal warning for the first offense. All other policies about personal time use will apply. Progressive disciplinary action will be applied if dress code violations continue.

Disclaimer:

This sample policy is provided for guidance only. The provided information, while authoritative, is not guaranteed for accuracy and legality. Please seek legal assistance, or assistance from State, Federal, or International governmental resources, to make certain your legal interpretation and decisions are correct.

Want a Superior Workforce?

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Hire and Manage the Best Employees for a High Performance Workforce

If your goal is a superior, high performance workforce that is focused on continuous improvement, you need to manage people within a performance management and development framework. When you implement each of these components, you'll ensure the development of thehigh performance workforce you seek.

Use this high performance workforce checklist to make certain you have all of the necessary components in place to develop a superior, high performance workforce. I have provided the specific broad category of practice. Then, the bullets define the key success areas in each component.

Superior, High Performance Workforce Checklist

1. Create a documented, systematic hiring process.

Ensure you hire the best possible staff for your high performance workforce. See the Top Ten Recruiting Tips.

Define the outcomes desired from the person you hire.
Develop a job description that clearly describes the performance responsibilities of the person you hire.
Develop the largest pool of qualified candidates possible. (Search via professional associations, social media networking sites such as LinkedIn, online job boards, personal contacts, employee referrals, university departments and career services offices, search firms, bob fairs, newspaper classifieds, and other creative sources when necessary.)
Devise a careful candidate selection process that includes culture match, testing, behavioral interview questions, customer interviews, tours of the work area, and "what would you do" questions about your actual work place, to hire a high performance workforce.
Perform appropriate background checks that include employment references, employment history, education, criminal records, credit history, drug testing and more.
Make an employment offer that confirms your position as an employer of choice.

For a high performance, superior workforce, you need to provide effective communication of direction, regular performance development planning with each staff member, and regular feedback so people know how they are doing.

2. Provide the direction and management needed to align the interests of your high performance workforce with your organization's goals and desired outcomes.

Provide effective supervisors who give clear direction and expectations, provide frequent feedback and demonstrate committment to staff success.
Company direction, goals, values, and vision are communicated frequently and in memorable ways where possible.
You provide a motivating work environment that helps employees feel work motivation every day.
You provide an empowering, demanding, commitment-oriented work environment, with frequent mention of company goals to support your high performance workforce.

3. Quarterly Performance Development Planning (PDPs) meetings are held that establish aligned direction, measurements and goals.

See the Quick Guide to Performance Management to get started.

Performance and productivity goals and measurements that support your organization's goals are developed and written.
Personal development goals are agreed upon and written. These can range from attendance at a class to cross-training or a new job assignment.
Most importantly, progress on the performance development goals is tracked for accomplishment. (Central tracking by Human Resources ensures the development of the entire workforce.)

4. Provide regular feedback.

Effective supervisory feedback means that people know how they are doing daily, via a posted measurement system, verbal or written feedback and meetings.
Develop a reward and recognition system that tells people clearly what you want from them. It must also help people feel appreciated and recognized for their efforts.
Develop a disciplinary system to help people improve areas in which they are not performing as expected. The system is written, progressive, provides measurements and timelines and is regularly reviewed with the staff member.

For a high performance workforce, you need effective training and development and a fair, motivating recognition and reward system.

5. Provide a recognition system that rewards and recognizes people for real contributions.

Provide equitable pay with a bias toward variable pay using such methods as bonuses and incentives. Whenever possible, pay above market. For more information, see Tips for Determining a Motivating Salary.
Develop a bonus system that recognizes accomplishments and contributions.
Design ways to say "thank you" and other employee recognition processes such as company periodic anniversary remembrances, spot awards, team recognition lunches and more. You are limited only by your imagination.
Despite the rising cost of health care insurance, which you may need to share with your employees, provide a continually improving benefits package. (If you can afford the cost of the health care - do.)

