Average performance – there seems to be an epidemic of it. Average service, average work, average thinking. What happened to all the great employees?

The great employees are here, hiding under average performance in jobs that don’t make sense for them. Nothing can turn a great employee into an average one more than putting that employee into a job that does not use his particularly talents, strengths and passions. Employees who aren’t (intrinsically) good at the job, and like doing it, will never be more than average in the job. So management has a role in creating average or exceptional performers.

Consider these three ways to help get employees into the right job and to raise their performance – so they do more than just show up, looking to collect a paycheck:

1. Define the performance success attributes (abilities) needed in the job to be successful; use these attributes to source the right people. Knowing the profile of success attributes needed to be successful in each job clearly defines the profile of a “good fit” employee. This allows for improved sourcing of candidates resulting in a more significant and meaningful talent pipeline by job.
2. Redevelop the interview process to be behavioral- or talent-based. Phrase your questions around the success behaviors needed in the job, coupled with your real life environment. For example if you are looking to assess a candidate’s abilities in building rapport with a customer, you may ask the following question that affects both the behaviors needed in your actual workplace: “In our workplace, it is not unusual to have customers waiting for service and on phone at the same moment. How do you handle this situation where both phone and live clients feel valued and the behaviors you need to prove exist Use real life environments in your questions to assess candidate fit. These will be the most telling ways to determine if the candidate will show up and be both good at what the job needs done and interested enough to do it well.
3. Set “non-average” performance expectations for each employee. Sometimes the reason employees do average is we don’t tell them that we expect something more than average. Be clear about the performance standard in the organization – and its focus on greatness and exceptional performance. Setting clear high expectations makes sense for employees who are well hired into roles that need what they do best. Miss steps 1 and 2 and you’ll not be able to do step 3. You can’t ask people who excel in one thing to step up and stand out in something that is not part of the abilities, passions or strengths.

Great employees don’t just show up – they are aligned to the right role, constantly trained, clear about their expectations and focus on “exceptional” over average.

Transforming human capital into financial capital requires understanding what behaviors and abilities drive performance in each role, how to determine if a candidate has the right combination of abilities, and what level of daily performance is expected.

For more information, go to www.WorkFiredUp.com and click products for the step by step performance guide, Fire Up! Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition.

As we explain this process to our candidates, they look at us in disbelief. Few companies share what really happens in the workplace in the workday. Fewer companies are honest about the expectations, challenges and opportunities of the role. And we win candidates in right away with our process. We set the stage that we base all decisions on learning and using the facts.

Sure, there is more to it – we first use a talent matrix to create a talent and skill profile for the role. We use this to craft our job descriptions and ads – we are up front and honest about the core abilities needed to be successful in the job. We require candidates to take a talent assessment and we use talent-based interview questions to determine whether the required talents and skills exist in the candidates we consider. It’s a logical and very effective process.

Here’s the point. We tell it like it is; there are no surprises when a candidate starts with us. This set the stage for a powerful relationship between the candidate, management and the organization. Candidates know we are straight with them and that we have the same expectation of them. And if they make it through our process, they then know that we expect the same behavior – to tell it like it is – as they encounter the things in their jobs.

Employees who feel they are lied to or are given only half of the truth, disengage quickly from companies. And with the contact power of social networks, this information quickly gets around. Better the world know you for your honesty, integrity and accuracy than for your inaccuracy and untrue embellishments.

We tell it like it is when it comes to performance expectations. Every employee knows what he needs to do.

We tell it like it is with our core values – what behaviors we expect and insist on in the workplace.

We tell it like it is with our customer service expectations – what “done right” is and how to build customer loyalty.

We have found that we can’t be successful basing any part of our business on smoke and mirrors – from hiring to daily employee performance. We need (and insist) that our employees (and management) tell it like it is. Otherwise, how can any of us consistently determine the best response?

