The challenge for today’s business owners and executive leadership teams is to realize that they will never maximize their revenue and profit potential if they do not develop leaders at all levels. Recent studies have found that a staggering 95% of organizations do not spend any resources developing leadership capability below the senior executive level. This has resulted in over 80% of our employees having to report to a manager/supervisor that has not been trained or prepared for the responsibility of people management and leadership.

It is however seen that the companies that do implement a leadership development program and uses tools like 360-degree surveys have observed stupendous growth and are the leading organizations in their industries. Gallup CEO Jim Clifton in the summary accompanying his organization’s 2013 “State of the American Workplace” employee engagement study said

“The single biggest decision you make in your job—bigger than all the rest—is who you name manager. When you name the wrong person manager, nothing fixes that bad decision. Not compensation, not benefits—nothing.”

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For years I have been telling management teams that over 60% of all resumes contain blatant untruths, which is a scary number in itself. It turns out that I have been misleading everyone as according to “The 2017 HireRight Employment Report” there are a staggering 85% of job applicants who tell lies in their resumes.

But I do not want to talk about the integrity of our job applicants as I feel there is a far more critical question that needs to be asked:

Why would 85% of job applicants feel that they need to lie to get an interview?

Because I would be 100% confident in stating that there are way more than 15% of the population that are honest human beings, and yet for some reason honest individuals feel that they need to lie in their resumes. Maybe it is because they think everyone else is (the Tour de France syndrome) and therefore to compete and win they also need to cheat.

Or maybe there is another reason ……… maybe these job applicants now understand how many recruiters use ATS programs to screen applicants for them. Yes, that is right, many recruiters do not actually screen applicant resumes they allow the ATS program to “search” for keywords and only review applicant resumes that have been recommended by their ATS. Therefore to even have a resume viewed by a recruiter, the resume needs to contain all of the potential search terms that may be used so that the ATS recommends the applicant for consideration.

What happens if the search words used do not exactly reflect the requirements of the role? How many potentially great applicants are not even being considered?

Maybe it is time to review the process and get some honesty and integrity back into the recruitment process. Importantly we need to make sure that we don’t lose great candidates just because they are not sophisticated, or dishonest, resume writers. We need to start measuring a candidate’s “fit” to the role earlier.

Screening Job Applicants

I understand the logistical difficulties screening high volumes of job applicants, but shouldn’t the screening be based on learnable skills and knowledge not on search words. We recommend the following process:

1. Develop a Role Benchmark

– Identify the critical success attributes, the abilities, behaviours and interests of proven high performers

2. Develop a Skills/Knowledge Test

– Create a PeoplogicaSkills test that measures some of the critical success attributes

3. Initial Screening​

– Ask every applicant to complete the Skills Test and set a minimum pass rate (ie 75%)

– Use the ATS system to search for key words

– Develop a list for resume review:

i. A List = All applicants exceeding minimum pass rate and are recommended by ATS

ii. B List = All applicants exceeding minimum pass rate but not recommended by ATS

There is no doubt that most do not enjoy the whole process of applicant screening, but what needs to be front and centre is that if you inadvertently screen out a potential high performer the hidden costs are substantial. Use automation and testing because they will improve the process, but do not forget that the recruitment process is a people process, it cannot be fully automated.

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LinkedIn’s Head of Recruitment (Brendan Browne) recently wrote that there are two major hiring mistakes, he is only wrong because there are actually 6 major hiring mistakes!!”

And all of these mistakes are costing Australian business billions of dollars.

Brendan Browne quite rightly identifies two mistakes:

1. Hiring managers set unrealistic expectations
   They are focused on hiring the superstar, the individual that has everything, the game changer. Problem is that they are so focused on this imaginary person, or “purple squirrels” as Brendan affectionately calls them, that they miss the candidates that have 90% of what they need.

2. Recruiters making impersonal cold calls
   LinkedIn found that by including a personal recommendation from a mutual connection, the response rate jumped from 28% to 85%.

But to tell you the truth, while the above two hiring mistakes are very important, they are not what we believe are the most important. Here are the biggest hiring mistakes that we continually see:

3. Not understanding what type of candidate would be a future high performer
   If you have not developed a current Position Description that summarises the skills, knowledge, qualifications and experience required to do the job well, then how are you going to effectively screen resumes.

If you have not developed a Role Benchmark that identifies the abilities, traits, behaviours and interests required to be a future high performer, then how can you possibly write an effective job advertisement and conduct effective interviews?

4. Copying & pasting to create a job advertisement
   There is one statement that needs to be heeded, “You have a 100% failure rate of hiring the best person for the role if they did not apply for your role in the first place”.

If you look at most job advertisements you will see a paragraph about how good the company is, then the role expectations are cut and pasted from the position description and finally how to apply on the company’s terms. It is all about the company and nowhere does it answer the one fundamental question that a top candidate wants to know; “What’s in it for me?”. To attract the best candidates now, especially millennials, you need to tell them why they will not only enjoy the role but why they will be successful in your role. It does take a reasonably high degree of empathy to write a great job advertisement, but the most important attribute are the inclusion of the interests and behaviours that are required to be a future high performer.

5. Not being prepared for an interview
   I am flabbergasted at how often I see hiring managers walk into candidate interviews without any preparation, in many cases the resume has only been skimmed with no comprehensive review and there are no standard first interview questions. While there is no doubt that using JobFit psychometric assessments before the second interview provides a substantial increase in the success rate of selecting future high performers, it is still a priority to make sure that probing questions have been developed before walking into the second interview. This tends to not be the case.

6. Hiring on “like” not on “fit”
   And this is probably the biggest mistake of all; hiring individuals because the hiring manager “liked” them. Is there any wonder why the traditional recruitment process only delivers high performers 26% of the time, let alone that it also delivers not-yet-competent employees about one-quarter of the time. If you are not evaluating candidate fit, then you can be guaranteed that you will be disappointed more often than you will be happy.

Selecting future high performers does not have to be difficult, just follow these basic steps:

1. Make sure you have an up-to-date Position Description
2. Make sure you develop a Role Benchmark.
3. Take care writing the job advertisement and target the ideal candidate by answering “What’s in it for me?”.
4. Review resumes and have standard first interview questions.
5. Assess shortlisted candidates using a JobFit assessment and measure their “fit” against the Role Benchmark.
6. Use the JobFit Interview Guide questions in the second interview to explore all potential barriers to success.

The reward for doing all of the above?

A highly engaged and productive team that will drive your business forward and maximise organisational potential.

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Employee retention can be likened to client retention. We accept that it is a lot harder to find a new client than it is to retain one and the same goes with great employees; it is a lot harder to recruit a future star than it is to retain the ones you already have.

More focus needs to be put on retaining high performing employees and improving the performance of your current crop.  As the job market grows, employees are becoming more empowered, more demanding and more mobile. Employee engagement is critical for any organization to achieve their strategic goals and the factors that influence engagement levels are many and varied. Good leadership, training and management/peer recognition have become more important to employees than the fancy break rooms and free lunches. Employees want strong leadership and the opportunity to develop and grow, they want to have an impact; they want to feel purpose.

Josh Bersin, in his article Feedback is the Killer App, outlines the need for companies to implement new ways to improve employee engagement and in turn retain talent. While growing companies with more than 50 employees are finding it increasingly harder to understand the pulse of their organization, many are discovering that feedback software is the new tool to implement employee wide “health checks.” These “health checks” allow management teams to identify the current people problems in their organizations and measure overall culture health.  “Just as customer feedback has transformed the customer experience, employee feedback is transforming the employee experience.”

Research shows that humans need constant feedback. This reminds me of a friend who had been at a company for six months, she was notified by HR that her six month review was due and that her managers would be in contact to organize a meeting. Three months later with still nothing organized, she started to get worried. Was this because they had forgotten about her? Was she not making a meaningful contribution or was she doing such a great job that they weren’t worried about her performance?

Employees, who don’t receive feedback, become suspicious and nervous about their position in the organization. Employees need to feel valued and recognized for great work and proactively coached to further develop their skills. The right feedback will drive individual and team performance which in turn will deliver your organizational strategies. Employees who receive positive and constructive feedback are more likely to be highly engaged and less likely to leave their employer. Through the implementation of feedback software, companies can streamline the process and make sure that the critical areas of concern are identified, measured and addressed.

NPS (Net Promoter Scores) have become an industry standard to measure the loyalty of customer relationships. However this same process can also be used on leaders in an organization. Asking employees to rate their leaders allows you to gauge the trust and relationship levels that a manager has developed. One simple question can easily identify which leaders are excelling and displaying leadership qualities and which ones need urgent support and development.

