Attracting High Performers

Attracting High Performers Research around high performers in business, and what attracts then retains high performers in a business has greatly identified a shift in what was, to what is now an environment that can support high performers. Globally some of our best organizational development researchers are all talking about how this shift is influential in how organizations can recruit and have a culture that can sustain high performance. Firstly, who is a high performer? There is a great deal of demographic information from yesteryear that links high performance to gender and social expectations. AI was utilized to try and pre-determine high performers from their career background, however, the reality is, that high performers are individuals that cannot be identified from normalized data analytics. A high performer can be anyone. Generally, you will be able to see a high performer (unless their manager is a blocker) from their late 20s to their late 30s. They are individuals who operate at a pace within an organization. They have a high degree of emotional intelligence, empathy and can trigger performance in others that are around them. How do you identify a high performer? With a crystal ball. No, really. High performers are not individuals that perform to the routine. You cannot identify a high performer by trying to put them into a standardized box. Look for their career history and see if they are a purple squirrel. A high performer will be self-motivated, empathetic and driven. They will want to align an organization to their life, their needs and their goals. They will ask questions around flexibility, autonomy, and trust. Not because they want to take advantage of these things, but they want to be able to continue to perform in all aspects of their lives whilst not being restricted to the traditional norms of a 9 â€" 5 work environment. They will expect to be paid at the level that they are worth (and they will understand this) but it will not be the motivator that keeps them within a business. They may not need to understand the specifics of all of the activities they will undertake as they will be innovative and creative enough to allow them to learn at a pace that gets the job done. What are high performers looking for? Mentioned above, a high performer is looking for an environment that will allow them to continue to be a high performer. They won’t want to be stifled by hierarchy, bureaucracy or politics. But if they are playing in this space, they will be creative and innovative in how they work within it (until they find the right opportunity to step out of it). They may not want to necessary lead others, but they want to be a driver and motivator of others. They will seek to be in a role that challenges their interests, builds their capabilities, provides them learning (and they will seek this out within and outside of an organization’s structure) and they will want to network. They will seek out a mentor, they will look for someone to aspire to be like, and they will look for others that they can access to learn from and understand things that they identify that they want to know about. High performers will excel in the human skills, the ones that automation can’t duplicate. They will seek out these roles because they know that they can contribute and gain meaning from the work activities that they undertake. What is important for a high performer? Room to be creative â€" a high performer will need to know they are trusted to be creative. That they will have the authority and autonomy in their roles to do this and be respected for looking for options. They may come back to an original option, but the creativity will build innovation within an organization, and that is what will motivate them. Less controlled â€" they want to have a family and a career, and not work in an environment that requires them to prioritize one over the other. They will surround themselves with people that are also high performers which means that they may have a partner that also is in a high performing career and they want to share in the parenting and life duties that predominantly use to be left to a full time “homemaker” role. This is an important new area of focus for organizations in understanding how to support a high performer across all aspects of their life. Supported in learning â€" lifelong learning is a key future of work skill, but a high performer will want to be supported in this. A key difference, however, is that they do not always rely on their organization to actually provide this. High performers seek out learning to suit their own current priorities and needs but will seek an environment that provides them time to achieve this. Respected â€" a high performer will not excel in an organization that blocks their performance. They generally don’t always want to stand on ceremony and be rewarded in a very outward way, but they would need to work for a leader that is not seen as a blocker, or someone that does not provide the visibility of their skills and capabilities within an organization. So if as an organization you are wanting to look at how you are recruiting and retaining high performers, the challenge will be looking at how you build a culture and work environment that can support these base needs. Trust in their capabilities, respect for their commitment and expertise, and understanding of their life needs are all key to becoming an organization that attracts high performers.