6. Provide training, education and development to build a superior, high performance workforce.

Employee retention and education begin with a positive employee orientation. The new employee orientation should give the new employee a complete understanding of the flow of the business, the nature of the work, employee benefits and the fit of his or her job within the organization.
Provide ongoing technical, developmental, managerial, safety, lean manufacturing and/or workplace organization training and development regularly. The type of training depends on the job. Some experts recommend forty or more hours of training a year per person.
Develop a procedure-based, cross-training matrix for each position that includes employee skill testing and periodic, scheduled, on-the-job training and demonstration of capability, for most hands on jobs.
Provide regular management and leadership training and coaching from both internal and external sources. The impact of your front line people on the development of your high performance workforce is critical.
Create jobs that enable a staff person to do all the components of a whole task, rather than pieces or parts of a process.
Develop a learning organization culture through such activities as “lunch and learn,” reading books as a team (book club), attending training together and by making the concept of continuous learning an organization goal.
Make a commitment to both providing and tracking the accomplishment of the developmental activities promised in the PDPs.

7. End the employment relationship if the staff person is not working out.

If you have done your job well - effective orientation, training, clear expectations, coaching, feedback, support - and your new staff person is failing to perform, termination of employment should be swift.
View every termination as an opportunity for your organization to analyze its hiring, training, integrating, support and coaching practices and policies. Can you improve any aspect of your process so the next new employee succeeds?
Perform exit interviews with valued employees who leave. Debrief the same as you would a termination situation.
Use an employment ending checklist to make certain you have wrapped up all loose ends.

The time and attention you pay to these seven success opportunity areas will reap your organization the performance of a superior workforce. And that's the performance that will enable your organization to achieve its dreams and goals. Best wishes for your success. Develop a high performance workforce. You'll be happy you emphasized the factors that created the high performance workforce of your dreams.

How to Improve Exit Interview Participation Rates Part III

From Beth N. Carvin

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Logistical Problems in the Exit Interview Process

Logistical problems are the second major area for review in your exit interview process. There are generally weak links in any process and exit interviews are no exception. Your examination should include the whole chain of events that begins when an employee gives notice and ends when the employee submits the exit interview.

Audit Your Exit Interview Process

You can begin to audit your exit interview process by finding out the following information.

How do employees generally give notice of their intent to terminate?
Who is the first person notified and how much notice is usually given?
Who tells the Human Resource division and how? How soon after notice is given is HR notified? Who in HR is notified first?
Who is responsible for initiating the exit interview? When is this person(s) notified of employee terminations?
How is the employee notified of the exit interview? By whom? What method? When?
Is there clear ownership in Human Resources of the exit interview process? Do those involved in the process understand the importance and urgency of the exit interviews?
What is the employee told about the exit interview? In what ways are they encouraged to complete the exit interview? Are employees told more than one time and in more than one way?
Is the exit interview easy to complete?
Does the employee have privacy with which to complete the exit interview if they are completing it at work?
Are supervisors and managers supportive of the exit interview process? Are they fearful about receiving negative feedback from employees? Are you relying on fearful supervisors to relay information about the exit interview to employees?
Is it easy for employees to submit their exit interviews?

Review each of the above audit questions and take a hard look at your exit interview process. Determine what you can do to improve each of these areas. After you finish your review, you can start to make improvements immediately.

Re-Measure Your Exit Interview Process

Some of the changes that you make will provide a noticeable improvement in participation rates very quickly. Others will require more time to effectively pervade the company culture.

Re-measure your participation rates at three months, six months, nine months and twelve months. By the twelve month mark, you should expect to see a dramatic improvement in your exit interview participation rates. This means you will have more data that can be used to limit turnover and increase employee retention.

Conclusion

You can increase the value of your exit interviews significantly by increasing the number of terminating employees who participate in the exit interview process. By reviewing and improving both the content and structure of the exit interview, along with your own internal processes, you can deliver a substantial increase in your participation rates.