A huge transformation is happening in the global workforce and new employees are looking for purpose and growth. We now know that feedback is crucial to measure trust, accountability and development and all organisations should be implementing effective processes to facilitate and streamline constant employee feedback.

Written by David Snow, Client Services Executive at MultiRater Surveys – Your customizable online people analytics platform

Whether you are an HR professional, business owner, executive manager, consultant or advisor, multirater surveys provides you with the platform to maximise your people capital investment. MRS is easy to use and delivers easy to read professional reports.

By using Multirater surveys as your people capital survey platform, you can create professional 180-degree Performance Reviews, 360-degree Leadership Development surveys, Employee Engagement and Client Pulse surveys… in just five easy steps. Ask the questions YOU need answered – AND draw on our templates and question banks. It really couldn’t be any easier.

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The importance of ‘Why’ you do business

Technology underpins so many of the functions that are performed in organizations today, and it has levelled the playing field, making it easier for competitors to replicate what you do faster than ever before and allow nimble start-ups to compete with and disrupt large established enterprises. In addition, globalization has shrunk the world, vastly increasing the number competitors you have to compete with; and there is a lower barrier to entry for startups, which further increases the number of competitors capable of doing so. This has led to an innovation overload. Innovation has typically been the keystone of differentiation but in todays overloaded innovation economy, simply being innovative is not enough to stand out.

In today’s market, success is less about what you do but how you do it and even more so who you are as a company… The ‘Why’ your company exists and the purpose behind its existence is just as important as the innovative products/services you offer. Look at successful companies today such as Tesla. Part of the reason for their success is their strong commitment to their overarching mission: ‘to accelerate the worlds transition to sustainable transport’ and the company wide alignment to this overall vision that encompasses everything they do.

Who you are as a company – your brand, culture, mission, values, and beliefs is incredibly important. Who represents your brand? Your employees. Therefore, organizations need to enable, inspire and develop their teams so that they are aligned with the company’s mission and working in unison to drive overall business success. That means that organizations need to focus on their people, giving them the appropriate tools to relentlessly attract, inspire, engage and develop top talent and creating a culture for a great place to work, so that great work can take place. Organizations that focus on the ‘Why’, align their employees to that and make people/talent management part of the overall business strategy stand out from the crowd and significantly outperform those who don’t.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alex McNaughten is passionate about delivering valuable business outcomes for partners and customers through technology based solutions. With a firm belief in mutual value creation, he has expertise in new business development through growing, managing and optimizing partner/distribution channels. He has strong experience in the technology space having previously managed the New Zealand partner channel for Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Technology Services division and prior to that drove over 500% YoY revenue growth at an early stage Fin-Tech company.

At Cornerstone, he owns the success of the Channel and Alliances program for the small to medium business market across Asia Pacific and Japan. This involves managing relationships with existing partners as well as identifying new referral, implementation and reseller partners. He then works with them to jointly go to market with Cornerstone’s cloud based talent management solutions whilst complimenting their core product and service offerings.

amcnaughten@csod.com

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I recently read an article by Marcel Schwantes titled “3 Reasons Your Employees Are Miserable at Work (and What to Do About It)” and he identified the three root causes of job misery being:

• Anonymity
  The feeling employees get when they realise their manager has little interest in them
• Irrelevance
  When employees cannot see how their job makes a difference
• Immeasurement
  The inability for employees to assess for themselves their contribution or success

While I do not disagree with the above causes of job misery, I do think that it can be addressed far easier than what Marcel has proposed. To address this issue we need to understand why employees get to the stage that they are so miserable at work that the only reason they turn up is to earn the money for them to do the things they like doing. Not only are they feeling miserable, their productivity is generally so poor that they are actually costing the employer money. No one is a winner.

Employees are miserable at work for only one reason – THEY ARE NOT ENGAGED

The two main reasons why employees are not engaged are simply:

1. They do not have “fit” to their role
2. Their managers are not competent people managers, coaches and leaders

Their managers are not competent people managers, coaches and leadersAny organisation that addresses these two underlying challenges will enjoy increased revenue, profitability and customer service levels; which should be enough incentive for any management team to seriously address this issue. The great news is that it is actually not that hard, but is does mean that business owners and executives will have to change the way they attract, select and develop their employees and managers. Because, clearly, the traditional recruitment process is not working and with only 5% of organisations providing leadership development below the executive team, there is much work to be done.

Improving Employee “FIT”

There is only one way to consistently attract and select candidates that will have fit to your roles and that is by using a high quality, highly reliable psychometric assessment solution. The assessments that will consistently deliver outstanding results must be Normed for your population, possess a Predictive Reliability/Co-efficient Alpha score of at least “.70” and have the capability of developing role benchmarks (also called job patterns and success patterns) for your roles and if possible the ability to develop these benchmarks by assessing proven high performing employees. By combining a highly reliable psychometric assessment with the ability to measure candidates against 100% relevant role benchmarks, the result is usually about 300% improvement in the success rate of selecting future highly engaged and high performing employees. The Interview Guides that accompany the JobFit assessments we use measure the candidate’s “fit” to the role, identifies any potential barriers to success and then provides tailored behavioural interview questions to assist the hiring managers to satisfy themselves that any potential barriers to success are manageable (either by the individual themselves or through effective coaching, mentoring and/or training).

Developing Confident People Managers

In addition to improving candidate selection, the next goldmine to be attended to is increasing the engagement, and productivity, of existing employees by improving the people management and coaching skills of all managers and supervisors. We achieve this through the Coaching and Management Reports that are provided with the JobFit assessments using during the selection phase. These coaching reports use the role benchmark information to identify the potential barriers to success and then provide the management team with effective coaching, mentoring and training suggestions to maximise employee engagement and productivity. For the first time ever, in most cases, the people managers are provided with the information they need to manage their direct reports on an individual basis. The process also gives them increased confidence to confront and deal with people issues as they arise instead of allowing them to fester and negatively affect other parts of the organisation.

Developing Courageous Leaders

In a recent study it was discovered that 95% of organisations do not invest in leadership development below the executive level. This means the mid-level managers and supervisors, that have more than 80% of the employees reporting to them, do not receive the development they need and want. In most cases this occurs because of one reason; cost. The cost of leadership surveys has traditionally been too high to justify upskilling leadership potential throughout organisations. There are now disrupters to the leadership development space that provide the capability to dramatically reduce the cost of implementing leadership development and to be able to customise the solution to fully meet any organisation’s particular requirements; one such platform is called Multirater Surveys. By developing courageous leaders at all levels and maximising overall leadership potential, there will be a substantial uplift in employee engagement levels and therefore a reduction in job misery.

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The wellbeing of workers is not just a “nice to have” for businesses. Workers can have a low level of wellbeing because of work stress, relationship breakdown, grief and loss, conflict in and out of the workplace, difficulty sleeping and mental illness.  There are at least six ways that these issues directly impact the bottom line:

1. Absenteeism

Our data shows that workers experiencing acute stress or with a serious personal or work related issue take an average of 2 days per month sick leave and this generally lasts at least 3 months on average.

2. Presenteeism

While at work, staff can be distracted leading to lower productivity. Our data shows that for employees experiencing personal or work related issues, this distraction accounts for around a third of their time on average – although it varies widely from almost no distraction for some people up to nearly 100% loss of productivity for others.

3. Engagement

There is substantial research around worker engagement that shows that engaged workers have significantly higher productivity than disengaged workers. Workers struggling with a low sense of wellbeing find it hard to be engaged in their work, even if they are competent and committed people in general.

4. Turnover

The cost of staff turnover can be as much as six months’ salary for every person who leaves. Workers who are mentally healthy and resilient are more likely to stay for longer in their role, saving businesses recruitment, induction and training costs.

5. Physical injuries

The tight link between mental and physical health might be a surprise. But workers who are mentally healthy are also safer workers and have fewer physical injuries on the job. For this reason, mental health promotion is an essential part of any Occupational Health and Safety program.

6. Workcover costs

Stress claims are rapidly becoming the most expensive – and most common – claims lodged with Workcover. For some organisations, early intervention to deal with worker stress or mental illness can save millions.

The good news is that employers can take action to help workers experience better wellbeing. Research undertaken by our research organization, Reventure, surveyed 1000 randomly selected Australian workers from every industry and different job roles. The survey found that those with a workplace wellbeing program recorded noticeably higher levels of satisfaction with all aspects of their lives including financial, family relationships and physical wellbeing as well as job satisfaction.