Please Stop Improving Things Marla Gottschalk

Please Stop Improving Things Marla Gottschalk Photo by Bethany Legg on Unsplash I hate it when people improve things for no apparent reason. Especially, things that really do not need improving. Its much like looking forward to that perfect blend of coffee at your local shop and its been discontinued for something new and exotic. I hate that â€" dont you? (Im sure you have your own list of offenders.) Change for the sake of change, really isnt justified. Sometimes elements truly work well. (Maybe you arent aware of that, but they do.) So, take a moment to reflect upon that. Rest a bit and enjoy your success. It is really alright to be still for just a moment. Disruption has its costs. Its the sanity of your users. If you find you dont have time for that process, because you are so busy changing things, at least be responsible. Ask customers what works for them. You may be completely surprised at what you might hear. I know, Im usually surprised. Its rarely what you expect. So, stop showing off. I already think you are great. You can stop proving it. Dr. Marla Gottschalk is an Industrial/Organizational Psychologist, consultant and coach.

Pre-New Year Business Planning Prep - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Pre-New Year Business Planning Prep - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career The New Year is right around the corner. Hopefully you’re finishing the year off strong in your business. But while you’re dealing with increased holiday busyness, it’s also a good time to begin preparing for the next year. Before you can make plans for your business next year, you need to have a sense of what’s going on in your business now. Here are tips to gather the information you need to start planning for next year. Who Loves Ya? The first rule of marketing is to know your market. Knowing your market is so important it helps you develop your products or service to better meet their needs and create marketing strategies that speak to them. As a new business owner, you defined who you thought this market would be; however, if you’ve been in business for awhile, you should gather data that tells you exactly who your market is, because you could be wrong.   For many years, I ran my site targeting 30-somethings, but recently discovered that over 50 percent of my traffic are people over the age 40. There are several ways to you can learn about your market in the real world. One is through analytics, such as Google Analytics, which not only gives demographics, such as gender and age, but also information about their interests. Other ways to learn about your market include social media, blog comments and email, which help you understand who is sharing information and asking questions. What Do they Love? This information is crucial and something you should stay on top of all year long. Why? Because this information tells you what your market wants and needs. By fulfilling its desires or fixing its problems, you’re going to increase traffic and sales. And with a fast changing world, these wants and desires can change, so by staying abreast to market needs, you can better meet them. Once again, analytics is a good source for information about what your market wants. Analytics will tell you what pages of your website are most visited. It reveals the words and phrases your market is using, giving a clue to its wants and needs. Other methods for identifying your markets desires include tracking your best selling products and services, or in the case of affiliate marketing, your top affiliate sales. Research your blog and social media posts that garnered the most engagement. And finally, find out which email blasts led to the most clicks and sales. How Are They Finding You? Marketing doesn’t have to be expensive anymore, but it’s still time consuming. You’ll get more bang for your marketing buck and time if you track your marketing efforts to focus on what’s working and tweak or eliminate what’s not working. For example, I was surprised to learn that Pinterest steadily held the number two spot for sending traffic over the course of this year. My business has nothing to do with food or crafts, and yet, Pinterest still beat out Twitter and LinkedIn to send readers to my home-based career site. This tells me I need to be sure to include sharable graphics in my blog posts and spend more time at Pinterest. Analytics is a great way to find out how and where people are discovering your site. Not only can you learn where they are finding you, such as through social media, advertising, guest appearances, etc, but also the specific words and terms they’re using to discover you. Once you have a picture of who your market is, what it wants and the best ways for reaching it, you can use the information to plan your products, services and marketing for maximum results in 2015.