How to Improve Exit Interview Participation Rates Part II

From Beth N. Carvin

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Analyzing Your Exit Interviews Process

If you decide that your participation rate in exit interviews could stand improvement, the next step is to analyze your current exit interview process. The two most important areas for review are:

Why are employees choosing not to complete the exit interview?
Are there logistical problems preventing human resources from getting the information to employees in a timely and effective manner?

Employees Not Completing Their Exit Interview

Some of the reasons that employees choose not to complete exit interviews are:

The exit interview is too long.
The exit interview questions are confusing or personally invasive.
The employee doesn’t believe that the exit interview will be read or make a difference.
The employee is afraid of repercussions.
The employee is angry at the company.
The employee procrastinates or forgets.
The process is difficult or uncomfortable.

If you are using an exit interview survey with rated questions, 35-60 questions is about the right survey length. More than 60 questions begins to feel long and uncomfortable for the employee. If you surpass 70 questions, you should be prepared for higher numbers of uncompleted exit interviews.

Review your exit interview questions for simplicity. Put yourself in the employee’s shoes and ask yourself how you would feel answering the questions. Avoid a lot of exit interview questions that ask for feelings and emotions. Many employees are not in tune with their feelings (or if they are they may not want to share them with you). It is a lot easier for an employee to rate the effectiveness of a process rather than how they feel about the process.

Exit Interview Feedback Ignored

Employees will not complete their exit interviews if they believe that the feedback they provide will not be read or will be promptly ignored. It is important to let employees know that you value their feedback. When you do make improvements based on suggestions from exit interviews, don’t be afraid to tell employees where the idea came from. Over time, employees will learn that you do listen. Once this becomes a part of the corporate culture, you can be assured of lots of open and honest ideas, suggestions and critiques.

Repercussions From Honest Feedback

Also be clear with employees that honest feedback will not result in repercussions. Statements made on an exit interview should never be used to prevent future eligibility for re-hire. There are many supposed experts that tell employees not to be honest on their exit interview form or not to complete one at all. They claim that companies use this information against the employees. Human Resource professionals know that this is nonsense, however, they still must battle this unfounded perception.

Angry Employee Feedback

Employees that are angry with the company may feel they don’t want to help by participating in the exit interview. These employees can be encouraged to vent their anger in the exit interview. Many of these angry employees are thrilled with the chance to have their voice heard – particularly if they know that it will be heard by senior management.

A clean and simplified process is also important. Whether it is web-based or paper and pencil, the exit interview form should be laid out nicely with an intuitive and easy to understand survey form.

How to Improve Exit Interview Participation Rates

From Beth N. Carvin

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Exit interviews are one of the best ways to get true and honest feedback from employees. The downside is that it takes time to build up a significant amount of data from exit interviews. Increasing your participation rate, however, can help you get greater amounts of actionable information faster from your exit interviews.

What is a Good Participation Rate for Exit Interviews?

Research shows that the average response rate for paper and pencil exit interviews is approximately 30-35 percent. This means that a company with 2000 employees and a 15 percent turnover rate would expect to receive about 100 completed exit interviews per year. At this participation level, the organization is getting exit feedback from just five percent of the total employee population.

With just a little extra effort, you should be able to double that response rate. Sixty-five percent or better is a good goal for exit interview participation. This can be accomplished with paper and pencil exit interviews, web based online exit interviews and telephone exit interviews.

Measuring Your Participation in the Exit Interview

To measure your response rate, divide the number of completed exit interviews by the number of employees from whom you requested an exit interview. Ideally the second number should equal the total number of terminations but for practical reasons this is generally not the case. As an example, if you have 125 completed exit interviews from 300 people whom you asked to complete an exit interview, your participation rate is 125 / 300 which equals .416 or 41.6 percent.

It is important to make sure you have a good method in place to track this kind of participation. At a minimum, you want to track participation rate at the start of an improvement project and then periodically thereafter. A more ideal scenario is to keep a running average that you can refer to regularly. This real-time number immediately alerts you to a fall off (or increase) in participation in exit interviews. An online exit interview management system should do this for you automatically.

