WorkPuzzle

2 Keys to Recruiting and Retention

In two previous blog editions (1, 2), I pointed out several reasons why it's more important to listen than to speak during the interview process.  I promised to provide the keys as to why listening is so important on a psychological level. 

There are two interrelated concepts that are key components that you need to understand in order to recruit and retain better:  Attunement and Attachment.  More specifically, Attunement leads to Attachment.

Let's first look at attunement.  Attunement is a term that psychiatrist, Daniel Stern, discovered and researched at length in the relationship between mothers and their babies.  It turns out that mothers who mother well, somehow intuitively understand that "tuning in" to their baby's emotional state is a very active process.  Mothers who understand this spend a great deal of "face time" trying to "read" and "match" their child's emotional state.  We've all done this.  When a child smiles, we smile.  When they are sad and frown, we frown.  We do this, subconsciously, to build very deep and enduring attachment. 

Stern discovered that the mothers who didn't practice this attunement, didn't build strong or lasting attachments with their children.  As the children matured, they felt less and less grief when their mother wasn't around if their mother hadn't provided this type of attunement.  

From Stern's work, researchers have found several common applications among adults.  Specifically, they found that adults need attunement as well.  Adults too, need to be understood, empathized with, and generally given fairly frequent feedback about how they are doing and check-ins with how they are feeling, in order to build these attachments. 

Some of you do this naturally with your candidates and agents, and now understand why you build such lasting attachments with your team.  Others need to work hard at getting away from unhealthy self-aggrandizement and begin understanding others better.

Here is a quick definition of attunement or empathy:  where the observed experiences of others come to affect our own thoughts and feelings.  If what we say and what we offer is disconnected from what our candidate is feeling and thinking, we will miss our chance at building that important, but elusive, attachment. 

What value does attunement have? 

1. It enables you to step outside your world and yourself and into their world. 
2. It enables you to tailor your behavior to the expectations of others. 
3. It creates smoother, more varied social interactions.
4. It reduces social disruptions
5. It helps you anticipate conflict
6. It enables you to better acknowledge the needs of others

All the above then leads to an increased sense of attachment.  And I can guarantee you this: we can't build attachment by listening to ourselves talk about us... 

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a 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 Spend So Much Time Listening During an Interview?

I hope you’ve been enjoying the series that Dave Mashburn has been contributing over the last week.  I know he promised us all a “Part 3” to the discussion he started, but he just shared some bad news with me.  He had to take his computer in for repair over the weekend.  So, he asked me to jump in, mid-stream, and add to the topic.   

Maybe this was providential.  I ran across an article last week that seems to support the basis for this topic.  The article was written by Jason Lauritsen in a online publication called Recruiting Trends.   

In the article, Lauritsen makes the point that everyone is looking for “the top talent” to fill their most critical positions.  For a real estate company, the agent is the one who ultimately generates revenue for the company.  Finding individuals who have the potential to become high-producing agents in a hiring manager’s organization is the goal.   

But, Lauritsen asks an important question:  “Is there such a thing as top talent?” 

Here are his thoughts on this topic:  

“It has become commonplace to talk of 'talent' as if it is absolute.  We strategize about recruiting 'top talent' as if it is a group of people that is easily defined and targeted.  But talent isn’t that simple.  And, it’s definitely not absolute. 

When we step away from conceptual or academic discussions of talent, we need a more practical and realistic framework for understanding talent in business.  When you break down the way we actually practice talent, we realize that talent is relative and contextual.” 

Think about this last statement—“…talent is relative and contextual.”  Do you believe this is true? 

I would argue that unless you spend most of your interview time listening, you believe (maybe subconsciously) this to be a false statement.   

This false belief often results in the hiring manager trying to “sell” the candidate on the benefits of the organization.  By making the assumption the person is talented (ie. someone you’d want to join your organization), it is nearly impossible to avoid going into the sales mode and talking too much during the interview. 