Wellbeing programs can show impressive returns on investment. Our data for people using an EAP program shows that their use of sick leave (absenteeism) halves and their distraction on the job (presenteeism) also halves as a result of the intervention. Most organisations using an EAP program have a $5-6 return on investment for every $1 spent on the program.

Wellbeing programs come in many forms and combinations. Some organisations implement a comprehensive annual calendar of events, some use an EAP while others focus on embedding practices and policies within their culture to combat stress.

Whatever you choose, make sure your CFO knows why you are putting a program in place, and what you expect to get out of it. Then design a way to check you are getting the value you hope from the program. Measuring return on investment can make a true believer of even the most budget conscious CFO.

Dr Jenny George  CEO, Converge International

Jenny has been the CEO of Converge International since 2016. Converge is one of Australia’s largest mental health providers to Australian workplaces, with services that include EAP, training and consulting and with a portfolio of clients in every Australian state and territory. A former Dean of the Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne, Jenny has more than 17 years of experience in executive education and 15 years of experience in leadership roles. Since 2007, she has been a non-executive director of businesses in the finance, retail and services sectors and has served on the boards of many not-for-profit organisations.

Jenny’s academic speciality lies in executive decision making. Her more recent experience in the delivery of mental health solutions to organisations has given her additional insights into organisational culture, stress, individual psychological biases and their effects on decision quality and organisational implementation of decisions. Jenny has worked as a consultant and has been involved in customised executive leadership programs for many clients including Leighton Contractors, CSR and Abigroup. She is a highly acclaimed presenter with consistently excellent feedback focusing on her ability to make complex concepts understandable and applicable. In 2015, Jenny developed and led the University of Melbourne’s first Master’s program in Business Analytics. In addition to facilitating formal education programs, Jenny has been involved in coaching and mentoring many executives and emerging leaders and has facilitated strategy and planning sessions for both Boards and executive teams.

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How a manager interacts with their staff can have huge consequences for the organisation’s culture, performance and success. That’s why being a manager can be so challenging – there’s so much on the line.

The good news is that there are many useful tools to help managers be the best they can be and get the most out of their team. Here are the five tools I recommend every manager learn and use everyday.

Communication

Effective communication is a powerful tool for managers – it helps the team feel in the loop and supported, it creates a culture of transparency and it drives accountability and performance.

On the flip side, a lack of communication, conflicting messages, micro-management or inadequate instructions can result in reduced productivity and efficiency, unhappy staff, resentment, a poor culture, and increased absenteeism.

Effective communication can be as simple as a daily greeting, scheduling regular meetings or having your office in close proximity to your employees so you are not always relying on email to communicate. It’s also important to pay attention to non-verbal communication. Practice open body language, good eye contact and positivity.

Motivation

A good manager will take the time to find out what motivates their employees, where their passions lie and what direction they want to take in the company, and then make decisions in line with those motivations.

For example, an employee may be organised and manage their time well, but may find it difficult to delegate tasks or ask others for help while under pressure. A manager who is on top of their people issues will coach their employee and support them in developing their delegation skills and celebrate their successes. By understanding what makes employees tick you can make decisions which drive better performance.

Mentorship

Mentors guide mentees by supporting their professional and personal long-term growth and development. Mentoring involves sharing wisdom, providing the benefit of your experience, answering questions and helping out with problems. Think of it as an apprentice/master relationship – this will help you decide which method is most appropriate at the time.

Managers that take on a mentoring role are able to influence and shape how staff think and behave, because they build a level of trust with their employees. They can also identify areas for team development and individual growth.

Performance management 

Studies show that a top performer is twice as productive as a poor performer. This is why managing team performance is a critical part of a manager’s role.

Performance management should start from day one of an employee’s job – and it should involve managing poor performance as well as celebrating great performance.

In today’s world where the annual performance appraisal ‘tick the box exercise’ is a bit “on the nose”, good managers will have frequent one-to-ones with their people, identify potential areas for development and improvement along the way and provide feedback when positive events occur as well as providing constructive criticism when needed.

Sourcing talent

Because it is a manager’s role to manage and develop great talent, sourcing the right talent upfront is crucial. To determine whether or not a person will be right for the role and the company, you need to assess whether they are the right ‘fit’.

This can help to eliminate challenges down the track, by ensuring you select people who can be great in the role, not just people you ‘like’.

Determining fit comes down to understanding who people really are and whether or not they are interested in the type of work you have on offer, and if their abilities, behaviours and personality traits are the right fit for the role.

Given that studies tell us 60% of people “enhance” their experience and skills at an interview, to uncover this you will need to delve a little deeper, and add people analytics to your selection process. You just can’t uncover this type of information at an interview. The advanced tools we recommend allow you to measure and benchmark your existing top performers and then easily compare the results of your short listed candidates to the benchmark.

Any manager can be effective – it just takes the will to learn, and the right tools, skills and attitude. Being the best manager you can be can result in a positive team, a great workplace culture and long-lasting working relationships.

About David Leahy

David Leahy is the Director of Directions Unlimited, a specialist consultancy providing people solutions of every shape and size – from JobFit assessment testing, behavioural interviews and outstanding managerial tools to executive one-to-one coaching, team and group coaching programs. David “gets” business having worked for more than 30 years with multinationals and SMEs. An accredited organisational coach, he possesses a broad coaching experience having coached at CEO and Senior Executive level in the USA, South America, Europe and Australia.

www.directionsunlimited.com.au

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One of the fastest-growing recruiting trends in recent years has been social recruiting—searching and scouting people on social media networks such as Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter—to fill open positions. With billions of people using social networks, it’s no wonder that recruiters are turning to them to find potential candidates.

If you’ve never done social recruiting or implemented a social recruiting strategy in your company, the task may seem daunting. Where do you start? What social networks do you go after? What are the best practices for successful social recruiting? If you are thinking about implementing a social recruiting strategy next year, here’s something to get you started!

Using Social Networks for Recruiting

Social networking is a two-way street. Implementing a social media strategy doesn’t mean stalking people online and messaging them about openings at your company. Remember, the best approach to social recruiting is a passive one. You want to build awareness about your company, its culture, and your career opportunities, so candidates come to you.

Regardless of the purpose, social media’s success is based on interaction. It’s a conversation. As such, you should look at social recruiting as an opening line. What would you say to a candidate in person? How would you present your company? How would you talk about a job opportunity? Consider how all of these conversations happen in person, and then develop a strategy that mimics it on social media. Here are some tips to remember.

• Commit

Create a page for your company on the social networks you think are best suited to your needs and your capabilities. Why capabilities? Because in order to successfully implement a social media strategy you need to commit to it 100%. That means if you open a Twitter account for your company, you have to be prepared to tweet several times a day. You need the staff hours and time commitment in order to make your venture into social media successful.

•  Brand yourself

Your presence on social media is like your introduction to prospective candidates. It’s an opportunity to tailor your tone and approach to fit your company, thus creating a brand—a voice that people will recognise as your company’s. This can help strengthen your identity and make you more appealing to potential candidates.

• Tell us who you are

Give people an inside glimpse into your company—what’s a day at your office like? What makes your company unique? Get creative by posting insights from current employees in a Q&A or a short video tour of your office. Provide profiles of your top management so people can read more about them. Share interesting facts about what makes working in your company fun, like your company cricket team or monthly barbeques. Paint a picture that attracts possible candidates to you.

• Tell us what you do

Okay, you’ve told us who you are; now tell us what you do. Share what your company does—what you’re good at and known for. Whether it’s software development or public relations, talk about the work you do. Give examples of specific projects or campaigns that were very successful. Better yet, show us what you do. Use platforms such as YouTube to upload videos of sample training or advertisements your company created.

• Talk industry

Social networks shouldn’t be used as a soapbox from which to shout about how great you are. They can be used to introduce your company to the world and, sure, brag a bit, but always remember that the social conversation is bigger than one organisation. It is a forum in which to discuss what’s happening in the world and in your case, it’s a place where you can discuss what’s happening in your industry. Use your social media channels to discuss issues that are affecting your industry. After all, the people you want working for you are likely to be interested in this information.

• Engage

Since social media is a two-way street, don’t make the conversation one-sided. Engage your audience by asking them questions. You can keep them specific to your company or be broader, like asking how they hope to grow their careers. Ask questions about your industry as well, something that will get your audience talking about the topic on your page.

