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Recruit2Hire Tidbits
http://www.recruit2hire.com/newsletter/recruit2hire-tidbits.html
Volume IV, Issue 5 September 2002
Free monthly newsletter -
Keeps you updated on the most advanced strategies for
recruiting, hiring, and employee retention.
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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. Welcome from the Publisher
***QUOTE OF THE MONTH***
2. Workplace Poison - the Silent Killer of Success
3. The News Digest
4. This Month's Web Site Pick
5. Classified Ads
**Resources**
6. Subscription Management
7. Contact Information
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1. Welcome from the Publisher
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Welcome to this month's issue of Recruit2Hire TidBits!
Employee morale is critical to the success of any company.
This month's article from Rick Grandinetti has some great
tips on how to recognize a "bad apple" that may be
spoiling your employee morale.
Now is the time to make sure you have everything in
place for keeping your best employees. While it may
seem like you have an abundance of resumes to choose
from right now, that is going to be short-lived as
the economy picks up and companies begin to compete
heavily for the best job seekers again.
A great article for job-seekers in the Resource
section this month!
Enjoy!
Terri
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QUOTE OF THE MONTH
The largest room in the world is the room for improvement.
~Harvey Mackay
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2. Workplace Poison - the Silent Killer of Success
By: Rick Grandinetti, Consultant
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If you want to kill someone and not get caught, how would
you do it? Guns are too loud and easily traced. Knives mean
close contact with your victim and danger to you. However,
what about arsenic? Because it is tasteless, you can mix it
in mashed potatoes, stir it into martinis, and slowly but
surely poison someone to death. Only very sophisticated
testing and extremely observant diagnosticians can detect
arsenic poisoning. It is an almost flawless way to commit
murder.
If someone wanted to kill your company and not get caught,
how would they do it? Recruit your employees? Industrial
espionage? Sabotage a product line? Probably not, they have
all been tried before.
If they were clever, they would infect your company with
Workplace Poison. It is the workplace arsenic, hard to
detect, easily disguised, and an insidious threat to the
health of your organization. A terminal condition, if not
caught in time, workplace poison silently kills success for
you and your employees.
How do you detect Workplace Poison?
That bottle of arsenic our fictional criminal uses will
have a skull and crossbones label, the universal warning
that a substance is toxic. Wouldn't it be nice if poisonous
coworkers had warning labels stamped on them? Well, they
do. Here is how to identify and deal with "Workplace
Poison."
How do you recognize poisonous employees?
Early poison detection keeps a company competitive. Elite
organizations separate themselves from the competition when
they acknowledge employees are their most appreciable
asset. As they develop and protect the "Human Capital",
they must build a defense against the invisible poisonous
force that erodes a company’s soul.
Consider this: organizations are like trees; they die from
the top down and the inside out. When organizations fail,
they blame the economy or the competition. What really
places a company in desperate financial imbalance is a slow
death from employee poison. This gradual demise initiates
loss of customer loyalty, indifference, low productivity,
political in-fighting and ultimately bankruptcy.
Just what is poison?
To detect poison you need to discern what poison is not.
Poison is not low morale. Low morale is defined as
frustration and anger caused through a break down in
communication. Low morale indicates that there is fire and
passion among employees. Employees with low morale are sick
and tired of being sick and tired. They passionately want
to choose excellence and just as passionately refute
mediocrity.
Do not confuse low morale with negativity. For example, in
a meeting two people may disagree professionally with what
is being said. It is okay to disagree. In fact, when two
people in business always agree, one is not needed. That is
not poison. It is making a difference.
Think about this—the opposite of love is not hate. A fine
line exists between love and hate—just ask any married
couple. The opposite of love is indifference; when you stop
caring.
Similarly, the opposite of low morale is not high morale.
It is indifference. When employees cease to care and do not
try to improve their department or their company, the skull
and crossbones should be stamped on their foreheads.
Indifference transforms into a poison that is difficult to
identify.
The Workplace Poison Control Center
Since there is not a poison control center for you to call,
let us look at some of the symptoms poison employees
exhibit. First, poison employees find disappointment in the
future. The epitaph on their headstone should read, "I
expected this!" The poison employee lives by this credo:
* Don't look—you might see
* Don't listen—you might hear
* Don't think—you might learn
* Don't make a decision—you might be wrong
* Don't walk—you might fall
* Don't run—you might stumble
* Don't change—you might grow
* Don't live—you might die
Such a negative covenant permeates a company's culture and
destroys any hope that an employee who wants to make a
difference might have. When you remove hope from a human
being, you remove the possibility of promise.
