What is Motivation?

The art of motivating people starts with learning how to influence individuals' behavior. Once you understand this, you are more likely to gain the results that both the organization and its employees want.

Motivation is the will to act. It was once assumed that motivation had to be injected from outside, but it is now understood that everyone is motivated by several differing forces. Int he workplace, see to influence your staff to align their own motivation with the needs of the organization.

To release the full potential of employees, organization are rapidly moving away from "command and control" and towards "advise and consent" as ways of motivating. This change of attitude began when employers recognized that regarding good work is more effective than threatening punitive measures for bad work.

Self-motivation is long lasting. Inspire self-motivated staff further by trusting them to work on their own initiatives and encouraging them to take responsibility for entire tasks. For demotivated staff members, find out what would motivate them, and implement whatever help you can. Highly motivated individuals are vital to supply organizations with the new initiatives that are necessary in the competitive business world.

Who do you need to motivate? Yourself, managers, colleagues, and subordinates. Each are motivated in their own way. If you want a detailed assessment of what motivates your people click here or send an email to blair@tabdenverwest.com.

Your persuasion and influence can be used to motivate yourself and others. Just remember, true motivation has to come from within.

The Frustrations of Hiring

My Executive Assistant moved on to help run the business she and her husband bought so now I am back-filling the position. While, I have said that there are many opportunities to hire great talent right now, you also have to be careful in this process.

First, smart business owners are keeping their top talent, regardless of their business situation. Good talent is hard to find and harder to replace. There comes a point where if you let go of too many employees you do more harm to your business than good. So with that said, regardless of the position you are hiring for, keep in mind that there are a lot of people out there who were the bottom 20% in their previous organizations.

Second, some people are so desperate for a job that they are responding to almost any job posting and not even reading about the position. I have received people’s resumes with standard a standard introduction and/or cover letter that talks about things that are not relevant at all to the position. If they had read the job posting, they would have known this.

Third, the devil is in the details. Call me picky but when someone is trying to get hired, I expect them to send something where the grammar, spelling, etc. is correct. Since they should be doing everything possible to impress the hiring manager, well you get the point. The number of responses that I received with typos, grammatical errors, etc. was astounding, even for me.

So what does this mean? Well, patience is a virtue. I confess that on more than one occasion as I was slogging through the resumes I just wanted to forget the whole thing. There were certainly other things that I would rather be spending my time on (like getting some work done). There are still gems out in the rough. You just have to invest the time to find them. And of course, for the most part, you can find quality talent at reasonable rates which is a good thing.

If you have an opportunity to hire – go for it! Just make sure you write your job description and key accountabilities BEFORE you post the position. Also, make sure you ask your employees for referrals as they are usually a great source for quality hires. Your job posting should be as clear as possible in terms of what you are looking for. If people don’t read the post you will know it immediately and can easily reject that resume. I would say, have fun, but I know better. To motivate yourself, think about all the great value your new hire will bring to your organization and how they will allow you to go focus on the strategic items necessary to move your business forward. Happy hunting.

Wanted: Overqualified Professionals

How to manage expectations and integrate advantageous hires.

