Windridge - Identify. Develop. Retain.

Welcome Aboard: The 10 Commandments of Onboarding

At lunch a few days ago a friend was telling me about her new job, and sadly what stood out in her mind the most was the lack of support during her onboarding process. She was basically dumped into a newly created position and left to her own devises.

I know that her experience is all too common and it made me wonder about the needs of new hires and what can be done to make their transition from “welcome” to “comfortable productivity” a smoother one?

Here are The 10 Commandments of Onboarding – from  Career Builders

Rules to live – and work – by for a divine onboarding experience.

1. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy employee. Few things are more disappointing than the realization that the job you thought you were hired to do is sorely different than what you're actually doing. As an employer, misrepresenting your employee's new role destroys trust in you immediately, after which no amount of orientation efforts can undo the initial damage.
2. Thou shalt give a written plan of employee objectives and responsibilities. A written plan detailing objectives, strategy and expectations of future results helps diminish any confusion about a new employee's job functions and instead opens up the floor to discuss concerns or new opportunities.
3. Thou shalt give thy employ thy undivided attention. Letting email, phone calls or other employees distract you during orientation sessions sends the message, "I'm just not that into you" and kills morale. Prepare a checklist of subjects to review with your new employees, set aside the appropriate amount of time to do it, and let others know that you are not to be interrupted while you are orienting your new workers. This gives new employees the message that they are the most important item on your agenda. (Or: this lets new employees know that...)
4. Thou shalt have relevant paperwork ready. Make sure all administrative forms—such as employment, direct deposit, and benefits—are ready to be completed on day one so you don't have to waste time dealing with it later, and so that your employee can start getting these important matters taken care of right away.
5. Thou shalt introduce thy employee to thy neighbors. Provide staff members with the new employee's résumé and job description and advise them to follow a meeting format that includes sharing a description of their own positions, ways in which their roles interact with that of the new hire, and how they might expect to work together in the future. (This is also a good time to assign a mentor or buddy to the new hire as an immediate resource for any questions and key information about organizational culture and goals.)
6. Thou shall set up thy employee's workstation. An empty workstation is to a new employee what an unkempt home is to a houseguest. Before the employee arrives on day one, stock his or her workstation with everything from paper and pens to keys and, if possible, business cards. Make sure the phone and computer, complete with voicemail and e-mail accounts, are set up. Leave a copy of an organizational chart, staff list, and phone directory on the new hire's desk.
7. Thou shalt schedule one-on-one time to ensure you connect regularly with the new employee. If you can't do this on a weekly or bi-weekly basis, schedule meetings to provide feedback at 30- and 90-day checkpoints, or before a semi-annual review.
8. Thou shalt create a balance. The first day is always tough. Vary the first day's schedule by including less formal gatherings between meetings. Arrange for a group of staff members to treat the new hire to lunch on the first day to provide a little non-meeting relief and levity.
9. Thou shalt clarify the company culture. Again, to avoid future confusion (or embarrassment), provide the employee with company information, policies – including dress code and late policies – and benefits. If your organization has a new employee handbook, leave that on the desk as well.
10. Thou shalt think beyond the first few days. After 90 days, request formal feedback on the new hire's performance from his or her supervisor, and be sure to solicit feedback from the employee as well. Take this opportunity to address any issues of concern as well as note any accomplishments so that all parties are confident that the new hire is poised for success in his or her role.

Now it’s your turn, what have you found helpful in helping new employees fit into their new work environment? What daily support system(s) do you have in place? Please share!

Joining Forces to Identify and Develop the Best

How do independent professionals, vendors, and consultants fit into organizations and become valued resources to each other?

“The measure of a great leader is to develop those they work with into greater leaders than they themselves are.” I can’t remember who said this but it should be our goal as independent professionals to better the people and thus the organizations we work with / for, not for our own profit but for the success of all.

And so one asks, what is the best way to identify the opportunities that will help our client organizations create a better environment based on our expertise, their expertise, and the synergy of the two? How do we honor the current protocols and systems that are working within an organization and also help move a company up into a new and better paradigm?

One strategy for achieving this is what I refer to as “slicing,” where clients use external support for specific areas of need. The value of the consultant or coach in this instance is in working alongside current Managers to help them achieve their goals and objectives.

Here are four areas where external / internal collaboration can be helpful.

1. Identify best fit candidates for the positions that are being filled. This can be done by initially identifying what each job description is, what the person will be “doing” most of the time in said position, and the key traits necessary for an employee to be successful in this position.