Large companies might want to track participation rates separately for subsidiaries, large divisions or geographic regions. Small- to mid-size companies can generally benefit from a total participation rate for the organization.

Top Five Ways to Destroy Trust These Top Five Trust Busters Will Destroy Trust in Your Organization

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Trust is the foundation of all positive relationships you seek to create in your organization. Trust is one of the strongest bonds that can exist between people and customers; trust is also one of the most fragile. Once you destroy trust, break the bond of trust, trust is the most difficult facet of your culture to rebuild. You can build a culture of trust in your organization if you steer clear of actions that destroy trust. Avoid these trust busters to build a trust culture.

What Is Trust?

In an earlier article, I reviewed the three components of trust as defined by Dr. Duane C. Tway, Jr. He says that trust is the “state of readiness for unguarded interaction with someone or something.” Thinking about trust as made up of the interaction and existence of these three components makes “trust” easier to understand.

The amount of trust you experience is dependent upon the degree to which you can respond affirmatively to experiencing each of these three components of trust:

The capacity for trusting means that your total life experiences have developed your current capacity and willingness to risk trusting others. You believe in trust. You have experienced trust and believe that trust is possible.
The perception of competence is made up of your perception of your ability and the ability of others with whom you work to perform competently at whatever is needed in your current situation.
The perception of intentions, as defined by Tway, is your perception that the actions, words, direction, mission, or decisions are motivated by mutually-serving rather than self-serving motives.

Trust is dependent on the interaction of and your experience of these three components. Trust is tough to maintain and easy to destroy.

Five Ways to Destroy Trust

For trust to exist in an organization, a certain amount of transparency must pervade the intentions, direction, actions, communication, feedback, and problem solving of particularly, executives and managers, but also of all employees. Consequently, these are ways in which people destroy trust.

Employees tell lies of commission: They fail to tell the truth, often with the intention to deceive or confuse. This powerfully impacts a whole organization when the lie is perceived from leaders, but even coworker relationships are destroyed by lies of commission. A lie is a lie is a lie. If it's not the whole truth, if it requires preparation and wordsmithing, if you need to remember the details to ensure you don't change your story in the retelling, you are probably telling a lie. Or, at the very least, part of your story is a lie. People who are untrustworthy derail their careers. Can you imagine the impact of lies on an organization when the liar is a senior manager?

Employees tell lies by omission: A lie of omission is a deliberate attempt to deceive another person by omitting portions of the truth. Lies of omission are particularly egregious as they give people false impressions and attempt to influence behavior by omitting important details. Once again, the more powerful the perpetrator of the lie in the organization, the more significantly trust is affected. But, an individual can derail their career by using this deception ploy, when caught.

Fail to walk the talk: No matter the work program, cultural expectation, management style, or change initiative, you will destroy trust if you fail to demonstrate the quality or behavioral expectation, if you fail to walk the talk. Words are easy; it is the behavior that demonstrates your expectations in action that helps employees trust you.

You can’t, as an example, state that participative management and employee empowerment are the desired form of leadership in your organization, unless you demonstrate these expectations in your everyday actions. Customer service is a joke if a complaining customer is labeled “wrong” or a jerk.”

Fail to do what you say you are going to do: Few employees expect that every statement, goal and / or projection that you make will come true. Sales will be up 10%. No layoffs are anticipated. We will hire ten new employees this quarter. Working the reception desk alone is a temporary fix until we fill the open position with a second receptionist. My assignment will be complete by the end of the first quarter.

If you make a statement, commitment, or projection, employees expect what you said to happen. You destroy trust if the end result never occurs. You can avoid destroying trust by communicating honestly and frequently about:

--how you set the initial goal,
--what is interfering with the accomplishment of the initial goal,
--how and why your projection has changed,
--what employees can expect going forward, and
--how you will avoid similar miscalls in the future.

Honest communication is key to building employee and coworker trust.

