WorkPuzzle

Why "Let's Have Coffee" Is Vital To Success

In my last post I promised to begin building a list of vital business fundamentals that are non-negotiable--things that must be performed, measured, and in every way, insisted upon.  I asked for your help in building this list and am eagerly awaiting ideas that you have derived from the best of your own experience.  Keep in mind…there are no right or wrong answers here.  The point of this exercise is to emphasize the importance of HAVING A LIST.  And once you have a list, be diligent about setting expectations and measuring that list.
 
I opened this discussion yesterday by pointing to our very own Seattle Mariners as an example of a team that has great talent, yet very few wins.  One of the problems this year began with the relationship between baseball legend and Hall of Fame bound Ken Griffey Jr., and the Mariner's manager.  Griffey was well liked by the majority of his teammates and was said to be an asset to team moral, cohesion and maturity.  The problem was, that the manager hired to lead the Mariners, didn’t take the time to get to know and develop a relationship with Griffey.

I don’t know whether it was pride, intimidation, or a naïveté that led to this blunder, but because of this, there was little communication between the two.  As a result, halfway through the season, Griffey spontaneously packed up his bags and drove home to his family in Florida with no press conference, no goodbye celebration, nothing...
 
The point is this:  We can spend reams of time with the “hard” practices of our business, but the “soft” principles are equally, if not more important.  One of these soft principles, relationship building, I like to refer to as “Let's have Coffee.”
 
I can tell you unequivocally, that in my own experience--whether building my private practice, developing a partnership at Tidemark, or helping others with their success--all of these things have begun around meeting for coffee or lunch.  In fact, 23 years ago, with only $3,000 in my bank account and two young boys, I moved to Seattle to begin my practice.  And, although it was tough financially, I designated $1,500 of that money to inviting possible referral sources to lunch (this was before Starbucks was on every street corner).  I did this nearly every day, for the first three months of my living in the Seattle area.  This was the best money I ever spent.
 
"Making time for coffee" is not only important for building a business, but also for maintaining a business.  It helps you to retain your best talent and really get to know what other talent is out there.
 
We can spend so much time building the right tools that we forget about building the right connections, and maintaining them.  It often doesn’t matter what long-term outcome you're after - Just showing that you actually want to build a connection can open multiple doors in the future and aid in keeping existing doors wide open.
 
A world famous business consultant recently said that 20-40% of your 300 lunches per year should be dedicated to these types of casual meetings.
 
Is this something you are doing?  Do you consider it to be important?  If it is, should you be measuring it?
 
I think I have inspired myself into a corner.  I guess, I better start doing the same...

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.  

Why fundamentals are more important than talent: Obsess about the right things

I am, unfortunately right now...a Seattle Mariners fan.  Those of you who follow baseball can guess that I haven’t had much to be excited about these last couple of years.  The Mariners have had two terrible seasons in a row, despite acquiring some impressive talent.  "What’s their problem?" you may ask.
 
In my opinion, the factors that led to these dismal years for the Mariners are the very same factors that lead to the collapse of most organizations...failure to remember and practice the fundamentals, and at times, an obsession with acquiring great talent while ignoring the fundamentals of execution.

Let me be clear.  I am not saying that talent is not important.  It can be incredibly helpful, if the fundamentals aren’t lost in the process.  But, several teams over the course of sports history have proven that talent without a focus on the fundamentals, is essentially worthless.
 
The Mariners present a prime example of this:  There are two players on their roster who continue to  out-perform their competing peers, despite the Mariner's overall record.  Ichiro just put up a record 10th consecutive year of over 200 hits in a season.  Additionally, ace pitcher, Felix Hernandez, is so talented that he is stirring up one the most difficult votes for the Cy Young Award in the history of baseball.  He has managed to out-pace all personal stats among his peers, while having the lowest wins, by far, among the contenders for the award.  In essence this means that his performance was stellar, but had no run support.

So what went wrong?  How can we have such great talent and such poor performance?  In the case of the Mariners, it is my belief that ownership was more obsessed with talent on the field than talent in management.  The manager, although a decent human being, turned out to not be a great manager.  He made several mistakes that were eventually reflected in the win/loss columns, and eventually led to his dismissal.
 