Lauritsen gives us some insight on how to avoid this: 

“Talent is contextual.  Talent in one environment may not constitute talent in another.  It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that because someone showed great ability in one situation, they will be as able in every situation.  

For example, an individual who has years of successful experience marketing within an established firm with a strong brand may not have any success marketing a startup firm.  The context and situation have huge implications on what constitutes talent.” 

There is only one way to get this information from a candidate—you have to listen and understand their story.   

Don’t make the mistake of assuming that someone is “talented” during the interview (even if they are one of your competitor’s top agents).  Instead, approach the conversation from the perspective of thoughtfully trying to understand the context of the individual’s experience, skills, and character.  And, attempt to make a legitimate connection between what you learn and what a person truly needs to be successful in your organization. 

By doing this, you’ll force yourself to ask meaningful questions and listen.   

Dave will be back next week, with the conclusion to his series.  If you’ve never read/heard much about attunement and attachment theory, you’re in for a treat.  It’s fascinating stuff…

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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.

The Do's and Don'ts of Interviewing and Hiring

I mentioned in the last edition that I would elaborate on why "being understood" is vital to recruiting and retention, and provide a way of thinking about it that will hopefully change your goal of the interview.  But, before I lay out the key ingredients to hiring and retention, I want all of us to agree on what doesn't work.

Recruiting the best new agents requires a thorough understanding of how the best recruits think and reach decisions.  It also requires an understanding of the natural conflict that occurs inside the minds of people further down the ladder of the recruiting pipeline...the people who are just beginning to ponder the possibility of becoming an agent.

Many managers have told me, point blank, that they have no time to waste on someone who has trouble deciding if real estate is right for them.  One manager said, "If I have to interview a person for more than 20 minutes, then the candidate isn't right for real estate."  Here's another one I hear a lot:  "If they don't have a license, then I'm not interested."

The managers who say this are immensely confident in their views.  For the first few years that I partnered with companies in this industry, I naturally had to respect their views because I hadn't seen enough to gauge the accuracy, or fallacy, of what they were so convinced of.

But now I've gathered ample evidence to suggest that the above philosophy of interviewing new agent candidates rarely uncovers the best candidates.  In many cases, this approach attracts the most desperate and insecure candidates, who fake cooperation and decisiveness just to get the approval of the impatient and narcissistic manager.  Much like dating, ineffectual people are attracted to abusive partners. 

Here's three statements that I believe have proven true:

1. “You cannot fully predict who will be successful.” 
2. “The smartest candidates must be treated with the upmost success from the first encounter.”
3. “The worst candidates are the most desperate, and are less likely to react aversely to rude and devaluing behavior by the manager.”

To continue the dating analogy... When you want to choose your (best) life partner, you assume that he/she will be understandably cautious and most likely not tolerate any sense of narcissism, correct? 

Fortunately, most managers I've met genuinely want to know how to interview well.  They are hungry to understand what's going on inside the minds of high-caliber people, but many have not discovered the secret sauce to attraction, and retention. 

When it comes to interviewing the best candidates, you have to change your entire mindset.  Interviewing well is counterintuitive to much of what many have been taught, such as selling features, selling the company, or selling yourself as a manager.  As I mentioned in the last article, the most talented candidates want to be understood before hearing any of this.  They don't want to listen to you drone on and on about yourself or your company. 

In addition, the best fruit will probably not be low hanging.  Any one of your competitors can find those folks--they're easy to find, but there is a finite number of them.  We have droves of apple orchards in Washington State.  If all the workers competed for the apples that had already dropped to the ground or that hung on the lowest branches, it might be easier work, but is it better?  The answer is no.  The best harvesters are those on ladders, working to get to the hardest to reach apples...the best apples. 

The better companies will be willing to spend time and energy to attract the candidates who are already good at what they do, but happen to work in different industries.  They will have the patience to court these people over several months of indecisiveness, licensing school, and occasional second thoughts?  To repeat -- The brightest and most motivated people will not say yes right away.  