Hiring is one of the most difficult and impactful jobs and external consultants / test vendors are a great resource to provide an objective sounding board.

2. Succession planning. Identifying and setting career / position objectives for current employees as they grow in their expertise and skills.

Wouldn’t it be great to have a plan from the beginning of an employee’s life cycle of: 

• where the new employee fits at present
• what value they will bring in the future
• how to get from point A to B

Setting up a plan of action, in turn, will provide employees with a reason and vision for what they are doing now and where they are going in the future. Goals are extremely important in establishing the reason of “why am I here?”

3. Coaching. Providing a safe sounding board for employees, whether they are a manager or an executive. Coaching can focus on behavioral changes necessary for performance, help in re-focusing and energizing someone who is hitting burnout, or working with someone as they make an upward transition into a new position. Internal or external coaches each have their own merit and can complement each other if used correctly.

4. Coaching the Coaches. Wouldn’t it be nice for your internal coaches to have someone they can turn to for an objective perspective on the issues they are helping others work through? External coaches are a valuable resource for internal coaches by providing feedback, perspective, and helpful approaches / tools. They provide a safe, objective sounding-board because they are removed from day-to-day interactions.

Developing solutions that spring from a collaboration of two (or more) talented individuals, internal and external, who are working toward best outcomes for the organization is a powerful paradigm. In this scenario respect and trust are built, people develop and learn new perspectives and skills, which provide for a higher level of expertise both professionally and personally to all involved. Plus, there is a certain amount of energy created from this sort of collaboration – and more energy is always good!

Image: istockphoto

The Importance of Adjusting Assessment Criteria to the Requirements of Your Positions

When using behavioral assessments to help with hiring decisions many times people will simply default to what they think is the obvious. A Manager or Management assessment equals a management position; seems easy, right? Think again.

The problem with this approach is that it does not take into consideration the actual work being performed by the individual, level of responsibility, level of decision making requirements, interactions with others, etc.

Here are a few questions to help you understand management positions and how to make sure you are using the correct “assessment scoring ranges” for your positions.

• Is the person in this position managing people or things? There are very different behaviors required for each.
• Is the position in a small company where the manager oversees a team of five (or no one at all), or is this person responsible for managing 75-plus employees? Again very different behaviors required.
• What is the level of decision making power?
• Is there a technical, presentation or customer service component to the position?
• Has this position changed over time? Grown or diminished in scope or responsibility?

Make sure you are using the correct level of assessment and desired trait scores for the position; this is critical. Also take into consideration that many times a position starts as one thing and morphs into another over time.

I had this happen last week with a client when we needed to adjust the Position Compatibility Summary overlay to reflect their current IT Managers’ position responsibilities, which have changed from what we originally set up.

Originally this position was a non-people / technical management position. There were no direct reports, and no customer contact; it was a purely technical position not a people management position. Now the company is growing, and the IT Managers have the responsibility of direct reports in the form of System Administrators, so the PCS overlay must be adjusted to reflect this new level of “people” interaction and responsibility. Basically this means there are now slightly higher Interpersonal, Self-Control, and Dedication behavioral trait scores desired for a good fit; interacting well with others demands the change.

Bottom line: Make sure your hiring assessments measure the right traits at the correct and current level for your position, and don’t be afraid to change assessments or filters to capture the changes that inevitably occur with organizational growth, restructuring, and time.

5 Tips to Help You Use Hiring Assessments

Have you ever seen anyone fired for poor knowledge? Possibly...

Have you ever seen anyone fired for a poor attitude, laziness, or an unwillingness to cooperate with others? This is much more likely.

That situation could easily be avoided through the proper use of quality assessments in the early stages of your candidate selection process.

Oh the stories I could tell…

* The new hire who was assessed after she was hired, and who turned out to be a total disaster. She caused a world of disruption within the office, brought an unfounded lawsuit against the company within the first four months and the sad reality was, she would never have been hired (due to her behavioral scores, feedback, and lack of objectivity on the assessment results) had we assessed her before she was brought into the company.

* Then there was the candidate who argued with me. He said that he “successfully completed every project he had ever started.” Really? “Successfully completed every…,” Wow! He argued with me and would not simply get in and objectively complete his assessment. Just think how he will react once hired when asked to redo a task. And who would want to hire someone who would be rude to anyone associated with the hiring organization? It was bad manners to say the least!

The following is an Assessment Checklist to use for reviewing your current hiring assessment process, and will be especially helpful if this is your first exposure to the proper and possible ways of incorporating hiring assessments into your organizations hiring, succession management, and professional development practices.

