WorkPuzzle

Your Personal Employment Brand

Last week, I read an article written by Dan and Chip Heath in Fast Company that highlights the importance of emotion in marketing.  The Heath brothers are the bestselling authors of "Made to Stick."

These guys noticed that there is often a disconnect between the emotion that a company tries to relate in a marketing campaign, and the reality that truly exists. 

“Marketers caught on early that emotion sells product.  'Would your husband marry you again?' screams a Palmolive ad from 1921.  (Not unless you scrub with Palmolive soap, honey.)  Today, Heineken has promised warmer international relations via handoffs of Premium Light from mountain men to Indians to ballerinas.  And, of course, Axe has sold young men on the fantasy of hooking up with deodorant-loving nymphomaniacs. 

Emotional appeals are ubiquitous.  They're also interchangeable.  It would be just as easy to pitch Heineken as an aphrodisiac and Axe as a global harmonizer ('Peace starts in the pits').  And that's the problem:  It's all stick-on emotion.  Sometimes that works brilliantly (see: Corona).  Other times, it's as weird and clumsy as an adhesive mustache -- remember Carl's Jr. and Paris Hilton's sexed-up hamburger ad? Fortunately, there's a better and more sustainable way to create emotion:  Mean it.”

The article goes on to demonstrate how the impact of a marketing emotion can be greatly increased if there are concrete realities supporting that emotion, proving that it is a genuine representation of reality.  Emotion combined with integrity REALLY sells!

If you’re a hiring manager, this is a principle you cannot afford to miss.  People are drawn to you as a leader because of their perception of who you are.  You may have a prominent company brand, many desirable externals (ex. office location, physical appearance of the office, advanced business tools, etc.), and you may even present yourself in a way that people are naturally drawn to you.  That’s all emotion. 

But, if the reality of who you are matches what you project, the fireworks start to fly.  People want to work on teams with these types of leaders.  Your “personal employment brand” has the ability to attract (or repel) people with a significant amount of force.

Ask yourself this question:  What do people in your professional network really think of you? 

Then ask yourself:  Is this perception based on surface emotion and externals, or on the reality of what those in your professional community have experienced firsthand or have actually seen you do?

If you do not have a strong and believable personal brand, it is very difficult to be a successful hiring manager.  But, how do you repair (or build for the first time) your personal brand?  The quickest and most believable way, is through doing good deeds that support your emotional appeal.  The Heath brothers put it this way:

“Why not simply replace the fake emotion with a real one?  What if Downy started doing things to help struggling mothers -- and then used their ads to talk about the work?  What if Bounce retaliated by throwing its weight behind job seekers looking to bounce back from a layoff? What if all this good work raised the competitive hackles of the not-to-be-underestimated Snuggle Bear?  Perhaps it could sponsor a winter-coat drive.

What we're proposing here is an arms race of goodness -- a generation of companies that compete on real emotion rather than stick-on sentiments.  Maybe that sounds Pollyanna-ish.  If so, let us introduce you to some companies succeeding by meaning it.

Toms Shoes has a simple business model:  Buy a pair of shoes, and it'll send a second pair to a child who needs it.  This year, it'll send about 300,000 pairs of shoes to the developing world. And because it's the company's genuine passion to do so, Toms can take advantage of the word of mouth built into its product and spend dramatically less on marketing than other shoe companies.  When you mean it, convincing customers doesn't take as much shouting.”

Start working on your personal employment brand and you may find that recruiting is not so difficult.

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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.

Reframing Recruiting

Psychologists love to "reframe" any issue that causes conflict.  We can be borderline obsessed with reframing, and there is a reason for this:  Reframing has a way of dismantling defenses, exposing old myths, eliminating fears, and igniting productivity.

 What do I mean by reframing?  Reframing means helping others to look at a conflicting topic with a new set of eyes.  Put another way, it means viewing an old problem through a different lens.  Reframing requires stepping back and trying to determine why there is such resistance around a reoccurring topic of frustration, and discussing it in a new way.  Often times, it only requires small changes in language to accomplish large leaps in a-ha moments of clarity for everyone involved.  It can mean the difference between stalemate and responses like "Oh, that's what you meant?"

