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Editor: Dr. Wolf J. Rinke **** Feel free to forward this eNewsletter to others. **** IN THIS ISSUE 1. NEWS YOU CAN USE 2. HOW TO LEAD FOR RESULTS 3. HOW TO GET YOUR PROBLEMS SOLVED 4. WINNING ACTION STEPS 5. FREE STUFF AND SPECIAL OF THE MONTH 6. HUMOR BREAK 7. CONTACT AND SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION ======================================================== REALITY CHECK The best executive is the one who has sense enough to pick good men to do what he wants done, and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it. —Theodore Roosevelt ======================================================== 1. NEWS YOU CAN USE ======================================================== WHY EMPLOYEES STAY PUT A survey of 6,357 workers by employment consultants Randstad of North America in Atlanta revealed the top five reasons why employees stay with their employer is that they like they co-workers (71% of the respondents). Second reason was a pleasant work environment and an easy commute (both choices were selected by 68%), followed by challenging work (65%) and flexible working hours (54%). (Total is greater than 100% because participants could pick more than one choice.) Contrary to popular opinion, they also found that given a choice 73% of the respondents would rather have demanding work that provides performance bonuses than work that has minimal deadlines and little stress. This confirms other studies that have found that only 26% of all employees feel that they perform at their full potential. SOLUTIONS: 1. Provide an opportunity for employees to socialize on and off the job. People who know and like one another serve as a support system for each other. 2. Make sure that your work space is as pleasant and as clean as it can be. It will help people feel good about themselves and their work. 3. If in doubt give your employees more challenging work, not less. To confirm this for yourself, recall the last time you had an emergency. Typically people pull together and deliver higher levels of performance than they normally do. 4. Provide as much flexibility in your work schedules as possible. If possible provide for flex-schedules that allow people to arrive at work when they want provided that they are present during core hours, say from 10 am to 3 pm. And most importantly, do what you can to tie rewards to performance. It is the fastest and easiest way to achieve higher levels of performance and productivity. Source: The Wall Street Journal, p. B16, Apr. 11, 00. HOW TO HAVE MORE JOB APPLICANTS THAN YOU NEED The number one challenge for virtually all managers is finding good employees in this tight labor market. According to Fortune magazine (Feb. 21, 00, p. 116) the top ten most admired companies in the US have an average of 26 applicants for every job opening. The recruiting champ, Southwest Airlines, has 81 applicants for every vacancy. SOLUTION: Become an employer of choice in your area or in your industry. How? Listen to Winning Management: 6 Fail-Safe Strategies for Building High-Performance Organizations. See our special offer of the month. TRAINING DOES NOT WORK Now that I have your attention, let me be more precise! Most off-site soft skill training, as opposed to technical skill training, attended by only one or a few individuals, does not work. Why? Trainees who go to this type of training, may it be management or personal development training, often learn powerful new skills and techniques only to come back to a workplace that is not receptive nor ready for their newly learned skills. Once they attempt to apply what they have learned they are at best ignored or at worst shunned by their co-workers and their bosses. Result: about 80% of the newly learned information is lost in about 24 hours. SOLUTION: Reinforcement! This can best be accomplished by having an entire team, including the boss, receive training either off-site or on-site. That way team members will reinforce each other and most importantly the boss will reward and positively reinforce the newly learned skills which will cause them to become habits. And habits is what drives employees daily behavior. Can't send an entire team? Then you must be sure that each individual reinforces what they have learned. And the best way to accomplish that is to have them teach what they have learned to their team members and if at all possible also to the boss. That way the newly learned information is internalized by the "teacher," accepted by the team members and hopefully positively reinforced by the boss. ======================================================= 2. HOW TO LEAD FOR RESULTS by Wolf J. Rinke, PhD, CSP ======================================================= What leadership strategies will give you the results you want? The answer has become a lot clearer as a result of exciting new research reported by Daniel Goleman in the March-April 2000 issue of the Harvard Business Review (pp. 78-90). Goleman and investigators from the consulting firm Hay/McBer studied a random sample of 3,871 executives selected from 20,000 executives worldwide and found that the most effective leaders choose from six distinctive leadership styles depending on the situation and what they want to get accomplished. The research investigated how the six leadership styles correlated with the specific components of the organization's climate or working atmosphere. The six climate drivers are: flexibility – employees ability to innovate without excessive rules and regulations; responsibility – how responsible employees feel to the organization; standards – the level of standards prescribed in the organization; rewards – the accuracy of performance feedback and rewards; clarity – how clear employees are about the mission, vision and core values; and commitment – employees commitment to a common purpose. The researchers found that leaders who used leadership styles that positively impacted on an organization's climate had dramatically better financial results. Here are the six leadership styles in order of their impact on an the organization's climate and the situations in which they will provide the best results. (Correlations of leadership styles with climate drivers are shown in parentheses.): 1. Coercive. This style demands immediate compliance. The phrase most descriptive of this leader is: "Do what I tell you!" Over the long run this style will destroy your organizational climate. Because the downside of this style is far greater than the up-side, it should only be used with extreme caution. It is useful in an emergency, and may work in a crisis, a "turnaround" situation or as a last resort with a problem employee. This leadership style has the most negative impact (-.26) on the overall organizational climate, especially on responsibility and flexibility. Avoid this style except in an emergency. 2. Pacesetting. This is a leader who sets extremely high standards for performance. The phrase most descriptive of this leader is: "Do as I do, now!" This style destroys climate. It only works when you have an extremely highly motivated and competent team who is able to "read the leaders mind." Others will feel overwhelmed and give up, because they can not see themselves reach the leaders unrealistic expectations. This style has virtually the same negative impact (-.25) on the overall organizational climate, especially on rewards and commitment. Use this style very sparingly! 