Dear Employees,

Your manager

Marie consistently lost her temper with customers who did not know how to order, had questions or required a second explanation of a product solution. She did not accommodate any changes to how she provided service – no personal touch – all customers were dealt with in the same efficient, but impersonal, manner. As Marie openly said, “I don’t really like people – but I’ll deal with them to get the job done.” Quite a first impression for a customer.

Marie may have been a great person (I’m sure her parents love her), but she is a misfit for this role; the role needed certain consistent behaviors that were not part of her core abilities. Fit didn’t happen.

Time after time I see organizations relying on candidates’ past skills or experience as the exclusive method for hiring. And though there may be mandatory role skill requirements, it is critical to also assess a candidate’s “fit” for the role – what the talents, strengths and passions are to be successful in the role.

Regardless of what our parents may have told us, we are not great at everything. But we are great at some things. When we discover these personal areas of greatness, we then can assess our world – what roles need what we do best – and can find our fit. Fit happens.

I find there are two primary problems in recruiting today’s A-level talent:
1. The organization does not clearly define the core abilities needed to be successful in the role,
2. Job seekers do not know themselves well enough to know their unique talents, strengths and passions.

Hiring managers must better define the required attributes in each role, and state them in their sourcing process. They must also require job seekers to spend time discovering and articulating their unique abilities. Only then can the two sides meet in the middle for a meaningful process committed to finding the right person for the right job. Then, fit happens.

In a period of exponential change, the most successful organizations are flexible and opportunity-focused; they empower their employees to constantly learn, involve them in new tasks/responsibilities and require them to try new things.

These organizations constantly gather new ideas, perspectives and opportunities – the key to developing a responsive and successful performance strategy. The more today’s managers help employees learn, grow and try new things, the more they encourage more robust employee thinking which is critical to sustainable company results.

I come from a large Italian family. Being both a large family, and Italian, we rarely went out for dinner (there were too many of us and besides, our food at home was terrific). However, I do remember one time when we went out to a smorgasbord – a buffet. My siblings and I descended on the amazing food tables and started to fill our plates. Dad called us back to our table, took our large plates away and gave us small plates instead. We were then instructed to follow him two times around the food tables – not taking anything – we were just to see what was available. The third time around we could help ourselves to small portions of things we had never tried before. He promised that if we did this, we would discover at least one new favorite food – we would change the way we think. He was right. I discovered artichoke hearts – and still love them today.

The point? Great managers constantly guide their employees to “walk around the company table” and let their employees explore and try things – through both formal learning and on-the-job learning. This expands not only what employees know, but it encourages broader and more strategic employee thinking – employees find areas of greater abilities, develop greater skills and bring stronger performance to the organization.

Additionally, an organization focused on constantly growing and educating its employees significantly influences employee loyalty. And the key to a powerful, high-performing organization is a stable, consistent and free-thinking workforce.

This parent moved her daughter to teams she thought would win, paid for personalized coaching, browbeat coaches to increase her daughter’s playing time – all the signs of a parent living her life through the life of her daughter. There is a great preoccupation of being THE best versus being YOUR best.

What made this particularly poignant is that most days on the way home from the games, this kid would have an emotional meltdown on the way to the car – for all of us to see. She just didn’t want to be the best – she just wanted to play and make a difference. What struck me most was that the daughter was wiser than the mom.

To me there is always more value in being our personal best than being “the best.” Maybe it’s because I’m not a real competitive person. Or maybe because, for me, the only thing in life that really matters is living to our own potential – of living who we really are – done in our best way possible. My standards for me should be in terms of my capabilities, not others’ criteria.

I believe we are each born with unique abilities – unique talents, strengths and passions. Our focus should be to use our life to identify which abilities we have and how to develop them to be happy, successful and impact our world. To be the best is not the same as to be our best.