Who, among you, is willing to turn over enough rocks and do the necessary work to dislodge those hard to find diamonds?  Doing this takes patience, consistent engagement, and finesse.

The finesse part is knowing how to talk to people who you suspect will become very good agents, but who might not be able to pull the trigger as fast as you'd like.  This is often the hard part.  How do you get them to arrive at "yes" without sounding like an impatient salesman?  The brightest candidates will resist that pressure.

In part three of this discussion I promise to detail the "secret sauce" to interviewing, hiring and retention...It's called "Attachment through Attunement."  

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a 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.

Interviewing and The Art of Not Talking

The most counterintuitive principle of interviewing is the discipline and art of listening well.  It is the magic sauce, if you will, in the recipe of winning a person over to you and your company. 

Despite this fact, hiring managers never cease to talk endlessly about themselves and their company, to the detriment of their recruiting numbers. 

In my recent road trips to visit numerous clients and prospects, I was reminded of this erroneous misconception and our need to revisit this topic occasionally, addressing how to bring about change to the way managers approach the interview exchange. 

Where do we get the impression that people will be impressed by us and decide to change their lives because of what we say, or how much we know?  Know this: Only the most desperate candidates will be impressed by what you say...and the best candidates will probably be repelled. 

So, what do candidates need?  They need to be understood. 

Everyone likes to be understood, but it is never more important than when a person is considering a massive life change, like the decision to become a realtor, or to move from one office to another (or even buying a house for that matter).

In their moment of crucial contemplation, what makes us think that learning more about us will be the critical information that helps a candidate decide whether to radically alter their life?  It might be how you’ve been trained to interview, or in some cases it could be your ego.  How do we check our ego at the door when we have been presented with the sacred task of guiding a person through this big decision? 

You may begin to think that I am suggesting that we not “sell” our office or ourselves at all.  I’m not.  I am simply saying that you must first thoroughly understand the candidate's story before you deserve to speak into their lives.  In other words you must attract and not promote. 

So, I want you to experiment with this idea.  In your next interview, commit yourself to understanding the candidate completely.  You accomplish this by asking questions about their story...with relevant and numerous questions.  Get to know them and then ask them what they want to know about your company.  Let them take the lead, and discover what the art of not talking can accomplish.

In the next edition, I’ll elaborate on why being understood is vital to recruiting and retention. I will offer a way of thinking about all of this that will change your goal of the interview... 

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a 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.

A PROCRASTINATION OF PROSPECTING PARADIGM SHIFT

We are sometimes faced with uncomfortable situations or daunting tasks, both in our personal, and in our professional lives.  In real estate, or sales in general, prospecting seems to fall into this category.  Picking up the phone to cold call and deal with a potential negative interaction or rejection doesn’t resonate well with many people, so they do not execute, thus adversely impacting their overall success.

In past blogs I have discussed the notion of “re-framing” how we think about recruiting.  Specifically, I conveyed the benefit of shifting from our pre-conceived notion of the term recruiting, to the task of building relationships, which is something most real estate or sales managers do well naturally, and as a result enjoy.  It occurred to me that perhaps “re-framing” the task of prospecting could be beneficial as well, both in terms of recruiting, but also in your agents’ sales process.

I recently read a blog by Anthony Iannarino, Chief Sales Officer of a staffing firm and Director of a coaching consulting firm, that touched on the procrastination of prospecting paradigm.  Iannarino not only points out the importance and simplicity of prospecting in a successful sales business, but also touches on the ramifications of not picking up the phone.

“If you spent more time prospecting, more time cold calling and opening relationships, you would have more opportunities.  You’d even have a stronger pipeline.  But your resistance to prospecting keeps you from doing as well as you might.

Knowing all of this is true probably still isn’t enough for you to stop procrastinating.  You may not even be motivated by the fact that your fiercest competitors are prospecting, and they are calling your existing client and dream clients (just ask them).  There is a simple solution that makes prospecting easier.