Poison employees are arrogant—they don't know what they
don't know
A great leader Dale Phillips, Vice Chairman of the Cocopah
Indian Tribe, enlightened me on destructive people. Mr.
Phillips believes "a major obstacle of progress is the
illusion of knowledge…not uneducated people, but people who
don't know what they don't know."
Partial success has blinded them; therefore, they believe
their own press. In other words, poison people have stopped
learning and do not listen well. They say things like "if
you’re right, fight." No, if you’re right you listen, and
you might learn something. Unfortunately, as poison
employees enjoy any success it quickly leads to arrogance
and arrogance leads to failure.
Ironically, we protect these toxic employees by making
statements like, "Well that is just the way John is. We
know he makes people uncomfortable and unproductive around
him, but there is not much out there to choose from." These
types of statements justify poisonous behavior and you
allow it to permeate your company.
If a company does not remove poisonous people, the
attrition rate will stay the same, if not increase, and you
will lose valuable employees. Because of arrogance, poison
employees resist learning anything new. They constantly
look for the exception versus desiring to be exceptional.
Poison employees are excuse driven
"Our prices are too high"; "I didn't have enough time"; "It
was the customer’s fault"; "I didn't know I was to do
that"; "The alarm clock didn't go off"; "I'm busy so that
is why I didn't call you back"; "I don't have clear
direction"; "That’s not my job"; "It’s shipping’s fault why
we lost that account."
Sound familiar? To toxic employees, the list of excuses is
virtually endless. They have mastered the art of doing as
little as possible. Quick to jump on the bandwagon if a
project works, they are, however, even quicker to point the
finger if something goes wrong. As poison employees rifle
through their arsenal of excuses, they should recognize
that excuses only benefit them. Ultimately, excuse driven
employees do not contribute to your organization—they
contaminate it.
Poison employees do not trust and should not be trusted
Many companies try to restructure, implement a new strategy
or introduce a new compensation program to bolster profits.
Sadly, if your company lacks a foundation of trust, your
work is undone. Poison employees are a non-trusting group.
Ever hear an employee say, "I do not trust her" or "Jack
should not be trusted?"
As soon as these statements are uttered, I quickly think of
the old Chinese proverb: "Ye not trust, ye not be trusted."
If poisonous people do not trust, then how can you trust
them? Half your productivity is lost because you will
always second-guess this poisonous person. If there is a
piercing dart to the soul and killer of a company, it is
mistrust. Non-trusting people are the worst kind of poison.
There is no exception to this rule. Trust is like the soul.
Once it is gone, it can never be replaced.
Poisonous people constantly criticize and negativity is
their benchmark
They are like a two-headed snake delighting in bursting
your positive bubbles and eager to explain why your ideas
will not work. As passionate pessimists, they see the
proverbial glass of water not only as half empty but
draining away by the droplets. They talk behind others’
backs, saying one thing at a meeting and then gossiping
nonstop once out of earshot. When asked how they are doing,
poisonous people usually respond they are disappointed they
lived through the night.
What is the antidote for poisonous people?
Rid your organization of poisonous people—conduct an
internal audit to identify them. The percentage of poison
people outlined in this article is less than 5%. This 5%
can destroy your organization.
Usually poison employees have a façade of being high
performers. Realistically they are bullies. They make
threats, sometimes make good on threats, and often make the
people around them feel inadequate about their work.
Once you have identified these bullies, act immediately.
Usually, the victims of bullies are the people you most
want to retain. The process starts with absenteeism, then
lack of productivity and eventually the victim's
resignation. They will cite money, but in fact, money is
the sixth reason people leave. The number one reason for
leaving a job is feeling unappreciated as the result of a
toxic environment in the work place.
If an employee displays more than half the characteristics
outlined in this article, act at once. Most poison people
do not know they are poison. They have to be told. Once
poisonous bullies, regardless of performance, are removed,
you will marvel at how quickly productivity rises. When you
work on the poison in your company, within the first month
you will realize up to a 10% increase in productivity. More
importantly, your employees will thank you for removing a
huge albatross from around their necks.
Are you sure about removing the poison?
To test our theory, apply two laws of business: addition by
subtraction and less is more. The main purpose, other than
consistency of purpose, of a company's culture is
sustaining profitability. You cannot sustain excellence
with an undercurrent of poison assaulting the internal
fiber of your business. Subtraction of poisonous people
equals addition of value, profits and customer loyalty.
Less poison means more employee loyalty and retention.
