HRCleanUp

Some Economic Good News

Unemployment Rises, Yet Profiles International Reports Hiring in Select Sectors

Clients in Healthcare, Transportation and Credit Unions Adding Staff
as January Employment Falls

Profiles International, the world leader in employment evaluation and human resource management assessment tools, has identified growing job sectors despite the latest unemployment figures.  “The silver lining behind the ongoing employment clouds is that select sectors of the economy remain vibrant, with numerous unfilled positions,” said Jim Sirbasku, co-founder and CEO of Profiles International. “We have clients in healthcare, transportation / logistics and financial services that continue to add to their payrolls.”

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) of the U.S. Department of Labor, nonfarm payroll employment fell in January 2009 by 598,000 and the unemployment rate rose from 7.2 to 7.6 percent. Job loss was distributed across most major industry sectors.

 However, Profiles International continues to experience demand for personnel evaluation and assessment from clients that are looking to hire. For example, credit unions are expanding as traditional financial institutions continue to shrink their workforces. Demand for skilled healthcare professionals at all levels continues to remain strong, while segments of the transportation industry have rebounded due to the drop in fuel prices, and are now expanding their workforces.

While the overall U.S. economy still has not begun its recovery, Sirbasku said preemptive layoffs will actually hurt many companies in the long run. “A strong staff and viable workforce is the greatest asset a company can have because it’s the biggest investment a company will ever make,” he said. “Releasing talented workers in anticipation of an uncertain economic future is often a costly mistake that can mortgage a company’s future. It is far better that companies put off capital investments, which can always be made when the economic conditions strengthen.”

About Profiles International Inc.
Profiles International is the world leader in selecting and developing high-performance workforces through innovative human resource management solutions and a comprehensive suite of employment assessments that help companies gain a competitive advantage by selecting, hiring, retaining and developing great talent. Continually validating and updating its assessment products, Profiles serves many of the largest companies in 118 countries around the globe. For more information about Profiles International’s suite of human resource management solutions, visit www.profilesinternational.com.

Coaching the Uncoachable by Guest Blogger Bobby Pruitt

Bobby Pruitt is my collegue and all-around great guy at Profiles International.  He is Vice President for Enterprise Solutions at can be reached via email at bobby.pruitt@profilesmail.com. 

Coach the Uncoachable
...What happens if they just don’t get it??

By a show of hands, who has ever coached the uncoachable... come on, be loud n’ proud! It's can also be referred to as:

• The immovable force
• Who made that hiring decision, HR?
• The 80/20 rule or some variation of the 80/20 rule...

Or most widely referred to as...

… a waste of my time!!!

As "fair" and equally grounded as we typically say that we are, there's no getting around it -- some of our team members can “appear” to be a waste of “our” valuable time (said as if we are sharing the only unique asset we have complete control over), Having said that, we typically stop doing it the second we make the realization that the “light’s on, but nobody is home”!
To quote one of my favorite lines in a movie (Tombstone): “It’s like playin cards with my brother’s kids”!

Perhaps they were mis-recruited/mis-hired to begin with; perhaps they were promoted well past their ability to effectively lead others just like themselves; perhaps they simply don't want to do what's required; or perhaps we are totally wrong about them all together... I don't know nor would I spend a ton of time analyzing the "why." The "what," is "I'm spending my time for no return, when I could be spending it on someone else for a recognizable value."

Not really much of a choice, is it? On the other hand, it might be our choice all together.
“They” say (They=Consultant somewhere...) that we spend 80% of our time on those things that deliver us 20% of our total goal. I would argue that, when discussing employee performance, motivation, and one-on-one development or coaching, that figure is much closer to 90%.
So, be honest with yourself: How much time do you spend with your Top Performers... your top 5-10%? Don’t consider face-time, drinks after work, or breakfast get-togethers. I'm talking about working with that A-player, investing your personal time and expertise, and making sure that the "A's" receive more emphasis than the "C's."

Yes, we should do an appropriate amount of development for those employees who don't quite "get it," but seem to have the ability, activity and the "potential" to grow significantly with some well-thought out development. But be critical, wary, and skeptical; you should be prepare to “cut the cord” the moment you realize you are repeating yourself, notice issues of ethics or integrity, or that the employee's "light" just hasn't "turned on."