Make random, haphazard, unexpected changes for no apparent reason: Keeping employees off balance may sound like an effective approach to creating agility in your organization. But, random change produces the opposite effect. People get used to their comfortable way of doing things. They get used to the mood the boss characteristically exhibits when she arrives at the office. They expect no consequences when deadlines are missed – because there have never been any in the past.

Any change must be communicated with the rationale behind the change made clear. A starting date for implementation and participation from employees whose jobs are affected by the change will keep you from destroying trust. A sincere and thoughtful demonstration that the change is well-thought-out and not arbitrary will help employees trust you. An explanation for a change of mood or a different approach goes a long way to prevent the destruction of trust.

More About How to Destroy Trust

These are five of the top issues that destroy trust between employees and in organizations. If you can avoid these five trust busters, you will have gone a long way toward ensuring that trust is building in your organization. Lies, lies of omission, failure to walk the talk, failure to do what you say you will do, and subjecting employees to random, haphazard, unexpected change destroy trust. Walk on the better path. Build, don’t destroy trust in your organization.

How to Raise Your Visibility at Work

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Used to flying below the radar at work? Think not being noticed will keep your job safe? Not anymore. The best strategy now is to figure out how you can raise your visibility at work - in positive ways.

Additionally, if your job is tedious or repetitive, you can request alternative activities to break up the monotony of your every day work. No matter the job, it is difficult to do the exact same work all day long, even if you love the work and the customers. Your request for skill developing assignments will make you stand out.

If you're underemployed and waiting for your next opportunity at work, request work that will help you grow into your next assignment. If you're thinking about looking for a new job, make your requests for more challenging work visible. Don't sit back and wait for your manager to give you something new or exciting to do. This is always the wrong approach.

Your manager is busy, too, and while your development as a person and employee may be important to your manager, he or she cannot read your mind. It is helpful to work in a company with a performance development planning process in place.

There, you have the opportunity to talk with your supervisor, at least quarterly, about issues such as your development and career growth. But, no matter your company's employment practices, you have the right to ask and to care about your career and personal development and visibility at work.

Six Tips to Raise Your Visibility at Work

These ideas will help you help your boss help you:

Ask for more responsible assignments so you can exhibit that you deserve them and that your skills are underutilized. Go to your manager with specific suggestions about how you think you can contribute to improvement, departmental efficiency, or creating a new process or method. Make it easy for him or her to help you.
Volunteer to represent your department at meetings, on planning committees, and on projects. A proactive approach to work is noticed by the bosses. Working on cross-functional teams also gives your talents exposure outside of your own work area. This is helpful when promotions or lateral opportunities become available. A "known" employee has the advantage over one who is not known.
Build your relationship with your boss. Check in with him or her periodically whether you need to or not. The boss is a person, too. Don't make fake requests or pretend ignorance if you really have the answer. But, running the answer by the boss, telling the boss what's on your mind, and making suggestions for improvement are generally welcome interactions. You don't have to share your private life, or be friends with your boss and coworkers, but a friendly, supportive relationship matters for success and visibility.
If you have skills that you are not using in your current position, look for opportunities to keep in practice. Use them; don't lose them. These opportunities will also bring wider company exposure and broaden your organization's thinking about what you can do. So, as an example, your creative talents, your willingness to experiment, or your ability to mediate conflicts will make you stand out as an employee.
Request the opportunity to participate in seminars and training classes. Ask to belong to your relevant professional development association and for the opportunity to participate in its events. Then, visibly apply the new opportunities back in the workplace. Take the application one step further.

Tell your boss and coworkers what you learned and how you plan to apply the new information at work. This has three advantages. Your improvement efforts improve your visibility and teaching others is the best way to make sure you've really learned the concepts. Finally, your coworkers benefit from the time you spent and the knowledge you gained at the session.
If your company has book clubs or interactive brown bag lunches on topics, get involved or start them. Make sure your boss has factored the time into your schedule so you can become involved. Just like the activities mentioned earlier, this participation brings all the benefits of broader visibility and you can be observed by others in thoughtful discussion.