I have some definite ideas regarding what specifically went wrong with the Mariners, but they are not alone...I’ve witnessed some of the same mistakes in other organizations.  I won’t address them yet, because I want to hear from you first.  I want to build a helpful and informative list - not a definitive list, but a list based on good knowledge and experience; One that we can look back on and build on.  I want this list to not only be a ho-hum list of basics, but a list that really speaks to us and calls us to action- when it comes to sourcing, recruiting, managing talent, and overall good business.  Ben's recent article on developing and sticking with a definitive message is a great start. 

Over the course of the next few weeks, I will set out to research this subject in a way that hopefully will present the most foundational, most urgent, most vital principle fundamentals of successful organizations.  There has never been a time where this has been more needed than now.  The tide is out, and we’re seeing who is wearing a decent bathing suit...

What I would like from you readers is your personal list of favorite fundamentals.  If you are uncomfortable listing this publicly, please write me personally by email.

I look forward to hearing from you.

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.  

Building Consistency and Linkage Into Your Recruiting Message

 

Earlier this week, I encouraged you to develop a believable recruiting message and then stick to it—even under the pressure of competitors who are touting discounts and shortcuts.  Recruiting guru, Peter Weddle, weighed in on this topic a couple of months ago.  I think his perspective is worth sharing:

“Consistency involves the creation of a single message that is used in every candidate channel.  It could be your employment brand or a more aggressive 'sales pitch' to ramp up your hiring for a new product launch or facility opening.  Whatever it is, the central idea you convey and even the choice of words you use must be the same in every single channel.

Such consistency is difficult to achieve in any of a number of different situations.  But despite those challenges, it is critical that your organization achieve and maintain this goal.  Differing messages or different expressions of the same message across multiple channels will confuse candidates and diminish your ability to influence their behavior. In the past, we told ourselves that we only got one chance to make a good first impression; today, we have hundreds of chances to make one good impression, and it's just as important that we do.”

Any idea what he is referring to in that last sentence?  It is an acknowledgement that because people are exposed to so many different media channels, there is a chance that a person may see your messages from many different angles.  When there are inconsistencies, your candidates become confused about who you really are.

What makes the State Farm billboard I referenced yesterday so damaging is that I viewed a commercial in my hotel room just ten minutes earlier featuring a man with a deep voice reassuring me that “like a good neighbor” State Farm would be there for me if I got into trouble.  I walk outside, and the State Farm rep is shouting “Discount!” When the messages collide like this, something doesn’t feel right.  I don’t believe either message.

Likewise, your candidates won’t believe you if you’re not consistent in your messaging.  How do you keep this sort of mixed messaging from occuring in your organization?  You create what media experts call linkage.

"The propensity of candidates to move among [media] channels presents us with a choice.  We can accept that such movement exists and simply react to it, or we can endeavor to exert some control over that movement so that it better serves our purpose.  Linkage is the way you accomplish the latter goal.  You create 'stepping stones' among the various channels to make it easy for candidates to follow a path you have laid out.

In effect, no matter where a candidate goes, they are led back to the one place online where you have the best opportunity to sell them on your organization.  That's the purpose of linkage-to amplify the impact of your message by eliminating or at least lowering the randomness of how candidates will see it. We can't, of course, stop them from moving around, but we can try and move them to where we can make our best impression on them, and it's important that we do that, as well.

A consistent and well linked pattern of messages enables you to create a clear and more impactful portrait of your organization.  Its repetition across multiple channels ensures that everyone sees the organization in the same way and sees it everywhere they look."

Do the recruiting messages you’re presenting to the public have this kind of linkage?  If not, you need to rethink your approach -- you're not getting the maximum benefit for your advertising, and the end result is a less powerful impact on potential candidates...

Also, remember that the recruiting process doesn’t end with marketing - once a candidate agrees to an interview, the hiring manager should be supporting and reiterating the marketing message to which the candidate responded.  The most successful recruiting companies create a link from beginning to end. 

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Ben Hess.  Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below. 

Recruiting Messaging and Branding: Are Your Competitors Causing You to Act Stupidly?

 

A couple of weeks ago, I spent some time with a client in Richmond, VA.  My meetings did not begin until late morning, so I had the opportunity to go for a run before my day started.  The hotel where I stayed was on a frontage road, just off one of the major interstates in Richmond.

This frontage road contains a number of billboards that are visible from the main road.  One of these billboards caught my eye and I couldn’t help but snap a picture.  (If you’re not able to read the text on this picture, click on the image to enlarge it.  If you’re an email subscriber, you may need to click through to the WorkPuzzle site to see the image.)   
 