Just start making calls.

If you run or do any aerobic exercise, you know how uncomfortable it is to get started.  My friends who run tell me that it takes them 3 or 4 miles to finally get their body to adjust.  That metaphor works for prospecting.  It’s just like that.

The most difficult call you make is the first call.  It has nothing to do with who you call or the outcome of that call.  It has everything to do with overcoming the internal resistance to starting.  Each call after the first gets easier.  You adjust.  You find your rhythm.  It gets easier.

This is why it’s important to prospect early in the day.  That’s when you have the mental focus and the greatest capacity to overcome your resistance.  As the day goes on, you will find other work to take the place of prospecting, and the world will start making demands of you.”

This new paradigm can be applied both in your recruiting process as well as in the training, coaching, and professional development of new and experienced agents.  Helping them to understand this prospecting framework may help them develop successful habits and a newfound commitment to prospecting in their own business.   

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Editor's Note: Lee Gray is the Senior Account Manager at Tidemark Inc. Lee is a guest 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.

You Can’t Handle the Truth

“You can’t handle the truth” are the famous words uttered by Jack Nicholson’s character in the 1992 classic movie, “A Few Good Men.”   

In business, as well as any relationship, truth is either withheld completely, allowed to trickle out disguised, or delivered with excessive amounts of criticism and hostility.  I'm not sure which is the worst, but fortunately we are given a much better alternative -- clear, objective truth delivered from personal observation or concrete data. 

One very successful businessman and friend goes so far as to say “Everyone deserves the truth.”  He says this with a near religious conviction.  Whether positive or negative news, he believes that it's compassionate to always describe truth.  Without it, we are potentially lost, confused, wandering, underachieving, and less than our best.  One of the pioneers of organizational psychology, Dr. Harry Levinson said, "Leaders must be able to face and deliver reality if they want to lead well." 

When we believe that people “can’t handle the truth” we are typically projecting our own pre-conceived (and unconscious) views of the world onto them.  We tend to get bogged down by our old fears and become frozen in our current situation.  When in reality, people can't grow, and the current situation will not improve, without truth.  

I want to be clear here.  I am not talking about brutal honesty that comes across as mean, uncaring, or overly critical.  I am talking about direct and loving discussion about what we observe, and what we interpret as a result. 

If you didn’t catch the key words there--- they are WE observe and WE interpret.  Notice that I didn’t say “YOU do this—YOU do that.”  When you make your observations personal, you leave the other person plenty of room to disagree and to offer their own observations.  Using "we" is less likely to put the other person on the defensive right out of the gate.  A verse from the Bible says:  “Speak the truth in a spirit of love.”  This is the key...How you convey your message will largely impact how it is received.

If you have been waiting to tell someone the truth, do it compassionately, following this formula: 

1. Share your observation of the data –- Behavior etc
2. Share your interpretations of this data -- Behavior
3. Clearly tell them your expectations.  Leave no room for error -- Ask them to repeat what is expected.  

While I know these conversations can be difficult, you owe it to yourself, your company, and your employees to be truthful, even when it hurts in the short run.  We can't grow without reality.

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a 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.

The 20-Million Candidates You’re Missing—Revisited.

Last spring, I wrote a WorkPuzzle blog on the dismal job prospects for new college grads.  In that discussion, I demonstrated how “underemployment” has become a reality for many college seniors looking to start their careers. 

If you do not remember reading this article (or you’re new to WorkPuzzle within the last year), it might be helpful to review it before you try to digest what we are going to discuss today. 

Last year, BusinessWeek and several other media venues were spouting optimism concerning a problem that seemed to be hanging on for much too long—adult children moving back home after college. 

Why the optimism?  Because there was a small increase in the number of adult children who were leaving their parents' homes and setting up their own households.   