These tips about employee training and development will give you more thoughts on how you can pursue your personal professional development at work.

Conduct Powerful Job Interviews

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Want to hire great employees? How to conduct a safe, legal job interview that also enables you to select the best candidate for your open positions is important. The job interview is one of the significant factors in hiring because so many employers count on the job interview to help determine their best, most qualified candidates.

Certainly the job interview is a key component in determining whether the candidate fits your company culture. This is so despite the fact that at least one research study indicates that selecting a candidate who performed well in an interview only increases your chances of hiring an employee who is successful by two percent.

So, perhaps the traditional job interview is accorded too much power in employee selection. But, since it is, you have the opportunity to either enhance your current skills or learn to do job interviews well, in this free email class.

Objectives of the Conduct Powerful Job Interviews Email Class

Learn more job interview tips and job interview techniques to make your job interviews a powerful tool and process to evaluate candidates. Specifically, in this job interview email class, you will learn:

The approaches to job interviews that are available for your use.
How to plan effective job interviews.
Who should conduct the job interview.
How to conduct the job interview.
How to conduct behavioral job interviews.
Job interview questions that are illegal and why they are illegal.
Excellent behavioral job interview questions.

General Information About the Conduct Powerful Job Interviews Email Class

Classes start whenever you sign up to receive the sessions. You will receive the daily study guide thereafter in the morning. You can take the class at your own pace, but you will receive the emails every day for five days. Anxious to receive the lessons? You can also have the classes sent all at the same time by using the link at the end of your first newsletter.

The Conduct Powerful Job Interviews email class is free. The only cost to you is the time you spend reading the lessons.

There are a few things you should know before you sign up for the class:

You cannot change your email address in the middle of the class, so be sure to use an address you'll have for at least five days. Due to the amount of email I receive, I cannot reply to the "anti-spam" measures for this class. So if you're using something that blocks email until a "real person" sends it, you'll need to turn it off to receive the class. If you need feedback, please post your questions and discussion in the HR Community Connection Forum.

Ten Days to a Happier, Successful Career and Life

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

“We hold these truths to be self-evident,” said our Founding Fathers. The truths you will discover over the next ten days or lessons are self-evident, too, but they are profoundly difficult to practice. Even as I write this series, I find myself questioning whether I am practicing what I am recommending. So, consider the pursuit of happiness and success in work and life - a journey. These practices will get you started on that journey.

I wish life, family, and work were easy. Really. But, they’re not. The best of you struggle with concepts such as loving your work, balancing home and family life with work, and making the income that allows you to fulfill your dreams. You struggle with a lot more than that, too.

You have kids to put through college, homes that develop leaks in the roof, saving for retirement, and family and friends that actually want to spend time with you. Wow. You struggle with quite an armful.

And, some of you struggle with even more than that. Disabled family members, illness, and life’s unexpected and unplanned for events occur. My basement flooded with three inches of water recently. That’s minor, compared with what many of you experience, but it disrupted my plans for the week.

Recognizing all of this, I have tried to zero in on the ten most important concepts that will help you develop the tools and thinking you need to succeed at work. At the same time, work success is fleeting if you don’t also succeed at home. Life is a balancing act, so these concepts are applicable to your whole person, too.

Happiness is as important as success, so I wanted to include happiness in the equation. Consequently, ten days to a happier and more successful future is the theme for this ten lesson series. Read, enjoy, and grow, but, most of all, benefit from this time you spend thinking about you and your life.

Begin the journey with my ten day program:

Ten Days to a Happier, More Successful Career and Life.

You have two options for taking the class. You can subscribe to the email newsletter (sign-up box below) and receive a session each day, for the next ten days, at your email address. Or, you can enjoy the sessions using this web page as your launch pad.

Why You Really Ought to Want to Love Your Work Part II

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Career Exploration Steps to Find Work You Love

So often in life, people seem to fall into jobs because one was handy or available at the right moment. Maybe you started in one position with a company hoping to move into something you liked better later. Maybe you started life as a teacher and continued to teach out of inertia or because you had so many years invested in the retirement system.