By: David Lewis

Is it over yet? Are we finally on the road to recovery? When will business be back to normal? In today’s business world we’re all asking these questions. The harsh reality is that what we considered “normal” is probably a long way from returning, if it ever returns completely. However, there are many opportunities for business owners, especially in the area of staffing. What makes hiring different today is the deep pool of talent that exists due to the recession. What is even more remarkable is the fact that these potential new employees come to the table with skills that far exceed what would fall into the salary range for the position they are interviewing for. So what’s the problem? There are several. The recession has delivered a huge challenge in the area of workforce management: how to hire top available talent who will work for less than your current staff without creating total havoc among your employees. How, for example, do you bring in Bob, a 15-year marketing veteran who happily will take the marketing coordinator position, yet has more experience than the person to whom he reports? On the one hand, you may want to avoid creating such a conflict; but on the other hand, you want to hire the best available talent in order to best benefit your business. If you handle this correctly, it can be one of those “good problems.” If you don’t, you are going to regret the decision. There are ways to ease into this type of situation tactfully and strategically. Ask the Right Questions Before you conduct the interview, determine how satisfied the candidates will be in a lesser role. You can do so by looking through their resume for signs they have successfully transitioned into roles with lower stature or lesser levels of responsibility. In the interview itself, your line of questioning needs to focus on their past behavior when it has come to handling the work of those below them. For example, have they stepped in regularly to assist their staff when the workload required? Can they show they have remained very much a “player/coach,” serving as a leader and a doer? Many candidates will tell you—as tactfully as they can—that they really have no other choice, and therefore are willing to accept what the market will bear. In the past, we may have eliminated candidates who were “overqualified” in part because we thought that they would leave the company as soon as they found a more suitable position. However, because so many companies have consolidated or disappeared, professionals in all areas of business are oversupplied and under-demanded. That means that bringing on board overqualified new hires does not present anywhere close to the flight risk we have reasonably been concerned about in the past. If you are still concerned that they might not be around for the long term – consider asking them about the other positions they have interviewed for, paying close attention to the level of those roles. If they are similar to the position you are hiring for, that could validate their claim. Integrating New Staff Once the new staff member is on board, it’s important to pay close attention to the dynamic between old and new. Your current staff could easily see the new hire as a threat. It’s therefore critical that you take a proactive approach with all parties. For the new hire, be sure they have a realistic set of expectations when it comes to their role, as well as current and future compensation. Tell them what you expect in terms of their performance and interactions with coworkers, providing direction and guidance on how you want them to “manage up” to those that hold more senior roles, yet have less experience. You want to tell your tenured staff that you continue to value them and their contributions. That being said, you also want to encourage them to solicit ideas and input from the new staff member, and to not view what they offer as threatening, but rather hugely valuable. By taking these steps, you can create a level of constructive competition that raises the level of performance of junior employees who have more tenure than the more experienced new hire. Look for ways to tap ideas and contributions in group settings, while reinforcing the hierarchy that exists in your organization. Future with Your Company Over time, these new hires will most likely expect growth within your company. Just because they are willing to get started at a lower level doesn’t mean they will be satisfied to stay there. Before taking on experienced people, you should decide if you can handle feeding the success of your business at the expense of losing the resources that got you to this point, or if you see enough growth on the horizon to allow parallel career trajectories. If your loyalties are to those that have been with you the longest, then it may mean that your future success could suffer. When the environment you create by hiring today’s available talent is not managed and monitored carefully, morale and loyalty across the board can decline. Keeping a close watch and injecting yourself as needed should allow for growing your capabilities to new unexpected levels, while getting even more out of those that have been with you to this point.

Top 5 Job Description Mistakes

Today’s blog post is courtesy of HR BLR.

Job descriptions—just the thought brings tears to your eyes. Yet job descriptions are central to hiring, compensation, and appraisal (not to mention avoiding lawsuits). Today, BLR editors reveal the top 5 mistakes managers make with job descriptions.

One key to getting them done right is to give someone responsibility—and put it in his or her job description!

BLR's editors have observed the following five commonly made mistakes in job descriptions:

Mistake #1: Mismanaging the Job Description Program

Often, job description programs suffer from a lack of attention. Answering these questions will help you to give your job description program a firm footing:

• Why do we need new job descriptions?

• What events or conditions indicate that this is the time to get involved in a job description program?

• What are the shortcomings of our existing job descriptions?

• To what specific uses will job descriptions be put?

• What are the projected costs?

• Who will be involved?

• Is top management committed?

Most organizations perform a regular review of job descriptions. Also consider revising job descriptions when:

• The job content changes (perhaps due to a new technology, for example) or there is a change in essential functions

• There is an organizational structure change

• The employee or his or her supervisor requests a review

• The only incumbent leaves the job

• There are continuous problems in a department or division

Mistake #2: Omitting Critical Elements of a Job Description

If key elements are missing from the job description, its effectiveness suffers. Most job descriptions contain the following elements:

• Job identification—Describes the job in a word or two

• Job summary or purpose—A brief narrative of the job that highlights its general characteristics

• Essential functions and additional responsibilities—Those duties that must be performed in the job

• Accountabilities—Not only the end results achieved when job duties are performed satisfactorily but also specific standards for measuring performance

• Job specifications—The specific job requirements in terms of "compensable factors" (During job evaluation, a point score is assigned and a wage rate or salary level is set accordingly.)