1. Do you currently have a program in place for hiring and for succession management / professional development?
If so, examine the various ways you are using assessments within your organization. Are you consistent with the assessments used in your hiring and interviewing procedures? Do you utilize assessments in your training and development programs to enable you to train around real development needs not just what you think the needs are?

2. Are you paying attention to the results?
I totally understand, but resist the temptation to undervalue, explain away, or ignore the assessment feedback you are receiving. Use any “caution or concern” areas/scores as a guide for where to steer the conversation during the second or third interview.

3. There are specific assessments that are ideal for various needs within organizations.
Some assessments have gone through validation for their use as hiring tools; others are not validated for use in hiring, but may be used successfully for training and development. There are a few assessments that overlap. Make sure you are using assessments for the purpose they were designed. It is also wise to have an assessment provider who answers questions and is available in providing ongoing support.

4. For hiring, do your assessment results relate to job specific behaviors / skills and are they consistent for all candidates?
When used in hiring, results from assessments must be measured against “job specific” criteria not broad “style” ranges of personality.

5. View your candidates / employees as whole people.

Assessment programs are incredible tools for providing insights and information that would otherwise take you a long time to identify. (Think of those new hires that you discover 30-60 days out, who really don’t pay attention to detail like they lead you to believe!)

It may, at first, seem confusing and a bit intimidating, but by combining assessment with your interview process you will be able to fairly assess and evaluate each final candidate competing for your attention.

Image: istockphoto

3 Steps for Overcoming Failure

I read a post recently that stated: “For most businesses, failure is one of the most feared results possible,” and I thought to myself, for most business yes, and also for many people. Failure is many times the divider between those who succeed, because they persevere, and those who don’t succeed because they succumb to what they perceive as failure (when maybe they’re only one step away from success).

Personal failure typically causes you to first look for excuses (in everyone and everything besides yourself) and second (and more deadly) blame yourself and let the set-back rob you of the mental energy to pick up, dust yourself off, and keep moving forward.

Growth is about risks…and risk includes failure.

So how do you fail and yet keep your enthusiasm and perspective intact?

1. Fail quickly
   Okay, you failed…is it life threatening? Probably not, take inventory, examine what went wrong and why, and then start to strategize how to get back on your feet and back to your project quickly. Many times this will be as simple as “doing the next thing” and not letting yourself become distracted by the downward spiral of negativism.
2. Accept that failure includes valuable lessons learned
   Take time to understand why something didn’t work. Seek solutions outside yourself. Is there someone else who may be able to shed light or offer a viable perspective or solution? Don’t be afraid or embarrassed to reach out.
3. Learn from your weaknesses and find your strengths
   Be willing to look squarely at your contribution to your situation–positive and negative. Be willing to learn from, and modify if necessary, areas you are weaker in by talking to someone you feel comfortable with (a coach, or manager, or colleague). Use this person as a sounding board for your “next step” actions. As you work with them, learn to identify your strengths and use both strengths and weaknesses to identify and adopt new successful habits.

Understanding why or how you failed can help you avoid making the same mistake again. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing again and again, but expecting different results. Use your failures as prompts to identify next steps for desired changes that will assure personal / professional growth.

If you need any help with this process, feel free to contact me at lindsay@windridgeconsulting.com

Image: istockphoto

Perceptions and the Truth — Sometimes Worlds Apart

“The key to conversation at work is flexibility and understanding how what you say might be perceived by others.” —Deborah Tannen

It’s amazing, and slightly disheartening, how quickly sensationalism travels while the truth seems to take painstakingly long to emerge. We have become an extremely “quick to jump to conclusions” society, based not on fact, but on the scripting and tugging at our emotions through sensationalism, rumor and innuendo. The practice of too quickly forming opinions before the facts are known takes a toll in the workplace and also in our personal relationships.

Think about your organization, family, and friends. What travels faster? Information based on proven facts or the “Whoa… can you believe this” story. And if you’re honest with yourself which do you find easier to spread… the rumor or the corrected version of the rumor once the facts are known?

In our day of “instant” everything, we’ve become lured into taking every written word or sound-bite of information at face value and we form opinions before the facts have been revealed. What happens in an organization when negative rumors start circulating about an individual or event? Once perceptions are made, changing them, even when they are based on untruths or half-truths can be extremely challenging if not impossible. The art of “jumping to conclusions” has a huge impact on leadership, personal, and professional relationships, job satisfaction, productivity, and society in general.

How do rumors and innuendos affect your workplace? How does your ability to remain neutral until you have all the information affect your leadership? What steps do you use to make sure you are not communicating incorrect information or perceptions before you know the full truth about a person or situation?