As I read this billboard, I couldn’t help but think that this poor guy has been driven to distraction by his low cost competitors.  I think the “15 minutes could save you 15% or more in car insurance…” must be what he hears when goes to sleep at night!  To combat this messaging, he does the marketing equivalent of standing in a crowded room and yelling “Discount!  Discount!  Discount…!”  And while he is yelling, the rest of us are wondering what creative thing the little gecko is going to do next.

Before we get too critical, we have to give Geico and some of the other low-cost insurance companies credit for running effective marketing campaigns - They are good competitors.  But, to try to compete in such a reactionary way does not seem very effective.  Most people perceive State Farm as a full service insurance company that is able to offer their customers a higher level of service.  This is not a bad position to have in the marketplace—pay a little more and receive an outstanding level of service.  From a branding perspective, it would be more effective to reinforce their core strengths than to blatantly publish a “me too” message in response to their low-cost competitors.

We’re all great armchair quarterbacks when it comes to evaluating someone else’s problems, but does this type of thing happen in the real estate industry?  When it comes to recruiting, it happens every day.  Many of the most prominent real estate companies in the country are competing for agents against companies who have low cost or alternate business models.  When the competitors start to have even limited success, it is amazing how quickly even successful companies will succumb to the temptation of watering down their recruiting message (and sometimes even their business model) to compete.

How do you keep from making this mistake in your company?  Here are some guidelines that will help:

1. Make Sure Your Branding/Message is Believable.  What is the value proposition that you offer the candidates who interface with your organization?  You should be able to articulate this in several sentences.  Now ask yourself:  Would you be engaged by this proposition if you were a candidate?  Would you encourage one of your kids to accept this proposition for their career?  If not, you need to adjust your message until it passes this test.  If you do change your message, do so based on what candidates think, not what competitors are pushing you towards.
2. Stick to Your Core Message.  Why does everyone know the Geico marketing proposition?  Because it has been repeated so many times that it is ingrained in all of our minds.  You don’t have to run an enormous, multi-year marketing campaign to take advantage of this principle.  For example, we have one client who has boiled down their recruiting message to the following:  “We’ll take you by the hand and show you how to do it.”  They repeat this message many times during the recruiting process, especially when they face objections.
3. Be Willing to Say No to Some Candidates.  When you know who you are and what you stand for, you are going to find some people at odds with your message.  When this happens, don’t be afraid to say, “You may not be a good fit for our organization,” and then suggest they go see one of your competitors.  By doing this, you’ll not only avoid making some bad hires, but you’ll also cause the most talented candidates to respect your position.  Some of those candidates will be intrigued by your clarity and reengage.  Others will remember who they can trust to tell them the truth when their low-cost alternative lets them down.

Maintaining a consistent message and staying true to your recruitment brand takes courage--especially in today's economic climate.  But, it's an investment that will produce a return and help you maintain your dignity.  Without this focus, you could be the next person figuratively shouting "Discount!" in a crowded room. 

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Ben Hess.  Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below. 

Converting Conference Excitement Into Long-Term Habits

Many of us have experienced the emotional high that results from a well run motivational sales conference.  Unfortunately, not many of us successfully convert that flash of energy into long-term change that impacts our business.

What's missing?  We are not using that temporary moment of motivation to begin the process of replacing old habits with new ones.

Successful people understand that their success, in part, is derived from a consistent pattern of converting emotional "ah-ha" experiences into sustainable long-term habits and rituals.  Without the habits and rituals, we keep doing what we did before, and those “ah-ha” catalyst moments are forever lost.

If you are naturally gifted at converting these short-term energy bursts into the hard work of developing and sustaining long-term habits, then chances are, you have built a successful life.  That is what successful people do.

What might come as a surprise to you is that most people don’t do this.  It may even frustrate you that people under your management don’t do the things that you do so automatically.  It's critical for managers to understand that they need to expand their role to include teaching others the formula for forming new habits.  It's also imperative for managers to develop systems to help this become part of the overall culture.

A recent survey of 10,000 real estate professionals outlines what agents expect from their company.  Look at what came in number 2 and 3:

1. Respect, honesty and trust
2. Leadership, guidance
3. Accountability / career coaching

According to the second two expectations, agents are expecting you to hold them accountable.  This desire opens the “I give you permission” door to teaching and building what I am about to describe.

To accomplish the above you must become an expert at habit change, as well as an educator, facilitator and creative strategist in building venues around sustaining these changes.  So, let me help you get started on becoming an expert on change...