My job (Chief Performance Officer) has me managing performance for a company – this includes hiring, developing and engaging employees. What stops most employees from achieving their personal best is their lack of understanding about what they have as talents and gifts; they are unaware of their capabilities and constantly look for others to define success for them. Though in a company we can create performance expectations to define performance success, what I really want most from my people is their commitment to achieve their personal best.

At our organization, we focus on hiring the right employees (their natural abilities match those needed to be successful in the job, and they like doing the job), then help them realize their full potential – to add value and make a difference. I want my employees to know what their capabilities are and maximize them.

The only trophy anyone should ever get is one that applauds them for reaching their potential. If we all strived to reach our potential, there would be more “winners” in life and less of a regard for “superstars.” After all, each of us has superstar abilities just waiting to be discovered and lived. And being “the” best doesn’t mean you achieved “your” best.

In an economy that constantly changes a significant rate, all organizations must have a change strategy – a strategy for dealing with change to be successful and responsive. Many times we see organizations offering outdated “value” because the world has changed and they have not.

This process should not be limited to management. Employees have perspectives; they are also connected to networks. Today’s employees are now the eyes and ears of the organization. They are a critical component of a successful change strategy.

All employees should be regularly requested to share their perspectives of what they see and hear, and how it impacts the company. Creating a culture of constantly reviewing the world, the economy and workplace, to understand it and then to develop a powerful response, is now an urgent priority for management.

Here are a couple of things I suggest to the companies I work with to encourage them to clearly understand their world, their company, and how they fit with each other:
1. Identify any significant change going on in the world, economy, local environment or other area that could impact the business.
2. Assess the impact of the change. Gather input and ideas from everyone in the organization (there is no role too junior to be excluded from this process). All employees have ideas, input and connections.
3. Review your current strategy to determine if your strategy will respond to this change in a successful way; if not, brainstorm ideas for change.
4. Review all ideas for change; management then decides the right course of action (if any).
5. Share the change or response with the organization – be clear about how it impacts each employee’s work and the direction of the company.

Nothing stays the same. What makes it more urgent in today’s workplace is that the speed of information movement makes us all aware of the changes. Those who have a mechanism to assess change, related it to the organization, and quickly and nimbly respond, are those who will lead instead of follow. And to do this just takes a new attitude about how we welcome and use change.

Today’s workplace in an intellectual or service workplace – much of manufacturing has moved offshore. Most employees are now face-to-face with customers, not hiding behind machines or out of view. This changes everything about performance as employees must now be good at what they do and interested in doing it (because if not, customers know it). Today, talents and passions impact performance – and these are resident in our employees “filling” – in their minds and in their hearts – not in their “candy coating.”

Think about M&M’s as you start your hiring and job interviewing process:
1. Hire for filling – hire for a candidate’s unique abilities. Since we are all unique, there is no way to judge the caliber of the talents, strengths and passions by reviewing the exterior candy coating. Be clear about the talents, strengths and passions that drive success in the role, and hire those. Get past the candy coating and hire what really matters – filling.

2. Appreciate the candy coating – the candidate’s ethnicity, age, gender, religion, etc. are all the added value that accompanies the right “filling.” Hiring older employees may bring stability and greater loyalty; hiring younger employees may bring greater technology and energy. And the right combination of talents and passions for a particular role could be resident in either.

3. Mix them up for the greatest impact –blending the right thinking (filling), with a diverse combination (candy coating) creates a workforce that emulates the true consumer population, encourages greater idea and opportunity thinking (because of diverse backgrounds) and helps the workforce learn to appreciate differences.

M&Ms remind us that in today’s thinking workplace, “filling” matters most. It is in how employees think and respond that inspires customer loyalty and adds value for the organization. Not only does this approach eliminate any bias against protected classes, it offers organizations the best workforce in today’s diverse economy.

Most organizations could benefit from a similar process of clearly defining their core values – what they stand for. Company core values can do the following:
1. They clearly define the behaviors the organization commits to in its day-to-day activities – it defines beliefs and performance commitments.