No matter your current position, every once in awhile, it's time to assess whether the career you have created is the best career for you. Recognizing that there are certain economic and social realities, think about where you'd really like to spend the time of your life. These steps will help you explore and find work you really love.

Spend Some Thinking Time to Know Yourself

Take time on your vacation or on a long weekend to devote exclusively to thinking about your work and career. Ask yourself some tough questions. Do you get to do what you like to do at work every day? Does your job match your values and make a difference? Do you make the money you need to achieve your goals?

Does your career provide the work-life balance you desire? Do you love your work or is there another type of work you'd prefer? Be honest with yourself and if you answer these questions negatively, it's time to explore further.

One exercise that I have found particularly useful is to write down everything you want to do, accomplish, see, try, visit, and so on. If your current career will allow you to accomplish these goals, okay. But it's not okay, if you don't have a shot at getting what you want from life.

Read Career Books and Do the Exercises

Here are several excellent career exploration books. Take time to read several of the books and do the exercises recommended by the authors. Think of it as guided career exploration to discover work you will love.

Take Career Assessments to Find Work You Love

The Web provides an excellent opportunity to take online career assessments to identify your strengths and explore your needs. Purchasing the book, Now, Discover Your Strengths, also provides an access code to an online assessment called StrengthsFinder.com, which is useful.

Several sources of career assessments you might want to explore to learn about yourself include these. You can pursue these assessments on your own or you can consider talking with a career professional.

Career Tests from About's Alison Doyle at Job Searching.
The Kingdomality Personal Preference Profile (This one's just for fun, although it was certainly on target for me. I'm a "Discoverer.")
Job HuntersBible.com, the site of Richard Bolles who writes What Color Is Your Parachute.
Career Self Assessment from About's Dawn Rosenberg McKay at Career Planning.
Campbell Interest and Skill Survey (Costs $17.95 and provides detailed results from a 320-item questionnaire.)

Additionally, Quint Careers provides an Online Career Assessment Tools Review that will help you select the best career assessment tools.

Talk to a Career Professional to Find Work You Love

As you begin to zero in on anything from a potential new career to a slight change in your current one, you may want to talk with a person who is skilled and knowledgeable about careers. About's Career Planning site provides help in finding and choosing a career professional.

A career professional can help you organize the data you have gathered about yourself and potential careers. He or she can help you identify careers that require the strengths you have identified and the needs you have articulated. He or she can also recommend other assessments and help you make your plan to identify work you love.

Select Your Goals and Make Your Plan to Find Work You Love

I am a big believer in plans. Plans help you move from having a dream to really accomplishing the changes you desire. The more specifically you can detail the steps that will move you from where you are to where you want to be, the better your chances are for success. My article, The Awesome Power of Goal Setting — Ten Tips for Triumph, will also help you with this process.

Get Started on Finding Work You Love

Now is the time to get started. If you want to love your work, you need to select the career you've dreamed of having. Or, you need to make adjustments in your current work so you get more out of your current work.

At the very least, you need to get started on the plan that will eventually result in the life and work choices you want. First, you have to figure out what they are. Then, if you really want to love your work, you need to take the first steps and just get started. I know you'll be happy you did.

Finding work you love will make all the difference in the quality of your overall life. When you consider the time you invest in work, the importance of your happiness with your work choice cannot be overestimated. Find work you love.

Why You Really Ought to Want to Love Your Work

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Are You Working Long Hours on Work You Love?

Are you working more, enjoying it less, and dreading the time you spend most days at your work place? If you answered "yes" to this question, take some time to explore your current career choice and consider all of the other options life has to offer.

You spend a substantial portion of your life at work. Why not make that time as professionally and personally rewarding and fulfilling as possible? You have nothing to lose, and potentially a great deal to gain, by spending time exploring your interests, values, and options. I believe you really, ought to want to love what you do at work.