Buried in the research was a shocking metric--over 20 million young Americans find themselves in this state.  Even under very optimistic conditions, researchers admitted that this huge backlog of stagnant labor could only diminish to about 11 million within the next five years. 

Well, so much for optimistic conditions.   

The Associated Press reported last week that for the graduating class of 2012, over 50% of the new college grads will either be jobless or underemployed.     

Here are some highlights from the article: 

“Young adults with bachelor's degrees are increasingly scraping by in lower-wage jobs — waiter or waitress, bartender, retail clerk or receptionist, for example — and that's confounding their hopes a degree would pay off despite higher tuition and mounting student loans… 

About 1.5 million, or 53.6 percent, of new bachelor's degree-holders under the age of 25 last year were jobless or underemployed, the highest share in at least 11 years.  Out of this 1.5 million, there is an even split of those who are unemployed versus underemployed… 

According to government projections released last month, only three of the 30 occupations with the largest projected number of job openings by 2020 will require a bachelor's degree or higher to fill the position — teachers, college professors and accountants.  

Most job openings are in professions such as retail sales, fast food and truck driving, jobs which aren't easily replaced by computers. 

College graduates who majored in zoology, anthropology, philosophy, art history and humanities were among the least likely to find jobs appropriate to their education level; those with nursing, teaching, accounting or computer science degrees were among the most likely…” 

So, what does this mean for the real estate industry?  As I mentioned last year in the second part of the WorkPuzzle discussion, some of these new college grads may be well-suited to start a career as a real estate agent.    

Rather than rehash the points I made in the previous discussion (all of which are still relevant today), I thought I’d share a quick story from a client I spent time with last week. 

This company is a large, independent, multi-generational real estate company on the West Coast.  They are leaders in their marketplace and have a long track record and heritage of success.   

Here’s the problem:  This company has an agent base where a large majority of their agents are above 55 years old.  This data didn’t impact me until I saw the demographic ranges they shared during our discussion.    

I don’t have the data in front of me, but I believe they had cataloged demographic age ranges as high as 55 to 65 years old, 65 to 75 years old, and over 75 years old....AND, a high percentage of their agents were in these categories.  The lowest age range category was “below 40.”  And for this company, less than 20% of the agents were demographically in this category. 

This company is not an anomaly in the real estate industry.  It is representative of the norm.  Most companies that we work with find themselves in this situation. 

So, here’s my challenge to you:  Step back and look at this problem from a 30,000 foot view.  Real estate companies are stuck with an aging workforce that will limit their growth and ability to change in the upcoming years.  Society is stuck with a large group of educated and aspiring young people who do not have adequate career opportunities.  There has to be a way to connect these dots.     

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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.

12 Mistakes You’re Making in Social Media

I’ve been spending a lot of time studying and experimenting with social media since the beginning of the year.  I know that some of you will certainly think I’m showing up really late to a party that started some time ago.  And, that may be true!  

But, the more I study the topic, the more I’m becoming convinced that being an early adopter with such a powerful emerging technology, like social media, is bound to lead to a number of mistakes and missteps.  For recruiting applications, some of these mistakes have been both profound (ie. disqualifying) and expensive.  

However, I’ve started to observe, in the last six to twelve months, social networking recruiting ideas that will likely be viable for the long term.  Makers of the new applications have gained insight from earlier mistakes, and the use of social media for recruiting purposes is really gaining momentum.

One thing that helps this process of improvement is that social media mistakes that companies make seem to be increasingly documented.  I’ve read many articles on this topic and thought I'd share one I recently found helpful.  

This article is based on a light study recently conducted on LinkedIn, where a group of participants were asked to document the mistakes they most commonly observe.  The original write-up included the top 16 mistakes, but I’ve cut it down to the top twelve I thought were most relevant.  

The list is arranged so that the mistakes are numbered and listed in bold.  Under each mistake is a relevant comment from a user in the study.  It may seem a little disjointed at first, but these eclectic comments do paint an interesting picture.  If you want more detail, take a look at the original article.

