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Editor: Dr. Wolf J. Rinke IN THIS ISSUE 1. NEWS YOU CAN USE 2. HOW TO THRIVE IN A SLOWING ECONOMY 3. WINNING ACTION STEPS 4. HUMOR BREAK 5. ABOUT THE EDITOR 6. CONTACT AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION ======================================================== REALITY CHECK "Companies underestimate the impact of layoffs on the ability to attract and retain the best employees going forward." —Darrell Rigby ======================================================== 1. NEWS YOU CAN USE ======================================================== EMPLOYEE RETENTION CONTINUES TO DECREASE Today the average length of employment with a company is less than four years. Employees who have entered the workforce in the late 1990's will change employers an average of nine times before they reach the age of 32. At the same time employee replacement costs continue to rise. Current estimates range form 70-200% of an employee's current annual salary. ACTION STEPS: To tilt the odds in your favor take advantage of the top four retention drivers. Numbers in parentheses refer to the percent of employees, out of 6,422, who perceive this as important: 1. Exciting work and challenge (52.9%) 2. Career growth, learning and development (47.8%) 3. Working with great people and relationships (47.6%) 4. Fair pay and benefits (46.7%) All other variables are perceived to be important by fewer than 20% of the respondents. That means if you take care of these top four, your retention should increase dramatically. Source: Beverly Kaye & Associates, Inc., 800-577-6916, survey@keepem.com ATTITUDE TOPS THE LIST OF WHAT MAKES A GOOD BOSS Thirty seven percent of workers noted that the most important quality in a boss is his/her attitude. The study conducted by Personnel Decisions International (PDI) also found that the boss's attitude impacts on the level of turnover, employee morale and level of trust in an organization. ACTION STEPS: Have a key member of your team who needs an attitude adjustment? Hire an external coach who customizes his/her approach, obtains 360-degree anonymous feedback to drive the intervention process, and provides long-term follow-up. Using an internal coach is seldom effective because few people will be totally candid with someone inside the organization, especially if someone's job may is on the line. If you don't know whom to call É call Ghostbusters É no wait they won't be able to help. Instead, "Cry Wolf " É 800-828- WOLF, WolfRinke@aol.com or www.WolfRinke.com. Source: Entrepreneur, Feb. 2001, p. 32. MISSION, VISION AND CORE VALUES IMPACT THE BOTTOM LINE "A company that clearly defines their mission, vision and guiding principles and effectively communicates them across the organization is a place where employees have internalized the direction of the business." Success Profiles, Inc. divided 600 companies into three groups in accordance with how effectively they used their mission, vision and guiding principles to drive their business. (I call this the organizational philosophy.) Their findings showed that employees in companies that rated "poor" in the use of this business practice generated an average profit of $7,802 per employee. Those that rated "average" generated $16,152 per employee while the companies that were the best at using their organizational philosophy generated an average profit of $27,401 per employee. ACTION STEPS: If you do not have a mission, vision, core values statement, get one now. If you have already identified your organizational philosophy, take this test: at your next management meeting ask every manager to write down your organizational philosophy and give it to you. No name, please. Repeat this process at your next "all hands" meeting. If at least two thirds of your team members know the philosophy, you pass, and should stay the course. Based on my experience, you will likely not pass this test. That means your organizational philosophy is not driving your employees' behavior and you have work to do. To get started, have your leaders make a commitment to talk to someone about your mission, vision and core values at least six times every day. The day you get sick and tired of doing that, will be the day that your organizational philosophy will have a significant impact on your bottom line. Source: Success Profiles, Inc, 877-582-8884, www.successprofiles.com ================================================= ====== 2. HOW TO THRIVE IN A SLOWING ECONOMY by Wolf J. Rinke, PhD, CSP Is your business slowing down? Time for massive layoffs, right? WRONG! In fact firing maybe exactly the opposite of what you want to do. Here is why. Have you ever observed the behavior of your employees during a snowstorm? They are listening to the radio, watching the Weather Channel, constantly looking out the window and calling their loved ones to find out how the roads are. In short, they are focusing on everything except their work! Similar behavior occurs during massive layoffs. Employees crank up the grapevine, spend too much time at the water cooler and send incessant e-mails to find out who got canned. In addition everyone becomes extremely risk adverse, only doing those things they know will be safe. Plus, it's likely that your best employees have polished their resumes and are beginning to shop around. As a result your organizational climate turns negative, further diminishing your productivity and profitability. Exactly the opposite behavior you want in a slumping economy. Here are seven strategies to help you thrive in a slowing economy: Cut the Fat There is simply no better and faster way to improve the profitability of your company than by cutting costs. That's why most managers immediately think of downsizing when the economy contracts. After all for most companies labor is the biggest expense. However, you can't downsize yourself to profitability. What you want to do instead is involve your employees. Announce the severity of the challenges the company is facing. Share with your employees that employee layoffs are an absolutely last resort, and that your preference is to take advantage of your team members' creativity to bring costs in line. One of the best ways to do this is to form "Expense Buster Teams" in each business unit, department or organization. Establish cost cutting goals for each team. Tell them that nothing is sacred provided that it does not interfere with the accomplishment of the company's mission, vision or core values. Acknowledge submitted suggestions within 24 hours, and have them reviewed and implemented as soon as possible. Add to the excitement by conducting an "Expense Buster Contest" with prizes for the best cost cutting ideas, make everything public, celebrate functional ideas in a big way, and watch your expenses shrink beyond your wildest dreams. Be Visible Visibility and accessibility help shrink the grapevine and insure that your employees are working more and worrying less during uncertain times. Plus, think about it, you're not finding solutions when you are sitting in your office! To do that, you