Mistake #3: Failing to Accurately Describe the Job

The typical job description is deficient in at least one of the following ways:

• It exaggerates or downplays the importance of the job.

• It fails to pinpoint the critical elements that differentiate between successful and unsuccessful job performance.

• It ignores the decision-making aspects of the job.

• It either fails to focus on the job incumbent's actual behavior or it defines required behavior in ambiguous terms.

• It describes worker requirements or characteristics that are not really needed to succeed in the job.

Mistake #4: Failing to Use Job Descriptions Correctly (or at All!)

Some employers think of job descriptions only in terms of wage and salary administration, or as a necessary evil when it comes to complying with certain employment laws. But these are only two of the many practical uses for job descriptions. Consider:
Wage and Salary Administration
Any compensation system requires that jobs be classified and evaluated in terms that make comparisons possible.

Legal Compliance

Job descriptions can be key evidence of legal compliance (or noncompliance) under a number of federal employment laws.

• The Americans with Disabilities Act (essential functions)

• Fair Labor Standards Act (who is "exempt" and "nonexempt")

• Equal Pay Act (fighting discrimination lawsuits based on pay)

• Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (fighting discrimination lawsuits based on performance)

Collective Bargaining

Job descriptions have also been used by employers to defend themselves against what they feel are unjustified union demands for uniform rates.


Mistake #5: Forgetting Format, Organization, and Grammar
To achieve the two primary goals of job description writing—accuracy and brevity—you must check and double-check the words you have chosen to describe each job activity. Here are 15 guidelines regarding the use of words in a job description:

1. Use a terse, direct style throughout the description.
2. Keep sentence structure as simple as possible; omit all words that don't contribute necessary information.
3. Be clear and use nontechnical language whenever possible. A good job description explains the objectives, duties, and responsibilities of a job so that they are understandable even to a layperson.
4. Avoid imprecise words such as "situation," "facilitate," "interface," etc. Ask yourself if the word you have used might be interpreted differently by two different people.
5. Begin each sentence with an active verb, third person singular. Always use the present tense.
6. Wherever possible, describe the desired outcome of the work, rather than the method for accomplishing that outcome. For example, instead of "writes down phones messages"—a task-oriented approach—you might say "accurately records phone messages."
7. Focus on essential activities. However, remember that a task that is performed frequently throughout the day may not be as essential to the job as something done only once or twice a week.
8. Avoid the narrative form. You are writing a job description, not a story.
9. Be consistent when using terms like "may" and "occasionally." Their meanings should be spelled out to avoid confusion. For example, make sure that if the word "occasionally" is used in the essential functions section of the description, the occasional work performed truly is essential to the job.
10. Avoid words that don't tell specifically what the employee does, such as "handles." Others you may want to avoid: "checks," "prepares," "examines," "sends." If these words are the most accurate and specific ones available, it may be acceptable to use them. But if a more specific term would describe the task more clearly, use it.
11. Refer to job titles rather than people. For example, "Reports to Human Resources Director" instead of "Reports to Estrella Simpson."
12. Be precise in defining responsibility. The degree of responsibility given indicates the importance of the job and is a vital factor in evaluating it.
13. Qualify whenever possible. Don't just say that a file clerk "files" materials; say that the clerk "files alphabetically."
14. Stick to a logical sequence in describing duties and responsibilities whenever possible.
15. Remember that the length of a job description does not indicate the importance of the job. The job description for the president of a firm can be put into one sentence: "Responsible for the successful operation of the company."

Delegate for Greater Success

Even "Super-You" needs help and support. There is no shame in asking for assistance. Push aside the pride and show respect for the talent others can bring to the table.

And, remember that there is no such thing as a single-handed success: When you include and acknowledge all those in your corner, you propel yourself, your teammates and your supporters to greater heights. - Author Unknown.

Do you feel stressed and overloaded? We all feel it at some time. I’ve been feeling a bit overloaded these past couple of days (there are many wonderful things happening in my business) so I did some reorganizing and found some additional tasks that I wanted/needed to delegate. Most of us can use some improvement in our delegation skills so I figured I would share my thoughts on delegation. Those who know me, know that I am a huge proponent of delegation – as long as you are delegating the rights tasks. See Applying the 80/20 Rule to Daily Tasks to learn more about what you should and shouldn’t delegate.