4. Distinguishes the organization from others and openly shares its commitment to excellence.

Core values are so critical that in the Zappos culture, all job interviewing includes an assessment of the candidate’s talents/skills as well as an assessment of values fit. Both components are required for an employee to not only get the job but also to keep the job.

Here are the 10 core values of my organization:
1. Consistently deliver an extraordinary client “experience.”
2. Embrace and drive change.
3. Be creative, solutions-focused and open-minded.
4. Build a positive team and family spirit.
5. Always learn and grow.
6. Communicate openly, honestly and respectfully.
7. Be accountable – do your share.
8. Add value and make a difference.
9. Be a force for good in the community.
10. Have fun and keep it real.

Values create organizational culture; culture inspires employee performance and customer loyalty. At least once a year, like my Italian family, go through an exercise of defining (or redefining) your guiding beliefs and values.

What are your values and what do they tell the world about your organization, workplace, client experience and focus on excellence? Why should the best work for you or buy from you?

An organization’s most significant asset is the intellectual capital of their employees – how they think, invent, create and respond. Therefore, every organization needs employees who are the right fit for the job – employees who have the right talents, skills and experience – they connect to customers and drive results. This makes the sourcing and selection process both more critical and more difficult.

No longer will most any employee be able to do any job. Fit matters. And to find employees who fit the role, the organization now needs a greater list of candidates to select from – to ensure the attributes needed to drive performance exist within the candidate. This focus on fit now requires a fuller pipeline of viable candidates. And one of the greatest ways to fill the talent pipeline is to use your workforce’s connections and sourcing ability.

Consider the following ways to use your workforce to identify, find and recruit A-level (the right fit) employees:

1. Clearly identify the talent profile of for each role (this should identify the talents, skills and experience needed to be effective in the role). Share this information with all employees. Now employees know the attributes needed to be effective in each role.

2. Have all employees take a talent assessment, to be better aware of their natural abilities (talents and strengths) and to become familiar with the nomenclature of talents. Having a common language of talents allows the organization to better define, discuss and understand what attributes are key for each role, and what attributes must be sourced.

3. Provide talent scout business cards to all employees; these cards have the employees’ name and “Talent Scout” as their role. Coach employees to give cards to those people they see in their normal day who exhibit the talents and attitudes needed in company roles. Invite these people to find out more about the company. This starts to fill the talent pipeline so that when openings do happen, the organization has already started to source good fit candidates.

4. Have employees talk about open company roles to their (social and professional) networks.

No longer can management be solely responsible for sourcing all talent. Employees see and talk to (talented) people all day. They are connected to personal and professional networks. Be sure they know what attributes encourage great “fit” in each role and send them out to the world to scout for (the right) talent.

I was recently at a Starbucks. I watched as one of the staff danced around the store to some really upbeat and fun music, handing out samples of this week’s coffee. It was fun and completely extraordinary.

I was at a great Italian bakery this week – artisan bread and pastries that are incredible. Yum! I asked about one pastry I did not recognize. The woman behind the counter took it off the plate, cut it into pieces and offered one to me and to the others in line, then told us with great passion how it was made. Extraordinary.

I was talking to colleague whose child has an amazing teacher. As they study geography, this teacher brings in authentic food, plays the country’s music and introduces some of the language. The kids are captivated and interested. They learn. Extraordinary.

Notice that I did not bring up the ordinary events – I don’t remember them. They are bland, boring and leave no impression. If you want to get noticed in the workplace, you have to do something “extraordinary.” If you blend and are boring, you lose. Your business loses. No one remembers. They expect you to get it right; what they don’t expect is that you do some form of Wow! They remember the Wow.

The employees in the above situations chose to do extraordinary things. In fact, they did far more and far better than anything management could have suggested. They chose to make the service event personal, engaging and extraordinary. They chose to show up, step up and stand out. Doing the extraordinary is rarely about spending more; it is almost always about contributing greater effort, creativity, interest or passion. It is about choice.