People resist change.  Period.  For most people change must be understood, taught and aided toward and through implementation.  Habits are not formed by emotion (although this is the initial catalyst).  Change comes through a very predictable formula.

So, what does create change?  People say will power is the primary ingredient, and that is true to some extent.  But, will power without action, doesn’t work.

Let me use an example that is relevant at this very moment.  Millions of five-year-olds are starting school for the first time this month.  I live on what is referred to as “Education Hill” in Redmond, Washington.  There are five schools, three of which are elementary schools, within 1.3 miles of my home.  My commute is heaven in the summer and horrible in the fall.  Why?  Because all of these new-to-school children are being dropped off by their parents to ease the transition into this new habit of leaving home daily and going to school.

The first few days, there are tears, tantrums and resistance to this intrusive new habit of leaving donuts, Barney, Lego’s, and Sesame Street at home, and instead being expected to sit quietly without mom or dad, for three to six hours at a time, with a teacher who wants them to concentrate on what she’s teaching them.  Yuck. 

A month into this process, most children will have converted this whole new process into a habit that they’ve learned to enjoy and sustain.  This serves as a great example of the fundamentals of habit change.

So here are the steps made simple - A habit will become part of your typical day if you do these things:

1. Start it now.  New habits must begin when the emotional surge or temporary insight is available and fresh.  You, as a manager, must be prepared to help new agents and experienced agents returning from a conference, implement new habits, and get rid of old ones immediately.
2. Do it early in the day.  Any new habit is much more likely to be sustained if it is initiated in the morning hours, if not first thing in the morning.  Once behaviors become habits they can be moved around throughout the day.  For example, when I first started working out 24 years ago, I had to do it in the morning.  Now that I can’t imagine life without it, I can move it around the day, knowing I’ll get to it.
3. Don’t deviate.  This is key.  You must maintain the new behavior or task for at least 45 days if it is being practiced daily, and up to 4 months if it is weekly, to begin to feel like it is a habit.  Anyone who attempts to reward themselves with old habits while trying to build new ones, is usually doomed to failure.
4. Set up accountability.  This is where you come in.  There must be systems developed to help the agents keep themselves accountable.  This is usually done in one-on-ones, groups, or both.  There is a reason why AA is so popular.

One of our most successful clients has a manager or two who have developed groups that meet in the mornings on a regular basis, specifically to build new habits.  One manager even began a walking group that meets in the mornings for a two-mile walk, three times weekly.

The point is, as a manager, this is your job.  Your agents want it.  Become experts at delivering it.  If you're too busy to do the above, then you may need to find others to put out the fires so that you can spend more time doing what really impacts the business--- and the lives of those entrusting their livelihood to you.

 

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.  

Spotting a Psychopath in Your Network of Business Contacts - Part 2

Last week I wrote about a topic that is typically outside the range of our more applicable subjects: How to recognize a psychopath when you encounter one in business...and knowing what to do about it.

As you may recall, my advice around this topic is to not lose sleep over it, and certainly to not start any rumors around who you suspect may be one.  The point of this discussion is to help you gain an awareness of how to recognize these people so that you can keep your distance from them.  You can’t be harmed if you don’t take their bait. 

I promised to share the characteristics of psychopaths so you can recognize them in action.  Remember, very few are serial killers, like Hannibal.  On the contrary, most high-functioning psychopaths are smart enough to stay out of jail, are often successful in business, and appear to fit in.  To help you identify red flags, know that psychopaths typically:

• are prone to boredom and require more constant stimulation
• lead a parasitic lifestyle
• practice sexual promiscuity
• lack realistic long-term goals
• display extreme impulsivity
• are glib
• possess a grandiose sense of self-worth
• are pathological liars
• con and manipulate
• lack remorse
• have shallow emotions
• lack empathy
• fail to accept responsibility
• And finally, and unfortunately, they carry the appearance of normalcy despite being guilty of the most destructive behavior. 

What makes dealing with psychopaths frustrating is that they lack a conscience when it comes to inflicting harm on others.  Research has found that they also have no fear of pain or of the consequences of their behavior.  Please beware that these people are incredibly capable of assessing your needs and exploiting them for their own purposes.

For the two people who asked me about this subject matter recently....I hope this answers your questions.  For the rest of you, I hope you’ll never need to refer back to this information. ...

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.  