For example, a moment of clarity about reframing the task of recruiting came to someone on our team (Lee Gray) while she was doing laundry this past week.  Many of our clients know Lee, as she trains hundreds of managers across the country on the use of a recruiting tool called Talent Pipeline.  In her work with managers, Lee is able to experience firsthand the range of differences between managers who are quite comfortable with the various aspects of recruiting, and those who are intimidated so much by the concept that they have become paralyzed by fear, and thus struggle to move forward.

We all know that organizations need to recruit, and the importance of this goal is constantly emphasized by organizations to their managers..and rightfully so.  However, it has become quite clear to Lee that many managers begin to shut down emotionally as soon as the word "recruiting" is uttered.  Building a pipeline of "recruits" seems to be a task that is likened to having a root canal.

Instead of writing off this range of managers who feel this fear, Lee began to wonder (out loud in her laundry room I might add)... Why do some people with such proven people skills hesitate to engage in recruiting, while others don't? 

The culprit to the breakdown was the word "recruiting."  When she changed the language to "relationship building," managers began to relax.  This makes sense, given the fact that most managers are natural relationship builders.  That's why they do what they do! 

So, Lee's reframing is quite simple (as most reframing is):  "Focus on relationship building," and maintain a pipeline of those "relationships" you want to build.  Next, focus on the tasks that will help you build them.  Then track those tasks as a way to hold yourself accountable. Eventually, as a byproduct of your natural ability to build relationships, successful recruiting will follow.

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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.

The Best Places To Launch A Career: Can You Compete? - Part 2

Each of us has either experienced firsthand, or know someone who has experienced a mid-life crisis when it comes to career choice.  We understand the crisis that can result when a person feels that perhaps they've been "stuck" in the wrong job for the last 15 years.  We can even sympathize with the strong urge for a career change that some of us experience after dedicating so many years to a particular field of work.  

In fact, the majority of today's real estate agents have evolved from these types of crises.  Is it possible that you identify with these folks so much, that you've made them the primary, or even exclusive focus of your recruiting efforts?
 
In light of the information revealed by Business Week's recent survey (read Monday's blog for more on this), it seems that we are missing out on an enormous new resource.  Young college graduates are facing a crisis that most people don't have to consider until reaching their mid 40's.  They are leaving college with no prospect of being able to work in their area of specialty.

The good news for you is, they are hungry for a new direction.  Another Business Week article includes several examples of intelligent, motivated, new grads who have had to settle for very low-level jobs. Take for instance, Sasha Muradalih, a University of Miami graduate with a Masters in International Public Relations.  Unable to find a job, she is currently settling for clerical work.  Then there's Stephanie Haller, a graduate of Humboldt State University (BA in Journalism), who is currently Managing a Hollywood Video store.  The list goes on...

The point is this: It might be time to take advantage of this young, educated, and hungry generation, while they're ready and available.  They want to launch new and exciting careers, and many of them will make great agents.  One idea is to create a Manager development track that's more systematic, providing young people from a business/management education, with a vision of where they could be a few years from now. 

What have you got to lose?  Some managers have said it takes too much time to train people who are so young and may not work out.  This could arguably be a complaint about candidates of any age...anyone who doesn't immediately appear self-sufficient.  There is an answer to this:  Numbers!  Increase the number you source, which will increase the number of candidates you interview, which will ultimately increase the number of solid, young people you'll meet... who you know can knock it out of the park!

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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.

The Best Place To Launch a Career: Can You Compete?

Each year, Business Week conducts a survey of companies and new college graduates to assemble a rank list of the best places for new graduates to begin their careers.  This year’s research involved data from more than 60,000 recent college graduates and more than 60 of the nation’s top universities.

There was some shocking information revealed by the research this year.  For example, of 2009 graduates, only one in five people who applied for a job succeeded in landing one.  And those who were lucky enough to land a job are not getting paid much—it is very difficult to get an entry-level job out of college above $50K in today’s market.  Many jobs on the list begin at $35K or below.