Management can inspire employee greatness when they define the outcome (“do extraordinary things for our customers”) but not the steps to achieve it. Micromanaging the response takes all the life, energy, and “extraordinaryness” out of it – and stops employees from thinking through (and having some fun in) their workday. Hire the right employees then have them go impress your customers. Don’t impose limits – create expectations.

A client of mine travels extensively. He couldn’t always do this. There was a time when he was too concerned to leave because he didn’t have a team capable of handling the business in his absence. They would goof off and do as little as possible. So he never left. And the business suffered.

So here is what I worked on to help him get out of the office and get focused on adding greater value to his business:

1. We defined the performance attributes of every job (what attributes are necessary for an employee to be successful in the job). This gave us a clear picture of which jobs had people who were a good fit, and those who were not adding any value. We first realigned existing staff – right people in the right jobs.

2. We then reviewed the now “open” jobs (open because we didn’t have anyone in the organization who had the right success attributes for the jobs) and sourced candidates from the large amount of unemployed talent (because of the recession). The clarity of knowing what we specifically needed, coupled with a larger job candidate supply, allowed for successful hiring. Time consuming but critical for the success of the company.

3. With the right people in the right roles, we then created clear daily performance expectations that defined what needed to be done but allowed employees to develop how to complete the work. This inspired employee ownership; they became more emotionally connected to their work and workplace. And with the right employees in the right roles, they welcomed the ability to do their work in their best way.

With the right employees in the right roles, so much more work gets done. Employees who are in roles that play to their talents, strengths and passions, feel more capable and competent. They like what they do. They feel part of a family. This kind of employees doesn’t goof off when the boss is away.

I present more of this process in the book Fire Up! Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition.

Consider the following ways to keep learning on “go” when the education budget says “no:”
1. Solicit resources from employees – what are their favorite leadership, self-help, skill books and resources – and bring them to the workplace for others to use.
2. Solicit extra resources from local colleges – including texts or resources that are no longer part of a course or program.
3. Identify used copies of great resources by authors such as Seth Godin, Marcus Buckingham, John Fleming, Simon Sinek, Daniel Pink, Steve Farber, Paul Coehlo, Brian Tracy and others. Find them on e-Bay, Amazon.com, Thriftbooks.com, Barnes and Noble and others. Have the organization define the key resources they want, and charge employees with finding them at discounted rates.
4. Create a company library with resources sourced from others and from used copies of current resources.
5. Send one employee to a high-value conference with the requirement to share the message and skills of the conference with the company. Host a “Lunch and Learn” program to review what was learned at the conference.
6. Find on-line training programs that don’t require expensive travel. Have the same requirement to share information as in #5.
7. Give each employee a personal education budget and have them create their training plan with no more than the allocated funds. It is amazing how clever an employee can be when they control their own resources.
8. Develop in-house training for all of the most critical skills. Develop an incentive program for those involved in preparing and teaching skill training. Consider basing the incentive on improved results, not just on preparing and teaching.
9. Create an “on-the-job” academy. Have employees shadow more experienced employees as part of a skill development program.
10. Share training resources with another organization/partner with another organization; find another organization through networking, in a local chamber or in a professional association. Two organizations sharing resources can greatly expand what each organization has access to.

You know how when things get tight we seem to become more effective at rethinking how we do things, how we spend and how we can stretch a dollar. Well, the need for learning remains, even if the funds don’t. Employee training and development is critical for every organization to develop and maintain its edge. How have you been able to help your employees learn and grow even when the resources are limited?

Share your ideas. And for more management tips to help activate employee performance, see the tools on www.FireUpYourEmployees.com.