If you don’t involve others in your success then you will have limited success. Working as an individual, you can only work so many hours a day. There are only so many tasks that you can complete in these hours (let alone completing them with high quality). If you are good at your job, you will want more success.

But you can’t do everything and even if you try you will end up stressed, unhappy, and feeling like you are letting people down, including yourself. One of the most common ways of overcoming this limitation is to learn how to delegate your work to other people. If you do this well, you can quickly build a strong and successful team of people, well able to meet the demands that others place. This is why delegation is such an important skill, and is one that you absolutely have to learn and start executing!

To figure out how to delegate properly, it’s important to understand why people avoid it. Quite simply, people don’t delegate because it takes a lot of up-front effort.

Which is easier: doing something that you already know how to do, know the content, etc. or spending the time teaching and potentially documenting the process for someone else to do? The million dollar question you need to ask yourself is “is this a good use of my time? Is it part of the 20% of tasks that will generate 80% of the company’s revenue?”

It may initially appear that it is just easier to do it yourself then spend time teaching, documenting and checking on someone else; in the long-run you may be hurting yourself, the company and your employees.

• Invest time in your employees, especially if the tasks are repeating (or even if you expect that there will be similar tasks in the future). Not only will this offload some work from your shoulders but you will be giving your employees challenging work and helping to build their skills, confidence and makes them more loyal to you and the company.

• You don’t have to delegate to employees. There are outside parties who specialize in certain areas that are not part of your core competency (or can perform the tasks faster, easier and cheaper). I often encourage business owners to delegate or “outsource” entire functions of their organization. For example, Information Technology, Human Resources, and even Marketing can be outsourced. It may cost you some additional dollars but isn’t your time worth it?

• And finally, you want to be focused on your strengths, your core competencies. By focusing on what you do best and what is most strategic to the company will help you move your company forward faster!

Delegation allows you to make the best use of your time and skills, and it helps other people in the team grow and develop to reach their full potential in the organization. At first sight, delegation can feel like more of a hassle than it’s worth. However by delegating effectively, you can greatly expand the amount of work that you can deliver. When you arrange the workload so that you are working on the tasks that have the highest priority for you, and other people are working on meaningful and challenging assignments, you have a recipe for success. To delegate effectively, choose the right tasks to delegate, identify the right people to delegate to, and delegate in the right way. There’s a lot to this, but you’ll achieve so much more once you’re delegating effectively!

Human Resources in a Recession

One of the many topics that business owners are continuously asking me about is Human Resources and how to manage their people through these unchartered waters.

My response: Now is the time to do what we should always be doing and that is to use and develop our Human Resources to their fullest potential. Our employees are our most valuable resource and, therefore, we need to address this critical asset head-on.

• Do performance reviews diligently and more frequently. There is no better time to clarify expectations (and probably get a positive up-tick in performance) than now.
  

• Provide Leadership like never before.
  
  • Your employees look to you for stability and guidance during difficult times.
  • Give them articles or have short seminars about money management, positive news, and future challenges.
    
  • Educate and communicate.
  • Share positive news regularly.
    

• Consolidation of jobs is common place as volume decreases and activity reduces.
  
  • Good job descriptions and knowledge of your workforce’s abilities and potential are critical to doing this analysis well. These make those performance reviews a lot easier!
    

• Rank your staff by their contribution to the bottom line and/or the ROI of their cost to the organization. Sales and production staff become disproportionately valuable in an economic downturn.

• Adjust wages, benefits, and perks to better align with shrinking revenues and margins.
  
  • You are the steward of this economic ship and are responsible for its success and must make hard decisions.
  • Is there someone who is overpaid or underperforming?
    

• In many cases, layoffs are necessary.
  
  • Your best employees deserve consideration for their hard work and loyalty.
  • Many considerations need be thought through before taking actions: will several employees share in the layoffs and work alternating weeks to draw unemployment periodically; will you provide job attached status to key employees you want to return, will you offer a return to work bonus after the period of layoff ends, etc.

• Possibly reducing hours is an alternative, either in select slow parts of the business or across the board.

• The labor force market has turned around over the last six months and this might be a time to upgrade talent and experience.
  
