| THE SLIGHT EDGE IN BUSINESS |
| Smarty Jones, America's favorite racehorse of the
current season, nearly won horse racing's triple crown,
losing by only a length in the third race of the series,
the Belmont Stakes.
 Undefeated
in six previous major competitions, Smarty Jones led in
all races (a combined total of 514,800 inches of track)
missing the triple crown by 96 inches -- or about
2/100ths of one percent of the total. That tiny
percentage of failing to lead, according to some
sources, may cost the horse's owners as much as $100
million in future breeding fees!
In business we run the same kind of risks. Studies
show that to beat your competition you need not be twice
as good as they are-you only need to be 3% better!
The measure of whether we are that critical 3% better
often depends on how well we have selected, trained, and
developed our employees.
The route to competitive excellence can be a great
deal smoother if we can select good employees, insure
they are a good match to the jobs we provide, train them
with knowledge of their individual thinking styles, and
manage them with well-developed management skills.
 Employers
who use valid, reliable assessments in pursuit of these
goals are virtually always ahead of their competitors.
The competitive gaps are often far greater than that
magic 3%, and widen over time. Consider this fact: If
your employee group is continually getting better, and
your competition is just staying the same, you will
gradually pull away and be leading the field! The graph
illustrates this phenomenon.
Your Profiles representative can help you decide
which assessments will contribute the most to your own
efforts to develop a "slight edge" over your
competition, to put you ahead of the field and keep you
there.
Remember that a few inches of distance can mean a lot
of money, in horse racing or in the competitive world of
business! You must always, always be ahead... |
|
RETENTION AND
ACCOUNTABILITY-WHERE ARE THE NUMBERS?
ARE YOU HOLDING YOUR MANAGERS ACCOUNTABLE? |
While conducting research on business
performance within a wide cross-section of business
types and sizes, three gaps in management information
have loomed large:
- A majority of managers do not know the retention/
turnover rates for their own departments.
- An even larger number do not understand what
retention failures cost their operations.
- Very, very few realize that as many as 4 out of 5
of their employees would leave this job for another,
if the opportunity was even a fraction better.
If you would like to improve your retention rate,
reduce turnover and improve profitability one good place
to start is with your internal metrics. |
|
Departmental metrics that are useful and
easily tracked are:
- Average tenure
- Annual turnover rate
- Six month new hire failure rate
Variability between departments in retention success
is directly related to managers and their own skills and
styles. Make managers responsible for their own people
results by insisting they track and report their
numbers! Include results in the manager's periodic
review -- how do they compare with other departments,
and to the business overall?
Your managers may be the single largest influence on
your retention success-you need good numbers to evaluate
them! |
|
| PERFORMANCE REVIEWS-WHO ARE YOUR
TOP PERFORMERS? |
| One of the persistent criticisms of
performance reviews, rating second only to the fact they
are not done regularly, is that employee performance
reviews correlate poorly with "hard" measures of
productivity and performance. How good are your own
appraisals of "top performers?" How well do your
managers do in rating their own people as "top?”
Inconsistent performance reviews produce obvious and
costly problems. Poor placement decisions, low morale,
increased turnover and risk of legal actions are only
the tip of the iceberg. A consistent, fair, and
data-based set of performance measures can go a long way
toward reducing all of these negative outcomes, and give
your managers a tool to improve their performance. |
|
Once you have employees’ performance
measurements, you have set the stage for checking
perceptions and bringing them into line with reality.
Try this exercise. Ask your managers to rate their
people, according to a very simple ranking: Top 1/3,
middle 1/3, bottom 1/3. Arrange employees in a simple
grid according to their ranking, then follow with the
employee's performance measurements. You may be
surprised to discover the manager's rankings have little
to do with the metrics crucial to your company's
success! Once you and your managers know who their
real "top performers" are, you can begin to build on
their strengths, while helping your "non-top" performers
improve. Knowing where to aim is the first step in
hitting the target! |
|
| “UP THE ORGANIZATION” -- A REMINDER REVIEW |
| In the early 1970's, you would have had a difficult
time locating a manager anywhere in North America who
was not familiar with the book “Up The Organization”by
Robert Townsend. Out of print now, but readily available
from used book suppliers, the wisdom of Townsend's
funny, readable tome is still fresh and applicable.
On meetings: Never make them
mandatory-why would you want someone there who did not
think it important? Hold them in a room with no tables
or chairs, no coffee or cookies-they'll say what they
need to say, and it will be over.
On hiring talent : Don't hire
Michelangelo to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling, and
then have a bunch of schoolboy artists tell him which
colors to use!
The copyright date may be aged, but the wisdom is
timeless! Find this book, read it again, and experience
an enjoyable refresher course in the basics of business! |
|
| LET THE DATA DETERMINE THE
CAREER PATH - A CASE STUDY IN TITLE & ESCROW |
| In the title and escrow industry,
tradition has long determined a career path. Following
the century-old tradition of apprenticeships, candidates
hoping to become escrow closers usually serve a three to
five year term as an escrow assistant. If the assistant
works hard and performs well a promotion will usually
follow. Unfortunately, the rigors of the assistant
position also effectively reduce the number of
candidates surviving to become escrow closers. Many of
those who eventually get the promotion fail at the new
job and frequently leave their company or the industry
altogether. A successful Title & Escrow business
followed the traditional model for years, until they
noticed something while using the ProfileXT in
developing success patterns. The patterns generated by
the top escrow assistants were markedly different than
those generated by the top escrow closers.
While discussing these rather surprising findings
within their own ranks, they identified a major
difference between the primary functions of successful
people in each job. Escrow assistants were primarily
clerical and administrative in activity, while escrow
closers performed sales and customer service functions,
with some administrative duties. |
|
As these results became apparent an
opportunity to break tradition presented itself. Company
leaders asked: what if, when hiring was taking place,
job candidates were identified according to their match
to each of these distinctively different jobs?
Identification of individuals likely to succeed as
closers would allow a reduced training cycle, producing
productive closers in half the time that had been
required under the apprenticeship model.
Candidates who were a great match to the escrow
assistant job could develop in that career path and
would never feel pressured to "move up" to a job with a
large sales component for which they exhibited a poor
job match.
The company is in the second year of development
along these revised career paths. Promising new escrow
closers are producing new business, and quality escrow
assistants are becoming professionals in an endeavor
well suited to their strengths. Overall, the entire
escrow team is stronger, and more productive, with lower
turnover in each job category. The two job pattern
graphs are presented below. |
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"Nothing needs reforming so much as other people's habits."
~ Mark Twain
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