• Post opportunities

Ultimately what we’re talking about here is using social media as a recruiting tool, so remember to post all your job openings. An effective way to do this, especially if you have a lot of job opportunities, is to target your job opening posts. That way your followers won’t feel like they’re being spammed; they’ll just see the posts that might interest them. For instance, on Facebook you can target the post to the geographic location where the job is, or on Google Plus you can run a search for your followers that fall within the job’s skills, and target only them.

• Start a conversation

Once you start attracting potential candidates on your social networks, start a conversation there, too. You can use it for pre-interviews with candidates, to talk to hiring managers across the country, and even to offer training. You can ask interested candidates to send their resumes and cover letters via private messages on Facebook and Twitter.

• Think SEO

Activity on your social networks translates into visibility online. Always remember that the more content you create and share on social media, the more your company, your insight, and your career opportunities will come up in search results and therefore will be seen by more people. Use keywords that are relevant to your industry and your company often. Always remember to choose the social networks that suit your company best. Start with a LinkedIn profile, since that’s the most professional and career-centred of the social networks. Then, consider your time and effort commitment to determine whether you should open a Twitter or Facebook account. Also consider your industry. If you’re looking for technology professionals—social media experts, IT professionals, software developers, etc.—then Google Plus could be the choice for you, since its user base is skewed heavily toward those professions.

• Measuring Results

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It seemingly becomes longer every year and with the festive season well underway, have you maintained your healthy habits or are you slipping closer and closer to the Naughty list? Have those in the office around you been sharing their tales of late night Christmas Cheer while clutching to their 3^rd coffee for the morning or did they simply call in sick, unable to face the light of day. If this sounds too familiar, both your health and productivity in the workplace are taking a hit. For Australia, a pattern of hangovers and sick leave in the workplace during the festive season will cost up to A$2bn ($1.6bn) in lost productivity in the last two weeks of the year, with some 10% of the workers polled planning to take up to three sick days off to recover from their celebrations, according to a survey of 1,000 workers. Of those who did make it to work the day after an office Christmas party, more than a quarter conceded they were functioning at only 50% productivity (BBC – The Real Cost of Hangovers

Health and productivity in the workplace are undoubtedly linked. When you have sick employees (or a sick workplace) there are both direct and indirect costs to your business. So, while you’re out enjoying the additional celebrations, lunches and post-work functions, it is important you consider a few guidelines on how to maintain your health (and productivity) this festive season.

Altius Group provide expertise in people risk services including prevention and management of physical and psychological injuries. Altius Group consists of specialised businesses which cover a broad spectrum of individual health, wellbeing and rehabilitation interventions to ensure your organisation can realise the financial and commercial potential of a healthy, engaged team.

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• Do you recognise that financial stress is a one of the major inhibitors to team member performance?
• Do you recognise that your business productivity will likely significantly suffer should a team member experience a long term illness or injury
• Have you considered the impact on your business if you have a team member battling a long illness or injury & they have exhausted their sick leave & other entitlements
• Have you considered the implications if you have a team member injured at work & you are grappling with Workers Compensation issues & the impact on your business, let alone the impact on the team member?

Unfortunately, these situations are not uncommon. They can place a great deal of stress on you, the team member concerned and their families – and let’s not forget the team member’s colleagues left to ‘hold the fort’. Also, more often than not, employers can find themselves grappling with the notion that they have an obligation to look after the impacted team member, adding a further layer of unwanted pressure.

So what to do? Considering income protection for you and your team is one approach and depending on size and the financial health of the business, there are a number of options available. If you chose this path, the insurer assumes financial responsibility for paying the income replacement benefit when the team member needs it the most and the business is not placed in a potentially difficult position of having to decide whether or not to financially support the team member, or worse, terminate employment. And, on a positive note, fully or partially funded income protection, is likely to be viewed as a highly valued company benefit by potential recruits and existing team members.

Research suggests that should one of your team members require extended, unplanned leave, how you decide to address the situation will have either a positive or undesirable and potentially detrimental impact on your culture and business reputation – so think carefully and take the opportunity to be proactive.

Gerry Baker – Director & Personal Risk Insurance Specialist
TAG Financial
(02) 8884 7444
gerry@tagfinancial.sydney
www.tagfinancial.sydney

In association with Strategic Resources Network
www.strategicresourcesnetwork.com.au 

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Family and Domestic Violence is a community issue that is rightly having ripple effects through all parts of Australian society. The workplace is no exception. Back in 2007, most employees thought their organisation should be doing something about the issue, whereas most employers thought they should not get involved.  Now most public sector organisations and many private sector companies in Australia are implementing domestic and family violence policies and an increasing number are getting White Ribbon Accreditation.

Why would a workplace address this issue?

1. The workplace can be a dangerous place for someone trying to leave a violent relationship. A significant number of people in violent relationships are stalked while they are at work and this can be the most visible and accessible place for a perpetrator to find someone.
2. The workplace provides a social support that is usually separate from family relationships and/or the perpetrator.
3. A degree of financial independence is often critical for someone’s ability to leave a violent relationship, therefore a supportive workplace that allows someone to maintain and control their own stream of income can be a huge factor.
4. Domestic violence can impact negatively on someone’s work performance but this may mask that person’s potential to contribute to the organisation. For example, an abusive and controlling perpetrator might attempt to sabotage their partner’s work by creating situations in which they are frequently late for work. If treated purely as a performance issue, this employee might be in danger of losing their job (their main source of independence) and be put at further risk of harm.

How might workplaces address this issue?

Workplaces can choose to take more or less formal approaches to supporting their workers who are experiencing domestic or family violence. At the most basic level, a culture of support and care is essential to encourage employees to make disclosures and access company support. Here are the top four ways organisations can go about building this kind of culture.

1. Explicit company policies that support people experiencing family and domestic violence. These can include extra paid personal leave (for example the South Australian government provides an additional 15 days leave each year), supportive performance management processes, help with relocating if that is part of a person’s safety plan, a high degree of confidentiality and safety around an employee’s personal details and location, and flexibility and confidentiality with pay arrangements to ensure that pay gets to the intended recipient.
2. Targeted, specialist emotional support and safety planning for those experiencing domestic violence. For example, a dedicated helpline staffed by trained counsellors or an EAP service with specialists available.
3. Training and awareness. Many organisations are implementing awareness training for their managers but those organisations on the leading edge are now training every employee. Workers experiencing domestic violence are most likely to talk with a friend or colleague in the workplace, their second most likely place to talk about their situation is with an external EAP provider and they are much less likely to talk to a manager or HR about their situation in the first instance. Therefore manager training, while extremely important to ensure that company policies are correctly implemented, is not nearly as useful as simultaneously training all staff members to respond in a supportive and helpful way to a colleague.
4. Peer support structures. A formal peer support program may be warranted in which peer support officers are trained and receive ongoing professional supervision. Peers can often be extremely helpful as survivors of domestic violence navigate the internal company processes as well as external legal or community based support services. However it is important that peer support officers are themselves cared for, as vicarious trauma and burnout can result if well intentioned volunteers are not helped to set and maintain boundaries and debrief as needed.

Domestic and Family Violence is a widespread community issue. Even at a basic commercial level, it makes sense for companies to support their workers. Companies who take domestic and family violence seriously will end up with more productive and happy people who have much greater capacity to engage in their work. However it is my view that, quite apart from commercial considerations, organisations have a social responsibility, as some of the most powerful institutions in our society, to play their part in building safer communities.

Dr Jenny George  CEO, Converge International

Jenny has been the CEO of Converge International since 2016. Converge is one of Australia’s largest mental health providers to Australian workplaces, with services that include EAP, training and consulting and with a portfolio of clients in every Australian state and territory. A former Dean of the Melbourne Business School, University of Melbourne, Jenny has more than 17 years of experience in executive education and 15 years of experience in leadership roles. Since 2007, she has been a non-executive director of businesses in the finance, retail and services sectors and has served on the boards of many not-for-profit organisations.

Jenny’s academic speciality lies in executive decision making. Her more recent experience in the delivery of mental health solutions to organisations has given her additional insights into organisational culture, stress, individual psychological biases and their effects on decision quality and organisational implementation of decisions. Jenny has worked as a consultant and has been involved in customised executive leadership programs for many clients including Leighton Contractors, CSR and Abigroup. She is a highly acclaimed presenter with consistently excellent feedback focusing on her ability to make complex concepts understandable and applicable. In 2015, Jenny developed and led the University of Melbourne’s first Master’s program in Business Analytics. In addition to facilitating formal education programs, Jenny has been involved in coaching and mentoring many executives and emerging leaders and has facilitated strategy and planning sessions for both Boards and executive teams.