have to spend at least 66% of your time with the people who can help you solve your problems — your employees and your customers. So this is a great time to develop a powerful habit—the habit of practicing Management By Walking Around (MBWA). Get started right now by blocking time out every week on your calendar for MBWA. Exceed Customers' Expectations This is a great time to have your employees check with your customers, especially the ones you value the most. Have your employees ask key questions to assess whether you are exceeding their expectations. Only if your team members consistently exceed your customers' expectations will customers remember you and your organization. Otherwise, they will forget you. And if they do that, they will not think of you the next time they, a friend, family member or acquaintance needs the type of service you offer. And if they forget you and your organization often enough, you'll feel the impact on your bottom line — something you simply can't afford at any time. Improve Training Yes, your read correctly, do more training. I'm painfully aware that training is virtually almost always the first thing that bites the dust when things get tough. However think about it. This slow down, like every slump that preceded it, will turn around, and when it does you want your people to be ready to take advantage of the next boom. Besides, this is the best time to do more training because your people have time for it. If you are like most companies I consult with, you are not doing enough training any way. According to the American Society for Training and Development only 5% of all U.S. organizations invest more than 3.5% of payroll on training and continuing education. (29% invest less than 1/2%; another 29% 1/2-1.5%; and 21% invest 1.6-3.5%, and the rest don't have a clue). Actually, there is not a lot of magic here, proving again that the problem with common sense is that it is not very common: If you want your organization to get better, your people have to get better! Practice MBA You need a powerful strategy to combat negativities so prevalent during tough times. And the best way to do that is to practice Management by Appreciation (MBA) as opposed to Management by Exception (MBE). To get started focus your energy on catching people doing things almost right, and then let them know about it, publicly if all possible. (Need more help, devour my book Winning Management: 6 Fail-Safe Strategies for Building High-Performance Organizations. Coach More If you want to increase your power, you must master the art of giving it away. And if you are not giving it away, you are not "growing" people, and that means you are not practicing Winning Management. According to a study reported in the Wall Street Journal 30% of employees felt that managers who were making decisions that affected them ignored their interests. To do better, ask yourself: "Am I behaving more like a coach or a cop" and then modify your behavior accordingly. Also make it a practice to always push decision making down to the lowest possible level! Downsize Only as the Absolute Last Resort Research shows that over the long run, downsized companies are less profitable! For example, a seven-year University of Colorado study showed that companies that downsized had doubled their earnings over a three-year period. The same type of companies that did not downsize had quadrupled their earnings over the same period. Why? Because you gain the competitive advantage through people, NOT by getting rid of them. If you must downsize, be sure to lead by example by having the entire executive team take a dramatic pay cut commensurate with the level of downsizing. There is nothing more hypocritical than firing a certain percent of employees across the board without making any sacrifices at the executive level. Always take advantage of voluntary systems such as attrition and early retirement. If you still need to do more, trim very selectively focusing primarily on those employees who add little value or who, because of their attitude, pull everyone down. DO YOU HAVE A QUESTION, SUGGESTION OR A MANAGEMENT SUCCESS STORY? We are getting some great success stories from our subscribers, and would like to hear yours. Every story we use receives a FREE gift. Mailto:WolfRinke@aol.com. ======================================================== 3. WINNING ACTION STEPS ======================================================== MAKE YOUR ORGANIZATIONAL PHILOSPHY WORK FOR YOU Tomorrow, walk into your organization as if it were for the first time and as if you were a customer. Count the number of times you see the philosophy statement before a customer gets to her destination. If it is fewer than three times, get your philosophy statement printed on laminated posters and post them in high traffic areas throughout your organization. The following day, repeat the process, but this time walk in the shoes of one of your team members. COMUNICATE MORE EFFECTIVELY Hold brief NETMA (nobody ever tells me anything) killer meetings on a regularly scheduled basis. ACT MORE LIKE A COACH THAN A COP The next time you have an occasion to coach one of your team members, utilize your philosophy statement to guide your counseling. ======================================================== 4. HUMOR BREAK Conversation between consultant and manager: Consultant: Do you have a plan for retaining your best team members? Manager: I do my best to consistently belittle them until they believe that no other employer will hire them. Consultant: Doesn't that demoralize them? Manager: Yes, but if everyone is demoralized no one can tell the difference. ======================================================== 5. ABOUT THE EDITOR ======================================================== Dr. Wolf J. Rinke, CSP is an internationally recognized motivational and management keynote speaker and seminar leader who delivers customized presentations that combine story telling, humor and motivation with specific "how to" action strategies that participants can apply immediately to improve the quality of their personal and professional lives. He is also a highly effective management consultant and executive coach. You can reach him at 410-531-9280 or email WolfRinke@aol.com ======================================================== 7. CONTACT AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION ======================================================== Dr. Wolf J. Rinke, CSP President Wolf Rinke Associates, Inc. P.O. Box 350 Clarksville, MD 21029-0350 USA (410) 531-9280, Fax (410) 531-9282 For orders in the US (800) 828-WOLF (9653) Email: Mailto:WolfRinke@aol.com Website: http://www.WolfRinke.com If this was forwarded to you and you would like to receive your own FREE subscription mailto:WolfRinke@aol.com and type the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject box. To remove yourself from this mailing list, please type the word UNSUBSCRIBE WM in the subject box. PRIVACY STATEMENT: We will not make your name available to anyone. Period!
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