1.  Thinking it's a sprint instead of a marathon.

"I find most expect social media to be a sprint not a marathon.  They get really into it and then let it fall by the wayside by not posting regularly and not engaging with others.  As my partner says, ‘It's a marathon, not a sprint.’  You must give it time, you are building relationships."

2.  Not having a plan or strategy.

"I think the biggest mistake is not having a clear strategy around why they are using it that aligns with a strategy of what they want out of it.  This is closely followed by not measuring if they are on track.”

3.  Talking too much and not listening enough.

"They need to talk less and listen more.  Social media is all about making connections and, just like in the real (rather than virtual) world, people will be more drawn to you if you actually listen to what they're saying, than if you try to force your message upon them."

4  Airing bad feelings.

"I think the biggest mistake is airing bad feelings / arguments over sites like Twitter.  I watched a CEO debate rather childishly with a PR guy - going so far as to use derogatory and inappropriate language."

5.  Too much time spent on self-promotion.

"One big mistake small business leaders make in social media is to spend a lot of time trying to promote themselves.  They also forget to keep an eye on how their brand is being perceived.”

6. Not making it relevant to me.

"I don't want to get ten tweets a day hearing about YOU.  I want to hear things that are valuable for me and my life... and they need to be fast.  And not too frequent:  I don't want to incessantly hear about your business.  It won't make me think of you more, it'll just make me annoyed with you.  So:  short, sweet, pertinent, and valuable to me."

7.  Blurring the lines between personal and professional.

"They blur the line between personal and professional.  If you are using Facebook, use it only for personal or business, not both.  Same applies to Twitter.  I think LinkedIn is ideal in that it is all business/professional."

8.  Creating a business profile first and a personable profile later.

"They make their profiles appear as their company portals, trimmed with lots of company/brand information.  It results in viewers bouncing out of the profile quickly—ie. professional visits the profile, but flips to another profile without scrolling down the entire profile.  You should create an interesting profile first, engage people, and then propagate your message."

9.  A serious underestimation of the amount of resources it takes to administer a social media effort.

"The number one mistake I've seen is a serious underestimation of the amount of resources required to engage and maintain a social program."

10.  Expecting social media to do all the work.

"You can't just blast the world with your ideas, products, and services, then sit back and expect everyone to think you're so wonderful.  That is unrealistic."

11.  Getting on social media just because everyone else is doing it.

"I see many businesses getting on social media because 'everyone else is' or 'we just have to' but without clear purpose or a plan.  One wouldn't open a new store, address a new market, or open a new sales region without extensive planning, goals, organization and thought.  And yet, many small businesses (especially sole proprietors) just up and register for Twitter, etc. one night and wade right in."

12.  Not understanding that it's all about relationship building.

"What I see so often is that a business decides to jump into social media because they're afraid they might be left behind, but then they fail to put a well thought out strategy in place.  They end up throwing a bunch of profiles on the internet, trying to market and sell to everyone, and basically failing."

Do an inventory or your organization’s social media efforts.  Are you making any of these mistakes?  If so, put a plan in place to make corrections.  I do believe your effort will pay off.  Social media is here to stay, but you’ll need to apply effort and focus to make it work for you.

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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.

When You Can't Predict Talent; Foster It

While we make our living by assisting our clients through the murky waters of predicting a candidate's future performance, we've learned an important lesson:  there are always exceptions to every sourcing profile, pre-screening process, and well-intentioned interview.  And these exceptions come in every shape and size--good, bad or indifferent.  

So, if you can't always predict who is going to be successful, what can you, as a manager, do to foster talent?  Margaret Heffernan, an entrepreneur and author, explains how she was able to create an environment where those whom she selected to work for her were able to thrive.  

Margaret explains that it wasn’t so much her innate ability to see and select talent, but rather her ability to create the conditions in which her staff could grow.  So what were those conditions?  