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Effective leaders give their company far more than an abundance of skills and experience.

Skills can be learned and experience and qualifications gained, but there is no substitute for the enthusiasm, motivation and passion great leaders possess. These people can mean the difference between an average team and a high performing team – they are the leaders every company wants to keep, nurture and develop to their full potential.

A key priority for leaders should be to uncover and foster leadership talent, in other words ‘leading the leader’.

So what makes a leader tick, and what can managers and CEOs do to guide their leadership group or emerging leaders to true greatness?

Encourage them to develop their own leadership style

Recognising a leader’s strengths, habits and idiosyncrasies can help you develop their talent to its full potential. Managers need to recognise the emerging or apparent leadership style of their employees, and show guidance or reason for improvement where needed.

How does a leader develop their leadership style? Developing an authentic and unique style plays a key role, although learning by example from mentors who display their own passion and motivation while adapting to the needs of others, and to the project or goal, is also very powerful – especially during the formative years.

Establish a clear understanding of what drives leaders

Great leaders have a firm goal and a clear strategic path to follow. It is this goal that truly gets them fired up and gives them the unbridled passion and enthusiasm they display every day and inspire in their team – no task is too hard, too boring, too trivial.

A manager or CEO should have a clear understanding of what drives their leaders and understand their goals and motivations – why are they so passionate about what they do? Motivation has a clear impact on behaviour, so knowing why your leader works the way they do will help you provide the most appropriate guidance.

Recognise the importance of self development

Great leaders are excited by opportunities to take their skills to a new level, and thrive on personal development to help them achieve strategic goals – they cannot be the best without active guidance and means of improvement. They are recognised as an important resource in the business plan, which only adds to their enthusiasm for the role.

It’s lonely at the top though, which also explains why an increasing number of leaders engage an executive coach to challenge their thinking and be the “devil’s advocate” that is often needed.

Reward their loyalty through succession planning

Employers can benefit greatly by developing succession plans for employees who rise through the ranks to seniority. An effective leader is supported in their decision to exercise company loyalty, and ideally should be rewarded in return.

Succession planning is a crucial factor in employee loyalty and retention. CEOs and managers may include their leadership team in succession planning details in a bid to further understand their motivations and foster their career goals.

Realise that the potential for leadership starts at the recruitment process

“Jobfit” is an important concept when recruiting leaders or potential leaders. Jobfit relates to an individual’s compatibility with the job, and the tasks that are performed as part of that job. It is linked with organisational culture – a poor jobfit can result in poor performance by the employee and detrimental effects to the team culture.

Recognising jobfit and potential for leadership begins during the recruitment process. The advanced scientific JobFit™ tools we recommend increases your success rate of identifying future top performers by 300%. (If you would like information on these please contact me directly).

Discovering what fuels a leader’s passion, what style of leadership they practice and what areas can be improved will not only help you understand their motivations, but guide them to become the best at what they do.

About David Leahy

David Leahy is the Director of Directions Unlimited, a specialist consultancy providing people solutions of every shape and size – from JobFit assessment testing, behavioural interviews and outstanding managerial tools to executive one-to-one coaching, team and group coaching programs. David “gets” business having worked for more than 30 years with multinationals and SMEs. An accredited organisational coach, he possesses a broad coaching experience having coached at CEO and Senior Executive level in the USA, South America, Europe and Australia.

www.directionsunlimited.com.au

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Is finding talented and experienced staff a continuous challenge? There is a distinct trend that applicant lists are getting smaller and that when candidates do apply, they are more demanding for what they require to make that all important career move. For now, gone are the days where you need to wade through hundreds of (relevant) resumes and then find that you have plenty of perfect candidates to choose from. If you are still in that space, let me know what you are doing because I want to bottle the solution to sell it and retire early!

From a national perspective, for every position that you are trying to fill, there are, on average, only twelve relevant candidates. Only seven of these have all the required qualifications, and from those, only two are really suitable for the position. In fact, up to 30 per cent of positions still remain unfilled six to eight weeks after advertising.

Research completed by the Department of Employment outlined that the reasons for this are simple; no relevant or suitable experience and the inability to agree on terms and conditions. Up to six per cent of employers give up looking in frustration. It is even worse in our industry, with the average fill rate at 55 per cent. In some cases, only one candidate will meet your specifications, if at all.

So, what do most employers do? They take a punt on the most likely candidate and see what happens. In many cases, they just don’t fit and you are left disappointed.

After many in the industry go through this process, they then approach us with a simple assignment brief, ‘You need to find me an employee that can hit the ground running, has industry experience and who I do not need to train!’

I have always been the eternal optimist and generally say, ‘No problem’. But let me let you in on a little secret, it is easier said than done. Having tracked all of the placements we have made over the last eight years and then compared the result to the placements over the last 18 months, I have found the following:

• Placements through advertising have dropped from 46 per cent to 21 per cent.
• Placements through executive search, social media and networking have increased from 54 per cent to 79 per cent.
• This is a massive change and it is not getting any easier if you just advertise.

So, what is the solution? In my opinion, there are a number of key aspects that we, as an industry, need to focus on if we are to remain skill set strong. The key areas I believe are attract and retain, train, and have patience (with the last one being the most difficult).

Let’s look at each in turn:

Attract & Retain

Fundamental to the growth and development of this industry is our ability to attract and retain talented candidates from other associated industry sectors. We must be viewed by potential candidates as an industry of choice. To do this we need to be the best at:

1. Ensuring ongoing and relevant training programs.
2. Having realistic and achievable objectives and targets.
3. Promoting an ongoing work / life balance.
4. Continuing with the personal development of your staff.
5. Developing a clear path for career advancement.

Train

One area that stood out during my recent mystery shopping exercise was a real lack of technical knowledge and skill, relating not only to the products being sold, but also to the process of selling them. When we employ, we tend to believe that just because they are coming from the industry, they will have the skills you require. I have found that this assumption is incorrect, with many (not all) lacking the depth of skill and knowledge to be completely competent.

Now, some of you may think that I am being a little tough, but having now mystery shopped over 150 businesses across our sector – windows and doors, glass and glazing, systems distributors, fabricators, hardware manufacturers and suppliers to general building and construction, I think my sample and conclusions are sufficient to make that statement. We must continue to invest in people new to our industry and, of course, in the ones we already have.

Have Patience

This is an area that causes much of the pain in employment. I am constantly battling with the expectations placed on new employees to deliver results that are unachievable and/or unrealistic in the first three to six months of their employment. In my opinion, it takes a minimum of six months to fully engage a new employee in the business if they already have some industry experience. With an industry ‘newbie’ you can easily double that number before you get the results you require.

I have always said that a new employee is an investment in the future rather than a return in the now, so we must be focussed on engaging them in the way that will ensure they stay.

I can only encourage all of you to think laterally, keep an open mind on candidates from outside the industry and as I have said in the past – ‘Recruit for Attitude’ and ‘Train for Experience’.[/vc_column_text]

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Each year many of us reflect on the 12 months that have flashed passed. The high’s, the low’s, the achievements and the what if’s. As the year ends, many begin to focus on the year ahead. The opportunities, the dreams and the challenges we will face. It is common during this period that people make ‘New Year Resolutions’. Some are geared towards our Bucket List and some are just for fun, however many New Year Resolutions are often focused on our health. TIME magazine reported among the top resolutions each year are weight loss, giving up smoking and increasing exercise. Sound familiar?

The reasons behind wanting to improve our own health include increased energy, for our family, to increase confidence and improve our general lifestyle. So why are these goals all about you? Does that not seem to be a selfish approach? Why not become a leader for a state of improved health for all of those around you?

As an organisation, improving the general health of employees will undisputedly improve your bottom line. Improved health and wellbeing in the workplace has demonstrated positive influence on presenteeism, absenteeism, productivity, retention and culture. On average, as reported by Comcare (Benefits to Business: The evidence for investing in worker health and wellbeing) Wellness programs have been found to;

• Decrease sick leave absenteeism by 25.3%
• Decrease workers compensation costs by 40.7%
• Decrease disability management costs by 24.2%; and
• Save $5.81 for every $1 invested in employee health and wellbeing.

So why not set some New Year’s Resolutions to improve the health of your organisation and everyone in it?

2018… The Year For…

Whatever the goal of your organisation, whether it is weight loss, developing healthy habits, increased exercise, reduced stress or improved mental health, setting milestones towards these will have a profound impact on the working group.

So how do you get started? Choose a measure that you believe your team will respond to (or better yet, why not send out a survey and ask them what they would like to work towards?)