  
• If you are hiring, there are some great people available. However, be aware that not everyone is a top performer. For many companies, when they are letting go of people, they are laying off those who are the poorest performers - their bottom 20%. May sure your hiring process includes Leadership and Communication Style assessments.
  

DO NOT WAIT to take the necessary actions required to right your economic ship until you are overly vulnerable and might not survive. DO WHAT IS NECESSARY so that you have cash yet are poised for recovery when the tide comes back in.

Creating Effective Teams

Now more than ever, we need strong teams that operate in harmony. Effective teams are composed of individuals with complementary skills. Each member brings unique talents and experiences to the team, creating a more powerful unit.


The Challenges of Teamwork
Do you have teams that aren’t as successful as they could be? Most of us do. Here are a few reasons why teams are challenged. Which ones apply to you?

• Some people on the team don’t pull their weight.

• The goal or purpose of the team is unclear or has no meaning.

• Team members blame each other when things go wrong.

• Team members don’t bring their problems or concerns out in the open.

• Some team members don’t fully contribute to the team.

• Team members are unable to constructively discuss differing views and opinions.

• Team members don’t have confidence in each other.

• Team meetings are unfocused and waste time.

• Team members don’t have a clear plan for achieving their goals.

Team members can support their teams by focusing on three key elements to set up their team meetings. By ensuring that the elements are in place, team members share responsibility for team success in a powerful way.


Functions and Roles
Every meeting has four key functions that must be managed if the meeting is to achieve results:

• Participation

• Process management

• Information management

• Decision making

Making decisions on who will manage these functions prior to (or at the start of) a meeting gets any team meeting off to a solid start.


Desired Outcomes
A desired outcome is what your meeting aims to achieve. Without a goal, meetings become unfocused and confused. Team members can help clarify the meeting goal by asking for or helping to create a desired outcome for a meeting. They can also use the desired outcome to check progress during and at the end of the team meeting.


Decision Making
Much of the power on the team resides in decision making. Teams must make both process and content decisions in meetings. Who makes what decisions and when? Understanding the range of options for decision making on a team helps teams to eliminate confusion and avoid breakdowns that occur when decision-making methods are absent or unclear.

To develop teams that know how to communicate with each other consider a behavior and communications survey! They are invaluable tools in building effective teams.

Most likely you have changed the way you manage your company during these economic times. Create high-performing teams so that you can thrive under any economic climate.

The Human Factor in a Recession

One of the many topics that business owners are continuously asking me about is Human Resources and how to manage their people through these unchartered waters.

My response: Now is the time to do what we should always be doing and that is to use and develop our Human Resources to their fullest potential. Our employees are our most valuable resource and, therefore, we need to address this critical asset head-on.

• Do performance reviews diligently and more frequently.
  
  • There is no better time to clarify expectations (and probably get a positive up-tick in performance) than now.

• Provide Leadership like never before.
  
  • Your employees look to you for stability and guidance during difficult times.
  • Give them articles or have short seminars about money management, positive news, and future challenges.
  • Educate and communicate.
  • Share positive news regularly.

• Consolidation of jobs is common place as volume decreases and activity reduces.
  
  • Good job descriptions and knowledge of your workforce’s abilities and potential are critical to doing this analysis well. These make those performance reviews a lot easier!

• Rank your staff by their contribution to the bottom line and/or the ROI of their cost to the organization.
  
  • Sales and production staff become disproportionately valuable in an economic downturn.

• Adjust wages, benefits, and perks to better align with shrinking revenues and margins.
  
  • You are the steward of this economic ship and are responsible for its success and must make hard decisions.
  • Is there someone who is overpaid or underperforming?

• In many cases, layoffs are necessary.
  
  • Your best employees deserve consideration for their hard work and loyalty.
  • Many considerations need be thought through before taking actions: will several employees share in the layoffs and work alternating weeks to draw unemployment periodically; will you provide job attached status to key employees you want to return, will you offer a return to work bonus after the period of layoff ends, etc.

• Possibly reducing hours is an alternative, either in select slow parts of the business or across the board.

• The labor force market has turned around over the last six months and this might be a time to upgrade talent and experience.

DO NOT WAIT to take the necessary actions required to right your economic ship until you are overly vulnerable and might not survive. DO WHAT IS NECESSARY so that you have cash yet are poised for recovery when the tide comes back in.