3. Coaching. This is a leader who is focused on developing people for the future. The phrase most descriptive of this leader is: "Try this." Coaching leaders are great delegators and are willing to put up with short-term failures provided they lead to long-term development. This style works best when you want to help employees improve their performance or develop their long-term strengths. It has a positive impact (.42) on the overall organizational climate, especially on rewards, standards and clarity. Use this style when employees are interested to learn and want to be coached. 4. Democratic. This is a leader who achieves consensus thorough participation. The phrase most descriptive of this leader is: "What do you think?" This style builds trust, respect and commitment, and works best when you want to get employees to "buy-in," achieve consensus, or receive input from employees. It does not work in times of severe time constrains or if employees are confused or uninformed. If handled correctly, this style has virtually the same positive impact (.43) as the coaching style on the overall organizational climate, especially on rewards and clarity. Use this style when you have ample time and have team members who are skilled and knowledgeable. 5. Affiliative. This is a leader who is interested in creating harmony and building emotional bonds with employees. These are relationship builders. The phrase most descriptive of this leader is: "People come first." This style works best when you want to motivate employees, especially when they face stressful situations, when you want to build team harmony, improve communication, increase morale, or repair broken trust. This style has a positive impact (.46) on the overall organizational climate, especially on rewards and clarity. Because this style has virtually no downside it is the best overall approach. So if in doubt which style to use in which situation use the affiliative style. 6. Authoritative. This is a leader who mobilizes people with an incredible level of enthusiasm and a clear vision. This is a visionary leader who gives people lots of leeway to innovate and take calculated risks provided that they move in the direction of the stated vision. The phrase most descriptive of this leader is: "Come with me." This style works best when change requires a new vision or when employees are looking for a new direction. This style fails when employees are more knowledgeable or experienced than the leader, or if the authoritative style becomes overbearing. Provided that it is used with finesse, this style has the most positive impact (.54) on the overall organizational climate, especially on rewards and clarity. Use this style if you can communicate a clear vision of the future which your team members are willing to buy into. Back to our original question—which leadership style will give you the best results? The answer is: it depends on the situation. However Goleman's research has shown that leaders who have mastered four or more styles, especially the authoritative, affiliative, democratic and coaching styles, and who can move seemlessly from one style to the other depending on the situation, have the most positive organizational climate and the most effective business performance. However, if you are unable to master four styles, or are in doubt as to which style is the best in a given situation, use the affiliative style. It will keep you out of trouble and give you the results you want. -------------------------------------------------------- *** NEW ** NEW ** WEB BASED TRAINING ** NEW ** NEW *** Now you and your employees can receive training the convenient and inexpensive way by enrolling on-line in a wide variety of courses. From management development to sexual harassment. All training can be tracked. Try it out for FREE today! You won't believe how easy and effective it is. Simply click on http://www.WolfRinke.com/mgttraining.html 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. HOW TO GET YOUR PROBLEMS SOLVED ======================================================= High employee turnover? **** Low customer satisfaction? Unproductive employees? ** Low morale? ** Lack of trust? **** Resistance to change **** Poor communication? **** Our high impact consulting services and customized management and personal development training will solve these and other "people" problems! Call us at 800-828-9653 or mailto:WolfRinke@aol.com to ********* Tired of the same boring meetings? ********* Would you like your next meeting, retreat or conference to be a "howling success"? Contact us. Dr. Rinke is a highly effective 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. Call him at 800-828-9653 or mailto:WolfRinke@aol.com ======================================================== 4. WINNING ACTION STEPS ======================================================== HIRING AND FIRING MADE EASY Hiring and firing decisions can be simplified by visualizing a balance beam scale. Place the individualÕs strengths or contributions on one side and weaknesses or ÒcostsÓ on the other. Check which way the scale tilts, and make your decision. Fire someone as soon as possible after it has been decided that the personÕs weaknesses far outweigh his/her strengths. This assumes that you have done everything in your power to help this person. ARE YOU A COACH OR A COP? When interacting with your team members, keep asking yourself: ÒAm I behaving more like a coach or a cop?Ó HOW TO EMPOWER Anytime you are asked to make a decision for someone, ask him/her: ÒWhat do you think?Ó Then let him/her go with that decision unless it will inflict harm to customers, is contraindicated by the organizational philosophy, or costs more than you can safely sustain. ======================================================== 5. FREE STUFF AND SPECIAL OF THE MONTH ======================================================== ### SPECIAL OF THE MONTH ### ONLY FOR SUBSCRIBERS ### Super high quality six-tape audio album: Winning Management: 6 Fail-Safe Strategies for Building High-Performance Organizations, by W. J. Rinke. Price: $59.95. ONLY $49.95 Plus FREE shipping (US only). $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ SAVE $17.00!!! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ ###### You must mention this offer when you order!! ###### ***** 100% UNCONDITIONAL MONEY BACK GUARANTEE. ***** Order NOW! Offer expires 5/15/2000. Call 800-828-9653 or http://www.WolfRinke.com/WMprod.html For FREE articles, inspirational messages and other money saving offers on books, audio and video tapes that will help you and your company succeed FASTER visit our website: http://www.WolfRinke.com ======================================================== 6. HUMOR BREAK ======================================================== A union steward is addressing a meeting of union members: "Friends, here is the new deal we have negotiated with management. We will no longer work 5 days a week." "Hooray!", is the raucous response from the union members. "We will finish work at 4 PM." "Hooray!", goes the crowd. "We will start work at 9 AM." "Hooray!" "We have negotiated a 130% pay rise." "Hooray!" "We will only work on Tuesdays and Wednesdays." Silence...then a voice from the back asks, "Every Tuesday and Wednesday?" ======================================================== 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 WM 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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