Spotting a Psychopath in Your Network of Business Contacts

This topic may seem a bit odd for WorkPuzzle, but stick with me—I think you’ll find it beneficial.  Over the last few weeks, two clients have requested information about this topic.  So, I felt compelled to distribute some knowledge about psychopaths to our clients and readers.  Hopefully, this will prevent or minimize your exposure to these dangerous people who can wreak havoc on both your business and personal life.  

Do you really need to be worried about psychopaths?  It is not something I would lose sleep over, but chances are you've come in contact with a psychopath at some point in your career and you probably will do so again.  Experts estimate that between 0.5% and 1% of the population fit this diagnosis.  This means there are roughly 250,000 psychopaths (outside of prison) in the United States alone.  

Professionally, I have performed psychological evaluations on well over 100 psychopaths during my career, and I unknowingly attempted therapy on three high-functioning psychopaths before figuring out their condition.  I have also had the displeasure of trusting two psychopaths in my business network.  The first was a former boss who was a well-respected and gregarious leader.  The second was a financial advisor.  In both cases, these individuals eventually left a wake of devastation in the lives of everyone I knew who trusted them in the context of a business relationship.

I’m sharing this information in hopes that you can avoid some of the pain I’ve experienced personally and have seen others experience because of these people.  I’ve come to the conclusion that spotting a psychopath and then extracting yourself from any relationship you may have with such a person is a skill that could save years of heartache for you, your co-workers, and perhaps your family.

There is a great deal of misunderstanding regarding psychopaths.  In essence, they are people who don’t care about the irreparable harm they cause their victims.  They lack any empathy for their victims.  They have no conscience.  No guilt.  No shame.
 
The common thing people think of when they picture a psychopath is a serial killer.  Serial killers are indeed psychopaths, but this accounts for a very small percentage of the total.  Some criminals are psychopaths.  In fact, many lower IQ psychopaths end up in prison.  But, even the prisons contain only a small percentage of the overall number of psychopaths. 

The type of psychopath you would be most likely to encounter is termed a “high-functioning” psychopath.  High-functioning psychopaths can be very successful, appear confident, calm, and seem have their act together.  In fact, most psychopaths are actually more engaging than the average person.  They can be charming, knowledgeable and quite believable.

The primary characteristic that distinguishes a psychopath from the general population is that they are insatiable liars and skilled manipulators.  The reason for the masterful lying is that they feel absolutely no shame or guilt about the deception.  No regrets.  In fact, science is discovering, through recent brain scans, that psychopaths don't feel much of anything, with the exception of becoming quite irritated when things don't go their way.

Because they are such skilled manipulators, they are exceptionally good at figuring out your weaknesses, exploiting those weaknesses, and feeling absolutely nothing regarding their actions.  Even when their efforts are stymied, they usually return to test your willingness or gullibility to go one more round. 

When research is conducted on psychopaths, they’ve been shown to repeatedly convince people they are worthy of trust.  Inexperienced interns often describe a psychopath as “one of the wisest, most humorous and engaging men (most psychopaths are men) they have ever met.”

What does this mean for each of you?  I’ll answer this question with two warnings:

1. Don’t get overly paranoid and begin suspecting everyone around you is a psychopath!  And, don’t begin rumors out of pure speculation.
2. Take what I will teach you about this topic seriously enough to be able to identify someone with this condition when it’s appropriate.  And when you do have strong evidence that someone is a psychopath, stay away from them.  They can’t hurt you if you don’t trust them. 

In the next edition, I’ll describe in much more detail how to spot a psychopath through a specific set of characteristics.  I will also describe some interesting research regarding the lack of emotion that is routinely characteristic of psychopaths.

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.  

3 Labor Statistics That Could Help Save the Real Estate Industry

One complaint we commonly hear from hiring managers and company owners is that it’s now very difficult to attract new talent to the real estate industry.  And since the real estate industry has received so much negative press over the last few years, there are certainly some elements of truth to these claims.

But difficult does not mean impossible, and the difficult often needs to be done to stay competitive.  The remaining productive agents who make up the ranks of the companies who have survived the downturn continue to age.  Failure to bring in “new blood” will significantly diminish a company’s prospects for long-term success.  There are no shortcuts around this reality.

Before you sink into depression, I’d like to share a few interesting labor statistics that may help brighten your perspective.  These labor statistics were compiled by Peter Weddle in his most recent recruiting newsletter.