Some industries were hit particularly hard with regard to entry-level hiring:

Hospitality:    -76.3%
Technology:   -55.4%
Transportation:  -41.6%
Investment Banking:  -39.3%
Telecommunications:  -30.8%

These percentages were derived by comparing hiring levels in the first half of 2008 versus the first half of 2009.  The negative values indicate the percentage of decline with regard to hiring in the respective industries.

Does this all add up to doom and gloom for you?  Not necessarily.  If you’re a real estate company (or any small business), that is able to offer a bright young person an opportunity to get ahead, you have a window of opportunity to acquire some very talented, young workers.

In today’s environment, you no longer have to compete with high salaries, signing bonuses, and company-provided meals. Instead, many new workers are realizing that it will take hard work and sacrifice to get ahead.  (As a side note.. Interestingly, Google—famous for providing their employees free meals—did not make the Business Week top 50 this year.) 

One person highlighted in the Business Week feature, an Operations Manager for Nestle, revealed that:

“...he wakes up at 3am to get to work an hour before his 5:15am shift—and often stays late.  He’s a good example of what it takes for young people unaccustomed to drudgery to get ahead these days:  hard work, long hours, and a willingness to make sacrifices.”

With the changes happening in the talent marketplace, here’s an important question to ask yourself:  Is it possible for you to begin competing for the attention of these young, talented employees?

Of course, the traditional wisdom is that a real estate agent needs to be a little older to match the demographics of their buyers and sellers.  While there is some truth in this statement, consider the fact that investment banks, insurance companies, and financial services firms consistently hire college grads, and with great success.  Is there some way you could make this work as well? 

These companies have learned how to grow talent by engaging people at a young age and allowing them to gain experience and build skills on the job.  There are some companies who are already taking advantage of this opportunity.  For example, of the top 50 companies on the Business Week list, the one that has grown college level hiring the most in the last year (up 75% from the previous year) is New York Life.  Their hiring model is not much different than that of real estate, and their compensation scales are among the lowest in the industry.  How are they successful?  Part of the answer is that they are smart enough to put themselves in the right place at the right time!

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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.

WorkPuzzle Update: Improved Focus and New Publishing Schedule

Since December of last year, Dr. Dave Mashburn and I have been writing in WorkPuzzle with the intended purpose of sharing how a basic understanding of the psychology of the human mind can help in numerous ways to make individuals and organizations operate more effectively.  We’ve learned a lot in this process, and we hope you have too.  We're thankful for all the thoughtful feedback you've provided along the way.

At this point, we’ve established a base of more than 100 articles.  These articles are available in the WorkPuzzle archives and are searchable online.  Most of these articles have been written to cover the general and basic principles of psychology, business, recruiting, and other workplace issues.  Many of these principles are timeless, so hopefully you’ll find it useful to refer back to some of these articles as you have need for insight.

As we move into the fall season, we’ve decided to take a slightly different posture with WorkPuzzle.  As you may know from our past references, the majority of our company’s clients are in the real estate industry.  In order to better address the needs of these clients, we’ve decided to focus WorkPuzzle efforts on the issues that concern these companies.  More specifically, we’ll be focusing our discussions on issues that real estate owners and strategically-minded real estate managers face in the day-to-day execution of their jobs.

For those of you who are more “general purpose readers” of WorkPuzzle, many of the principles that we’ll discuss in upcoming articles can still be applied to other industries and work scenarios.  Our intention is not to leave you behind.  There will still be much written that can be applied to your unique circumstances if you're outside the real estate industry--it will just require a bit more creativity to apply.  As we grow in the future, we may also begin to address other specific industries in blogs parallel to WorkPuzzle.  We’ll keep you posted on what develops in these other areas...

Finally, WorkPuzzle has been published daily during the work week for the past nine months.  We have very strong and vibrant readership early in the week, but by Thursday and Friday our readership wanes.  We’ve hypothesized that perhaps people are more willing to assimilate new and creative information earlier in the week.  Or, maybe by the end of the week, you’re just tired of hearing from us!