Photo: istockphoto 

Behavior Assessments: Hiring and So Much More

Behavioral assessments are a great tool to use in your hiring practices because they add insights about candidates and enable you to interview around specific strengths and weaknesses, not simply broad generalities. The other fantastic use of behavioral assessments is with your current workforce: leadership, managers, project management teams, etc...

Here are a few questions to ask yourself when considering bringing in assessments.

• Would gaining a focused behavioral overview of strengths and areas of concern (job specific) for your employees or yourself be helpful?
• Would assessing your current workforce to identify common strengths or areas of concern specific to successful performance be an asset to your managers?
• Would the ability to target your training dollars where the identified need is be an asset?
• Would creating focused on-boarding or coaching programs designed around behaviors, accountability and performance goals provide an advantage?

Benefits of having a quality behavioral assessment in your toolbox.

To the Individual

• Self-awareness---identify strengths and weaknesses; provide a starting point for forward career development.
• The ability to realize how behaviors affect personal and professional relationships, in both positive and negative ways.
• Reduce stress by understanding and correcting self-sabotage.
• Provide immediate awareness, and thus corrective action in any deficient area.
• Acknowledge and build on natural strengths.

To the Manager

• The knowledge gained through assessment feedback will form the basis of improved communication and trust.
• Help in identifying which workers are most likely to conform to the organization’s mission/vision statements.
• Reduce conflict with those who have oppositional behaviors, and will provide an understanding and starting point for coaching conversations.
• Enhance clarity of communication.
• Realize the real reason people act the way they do – not the apparent one.
• Understand which workers are self-sufficient and which are not.

To the Organization

• Enhance each leader’s ability to manage themselves, and their staff.
• Provide employees’ feedback to aide in their career success.
• Provide an objective measure, not a subjective opinion or “feeling” based on possible personality differences.
• Communication is profoundly enhanced; manager and worker can speak the same “language.”
• Initiates a uniform promotion/development/discipline system.
• Enhanced team unity through an increased level of openness and honesty.
• Establishes an excellent base for performance reviews and coaching programs.

If you need help understanding or implementing a behavioral assessment program within your organization do not hesitate to contact Windridge.... And if there are other areas where assessments play an important role in your organization’s development programs... Please share!

Image: istockphoto

Quiet Leadership...

“Advice is like snow; the softer it falls, the longer it dwells upon,
and the deeper it sinks into the mind.” – Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Quiet leaders are all around us. Unfortunately many times we are simply too busy to notice them. These people are willing to make the small, continual, “behind the scenes” efforts necessary to develop not only our organizations, but our world. These quiet leaders work tirelessly to do the right thing in the face of challenging obstacles with little to no recognition.

Quiet Leaders: “They move patiently, carefully and incrementally. They do what is right—for their organization and for the people around them, and for themselves—inconspicuously and without causalities.”  —Joseph L. Badaracco, Jr.

Quiet leadership many times is made apparent by an individual’s communication style. Oftentimes, through tireless steadfast step-by-step strategic development, they help to build strong teams and organizations that can perform successfully during difficult shifts and / or transitions. Quiet leaders are the steady hand amidst the white water of organizational and family life.  This work may be done in the background of others, but make no mistake, there would be no success without these leaders.

Leadership at this level is not about the glitz and the glam; it is about helping others accomplish extraordinary things. I remember years ago when it dawned on me that my job as a leader was to make others look good, not to show how talented, skilled and amazing I was. I have come to believe that true leadership is the strength of character to help others achieve their full potential while letting them shine.

The image I previously had of “leadership” consisted of the strong charismatic leader: In control, knowing every motive and dictating the moves of everyone around them. Trust was not found in this leadership vocabulary, however, suspicion and micro-management most definitely was!

Now in my work with leaders around change, communication and trust issues, the focus is always to help the leader develop behaviors and  skills so that they will influence and communicate well with the people who are directly affected by the decisions being made. This approach is not weak, indecisive or pandering, but is an inclusive and pro-active.

Gaining employees' opinions and help during a change effort is critical to the success of the change process. Professors W. Chan Kim and Reneé Mauborgne in their book “Blue Ocean Strategy ,” say that when included in the change process:

"Individuals feel recognized for their intellectual worth (and) are willing to share their knowledge; in fact, they feel inspired to impress and confirm the expectation of their intellectual value, suggesting active ideas. When individuals are treated with emotional recognition, they feel emotionally tied to the strategy and inspired to give their all."