Your people are your profits. And as such, you need the right ones, connected to what they do and passionate about doing it. In the past, it was more difficult to assemble your A team because there was less great talent to choose from. Today, due to layoffs, organizations have the choice of truly outstanding talent – the talent that can create their A-level performers. So as others are terminating and cutting, use the three steps of redefine, realign and hire to attract and hire the best talent now available to improve the performance power of your team. This talent surplus may not last long.

Use this three-step process to build your A team:

1. Redefine – In today’s intellectual workplace, employees make more unique decisions – they think their way through the day. Since each of us thinks differently, not every employee is a good fit for every role. Therefore, it is critical to clearly redefine the talents and strengths (thinking), skills and experience needed to be successful in each role. This allows you to source the right employee from inside the organization, or from the pool of unemployed talent in the market.
2. Realign – After redefining what you need in each role, assess your existing team. Determine who currently is working in the right role, and who could improve performance if moved to a more appropriate role. And, be aware, this review may indicate some employees are not right for the organization. Complete your realignment. This will show you the open roles that need hiring from outside of the organization.
3. Hire – For those roles that do not have the right talent from within, it is important to go to today’s market of unemployed talent. This is effective when you have clearly defined attributes needed in each role; you now know what attributes to hire. From this point, you can develop a sourcing strategy to attract and hire those employees who have the performance profile (talents, skills and experience) you defined as required to excel in the role.

Our tough economy has actually created an opportunity for many organizations to rebuild an A-levek team. Key to using this unique moment in time is to spend the time to define what you need, then hold firmly to these requirements as you hire. This is how to make your (hiring) plan come together in true “A Team” fashion.

Consider asking these questions of both customers and employees to assess and ultimately activate their emotional connection. Emotional connection inspires loyalty; loyalty drives performance and results.

1. Would you recommend us to a friend? To a customer, is your service so exceptional you would put your reputation on the line to recommend the company? To an employee – is the workplace dynamic, engaging and personalized enough to suggest your friends work there as well?
2. What is the best thing we do for you? For both, knowing this allows the organization to repeat successful behaviors.
3. What is not working for you right now? For both, inviting the discussion to share negative experiences can lead to meaningful changes and improvements.
4. At our company, we focus on making others feel like family; how have we made you feel like our family? For both, activating the sense of connection to family and belonging is key to creating personal relationships and activating loyalty. Behaviors identified in the responses can be repeated.
5. What information do you hear from your social networks and do you see in the world around you that would help us be a better company? Customers and employees are the eyes and ears of all great companies. Loyal employees and customers openly share what they hear, think, value and see. Organizations dramatically expand their connection to their world by using engaged and loyal customers to observe and assess their worlds. This keeps companies informed, current and aware of what is truly important.

Customers and employees both require a personal and emotional relationship to activate their best performance and loyalty. The more connected management is to employees, and employees are to customers, the more important and valued each feels.

In a service workplace, success is built on relationships. Valued employees create valued customers. Disconnect from employees and customers, and performance, innovation and loyalty suffers. Develop a culture that constantly asks each great questions and uses the information to improve, engage and activate loyalty.

So many of us run our lives like this. In a world that constantly changes, it is critical for all of us to constantly consider reinventing and updating. Sometimes small gradual changes can keep us current; sometimes our changes need to be more significant. This is particularly critical when it comes to the workplace.

In a recent AARP article titled, “Brand New Me,” writer Andrew Reiner reminds us that it is more difficult for older people to get hired – not because they aren’t equally talented and passionate about what work needs to be done – but because their approach to finding work is outdated and disconnected from today’s more social media approaches. They have not reinvented a more current approach to getting connected to those who do the hiring.

I spend much of my time coaching and teaching organizations in how to attract, hire and retain A-level talent. The most striking conversation I generally need to have with all senior and manager levels is that there is no longer a direct correlation between prior work experience and new employee effectiveness and success. Previous experience is a valid consideration, though for most organizations it is the only attribute they assess when considering a new job candidate. Instead, what leads to greater performance and success in today’s intellectual workplace are employees who are intrinsically good at what their jobs require and have some degree of interest in doing them.