In response to this trend, we’re going to start publishing WorkPuzzle twice per week, on Mondays and Wednesdays.  If you’re an email subscriber, you’ll receive your copy of WorkPuzzle on Tuesdays and Thursdays (email subscribers are delayed a day).  This change in publishing schedule will begin this week. 

As always, we appreciate your comments and feedback concerning WorkPuzzle.  It is our privilege to serve our readers, and we look forward to exploring new topics and applications in the months ahead.

Sham WOW! Overselling an Employment Opportunity - Part 2

Last week, one of our clients sent me some solicitation information his company had received from an employment assessment company.  The information was a sample report that candidates receive from the assessment vendor upon applying to a given company.

The report is intended to give the candidate some feedback concerning their personality, and some insight regarding their potential for success at the said company.  The report is well done from a graphical perspective.  The assessment results are presented in a box on the upper right hand side in each of four pages, thus the candidate can easily access the information.
 
The problem is that the assessment results boxes are surrounded by a series of testimonials from existing employees.  Most of the testimonial boxes contain pictures of attractive women, and the general theme of each testimonial is that the person found fulfillment in life by working for this company.

I think testimonials are helpful, and one or two might complement this report nicely.  But, this report contains seven testimonials in just four pages!  The testimonials take up as much space on each page as the assessment results, and surround the box that contains the information the candidate is trying to read.

It’s like we’re back at the fair and the “gadget sales guy” is desperately trying to get my attention for a few minutes to make a sale.  The neon lights are flashing as the candidate approaches this employment opportunity.  Naturally, defenses rise under such circumstances, and people become protective.  What is effective in separating a person from the $10 that is in their wallet at the state fair, typically has the opposite effect in an employment dialog.

I know the majority of you are probably not involved in candidate advertising and marketing, but many of you are involved in various other aspects of the hiring process, including prospecting for candidates and conducting interviews.  The same principles apply to these pieces of the hiring process.

Overselling your company and your team will have a very negative effect on your recruiting results.  While most of us can look at an advertisement and tell if something looks gimmicky, it is difficult for many people to realize how their conversations may contain many of the same traits.

Here are some quick questions that you can ask yourself:

1. What percentage of your conversations involve you talking versus the candidate talking?

2. What percentage of your conversation is spent talking about the candidate’s existing organization (or past experiences) versus your organization?

3. What percentage of your conversation do you spend talking about the challenges on your team?  Do you ever talk about how a candidate’s contribution could enhance your team?

I'm sure you can figure out the correct answers to these questions by reflecting back on past interviews, but can you determine if you're doing these things during a live conversation?  The first step is to make an effort to become more aware of what you're saying during a recruiting conversation, and then make adjustments if you find you are overselling.  To follow up, you may want to invite a trusted friend or collegue to attend one of your interviews and then provide you some honest feedback on this topic.  

Believe me, if your recruiting conversations sound like they belong in the gadget barn, better to find out so that you can make some changes.  First impressions can become last impressions if you don't "fix" your approach.

The Talent Sale - Part 2

Yesterday, I described the unusual situation that we are currently in, where top talent is available, marked down, and easy to dislodge.  If you are responsible for hiring, you owe it to yourself, and the company you work for, to spend some time imagining how this works. (Definitely begin be reviewing yesterday's blog.)

Let's say you're single, and you are looking to date someone.  Where's the best environment for this?  Is it among a group of happily married couples, or among a group of singles?  The answer is, of course, obvious.  This may sound like a ridiculous analogy, but it applies to recruiting more than you may think!

To take the analogy further... As far as talented people and their loyalty to their employers goes, we are now in a situation where there have been millions of "divorces" and many considering "divorce."  If you ever want "to date," NOW is the time.  Now is the time when the largest number of people are willing to "play the field."  Don't wait until everyone has already "dated" other industries and "found their match," because the majority of the workforce will likely stick with their new match through several economic cycles before they switch industries again.  This is the time to attract, date, and marry this extremely wide pool of very good prospects.