On the other hand, the authors point out that:

“When people are only informed about the new strategy and are treated as if their knowledge doesn't matter, they feel "intellectual indignation" and as a result will not share their ideas or expertise and will hoard their best thinking.” 

Quiet leadership involves serving, communicating, trust, and the willingness to help build others into strong and capable leaders.

 

Knowing is Not the Same as Doing

Knowing what to do is not the same as doing it. You can have all the intent and knowledge in the world, but until you put that intent and knowledge into action it really does you no good. I read once that “The world is full of broke geniuses,” you know, the folks who “know it all,” but never link action to their wonderful ideas or dreams.

To keep yourself from falling too deeply into this trap, start the practice of spending time each week identifying and reviewing what your next steps around your desired outcomes will be.

Here is what it looks like:

• Identify a short term goal – personal and / or professional
  This can be a behavior / habit you want to modify, a project that needs to be completed, etc.
• For each goal, address three areas:

1. Goal – The difference between where you are currently and where you want / need to be. What will this look like when you have arrived?

2. Theme – What are your main objectives along the way? What are the obstacles? What are the support systems you will need to have in place to succeed?

3. Ideas – How will you achieve this? What, or who, do you need in place to help you make this happen?

Next, set weekly, monthly, and quarterly objectives, and break them down into doable actions.

Here’s how:

• Weekly Goals:
  Where are you now—where do you want / need to be?
  What do you need to have completed by the end of the week?

   Ideas:
   Actions:

• Monthly Goals:
  Where are you now—where do you want / need to be?
  What do you need to have completed one month from now (or by the end of the month)?
  
   Ideas:
   Actions:
   
• Quarterly Goals: (Be sure to put a completion date on these!)
  Where are you now—where do you want / need to be?
  What do you need to have completed by the end of this quarter?

   Ideas:
   Actions:

Touch base with your list of short-term goals on a regular basis; keep them where you will see them if not daily, at least every couple of days. By doing this exercise, and reviewing it at least weekly, your main objectives and desired learning outcomes will actually start to be accomplished.

"Goals in writing are dreams with deadlines." - Brian Tracy

 

Image: istockphoto

 

 

5 Ways to Avoid Regret

When faced with uncomfortable or annoying situations it is easy to lose sight of the big picture and the objectives you are striving for in your professional or personal life.

In the heat of the moment, when you are still feeling that all too familiar sting of words or actions (or lack of action) it’s easy to:

• Jump to conclusions
• Prejudge a situation before listening to all sides
• Take something that was meant for constructive criticism too personal
• Speak before you have all the facts

The list goes on...

Martha Finney lists 5 Ways to Avoid Regret when faced with challenging, in-your-face circumstances:

1. Give yourself time to react.
   Unless the situation has something to do with a building on fire, you’re likely to be able to wait 24-48 hours before making a considered pronouncement on the matter being shoved into your face. Their emergency doesn’t have to be your emergency, unless you allow it.
2. Know the difference between the facts and your interpretation of what’s behind the behavior.
   You need to be insightful around human behavior and motivation. But that doesn’t make you a mind reader. Personally, I cherish the belief that I can see into other people’s souls. So when people don’t say “thank you” or “I’m sorry” or “you’re the most wonderful person in the world,” I haul out my favorite kit bag of all-purpose judgments. I have to stop and remind myself that my own knee-jerk reactions can be relied on for only one thing: To be wrong.
3. Make someone else’s problem…someone else’s problem.
   You can provide an ear, but you don’t always have to provide the solution.
4. Know what your boundaries are and expect everyone to respect them—including yourself.
   You’ve heard that expression, “We teach people how to treat us.” Of course, but how? By setting boundaries, by being clear on expected behaviors and standard of performance and interaction, by politely and calmly enforcing your expectations. Why is this relevant here? When you’re confident you have the power to honor yourself and your own needs in the little ways that the people in your workday try to chisel away at your boundaries, you know you can afford to stay powerfully calm when facing down big-stakes issues. Those little straws won’t pile up, so there will be no “last straw” that ignites your own personal ka-boom.
5. Don’t lose sight of what you really want in the long run.
   If your immediate emotional reaction has even the slightest tinge of self-righteousness to it, dollars to donuts acting out on that reaction will move you further away from your people objectives. While you’re giving yourself time to react (see #1), review exactly what your end game is and whether your emotions are supporting that end game.

Hasty reactions are almost always the breeding ground for regrets. Handling those potential knee-jerk moments well speaks volumes about your maturity and leadership skills. What have you found works to help you gain perspective and maintain focus?

* Photo credit: istockphoto