As much of today’s workers are now in front of customers instead of hidden behind machines as in the industrial age, today’s employees impact the organization’s brand with every contact – on the phone, on the web and face-to-face. Organizations who have reinvented their hiring process now hire more selectively for talent and fit. They reject the skill and experience resume because its format doesn’t share meaningful hiring information; they now insist on a talent or behavioral-based resume. They host powerful and effective talent-based interviews. They commit to knowing more about their candidates before they consider bringing them into their organization. They know in today’s tight economic times that they must get more done with less, and they expect a greater return on their payroll dollar investment. They have reinvented what they need in each role, how to source it and how to interview for it. Great organizations are always ready to reinvent.

What in your business needs reinvention? What in your business looks like my friend’s living room furniture – outdated, uncomfortable and needing an update? What is the impact to the bottom line of not updating or developing a workplace culture that stays current and is ready to reinvent?

Contact me for help learn how to reinvent your best workforce, and check out more resources at www.LiveFiredUp.com. Please forward this to someone who will benefit from it.

In an earlier blog post, author Seth Godin suggested that we end the annual reviews, big sales meetings and other large events, and instead, move to “frequent cheap communication” – that is, constant meaningful contact.

Let’s see the value of this in the workplace.

Constant contact (communication) with employees provides:
1. A venue for providing feedback to reward exceptional performance and to correct problem performance.
2. A connection to employees’ ideas, social connections and thoughts to drive business opportunities.
3. The ability to relate to employees as people – that critical personal connection that drives loyalty and inspires performance.

Constant contact with customers provides:
1. The venue to ask meaningful questions about service levels, needs, values and expectations.
2. The ability to assess new products, services and ideas before they are fully invested in or initiated.
3. The ability to relate to customers as people – that critical personal connection that inspires loyalty.

Remember that communication is the method to move today’s enormous amounts of information. It is less effective if delayed until a major event. It is most effective in the personal one-on-one connection that happens regularly, clearly and intentionally.

Is it a requirement of your culture to stay connected to your customers?

Is it part of your management and leadership style to stay connected to your employees?

In today’s instant information age, check in on the frequency that you stay in touch. Constantly ask what your employees and customers think. Then get good at listening and using what they tell you.

For more information on connecting to and inspiring employees, check out Fire Up! Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition, and other tools at www.LiveFiredUp.com.

What if part of the way you approach your business – your workplace culture – was a continuous review of the critical aspects of your business? What if it was part of your work day to constantly observe then assess the ways work could be done more effectively, more efficiently, more profitably, more humanely, more environmentally-friendly, more personally… You fill in the adverb after “more.” Do you have a focus on competitive improvement?

To have a “lead instead of follow” approach in world that moves at breakneck pace requires a high-performance team that is committed, passionate and focused on more than just getting through the day. This inspiration for greatness must be in your attitude, your message and your culture.

Do you have a culture that:
1. Commits to having the right people in the right jobs – those who are capable and passionate about the work?
2. Openly shares information – good and bad, easily and accurately – so everyone knows fact?
3. Is optimistic and asks “what opportunities does this create for us?” with every good or challenging event that happens?
4. Encourages each of its employees to stay connected to their social networks, from which you can source ideas and stay connected to a larger world?
5. Listens, responds, applauds and coaches to build employee loyalty and commitment.

FastCompany regularly presents the world’s 50 most innovative companies. What makes these companies consistently innovative is their commitment to a culture that openly welcomes change, willingly and regularly reinvents, constantly improves, wants to be the best and has high expectations of its employees. 2009’s list included Facebook, Walmart, HP, Nike, Huawei, BYD, Gilt Group and Grey New York. All of these companies have power cultures that are built on a constant connection to their world, and a consistent and clever response to it. We’ll watch to see who they present for innovative heroes in 2010.