Continuing the analogy... Most hiring managers restrict their "dating" to only those who actively "flirt" with them.  And we all know, this limits your dating prospects to the most desperate individuals.  And if you limit yourself to those who actively flirt, you'll probably wind up with someone who will flirt with other companies once they're with you!

To win over the best date and best prospects, you must set a goal and not give up.  The most successful daters know that finding a great partner takes tenacity, patience, and a willingness to be rejected.  They know that finding the right person is a numbers game, and by increasing the number of rejections, they'll increase their chances of winning the heart of someone great.

The numbers have never been so much in your favor...  

Positive Emotions, and Getting Out Alive!

Okay, the title is a little dramatic... I guess I need to stay out of the wilderness for a few weeks.  As I mentioned yesterday, last week my wife and I endured the wet climate in Banff.  Then, over the weekend, I managed to get lost on a hike with my 21 year-old daughter, Katelyn.

Perhaps I've seen too many episodes of Survivorman, but I actually began to ponder if I had wandered into a disastrous situation.  We were hiking a portion of the Pacific Crest Trail, which starts in Mexico and ends at the Canadian border.  On a side note:  We actually ran into a man and his horse who had started on the trek in Mexico, and were two weeks away from the Canadian border.

The mistake I made was going off-trail to find an alpine lake.  We ended up on a trail that dead-ended.  From there, we must have traveled in circles. One's natural tendency is to panic.

We were really never in any trouble, but still, I remembered what research psychologist, Barbara Fredrickson, revealed about staying positive:

"Frederickson has found that while negative emotions narrow people’s perspective and keep them focused on the specific problem in hand (e.g. flight or fight), positive emotions ‘broaden’ people’s likely thoughts and actions as well as their behavior.  In other words, when we are experiencing positive emotions we have more ‘behavioral flexibility’ and this allows us to build ‘intellectual and psychological resources.’  So if we are feeling positive we are more likely to be curious, to learn, to explore and be creative than if we are negative."  (Center for Confidence and Well-Being, 2006)

If we had become panicked, we probably still could have found our way out, but it was more fun, and certainly burned less energy, to stay positive.  We eventually, (two miles or so further) got turned around, found the correct trail, and headed out.
 
Let this story serve as a reminder to keep your team broadening their internal resources of confidence and decisions, by staying positive and developing an atmosphere free from panic and pessimism.  The impact on the brain and it's capacity for creativity is well documented.

As for me... I'll stay in the neighborhood for the next few weeks...

A Lesson In Patience...

I just returned from a five day vacation, visiting both Banff and Calgary, Canada with my wife.  Our trip just happened to coincide with the wettest and coldest few days that this region has had since early May.

If you’ve ever seen pictures of Banff, you’ve caught a glimpse of some of the most spectacular scenery in North America.  We knew it was there, somewhere...but saw none of it during our first two days.  We humorously kept repeating, “I bet this sure is gorgeous”… or… “Wow, can you imagine how beautiful this is?”

Not all was lost those first two days.  I became an expert in converting Celsius to Farenheit, a skill most baristas and mountain guides have down pat (Double the Celsius and add 25...so 12 degrees Celsius is 12x2 = 24, plus 25 = 49 degrees Farenheit).  Yes, our summer vacation, where thongs (foot thongs not the other) were packed and sunscreen in hand, quickly changed to, “What can we see inside?”

On the morning of day three we were actually considering getting in our rental car and driving four hours to what appeared to be sun on the weather channel.  We casually mentioned this to a clerk at the local grocery store who urged us not to lose hope.  She said, “They never know what’s going to happen in the mountains.  Just stick it out, you may be surprised!”

So, feeling bold, we scheduled a climb into the Alpine Lakes area of “Sunshine (that’s right Sunshine) Ski Resort,” ready for any kind of weather the mountains threw at us.

Eventually, the weather mercifully cleared, and the temperature climbed to 23 degrees Celsius (you do the math).  When it did clear, we were standing at the continental divide, near Alpine Lakes, with miles of spectacular views.

So, what did I learn?  I’m constantly learning to be patient... For me this was just another lesson in the importance of the payoff of patience.  Had we driven that day to find “better weather,” we would not only have wasted valuable time chasing an unclear goal, but would also have missed out on one of highlights of the journey.