Right now you are probably thinking, " I know some people
like this." However, are you like this? Remember, most
poisonous people do not know they are poisonous.
Granted we all have days when we behave like poisonous
people. That is why you need positive internal customers to
lift your spirits. Some people are consistently poisonous
and do not realize it. If you have a coworker who you have
known for years who always complains and is poisonous about
his/her job, then should you turn around and walk away from
this person?
No, run. The constant negativity will drain the life out of
you. You will become a non-productive person. Life is too
short. Move forward.
Companies that have rejected their poisonous employees are
consistently successful no matter the economic situation
and dominate their market. They have bolstered innovation
and creativity by ridding their environment of poisonous
people. You possess the same ability to make a difference
and to succeed.
It is your choice - will work place poison silently kill
your success?
About the Author
Rick Grandinetti, Consultant of Vision Planning Inc
Mr. Rick Grandinetti is a celebrated educator, consultant,
and professional contract speaker to organizations
nationwide.
Mr. Grandinetti has designed, produced, coordinated and
conducted over 4,500 seminars and key-note speeches
throughout North America. He has authored more than 50
various educational programs, currently utilized by several
organizations. He has consulted and educated over 750
companies worldwide. And he addresses audiences totaling
over 50,000 people a year. Skilled at reforming company
cultures, Mr. Grandinetti analyzes and develops effective
measures that result in improved performance and increased
productivity, leading to an increase in bottom-line
profits.
Rick can be reached at Phone: 919-468-0431
Fax: 919-468-8966
[Seen in News For Recruiters ]
© Copyright 2002, Rick Grandinetti
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3. News Digest
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Human resources news
Keeping Your Employee From Leaving: Some Tips for Difficult
Times By Kevin Wheeler
I sense fear in the marketplace. Several clients have told
me they are concerned that their best people are thinking
about leaving and will probably do so as soon as the
economy improves. This is a shame, and it can be avoided.
If you are a recruiter or an HR professional in a large
company, you have most likely tried to be proactive
and prevent significant turnover from occurring by offering
bonuses, or words of praise, or flexible hours, all the
while assuring the best employees of their value. Yet this
is not enough.
I was speaking with an engineer last week who has survived
all the downsizing of the past year, but who nonetheless
is very unhappy. He is well paid, and grateful for that,
but he feels that senior management has been less than
candid about the economy and the financial status of the
firm, and he is not happy about the way his (or others')
performance is evaluated. In our conversation, he
inadvertently outlined several ways his company could keep
him -- if only they understood!
Here are some of his thoughts on hanging on to employees,
as well as a few of mine........
Want more?
News feeds automatically updated daily for your website at
moreover.com FREE
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***Humor***
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How to Make a Telemarketer Go Away
1. If they want to loan you money, tell them you just
filed for bankruptcy and you could sure use some money.
Ask, "How long can I keep it? Do I have to ever pay it back,
or is it like the other money I borrowed before
my bankruptcy?"
2. If you get one of those pushy people who won't shut up,
just listen to their sales pitch. When they try to close
the sale, tell them that you'll need to go get your credit
card. Then, just set the phone down and go do laundry,
shopping or whatever. See how long that commission based
scum waits for you to get your credit card.
3. If they start out with, "How are you today?" say,
"Why do you want to know?" Or you can say, "I'm so glad you
asked, because no one seems to care these days and I have
all these problems, my sciatica is acting up, my eyelashes
are sore, my dog just died...." When they try to get back
to the sales process, just continue on with telling about
your problems.
4. If the person says he's Joe Doe from the ABC Company,
ask him to spell his name, then ask him to spell the
company name, then ask where it is located. Continue
asking personal questions or questions about the company
for as long as necessary.
5. This one works better if you are male: Telemarketer:
"Hi, my name is Julie and I'm with Dodger & Peck Services
.... You: "Hang on a second."(few seconds pause) "Okay,
(in a really husky voice) what are you wearing?"
Think you're having a bad day? Check out this guy's
solution!
Don't get mad - get even!
Seen on ahajokes.com
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4. This Month's Web Site Pick
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The Sales Research & Consulting website features tons
of resources for sales professionals. When you register
for free membership you gain access to email coaching,
sales articles, and lots of other valuable resources
to help grow your sales.
__________________________________________________________
5. Classified Ads
_______________________________________________________
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"Resume and Cover Letter Secrets Revealed," a do-it-
yourself manual that will help you find a job in 30
days ... or your money back. For more information,
please visit
1dayresume
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ad on its' own full page sent to cell phones and wireless
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or Rates by e-mail
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Showcases are here! www.azshowcases.com for details!