7 Things Employers Want to Learn in an Interview - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

7 Things Employers Want to Learn in an Interview - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career If you’re searching for a new career, you’re probably doing everything you can. You’ve amped up your résumé, you’ve perfected your image and you’ve found hundreds of potential interview questions that you’ve been practicing in front of the mirror on a regular basis. What if you could do more? What if those questions you’ve been practicing aren’t what really matters? You could practice interview questions every day for a year and still not be truly prepared for what an interview is all about. Sure, employers want to see that you’re well-versed and able to perform under pressure â€" which is what an interview provides. However, what they’re really looking for aren’t generic answers to questions that have clearly been rehearsed and memorized in advance. Instead, they’re looking for certain pieces of information and clues as to who you are as a professional. While you’re preparing for your next interview, focus on what employers really want to find out, instead of an answer that sounds the same as what everyone else has to say. Some of these things are listed below. If You’re Willing to Go Above and Beyond There are three unemployed people for every open job in this country. This means that in many situations, employers have choices when it comes to finding the right person for a given position. One thing they’re looking for? Overachievers. They want to hire professionals that are willing to go above and beyond on every project. Think about this as you consider the following questions: Tell me about a time that you went above and beyond in the workplace. What projects appeal to you? How do you define success? If You’re Honest Anyone can brag about themselves during an interview; that’s kind of the point. Employers want to know that those they bring on board are honest, about themselves and about what they’re able to do. Overpromising doesn’t help anyone and can be disastrous. Honesty can be demonstrated by answering: Tell me about a time you fell short at work. What are your greatest weaknesses? How You Perform Under Pressure An interview is a rehearsed situation that’s a prerequisite for any job or career. Because of this, it’s easy to prepare for and there’s a lot of information out there to help in the process. Unfortunately, many situations at work aren’t so easy to prepare for. Unexpected situations, deadlines and challenges can appear out of nowhere, with little time to prepare. Employers want to know that the candidates they hire can excel in stressful circumstances and that they won’t break under pressure. Questions that help them identify this quality include: How do you perform under pressure? Tell me about a situation that you were forced to make a big decision in a hurry. Talk to me about one of the biggest challenges you’ve faced on the job. If you were faced with ____ (insert challenge or situation here), how would you react? Whether You Plan to Stick Around A new employee is a big investment. That investment doesn’t relate solely to money. Instead, employers pour hours of training into any new team member that they bring on board. Because of this, they want to know that new employees plan to stay. Because of this, they may ask: Tell me about your five-year plan. What do you hope to accomplish in your professional career? Tell me about your job history; why did you leave your previous company after two years? Why are you leaving your current position? If You’ll Fit in With the Existing Team Employers spend years building workplace cultures that reflect the mission of their companies. They encourage teamwork and want employees to have strong working relationships. It can be hard to bring a new employee into the mix without causing friction. Because of this, they want to know that you can adapt and that you’ll fit in well with existing employees â€" both intellectually and culturally. Questions that relate to this idea include: How do you work best, alone or in a team? How would you describe your relationships with co-workers at your previous job? How would past co-workers describe you? Tell me about a time that you worked well in a team environment. When working as a part of a team, what role are you most likely to fill? That You Know What You’re Getting Into A job description might sound like a great fit based on your skills, but employers want to know that you understand the company and brand that you’re stepping into. They want to know that your personal beliefs align with their mission statement and that you’re the right person for the job. Furthermore, they want to see that you’ve done the right research before the interview. To analyze this, they could ask: Tell me what you know about our company. Why are you interested in this job/our company? What are your core values? If You’re Self-Motivated No one has time to baby a new employee. Sure, training will be there to ensure you’re ready to perform in your role, but to succeed you must be able to look at what needs done and take action. The real world isn’t high school or college; there are no to-do lists that are handed to you or homework assignments on a daily basis. Instead, you must be able to push yourself forward and start making a difference the moment you arrive. To assess this quality, potential employers might ask questions like: What motivates you? Do you consider yourself to be a self-starter? Tell me why. In what ways have you taken charge in past jobs? By understanding the motivation behind interview questions and what employers are really trying to learn, you can be more prepared than ever for your next job interview. Think about the qualities that you want to highlight and work them into your answers through real-life illustrations and stories. This level of preparation may be the difference between landing your next job and falling short.