Partner with experts. You’re an expert at what you do, at Altius Group – we are experts at what we do. Altius Group have a specialised team to design, promote and deliver your Wellness Initiatives. Altius Group have delivered evidence based Wellness Initiatives throughout Australia which have demonstrated statistical change and sustainable outcomes for participants. If you want to achieve the result, don’t do it alone.

Take a baseline measure of the group. Altius Group have accredited Exercise Physiologists and Psychologists who can conduct a Workplace Health Screening of your employees. Your Workplace Health Screening can be designed to measure Weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), Blood Pressure, Depression, Stress and Anxiety levels, Flexibility or Cardiovascular measures aligned to your 2018 goals.

Outline your Wellness Initiatives and commit to a plan. As with all goal setting, having a clear plan on how you are going to achieve your end state will improve your chances for success. This is no different. It is important you have a clear plan for 2018 outlined on how you and your organisation are going to make positive changes for sustainable improvements. The plan should be transparent so all team members can see this is not a one-night fling.

Stay focused and keep it fresh. Most New Year’s Resolutions fail within the first month. Let Altius Group design Wellness Initiatives scaled to your organisations size, culture and budget needs. Wellness Initiatives don’t need to be expensive and can combine internal campaigns or competitions throughout the year, or be aligned to partner with charity organisations. Ultimately, we can create something unique that works for you and inspires your team.

Come the end of 2018, Reward yourself and know that 2018 was a year for not only personal growth but also positive change for those around you. A year committed to developing positive, healthy habits with your colleagues will lead to positive reflection and a sense of achievement. As an organisation, you will have a healthier team; they’ll feel enlightened, educated and more energetic. Ultimately, you will have achieved a positive impact on your bottom line through investing in your most valuable asset – your people.

Let 2018 be the year that you and your organisation realise your health potential.

Altius Group provide expertise in people risk services including prevention and management of physical and psychological injuries. Altius Group consists of specialised businesses which cover a broad spectrum of individual health, wellbeing and rehabilitation interventions to ensure your organisation can realise the financial and commercial potential of a healthy, engaged team.

For Altius Group enquiries please contact referrals@altius-group.com.au or call (02) 9112 6020

www.altius-group.com.au

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Learning and Development vs. Business Goals? It’s Not an Either/Or

Too many organizations still dismiss learning initiatives and investments into organizational learning as a short-term, HR problem rather than an integral part of a long-term business strategy. It is critical to create and tell over and over again the compelling story of how learning aligns with your company’s initiatives, mission, vision, and values. Answer the question: How does the technology solve a business problem? The more business initiatives that can be supported through learning initiatives and investments into learning, the better the chance they will be supported and adopted by the operational leaders.

Are we teaching the right things? Is training effective? – For example, improve customer service by measuring performance of employees who received training, and also of those who didn’t. Track this in your Learning Management System, then compare their scores based on your CRM records to determine if the training was effective at improving the customer experience.

Let customer feedback inform learning initiatives – Smart companies use customer needs and feedback to create employee learning plans. Get started by truly listening to your customers’ input and using that data to guide your strategy building an employee learning plan that’s directly tied to customer insights linking customer loyalty scores with a reward system to motivate employees.

Use career development planning to increase engagement – Employee engagement is linked to career development. Managers who have ongoing discussions with employees about their aspirations – and support those goals – create sustainable engagement. Employees are accountable for managing their own careers, but supervisors have a responsibility to provide learning opportunities and reskill the workforce to anticipate upcoming technological changes.

Business and learning alignment occurs when your employee training is directly connected to your company’s goals. First, you’ll have to build a strategy involving all your stakeholders, and then create a clear communication process to the team showing how you’ll execute it. The training you offer also needs to be driven by customer needs and feedback. Finally, supporting your employees’ career aspirations through development will increase engagement and productivity. The result of alignment is a stronger workforce whose training goals drive your company’s goals!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Alex McNaughten is passionate about delivering valuable business outcomes for partners and customers through technology based solutions. With a firm belief in mutual value creation, he has expertise in new business development through growing, managing and optimizing partner/distribution channels. He has strong experience in the technology space having previously managed the New Zealand partner channel for Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s Technology Services division and prior to that drove over 500% YoY revenue growth at an early stage Fin-Tech company.

At Cornerstone, he owns the success of the Channel and Alliances program for the small to medium business market across Asia Pacific and Japan. This involves managing relationships with existing partners as well as identifying new referral, implementation and reseller partners. He then works with them to jointly go to market with Cornerstone’s cloud based talent management solutions whilst complimenting their core product and service offerings.

amcnaughten@csod.com

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The decision to transition a loved one into full time care is difficult, time consuming and highly emotional. Although the right choice is often obvious, the decision can be veiled in feelings of guilt and worry which can extend to affect other aspects of life – including the workplace.

Encouraging team members to seek Professional Financial Advice from a qualified Age Care Specialist will provide substantial improvements in your workplace. It will provide your team members with a clear picture of the financial aspects of Age Care, enable them to grasp the complex arrangements that need to be put into place and help your to step back from their emotions when making a financial decision. One of the best ways to manage emotions is to have a well thought out plan, detailing the best approach moving forward. The less unknowns, the better. Connecting your team members with appropriate service providers and professionals will help to mitigate against some of the stress.

Supporting a team member who is going through this tough time in life will require empathy and patience to keep the team and business on track. Communication is key and making sure your team member recognises that you understand the situation can help. They may need to take time off or have flexibility with their work arrangements during the transition process. If you are aware of what your colleague is going through, you can offer support and compassion, which will help to reduce feelings of shame over missed commitments.

Everyone experiencing emotional stressors are at risk of ‘burn-out’. We are only human, and there is only so much we can deal with before our edges start to crumble. Our minds are intrinsically linked to our bodies and stress has been known to manifest in physical illness and diminished productivity. Sometimes a conversation with your team member can be valuable; helping them realise that there may benefit in speaking with an HR professional. In addition, taking some personal leave to re-charge, might also assist.

We all want what’s best for our families and it’s natural to feel overwhelmed when dealing with highly personal and stressful situations – such as this. Acknowledging the emotions your team member is experiencing can help you to maintain a healthy and productive work place encouraging your team members to proactively seek professional advice is also vital to maintaining this delicate, essential balance.
 
Tim Condon – Director & Principle Financial Planner
Partners In Wealth (A member of the Integrated Wealth Solutions group)
tim@partnersinwealth.com.au
www.partnerinwealth.com.au
In association with Strategic Resources Network
www.strategicresourcesnetwork.com.au

Tim is a Director of Partners in Wealth and commenced his career in the Financial Services Industry over 10 years ago and has a very strong understanding of the Banking and Customer Service Industries. In 2007, whilst completing his Diploma of Financial Services (Financial Planning) Tim was offered a position as an Associate Financial Planner with Partners in Wealth and has since become an integral part of the advice team.
Since beginning his career as a Financial Planner, Tim has continued with his studies and has completed the Diploma of Financial Services (Financial Planning), the Advanced Diploma of Financial Services (Financial Planning), and is on track to completing his Masters in Financial Planning within the next few years.
Tim is responsible for ensuring the day-to-day functions of the business are implemented efficiently with a high attention to detail, as well as researching available investment solutions to meet our clients’ personal financial needs.

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PERFORMANCE MATTERS

Have you ever stopped to wonder why some people in your business always perform better than others? Has it ever crossed your mind that you can do something about this? What image is conjured when you imagine a high performing individual? I bet most of you thought of sporting heroes or high-profile business people, right? But the image of high performance no longer just lives on the sporting field or in a corporate boardroom. When you look around your office, can you see any untapped potential?

If you are to survive in any market condition, you must be driving performance to its highest levels. With some challenging times ahead in 2018, will you and your team manage to take advantage of the challenges and opportunities on the way?

Performance management is a set of ongoing management practices that help ensure employees get the direction, feedback and development they need to succeed in their roles. Use it in your business to drive growth, personal development and staff stability with the following tips:

ALIGN YOUR OBJECTIVES & GOALS

Ensure that your employees clearly understand what is expected of them. They need to know how their work contributes to the achievement of organisational objectives and goals. No matter what their role, each employee must understand how the tasks they perform fit into the overall picture and why their responsibilities are so important.

BUILD COMPETENCIES

Cultivate the organisational and job-specific competencies each employee needs to be part of a successful high performance team. High performers are nearly twice as productive as poor performers, so by increasing the success rate of your high performers plus identifying and managing the areas that require improvement in your poor performers, you will immediately start to increase core competencies and overall organisational success.