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********************************************************
If you're the All Star of Sales and want the world to know
about you, set up your own web site at www.yourname.com with
your awesome resume on it. Have it graphically displayed on
the window, body or bumper of your car and let it be seen
everyday, everywhere you go.
Web Decal
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**********RESOURCES************
*******Books******
Leading Up: How to Lead Your Boss So You Both Win
by Michael Useem
Eight true stories show that Leaders today aren't just
bosses, they’re self-starters who take charge even when
they haven't been given a charge. Upward leaders get
results by helping their superiors lead. They make sure
that good ideas don't die on the vine because a boss’s
understanding doesn't reach down deep enough into the
organization. Upward leadership assures that advice
arrives from all points on the corporate compass, not
just from the top down. And...
Outrageous!: Unforgettable Service...Guilt-Free Selling
by T. Scott Gross, Scott Gross
Outrageous customer service is taking American companies
by storm. From small-town chicken outlets to suburban
furniture stores to corporate giants like Southwest Airlines,
extraordinary customer service has become the key to
business success.
Spearheading today's hard-serve, soft-sell message is
T. Scott Gross, a confirmed believer in outrageous customer
service and a wildly popular speaker on the subject....
**Join AZSalesPros Online Chat Wednesday, October 23, 2002
from 12:00pm to 1:00pm MDT for a chance to win a free copy
of this book. Register free!
Make Them Beg To Hire You!
The definitive guide to zeroing in on the Hidden
Job Market that's available right now to those who
know how to reveal it. Discover proven methods of
beefing up your marketability, getting your resume
on top of the YES pile and more!
******Articles********
The bad hire
The résumé looked great; the interview went well; even the references
checked out. So you hired her, and it was a disaster. What went wrong?
Demands Spur HR Solutions
By Michael Cohn
The familiar human resources department is changing as the American
workplace undergoes dramatic shifts. Demands now come from all
quarters. Employees expect better and faster answers to their
work-related questions about benefits, their 401(k) accounts, and how
they can balance their work with their lives outside the office. Managers
want more effective tools for appraising their current employees and
recruiting the best talent. Executives need to calculate appropriate
levels of compensation and are more accountable than ever before to
shareholders and government regulators for the compensation they
sign off on. And as companies evolve to meet the increased demand
for better performance, they need to train employees to grapple with
new markets and skills......
Cucumber Communications Brings Unemployment Relief to Former
WorldCom Employees
Former WorldCom employees may download all required forms
from www.800cucumber.com.
To ensure proper training, support, and a smooth transition
for the thousands of anticipated newcomers, Cucumber Communications
is not accepting any new agent applications from non-WorldCom
employees for the next ninety days.(posted August 1, 2002)
As the recession winds downs sales professionals must ramp-up
their selling strategies, according to Josh Gordon. Author of
Selling 2.0 Motivating Customers in the New Economy
(Berkley Books, 2000), Gordon offers these four strategies
for preparing a sales force in the midst of today’s fading
recession.
1. Get your sales team thinking about external opportunities...
Read More.
******Job Hunting********
"The Future Is Now"
Are you a slave to your past?
You may be ... if your resume focuses only on the
duties you've held, instead of the results you can
produce.
Doing so will limit your career progress.
Let’s fix that.
Let’s write a resume that makes employers pick up the
phone, call you for an interview and ask: “Can you do
that for me, too?”
_______________________________________________________
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7. Subscription Management
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ATTENTION: You are receiving this newsletter because you
subscribed to it. Our subscriber list is NOT made
available to other companies or individuals. We value
every subscriber and respect your privacy.
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_______________________________________________________
8. Contact Information
_______________________________________________________
Terri Robinson, President Robinson & Associates
Connecting You with the Right Sales Pro for Your Sales Job
http://www.recruit2hire.com/ Telephone: (602) 233-8410
Phoenix, AZ E-mail: mailto:terri-robinson@recruit2hire.com
Member of LEARNING FOUNTAIN NETWORK
*Excellence * Honesty * Ethics
Registered with the Library of Congress, Washington, DC
ISSN: 1528-3240
Site licenses available
__________________________________________________________
All contents Copyright (c)2002 Robinson & Associates. except
where indicated otherwise. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reprint only with express permission from copyright
holder(s). All trademarks are property of their respective
owners. All contents provided as is. No express or implied
income claims made herein -- your business success is always
dependent on many factors, including your own abilities.
__________________________________________________________
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