Resume Writing After Unemployment

Resume Writing After UnemploymentWhy is it that after an unfortunate event such as unemployment a job seeker needs to spend much time and effort rewriting their resume? The reason for this is that there are many mistakes that a person can make in order to be able to prepare a 'winning' resume. Having said this, let us take a look at some of the ways that a person can prepare their resume after unemployment.For one thing, the person should pay attention to what they say. This is very important, not only to prepare their resume, but also to communicate in the best way possible. For example, if a resume is used to search for jobs on the internet, they should be careful to write in such a way that it will get them that job. This means that there should be no spelling or grammatical errors, and that the person should always understand what the person is saying and do something with it.Another thing that is needed is that the person be active on the internet. One does not have to be consid ered 'active' unless that person has actively promoted themselves by word of mouth advertising. A person can indeed promote themselves online through 'signing up' at various websites that offer free advertising, or by posting links to their resumes on other sites and emailing them to their friends. However, one must never forget that the Internet is filled with millions of webmasters who need new people to upload their resumes to for them to market themselves, and a person can never be sure whether the person who uploaded their resume is still interested in hiring the person.There are many who would say that an unemployed person has absolutely no chance of getting a job, and therefore they have to make the best they can possibly do in order to get the job they want and what they want to sell to the potential employer. However, this is not true. In fact, the person should continue doing all of the things that they did before they were unemployed, such as looking for jobs, and they sh ould focus on making their resumeattractive. This includes correcting grammar, spelling, and keeping it to a reasonable length.One should not forget that when looking for a job, a person will be expected to prove that they are not lazy. They should use their job experience and skills in order to convince the employer that they are the best person for the job. If there is any question about their skills or abilities, they should be able to provide references to those who can vouch for their skills and abilities.When looking for jobs, it is important to remember that one should be honest with the employer, and should not lie in order to secure the job. If one has any problems, they should disclose those to the employer so that they will not be thrown into the trash heap when the company goes out of business. Also, it is important to note that people who lie in order to secure a job will end up becoming unemployed shortly thereafter, and they will be quickly seen as liars.Finally, the person needs to understand that even after unemployment they need to constantly update their resume. After an unfortunate event such as unemployment, the person should continue to improve their resume in order to gain better job offers, or to reach a better position within the company they want to work for. This is especially true for those who are seeking positions that require a much higher level of education.Resume writing after unemployment is certainly a challenge, but it is not impossible. After all, it is easier to do than to finish the resume when there is not a job to go with it! Anyone can get a job after unemployment, so the person should just work at it, and they will find success.

Robots Wont Take Your Job

Robots Wont Take Your Job Do you fear your  job will disappear as a result of driverless cars or self-checkout lanes in stores? Theres been a lot written about artificial intelligence, but dont worry, robots wont take your jobyet. The truth is, for decades your work has been replaced by automation in factories and by personal computers, but you found a way to adapt. Adaptation is the key. There are jobs that are less likely to be replaced by artificial intelligence and skills you can develop to help you keep your job. Jobs At  Risk The jobs disappearing today as a result of artificial intelligence (AI) aka robots, include bank tellers, receptionists and customer service representatives.  Jobs like accounting clerks, legal assistants, even surgeons are at risk in the near future. Any job that follows predictable steps can be automated. For example, restaurants have begun implementing stations where you place your own order, eliminating the need for workers. In some instances, business processes change to accommodate automation. Where one person may have been responsible for many tasks, the tasks that are easily automated are taken over by robots. Jobs Not At Risk A better question is, what jobs or functions cant be automated? The short answer is, any job that requires creativity or where human-to-human interaction is vital. A robot might have difficulty addressing the pros and cons or consequences of medical procedures. They lack empathy or the ability to interpret the patients emotions. Creating an advertising campaign requires a higher level of creativity and understanding of human psychological traits, which would be difficult for robots to replicate. Motivating a team or group to implement procedural changes isnt something a robot could manage, either. The real risk isnt losing your job, but losing certain functions of your job that are easily automated. This will require you to adapt and possibly update your skills for next-level responsibilities. Make Yourself Irreplaceable Your job security now and into the future requires that you out-think the robots. Robots are great at repetitive tasks, searching data, or any task that doesnt require adapting, creative thinking or making decisions. You need a basic understanding of technology to outsmart robots. Make sure you stay on top of the latest tools of the trade. Even a basic understanding of coding or any specific STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) skill enhances your ability to understand the root cause of a problem. At this time, only a human can creatively develop solutions to address interpersonal or operational solutions. And dont discount the soft skills. Soft skills range from interpersonal communication to complex problem-solving with dozens of skills in between. Learn how to negotiate, speak in public, resolve conflict, build cohesive teams or think like a designer. These are things robots just cant do. Developing emotional intelligence is another way to hold on to your job. Emotional intelligence includes your self-awareness, self-management, empathy and social effectiveness. Honing skills within these areas not only improves your performance, you also enhance skills artificial intelligence cant compete with. Your ability to motivate, influence and assess people makes you a valuable asset to any team. Become a Life-Long-Learner According to Accentures Creating the Future Workforce study, 90% of the U.S. workforce is optimistic about technology and 80% have a positive attitude about the use of automation. So it comes as no surprise that 86% of the U.S. workers surveyed said they would invest in training during their free time. The next logical question is where to find relevant, affordable training to invest in? Check professional associations for webinars available to members. There are MOOCs (massive open online courses) by top educational institutions and training portals like LinkedIns Lynda or Udemy.com, which host thousands of courses. Ask around and see if anyone can recommend local, in-person classes. And dont forget to see what training your employer offers. Attending a college or university to acquire a degree may not be the wisest investment. Enhancing your soft skills shouldnt take two to four years to complete. You may want to investigate shorter-term leadership programs or classes that include experiential learning. One of the best ways to learn soft skills is through practice. Identifying a mentor with strengths in areas you are looking to improve allows you to practice and get immediate feedback. Improve Your Flexibility You crave stability, but you also value flexibility. One thing is certain, the nature of jobs will continue to morph. If you keep an open mind and are receptive to change, it will be easier for you to survive in the tumultuous world of work. You also must realize that you will not stay in one job forever. Even if you hold the same job title, the type of work you do and the role will look very different after several years. If you choose to stay with one company, you will hold several different roles, learning new skills in each. As you consider new opportunities, look for companies that celebrate flexible work offerings, encourage a collaborative work culture and offer resources for your professional development. Companies that offer these benefits are more likely to help you stay a step ahead of the robots. At the end of the day, it is up to you to manage your performance, skill development and happiness at work. This post originally appeared on US News World Report On Careers