1. There is a common perception in business today that the individuals who have jobs are not willing to give up those jobs to try something new (such as starting a real estate business).  Not true.

“According to the U.S. Labor Department, between February and April of this year, more people resigned from their jobs (2 million) than were laid off (1.7 million).  They had the courage to take their career into their own hands and chart a course that made more sense for them.”

If someone is laid off, they often do not have the resources to take on the expense of starting a real estate business.  But, those who voluntarily leave often do so from a position of strength and confidence in their new prospects.  Are you able to compete in the employment marketplace at large for this talent?

2. There is a common perception that those who have jobs are “hunkering down” and not investing in the future.  Not true.

“According to the U.S. Department of Education, 92 million American adults are now enrolled in an education program.  That's over half of the workforce.  These working men and women are brave enough to take personal responsibility for their own development.”

Why are all these people pursuing education at this point?  Because many do not like their current jobs and they want to be prepared for opportunities in the future.  Of course, these numbers are skewed towards younger demographics, but aren't those the candidates you need to start focusing on?  Do you have a way of getting your message in front of these 92 million people?

3. There is a common perception that those who have employable skills are not willing to take risks to make use of those skills.  Not true.

“According to Time magazine, 40 million Americans move each year and 20 percent of them do so in order to take a new job.  They are courageous enough to head off into the frontier of a new locale in order to stake their claim to a better future for themselves and their family.”

Moving yourself and your family to a new area is one the biggest risks a person can take.  Eight million people are doing so each year for job related reasons.  If people are willing to take this risk, are they willing to take the risk of working for your company?

Add all these numbers up and you have quite a few people who are willing to sacrifice to build their careers, take risks to potentially realize something better, and dedicate resources (both time and money) to better their chances of success in the future.  The challenge for any real estate company who wants to successfully engage these people is to develop employment value propositions that are compelling.  Are you up for this challenge?

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Ben Hess.  Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below. 

Looking in Your Neighbor’s Windows: How Much Effort Does it Take to Produce a Hire?

Comparing ourselves to others is something human beings have been doing since the beginning of time.  At some level, we all need validation that our efforts are on par with those who have similar jobs and responsibilities.

If you are responsible for recruiting agents, have you ever sought to compare yourself to other offices within your company?  Is your company doing as well as your competitors?  How does your recruiting performance stack up to companies in other markets?  These are all important questions.  Hopefully you’ve spent some time contemplating and researching this issue.

One of the things you may not have studied is how your recruiting efforts compare to other industries.  Is it possible that the real estate industry operates at one level, but the insurance industry operates on a higher performance plane?  On the other hand, you could be pleasantly surprised to learn that your hiring systems and performance far surpass typical performance in the medical industry.

Of course, this type of data is very difficult to collect and analyze.  So, when I came across the question below and subsequent answer on this topic in the Electronic Recruiting Exchange (ERE), I thought it was worth sharing.  The contributor is Richard Newsom, the VP of Recruiting Operations for Fifth Third Bank, and the question is shared by an anonymous reader who works for a publically-traded company.  Here is the exchange:

"Question:

I manage our company’s recruiting organization.  We are a four billion dollar company, publicly traded, and employ 4,000+ employees.  I have a team of seven full-time recruiters and just recently brought on two contract recruiters.  Here is my challenge:

I am being asked to show that my team is at capacity, and what it would take to complete the recruiting team to address the business needs (requisitions).  When I joined the company two years ago, we had 15 recruiters.  In the last two years we have had three reductions in force, hiring freezes, etc.  It made sense for the company to decide that we could downsize the recruiting organization.  Last year with seven recruiters, we filled 774 requisitions.  Is there anyone who could help me build a business case that we are working at capacity?

Answer:

There are many different ways to approach this, and not every solution works for every company.  I’d like to discuss one particular approach….  Using your example of 774 hires (and making some broad assumptions that you’ll need to validate)…

Assumptions:

• We need to hire 774 people in 2011
• 90% of the offers extended result in a hire
• 25% of the interviews conducted result in an offer
• 80% of the candidates submitted to a hiring manager get interviewed
• It takes 1.5 hours to source a candidate worthy of submitting to a hiring manager
• Each recruiter has 2.5 hours per day dedicated to sourcing candidates for submission
• There are seven recruiters dedicated to recruiting throughout 2011 — thus seven recruiters X 2.5 hours per day for sourcing = 17.5 sourcing hours per day total

Calculations:

• 774 hires needed/90% acceptance rate = 860 offers need to be extended
• 860 offers/25% offer rate = 3,440 candidates need to be interviewed
• 3,440 interviews/80% interview rate = 4,300 candidates who need to be submitted to hiring managers
• 4,300 submissions X 1.5 hours per candidate = 6,450 sourcing hours needed
• 6,450 sourcing hours needed/17.5 hours per day = 369 business days to source all candidates (516 calendar days)

Using these assumptions, it would take your team of seven recruiters nearly a year and a half to fill all 774 positions….”