EMPLOYEE DEVELOPMENT

Help employees develop and improve so that they can be successful in their role: facilitate activities that increase their knowledge, skills, experience and capabilities, and enable progress in their careers.

The most expensive problem companies deal with today can be solved, or at least diminished, with a better understanding of the people in your business. People with tremendous potential and ability are hired and promoted every day into positions that waste their talent. Knowing who you have working with you, capitalising on strengths and understanding weaknesses are critical components to the success or otherwise of your business.

ENGAGE & EMPOWER EMPLOYEES

Invite each employee to take responsibility for their own performance, development and career progression, while also contributing to the organisation’s success. When you look at your team, remember that successful people normally have a number of basic shared characteristics. Some of the simplest ones, such as persistence, positive thinking and being a habitual goal setter, will set your people and your business apart from the competition. Successful people have fun in life, but are also disciplined, self-aware and never pretend to be something they are not.

FACILITATE A DIALOGUE ABOUT PERFORMANCE

Encourage regular dialogue between staff and yourself and/or your managers about expectations, progress, accomplishments, and development needs. Discuss where your revenue streams come from and why they are or are not performing. Is it related to product, people or a combination of both?

Develop a clear understanding of each stream, the people working within that stream and why some may be more profitable than others. Make sure that you have the right people aligned to the right product or revenue stream, so that they can accomplish tasks, be successful and enjoy what they do every day.

ENSURE EMPLOYEES RECEIVE FEEDBACK AND RECOGNITION

Have you ever seen a high performing team that does not have a coach? It is so important that you and your leaders provide regular feedback, advice and guidance to your team. I encourage regular short sessions to review each employee’s performance against their personal scorecard. This can be supported by a group meeting, say monthly or quarterly, to review the overall business performance. Regular reviews will also allow you to adjust direction on the run rather than ending the quarter to find that you missed the goal.

I also suggest having at least one formal annual review to collate, review and document the results of the ongoing dialogue about expectations, performance and development.

IMPROVE YOUR BOTTOM LINE THROUGH KPI MANAGEMENT

Ever heard the saying, ‘someone just walked over my grave’, when you get a cold shiver down your spine? Mentioning Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to some people has the same effect. But it doesn’t need to. KPIs don’t have to be complicated, they help increase productivity, efficiency and skills, lower costs, eliminate duplication of effort and waste, and facilitate the execution of your strategy. Start by understanding which elements of your business make it successful. Set targets around these performance measures and record them in a simple scorecard. Take the same targets and apply them to your team so that each employee participates in achieving these goals. You will be surprised at the results from this simple exercise.

RECRUIT THE RIGHT PEOPLE

Finding talent can be difficult at the best of times, even more so if you do not have a clear picture of the skills and experience you are looking for or the right type of person that will fit your business. Take the time to understand the type of people that perform best in your business and you will significantly increase the rate of employing high performers when you next recruit leading to further business success.

About David Esler

David Esler is the Director of Kaizen Executive. With over 25 years experience at a senior management level, David delivers high quality recruitment solutions that are tailored to meet the needs of individuals and corporations alike. David also provides management consulting services in sales force effectiveness, sales excellence training, performance management and customer and market strategies.

e: david.esler@kaizenexec.com.au

w: www.kaizenexec.com.au

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Background to the problem

The prevalence of mental illness in the general population is alarming.  The World Health Organisation (WHO) predicts that by the year 2020, depression will emerge as one of the leading causes of disability, globally.  The cost of mental illness on the workplace is equally as alarming.  Many studies cite the negative financial impact as well as the impact on team morale and productivity.  A study completed in 2009 indicated that workers assessed as having severe to moderate depression were absent from the workplace more often than non-depressed employees, and were rated as having higher levels of underperformance than non-depressed employees.  The estimated cost of this in the U.S., in terms of worker productivity losses and human capital costs, are estimated at nearly $2 billion per month.

In Australia, research conducted by Lim et all (2000), found that depression, generalised anxiety disorder and personality disorders were all predictive of work impairment.  Mood disorders and anxiety-mood disorders were associated with the greatest amount of work impairment, through work cut back and under productivity.  Interestingly, only 15% of participants in the study with any mental health difficulties sought help.

What are the mental health difficulties we’re talking about?

Mental illness can range from minor issues to very severe psychotic episodes.  Generally, these can be classified according to:

• Mood disorders: depression, bipolar;
• Anxiety disorders: general anxiety, panic attacks or social phobia;
• Personality disorders: narcissistic personality disorder, borderline personality disorder or antisocial personality disorder;
• Psychotic disorders: schizophrenia; and
• Eating disorders: bulimia or anorexia nervosa.

Symptoms and signs of psychological disorders differ depending on the type of disorder.  Typically, symptoms of behavioural and mood disorders are more frequent.  They can significantly impair a person’s ability to function in the workplace and in society in general.

The impact on the workplace

The symptoms of mental illness can vary, but typically affect thoughts, emotions and behaviours.  Examples in the workplace could be:

• Confused thinking or reduced ability to concentrate, therefore unable to complete tasks, or failing to complete tasks to optimal performance;
• Excessive fears or worries, so requiring additional supervision or support to complete tasks;
• Significant tiredness, lethargy and low energy which can be interpreted as low motivation;
• Taking more than average days off sick;
• Inability to cope with daily workplace stressors and tasks and catastrophising minor setbacks;
• Overreaction to workplace requests, resulting in excessive anger or hostility;
• Highly sensitive or tearful when discussing any element of performance;
• Perception of bullying and harassment in seemingly neutral instances;
• On-going physical problems such as stomach pain, back pain, headaches and migraines;
• Reporting thoughts of suicide or self-harm to work colleagues;
• Having a “I don’t give a damn,” attitude;
• Inflexible thinking patterns causing relationship difficulties and team problems;
• Odd or eccentric behaviour or dramatic erratic behaviour causing alarm to colleagues;
• An inability to accept any level of perceived criticism or the suggestion of performance improvement; and
• Being the ‘sad sack’ that no-one wants to be around.

The difficulty for workplaces is trying to distinguish between when an employee just has a performance, motivation or attitude issue, and when a mental health difficulty underpins any of these.  Both areas can be effectively managed, however both require different techniques and levels of support.

Mental health difficulties are unlikely to resolve on their own.  Most individuals will require some level of psychological and possibly medical intervention to get their lives back on track.  The good news is that mental health difficulties are very treatable.

What can workplaces do?

1. The first thing workplaces need to do is encourage a positive work environment to ensure they not causing or contributing towards employee’s mental health difficulties. This includes creating a supportive work environment with transparent and open communication, adequate training, recognition, tolerance for mistakes during learning periods and an understanding of people’s uniqueness;
2. Look for trends in behaviour, odd behaviours or actions and reactions that just don’t seem to fit the context e.g. one hostile outburst does not mean an individual has the mental health difficulty. However, on-going hostility in bland or harmless situations may indicate something else is going on for the individual;
3. Provide psycho-education in the workplace to reduce the stigma related to mental health difficulties. Encourage conversations about mental health and mental illness and provide adequate support for those experiencing difficulties.  This may involve engaging the services of an Employee Assistance Programme (EAP), that can provide short-term, confidential psychological treatment.  Make sure your EAP provider employees Psychologists to undertake assessment and treatment as the quality in the market can be variable;
4. Don’t be afraid to talk about mental health and mental illness. A performance related conversation should be about improvement and this may require targets related to an employees’ mood, perception and general presentation.  Work with and employee’s treating practitioners to work out the best way of supporting them in the workplace.  This could include their; Psychologist, General Practitioner (GP) and specialist, as appropriate;
5. Be aware that mental illness should not be an excuse for poor behaviour in the workplace. Employees with a mental illness may need additional support and possibly workplace adaption, however this does not mean code of conduct and workplace policies can be breached; and
6. If a workplace remains concerned about an employee and has been unable to communicate effectively to bring about a resolution, they can request a Fitness for Work assessment (FFW). FFW’s should be conducted by Psychologists, or Psychiatrists with occupational assessment experience (i.e. not just psychological treatment).  A thorough FFW assessment involves the administration of psychological assessment tools and profiles.  It should provide information about a person’s current symptoms, behavioural observations during the assessment and a comment about a workers’ ability to return to work.  In addition, it should provide guidance about the measures and processes the workplace should put in place to maintain the employee’s fitness in the workplace.  A Psychologist of quality will discuss treatment techniques and interventions with their client during an assessment, to enhance their recovery and to maximise their engagement in the workplace.  This may involve the employee engaging in psychological treatment, coaching, or workplace mediation to address the issues.