In managing people, you must have convictions about persistence, tenacity, and patience.  Without valuing these traits, you won’t be able to bring out the best in the talent that’s been entrusted to you.  As a company, do you spend too much time chasing things that don’t pay off, or do you stick to executing a plan? 

The clouds will clear eventually...

More About Grit: Predicting and Coaching for Success

In past articles, we’ve highlighted the works of both Dr. Angela Duckworth, a psychologist at the University of Pennsylvania; and Dr. Carol Dweck, a psychologist from Stanford University.  These women are two of the most influencial leaders on the topic of grit.  Both professionals have a passion for researching what, in fact, we should be measuring with regard to propensity for success.

Johan Lehrer puts it this way in his recent article in the Boston Globe:

“One of the main obstacles for scientists trying to document the influence of personality traits on achievement was that the standard definition of traits - attributes such as conscientiousness and extroversion - was rather vague.

Duckworth began wondering if more narrowly defined traits might prove to be more predictive.  She began by focusing on aspects of conscientiousness that have to do with ‘long-term stamina,’ such as maintaining a consistent set of interests, and downplayed aspects of the trait related to short-term self-control, such as staying on a diet.  In other words, a gritty person might occasionally eat too much chocolate cake, but they won’t change careers every year.  ‘Grit is very much about the big picture,’ Duckworth says.  ‘It’s about picking a specific goal off in the distant future and not swerving from it.’"

In essence, Duckworth is suggesting that, rather than IQ level, what we should be measuring is a person’s ability to narrow and maintain focus on a particular goal.  Research confirms that this is a better predictor of a person’s potential than their intelligence and well-rounded background. 

If you’re a hiring manager, think about how you interview candidates...  Would this be a trait that you could measure during an interview by changing the types of questions you ask?  If so, you’d probably be more successful at predicting your prospective employee's potential in your organization.

If you’re in a coaching role, you can also take advantage of the research in this area:

“While Duckworth and others are quick to point out that there is no secret recipe for increasing grit - 'We’ve only started to study this, so it’s too soon to begin planning interventions,' she cautions - there’s a growing consensus on what successful interventions might look like.

One of the most important elements is teaching kids that talent takes time to develop, and requires continuous effort.  Dweck refers to this as a 'growth mindset.'  She compares this view with the 'fixed mindset,' the belief that achievement results from abilities we are born with.  'A child with the fixed mindset is much more likely to give up when they encounter a challenging obstacle, like algebra, since they assume that they’re just not up to the task,' says Dweck.

Interestingly, it also appears that praising children for their intelligence can make them less likely to persist in the face of challenges, a crucial element of grit.  For much of the last decade, Dweck and her colleagues have tracked hundreds of fifth-graders in 12 different New York City schools.  The children were randomly assigned to two groups, both of which took an age-appropriate version of the IQ test.  After taking the test, one group was praised for their intelligence - 'You must be smart at this,' the researcher said - while the other group was praised for their effort and told they 'must have worked really hard.'

Dweck then gave the same fifth-graders another test.  This test was designed to be extremely difficult - it was an intelligence test for eighth-graders - but Dweck wanted to see how they would respond to the challenge.  The students who were initially praised for their effort worked hard at figuring out the puzzles.  Kids praised for their smarts, on the other hand, quickly became discouraged.

The final round of intelligence tests was the same difficulty level as the initial test.  The students who had been praised for their effort raised their score, on average, by 30 percent.  This result was even more impressive when compared to the students who had been praised for their intelligence:  their scores on the final test dropped by nearly 20 percent.  A big part of success, Dweck says, stems from our beliefs about what leads to success."

Could this change your perspective on how you coach those on your team?  It is so natural to praise those we coach for their natural abilities.  While this feels natural and right, the research shows it is counterproductive.

It may be better to just let the natural talents speak for themselves, and seek to praise someone for living out their values and displaying positive virtues.  Grit is one of these virtues, but there may be more.  It will be interesting to see what the research unveils in the future...