Hopefully, this recruiter will be able to take this information and fend off another reduction of staff among her recruiting group. Even if she maintains here current staffing level, I’m not sure I’d want to work there—it sounds like a death march!

But, that’s not the point.  Through his assumptions, Richard Newsom has given us some insight into hiring practices in the banking industry.  In essence, we have the opportunity to look in his office window and see the recruiting conversion metrics of one of the most prominent companies in the financial industry.

How do these benchmarks compare to what you experience in your company?  For high performing companies in the real estate industry, we commonly see an interview-to-hire ratio of 25% to 35%.  While this is similar to Newsom's bank, their candidate-to-interview ratio is very high compared to most real estate companies.  To secure 3,440 interviews, most real estate companies would need to source 15,000 to 20,000 candidates.  Analyzing the hours dedicated to each task is even more interesting, but I’ll leave that for you to consider on your own...

The bottom line is that we all need goals in order to exceed.  If these goals are set with a limited exposure to what others are accomplishing, we may not reach high enough.  I encourage you to use all the information you can possibly collect to establish your personal expectations, and then push yourself to succeed.

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Ben Hess.  Ben is the Founding Partner and Managing Director of Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below. 

Jet Blue Moments and Resilience

As I pointed out in my last blog, when people are undergoing economic and job-related stress, evidence confirms some important principles that determine what direction one takes.  Namely, that under economic and job-related stress, either people grow and go on to achieve, or they regress and become physically and emotionally unhealthy.  

I used the Jet Blue incident as a backdrop to launch some learning on what happens to people who respond like Slater and alternatively, what happens to people who actually reframe their current job-related stress in a different way.  I actually received a comment from someone that implied that Slater (the airline attendant who threw a public temper tantrum) was not in the wrong.  If you share this opinion, you are headed in a precarious direction.  There is more than ample evidence that adulthood stress can help you grow, if you're willing to reassess how growth and achievement takes place.

Dr. Kerry Sulkowicz makes it clear that you are going to need resilience if you are going to maintain a clear head during  tough times:

“Many psychologists consider [resilience] a key component of emotional health.  Resilient people, they have observed, are naturally better at containing their anxiety.  And that enables them to see in hardship the seeds of opportunity.  What would emotional resilience entail in the face of the current crisis?  The ability to resist being swept up in the global state of panic and to adapt as creatively as possible to one's setbacks and losses.”

We see this principle played out with our clients every day.  Some people are not very good at containing their anxiety and they become paralyzed as a result.  But, others are busy working to find new opportunities.  We all feel the strain, but certain people have figured out how to use that strain as a catalyst for action.

If you find yourself in the former group, Dr. Sulkowicz has some advice for you:

“But just as there is no shortcut to emotional health, you can't become resilient overnight, or by sheer will, or by reading the latest book on the subject.  Instead, resilience is acquired through increasing self-awareness.  You must connect with trusted and candid intimates who help you build confidence.  You need to repeatedly expose yourself to a range of difficult circumstances and then overcome them.”

If you are responsible for coaching those around you, you have a great opportunity to put this into practice.  You are the “trusted and candid intimate” your protégés need to overcome their anxiety.  Can you help them identify the things they are already overcoming?  This is the foundation to build upon that can give them courage to take on the next challenge.

If you are struggling yourself, then you need to connect with others who can provide you support.  The first tendency will be to just talk with those who will compassionately identify with your circumstances.  Slater has an entire fan club filled with this sort of support....all people who are going nowhere fast.  While sympathetic support is important, but we also need those “tough love” friends who can give us the push we need to take on the next challenge...

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Editor's Note:  This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn.  Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, Partner at Tidemark, Inc. and a regular contributor to WorkPuzzle.  Comments or questions are welcome.  If you're an email subscriber, reply to this WorkPuzzle email.  If you read the blog directly from the web, you can click the "comments" link below.