Anya Stephens | Director and Registered Psychologist, Perth

Anya is a Director of PeopleSense by Altius and is a registered psychologist (MSc Ed Psych – Brunel University), (BSc Psych Hons, London University). Anya is a certified trainer and assessor (TAE40110 – Cert. IV in Training and Assessment), full member of the Australian Psychological Society and WA Psychologists’ Board. Anya is also a qualified hypnotherapist.

Anya has over 20 years of experience and her areas of expertise include:  

Organisational Consultancy:

• Goal oriented coaching;
• Team development;
• Workplace mediation;
• Development and delivery of training
• Human resource related issues.
• Certificate IV qualified in training and assessment;
• Conflict and Mediation;
• Communication, Interpersonal Skills, and Emotional Intelligence;
• Recruitment and Selection;
• Performance Management

Vocational Rehabilitation:

• Extensive case management experience in both the WorkCover WA and Comcare sector;
• Ability to manage complex and difficult cases of both psychological and physical basis.

Psychological Services:

• CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) for a wide range of issues;
• EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitisation and Reprocessing)
• Critical Incident Responses; and
• Critical incident debriefing.

Altius Group provide expertise in people risk services including prevention and management of physical and psychological injuries. Altius Group consists of specialised businesses which cover a broad spectrum of individual health, wellbeing and rehabilitation interventions to ensure your organisation can realise the financial and commercial potential of a healthy, engaged team.

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The post The effects of mental health on performance – Problem employee, or ill employee? appeared first on HR Management App.

I’ve been ‘playing’ in the recruitment game for nearly 25 years. In that time, I’ve trained literally thousands of recruitment consultants. At some point in their induction I would always ask, “So who do you think is more important? The client or the candidate?”

After an awkward silence, unfortunately there is always a clear majority voting for the client.

“Why?”

Somebody usually pipes up and confidently says, “Obviously because they’re the ones paying the bill!”

Case closed.

What? Not so fast!

“But without a candidate, you’ll never make a placement. And without a placement there will never even be a fee up on the board or a bill to pay!” I would then typically say before looking around at a room full of confused expressions.

The problem is that often this ‘rookie’ misconception doesn’t go away and in the minds of too many (even experienced) recruiters the candidate always comes in second place. Hence the ‘used care salesman’ reputation that many recruiters have out there in the candidate community.

This post certainly isn’t about the relationship that recruitment consultants have with their candidates. It’s focusing more on the experience that candidates have when dealing with internal talent acquisition teams and employers looking to recruit directly, and the impact that a negative candidate experience can actually have on their business and employer brand.

I hope it doesn’t come as much of a surprise to anyone reading this blog post that the candidate experience is an integral part of the recruitment process that can impact how effectively an organisation is able to attract, select, and retain quality candidates.

I have personally been banging the drum about candidate care for over 2 decades, and here are my 4 reasons why a negative candidate experience can ruin your employer brand.

1. Unclear application instructions

Unclear application instructions are the primary cause of a bad candidate experience, as indicated by the majority of job seekers around the world. Extremely long application forms are another common cause of a negative candidate experience. Some of the other triggers for a negative candidate experience include: minimal job description; missing salary information; or the inability to make contact with the hiring manager or at least a real person in the talent acquisition team.

This is pretty scary stuff. If you can’t provide a candidate with a detailed job description, then they will simply assume the position doesn’t exist and they will immediately lose interest, and you will lose credibility as an organisation.

Without sufficient salary information (even an indicative salary range), candidates may spend time putting together a detailed application only to be let down (and becoming pretty p*ssed off) when they eventually learn how vastly different (in either direction) the salary actually is.

All that effort for nothing …

And as for not being able to reach out to someone in the organisation personally, this can be extremely off-putting … especially for senior level roles when candidates will have questions and more often than not will want to discuss the opportunity before applying. It makes sense not to get your candidates off side before they even submit their application.

A few months ago I attended a talent acquisition conference in London. One interesting statistic that I immediately jotted down was that 80% of candidates surveyed as part of a recent study who accepted a new job offer had received a response to their initial application within 48 hours.

Sure I appreciate that this figure is based on research conducted in the UK, but I’m pretty confident there would be a similar result if a survey was conducted in the USA, Australia, or across APAC or EMEA.

How quickly are you responding to candidate applications? Do you even have this metric on your radar?

2. Lack of communication during the recruitment process

Job seekers everywhere say that more communication during the hiring process would definitely improve their candidate experience and their perception of a potential future employer.

The primary thing job seekers express would improve their candidate experience is a clear timeline of the actual hiring process. When recruiting talent for any organisation, communication has always been (and will always be) key.

As a hiring manager or internal recruiter, it is your responsibility to make the candidate feel important and wanted.

If the candidate is kept in the dark, or only receives automated / electronic messages with no human contact whatsoever during the application process, what do you think they will start to believe happens inside the actual organisation? Are people kept in the dark? Are there no personal communication channels?

The best candidates will self-eject and look for another opportunity elsewhere.

3. The impact of negative feedback shared on social media

Way back in the ‘90’s, when recruiters (either external consultants or internal talent acquisition teams) couldn’t create automated email sequences to respond to candidates and actually had to pick up the phone and speak to every single one of them, we were able to quickly gauge how a candidate was feeling … and respond accordingly.

Fortunately there were no social media platforms for ‘irate’ candidates to share their frustrations and blacklist your organisation with everyone they knew. I know it’s hard to imagine a time without Facebook, Twitter, or Glassdoor!

Today, in 280 characters and a push of a button, if you’ve created a negative candidate experience, the world will know about it straight away and your employer brand could be tarnished with no turning back. So you might want to implement more quality checks and protocol around the candidate experience.

Candidates aren’t mind readers. They genuinely want to be given as much information as possible before applying. And while some candidates may consider ‘no news to be good news’, others may consider ‘no news’ to mean they’ve been rejected. You don’t want them making the wrong assumption.

4. Candidates self-ejecting and feeling disrespected

How would you feel if you were on the receiving end of some of your company’s automated email responses? Worse still, how would you feel if you just never heard anything after submitting your application to a company you had your heart set on working for?

Have you gone through your own application process first hand recently? I don’t just mean thinking about how the process works, but actually really going through it.

Go on – create a dummy résume and submit it through your careers page portal and see what happens. Is the résume submission process even intuitive? Can you apply via a mobile device? Could you submit an application while sitting on the bus or on a park bench during your lunch break? How many clicks are involved? Are you asked to spend 30 – 45 minutes responding to a series of pointless questions before you even upload your resume?

What’s going through your head while you do this? Perhaps you’re thinking, “this is 30 minutes of my life I’ll never get back“!

What about when you receive that automated response from no-reply@[your company].com that may as well say, “Thanks for taking 30 minutes to submit your application. You’ll probably never hear from us again!”

Now think for a moment about how many candidates are actually self-ejecting from the process at this point during their application. What if the best talent aren’t even completing their application, choosing instead to abandon because it’s simply all too hard?

Trust me … a candidate is never going to accuse you of over communicating.

Another UK-based survey that I heard about at the London conference revealed that 60% of job seekers have quit (self-ejected from) their application because the process was too complex.

Once again I don’t believe this ‘candidate resentment’ statistic would be limited to the UK. Far too many candidates are starting to feel disrespected during the recruitment process. Whether you’re a business owner, hiring manager, or internal recruiter, it’s up to you to ensure that you treat your future potential employees with the respect they so rightly deserve.

There are literally thousands of articles available for candidates on how to leave a lasting first impression throughout the recruitment process. Everything from how to craft an engaging cover letter; to how to make a resumé stand out; and even to what not to wear to a job interview. I even wrote an entire book on the subject a few years ago!

With the war for top quality talent raging pretty fiercely right now, it’s also critical for in-house recruiters to leave a positive first impression on their candidates – that is, of course, if they want their candidates to remain loyal and to not run straight into the arms of their competitors.

Paul Slezak  Co-founder – RecruitLoop

Paul Slezak is a co-founder of RecruitLoop – a global marketplace of expert sourcers and recruiters available on-demand. With nearly 25 years in the recruitment industry and having worked for both an international publicly listed group as well as a global niche recruitment business, Paul has been a hands-on recruiter, manager, trainer, coach, mentor, and regular speaker for the recruitment industry and HR Tech space across Australia, the USA, Asia, and Europe.

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The post 4 Reasons Why a Negative Candidate Experience Can Ruin Your Employer Brand appeared first on HR Management App.