6 Reasons Workplace Safety Is Life Or Death

6 Reasons Workplace Safety Is Life Or Death When you are running a business that involves dangerous or physical work such as construction, health and safety should be on the top of your priority list for your employees. Running a business means taking care of the people that work for you and this isn’t always about incentives and a comprehensive bonus structure. Though, both of those things are nice to have! Your workplace has to be secure, safe and a desirable place to work. If your practices are not safe and are measured as being unhealthy, you will not only lose staff, but you will be handed lawsuits left and right from people who get hurt while building off the blueprints that you provide them with. Health and safety isn’t just some red tape that you have to overcome, it’s the law and it’s your legal and moral duty to ensure that your staff are working as safely as possible. Of course, you’ll always get the odd person who decides not to follow practices and procedures, and if this is proven to be the case, you will never be at fault. However, you have to make sure that you aren’t putting lives at risk and below, you’ll find six reasons that workplace safety is a life or death issue. Injury. Starting off with an obvious one, the construction workplace is a dangerous place to be. There’s machinery, a lot of noise, people and high points to work from. All of these put your staff in danger of falls or hurting themselves on site and you need to work to avoid this from happening. Comprehensive training is important. Death. Let’s not beat around the bush: construction and site work is dangerous, which means that if people are not trained correctly or conducting themselves correctly, they risk death. It’s not nice to talk about but you need to be vigilant about the risks. Financial Loss. There are fines incurred for those who aren’t practicing safely in the workplace and your business could lose a lot of money in lawsuits if you aren’t training your staff correctly. Damages. Property damage is a big risk for those who aren’t working correctly on a building site. If your employees aren’t careful, they could cause a lot of property damage. Productivity. If you train your employees carefully, you can increase their motivation to do their jobs and to work productively on site. This is a positive for health and safety training and the positives are just as important as the negatives. Reputation. Your business needs to ensure that it is up to compliance by the laws in your district. If you don’t play by the rules, you get badly reviewed and people will not use you. Good health and safety for staff impacts your reputation, so make it a positive one. Your business needs to realise that people can live or die by the way you run things. Be safe and secure and you needn’t worry.