Remember, development equals the sum of all of its parts (coaching, training, appropriate responsibilities) – and is a vital part of growing our future leaders. But they must bring a few things to the table that you simply cannot "train in..." You can't train them to have a work ethic, for example. They must bring that with them when hired. You cannot train them to be honest and ethical -- someone well before you influenced that beyond repair. You should look at Attitude, Activity, and then Skill before you are able to dismiss a “perceived” marginal performer.

As a coach-manager, your attitude toward making a person successful will make up 80% of their success or failure.  ARE YOU PREPARED TO CARRY THAT WEIGHT ON YOUR SHOULDERS? If you understand this concept, you “have skin in the game”! You can look for the good and increase the number of positive encounters. Before you know what is hitting you, you will be embracing the concept of the “Performance Preview*” This Kum-Ba-Yah world is filled with

1. Company initiatives aligning with individual team members goals
2. Open communication
3. Results exceeding expectations

On the flip side, you also eliminate those “mis-recruits and mis-hires” by pointing them in the right direction (and sometimes that direction is right out the door).

*Wall Street Journal article: Get Rid of the Performance Review by Dr. Samuel A. Culbert

I Survived the Holiday Party

Well, the official company holiday party is over.  The decorations are down and the open bar is closed.  It was the official company close to 2008 and you know what, it was a lot of fun!  I have mixed feelings about company holiday parties and in general, I don't like them.  But the one at my company, Profiles International, was a bit different.  Both of our founders, Jim Sirbasku and Bud Haney wanted to celebrate a year of hard work and dedication to the business.  As Jim told me at the party, "Why cancel a party when people need it the most?".  I thought that was great advice.

Another thing that made our holiday party different--people wanted to be there and you could bring a guest.  It is really a lot of fun to meet the boyfriend/girlfriend/spouse/partner/husband/ wife of the people you work with.  In addition to that, the food and the music were great.

So, as we begin to wrap up a challenging 2008, I encourage all of you to get all the rest you need.  Why?  Because 2009 is going to be a great year!  Let's all make the decision that a little thing like the economy isn't going to stop us. 

There are humans to be resourced and money to be made. Let's do them both well.

Happy Holidays from HR Clean Up.

Potential?

Have you ever been told, or told someone that they have "potential"?  As an HR professional, have you ever taken part of a talent review where you determine who in your organization has "potential"?  These types of talent reviews are a critical component of an solid succession planning or leadership development activity.  

As we look at our high potential people in our organizations, I challenge you to figure out how you measure success in your identified folks.  In other words, if someone is identified as "high potential" how do you monitor and measure their success year over year?  It is critical that you have some methodology to loop back with current supervisors, staff, and peers.  Often, a good 360 assessment program will go a long way in helping your talent pipeline identify gaps and then, a year later, seeing what progress your "high potential" person has made.

People don't want to just see your potential--they eventually want to see results.

Trust vs. Harmony

When I was at our CEO Leadership Conference—Managing High Velocity Change—Pam Hernandez of Woodmen of the World Insurance Society spoke about her rise to leadership at her company.  One of her statements “I like harmony but I like trust better” really resonated with me.  How often do we favor everybody getting along v. tackling the tough people issues?

Almost all of us gravitate to harmony.

Why?  Because it is easier.  Conflict isn’t particularly fun (at least for most of us).  Putting someone on a performance plan isn’t fun.  Reassigning or demoting an employee—not fun.  However, through conflict and truth, we can make real differences in our organizations.  I wonder if, in truth, we don’t ask our managers the right questions.

How is it really going?

If you were able to either reassign or remove an employee from your team, who would it be and why?

What stops you from being as successful as you could be?

I know that I for one could be a more effective manager if I got truth.  Truth is not always fun but it almost always provides for actionable information.  Information that you can use to make both small and large adjustments in your organizations.

So, listen to Pam and take her advice.

“I like harmony but I like truth better.”

Developing a User's Guide-For People

Have you ever wished that your employees came with a User's Guide or, at a minimum, a quick reference card that you could tape to your monitor?  What if we were to really work with each person at our organizations and figure out:

What are our people really good at?

What could they be really good at?

How independent are they?

Are they good decision makers?

When do they run out of gas?