An open atmosphere.  Every team Margaret ever ran had been profoundly democratic—which is to say that any good idea got attention.  She never cared about status, except in disliking those who did.  She took in good ideas from anywhere for anything...from making the lunch room more pleasant to improving the core technology.  Ideas didn't have to fight their way through a structure.  They could be blurted out.

Extravagant diversity.  It wasn't just that they employed Russians, Taiwanese, Indians, Americans, Brits, and Italians.  Their youngest employee was eighteen and the oldest was 68.  They'd worked in different countries, states and industries.  Some demonstrated enormous emotional intelligence; some had virtually none.  

Time didn't matter.  She never cared when the work got done—as long as it did get done and in a way that didn’t cause co-workers undue inconvenience.  Hours are not what count; productivity is.  The same applied to maternity, paternity, and family leave.  Individuals figured out what worked for them, and for their families—and that worked for the business.  Too many companies seem to feel they have to fight for priority over family life and in that jealous feud, vast amounts of energy and goodwill are dissipated.

Stretch goals were just the start.  Almost everything her team tackled was hard.  And if they cracked it, work got harder.  They liked big challenges and cheered anyone who met them.  People coming in for interviews witnessed that the company was fun, but not an easy option.  

Sure, you can see great potential and talent as you have candidates sit before you during interviews, but even the most talented people need an environment where they can grow.  This is not only true for hiring, but most certainly for retention.  One of our tenets is that people look less at compensation in career choices and more at where they feel they will fit and flourish.  Creating and showcasing that environment will draw talent to you, and keep it there.

Inevitably, you will hire a few exceptionally creative individuals who may then attract others like themselves.  “But none of that will matter if the work itself isn’t joyful and hard.  It may sound like a contradiction, but doing great work is hard—that's why great people love it.”

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Editor's Note: Lee Gray is the Senior Account Manager at Tidemark Inc. Lee is a guest 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.

Are you a Trusted Leader?

Leaders who can be trusted have a tremendous impact on those they influence.  Trust is certainly a part of the "level 5 leader" that Jim Collins refers to in "Good to Great."  

In a recent article, Dan McCarthy lists...The 20 signs that you can't be trusted as a Leader:

"Are you a trustworthy leader?  Take the assessment below.  Sure, everybody may do a few of these now and then.  However, if there’s a consistent pattern of multiple behaviors, then I’d say there’s a serious issue of trustworthiness.

1. You don’t do what you said you were going to do.
2. You over-promise and under-deliver.
3. You’re unpredictable and inconsistent.
4. You always seem to have a hidden agenda.
5. You’ll agree just to avoid conflict.
6. You never share anything personal about yourself.
7. You never seem to finish anything you start.
8. You have a reputation that says you can’t be trusted.
9. You’re never willing to take a stand.
10. You won’t listen.
11. You don’t seem interested in what’s important to others.
12. You gossip about other people and disclose confidential information.
13. You make decisions but don’t explain how and why you made the decision.
14. You often change your plans or mind and don’t tell others about it or explain why.
15. You come across as uncompassionate and insensitive.
16. You won’t admit your mistakes or acknowledge your weaknesses.
17. You misrepresent other’s views.
18. You’ll say anything to achieve your objectives and results.
19. You sugarcoat the truth.
20. You see others as a threat when they are successful or come up with good ideas."

And here are some quotes that you might enjoy: 

“Trust is the lubrication that makes it possible for organizations to work.” - Leadership Guru, Warren Bennis

“In leadership, there are no words more important than trust.  In any organization, trust must be developed among every member of the team if success is going to be achieved.” - Duke Basketball Head Coach, Mike Krzyzewski 

“The lion and the calf shall lie down together but the calf won’t get much sleep.” - Woody Allen

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Editor's Note: This article was written by Dr. David Mashburn. Dave is a Clinical and Consulting Psychologist, a 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.