You Work Long Hours: Invest Them in Work You Love

The average American manager works 42 hours per week, but a substantial number of managers and professionals - three in 10, or 10.8 million people - work 49 or more hours per week. Of male managers and professionals, four in 10 work 49 hours.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2000 report, this number of working hours is substantially unchanged since 1989. More managers and professionals are working over 49 hours, but more are also working less which keeps the number steady.

Comparatively, the hours that people work in non-supervisory or production jobs have steadily declined since the early 1960s in all categories except manufacturing, construction, and mining. In these jobs, hours have increased, according to the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics Monthly Labor Review, July 2000.

While the overall trend in working hours is down, with the average non-supervisory or production employee working 34.5 hours in 1999 as compared to 38.7 in 1964, this figure is skewed by workers in services and especially retail, who are working substantially fewer hours.

Remember, too, that these hours do not include time spent dressing for work or commuting. Getting to and from work can add an additional five to 20 hours to your work week. So, when you consider all of the time you spend related to work, you are working long hours.

You Feel as if You Are Working Harder

Managers and professionals perceive that they are working harder. Combine the extra hours relating to work with the actual hours worked, and a substantial portion of your week is filled. The pace of the modern work place is stressful. With most spouses and partners working and two schedules to balance with the needs of the family, life, in general, is stressful.

Technology inventions allow you to communicate with work twenty-four hours a day if needed. With email, cell phones, laptops, and PDAs, is it any wonder that you feel as if you are working all the time? Even if you're not, you have the constant potential to fill every waking hour with work.

A Gallup Management Journal Survey summary reports that nearly one-fifth of workers are actively disengaged, or disconnected from their work. These workers have high absenteeism and are less happy with their personal and professional lives.

According to the report, "Gallup has calculated that they are penalizing U.S. economic performance by about $300 billion, or about the size of the nation’s defense budget." These attendance and dissatisfaction issues make work longer, harder, and more stressful for the remaining workers.

Additionally, in many work places fewer people are doing more work as workers are not replaced when they leave or retire. In other organizations, finding qualified staff remains problematic, especially in areas relating to engineering and other technical careers.

Solutions to Ensure That You Love Your Work

Now that I've convinced you that you're working long hours and working hard, why not follow this prescription for making sure you love your work. If you're going to work this hard, your work must be something you love. You need to take some career exploration steps to find work that you really love.

How to Write an Employee Recognition Letter Thank You Letters Speak Powerfully

By Susan M. Heathfield

Jobs Vacancy, Job vacancies, Employment Jobs

Employee recognition is worth the time and the money you spend on it. You have no other tool at your disposal that so predictably makes employees feel good about your company and goals. From employee recognition letters to bonuses and gifts, employee recognition is good for workplace motivation and creates positive employee morale. Your options for employee recognition are numerous.

Annually, some companies give bonuses to employees who contributed during the year. Depending on your circumstances including company profitability, your line of work, the expectations in your industry, and your past practices, consider giving employees a bonus.

If you can't afford a cash bonus, buy the employees a reasonably priced gift (company merchandise can work well as gifts). If a gift is not on the horizon - and it may not be for public sector employees, as an example - at the very least, adopt the habit of writing letters to employees for recognition and to thank them for their contributions.

A simple thank you letter, that recognizes specific employee contributions, goes a long way in helping employees feel recognized and rewarded. In fact, an employee recognition letter that accompanies a bonus check or a gift magnifies the recognition an employee experiences. Some employees experience such gratification that they post the thank you and recognition letter in their cubicle, office, or workstation for years.

An employee recognition letter does not need to be elaborate but it is most effective when the employee recognition letter:

Specifically describes the behavior you'd like to encourage,
Says thank you and that the employee contribution is appreciated,
Is written and given close in timing to the event you are praising, and
Is handwritten, or even an email, if the email is customized and avoids sounding like a form letter.

Don't ever underestimate the joy an employee experiences when he or she receives an employee recognition letter from someone who is important to them at work. Might that important someone be you?