How do we go about creating a User's Guide for our people that give us access to this type of information?  Well, the short answer...ask them.  The longer answer, consider implementing a talent assessment program. 

Do you even know who is on your bench?

Who are your targeted high performers?  What are you doing to keep them, develop them, drive them to success?  Do you have a program in place to work with them?  Do other leaders in your organization know about them?

Hey, Jay, where do I start?

Actually, it isn't all that hard.  Here are some steps to get you started:

1. Pick a department or a position to start with and do an inventory of who is there, what open requisitions currently exist, and what open requisitions are likely to be opened in the next six months. 
2. Examine performance data and see where people's managers are currently scoring them. 
3. Assesses them.  Find out their strengths and growth areas. 

Now, you've got actionable information.  With your new information, you've got a place to start. 

When It's Time to Change, You've Got to Rearrange

Did the Brady Bunch singing "When It's Time To Change, You Have to Rearrange" fly through your head when you read the title?  If it didn't, you and download it from iTunes.  Change is hard.  Change is good.  When my company hosted our Managing High Velocity Change conference  a few weeks ago I personally didn't realize how much I need to change.  Daily routines become habits and old habits die hard.  That is why change is hard and doesn't come easy.  Just ask a smoker.

So, what does this have to do with HR?  The answer:  Everything.

HR has a unique opportunity to be the change we want to see in our organizations.  When we say "oh, we can't do that" or "did you fill out the form and route it through six layers of approval" we know we have change indicator.  As we become more and more strategic and less and less tactical we must step back and see the wider picture.  That wider picture include a true business analysis of where we are today and where we need to go.

• We must RECOGNIZE the need to change.
• We must DEVELOP the plan to change
• We must EXECUTE the plan

It sounds so simple.  Especially when you see it in sound bite form.  But it is really really really hard to do. I recently read that CEOs spend almost 20% of each day making sure that the changes they have implemented are actually happening.  If the CEO is spending 20%, I'm guessing we need to spend at least double that.  Coaching, mentoring, and being the champion of the change.  It is exhausting.  It is lonely.  But, trust yourself.  Trust (but inspect) your team.  Trust in the change.

It will be worth it in the end.

Strategy to Execution Leadership Gap

Last week I attended the "Closing the Strategy to Execution Leadership Gap" conference that was sponsored by my employer, Profiles International.  The conference was excellent and I couldn't help but take away a bunch of good information about what we are doing as HR leadership to help our organizations improve people outcomes and ensure organizational survival.  One thing that quickly became evident to me is that in this time of high velocity change, we've got to remain at the leadership table.  And, we'll stay there if the level of innovation and people oriented programs that I witnessed last week is an indication of where we are going as a profession.

One of my favorite speakers was the team from Woodman of the World Life Insurance Society.  A company in Omaha, Nebraska.  They were faced with all kinds of people challenges--lack of turnover, stagnant people programs, and a culture of "sameness".  Pam and her team shook things up and did things that you don't ordinarily see HR doing--they lead.   They lead their organization to a very uncomfortable place...the place of change.  Doing what they were doing wasn't going to get them to the future.  Pam stated that her daughter once wrote "My mom leads through storytelling".  I think her mom leads through example.  Nice work Pam and team!

We also heard from Angela Valles from Victor Valley Waste Water Reclamation.  Here's the fun fact on Angela...she's a prison warden turned HR executive.  How great is that!  I am encouraging Angela to write a book on the similarities of the two.   I'm sure it can be done.  But again, Angela was responsible for issuing in change to the authority.  No longer was the status quo going to work.  People were unhappy, leadership was lacking, and Angela had the courage (I'm sure it comes from being a prison warden) to lead the change that had to occur. 

We also heard from Bob Savell from Eastman Chemical.  I'll bet you've never heard of Eastman Chemical--yet they have probably touched hundreds of items that you use every single day.  Bob discussed the challenges of recruiting talent and growing leaders for Eastman.  Imagine having to get top scientific talent to consider living and working in Kingsport, Tennessee?  Then, when you learn more about the amazing career you can have at Eastman, you tend to shift your thinking.  Bob is part of making that amazing career happen.  And, again, he does it though focused leadership development in a world that is changing by the minute--even in Kingsport, Tennessee.

All in all, the time was well spent.  Oh, and the BBQ at The County Line, was outstanding!