What is your culture built on? And do you lead or follow?

Contact me for help creating a workplace culture that is committed to having the right people, the right focus and a commitment to innovation. For more information see www.LiveFiredUp.com.

1. They create opportunities to provide recurring feedback about current performance; positive performance is applauded; poor performance is coached and corrected. Feedback is a daily event.

2. They create performance expectations for employees; employees know what is expected and are held accountable for results and performance. They have a culture of accountability and no excuses.

3. They regularly meet with employees to talk about the future. They are honest about opportunities – within and out of the organization. They value their employees’ personal and professional development. Employees know where they are headed; they are connected to both a vision and a plan for the future.

This works because their managers are held responsible for building and sustaining relationships with their employees. This daily focus on personally connecting to employees creates a rapport that facilitates a discussion about many issues that other organizations can’t discuss – including career development and the future. This not only allows employees to have a longer vision of employment and helps the organization with succession planning, it inspires employee loyalty.

Knowing the strength of your people and guiding them to a meaningful future allows the organization to plan for its growth and how to staff it. It allows them to better manage their intellectual capital and talent. This is how one company ensures that the best employees are here today and here tomorrow.

Please share this with someone who can benefit from it and contact me to help you develop an employee retention approach for 2011 that keeps your best employees. More information at www.FireUpYourEmployees.com.

This past week the NY Times columnist Tom Friedman wrote an OP-ED titled, Americans Want the Greatness Back. He presented some startling statistics that nearly half of the Americans who vote feel that our best days are behind us, not ahead of us. And though his OP-ED is more about what changes may need to happen in our political process, his message is clear. Greatness as a nation can only happen when we each recommit to personal greatness.

So back to my opening line, you can’t have a great company (country, town, organization, family, etc), without people who choose to be great. How do you inspire each employee to choose greatness over just showing up?
Consider these ways:

1. Clearly define what your company believes in and its commitment to greatness in all it does; this attracts like-minded people. You set a standard and belief that guides not only who you hire, but what behaviors are expected once they are hired.

2. Hire the best people for the job; hire based on talent and fit, not just on experience. This way you hire people capable of greatness because their work matches what they are intrinsically good at. Employees who feel capable and competent perform at greater levels.

3. Connect employees emotionally by customizing their jobs around what they love and are interested in. There are few jobs that employees love everything about. But if jobs are sculpted around employees’ interests, passions and values, employees become more emotionally invested in their work. This raises their effort, interest and performance – their greatness.

4. Openly value your employees by building strong personal relationships with each through constant communication and contact, performance feedback and honest interest (see this issue’s Recommended Read). Employees who are personally connected to their managers, team and organization, feel more part of the team and therefore commit greater effort.

Personal greatness must be inspired, encouraged, developed and applauded – this is part of management’s role. And the more personal greatness grows, the more organizational greatness will grow. Great organizations realize that they are great because their employees have chosen to bring their best and to make an impact – they have chosen to be great. And if we can rekindle it in the workplace, we may be able to rekindle it across the nation.

Please share this with someone who can benefit from it and contact me to help you learn how to activate the personal greatness of your employees. More information at www.FireUpYourEmployees.com.

To extend our focus on gratitude (which should always be a daily event), I thought I would share a couple of things to thank employees for. Consider these ideas, then add your own. Share your gratitude with your employees. It makes a difference.

Dear employee,
o Thank you for your extra effort at the times when you wanted to go home, give up or take a break.
o Thank you for staying positive when the world around you is so difficult and negative.
o Thank you for your ideas to make us better, even when I forget to ask you what you think.
o Thank you for responding to the needs of your fellow employees – in work and life – without any prompting from management.
o Thank you for insisting on greatness when even we don’t set the example.
o Thank you for working to connect emotionally with our customers and to building great relationships, even though we make you follow some outdated rules.
o Thank you for asking about me and my family, even if I forget to ask about yours.
o Thank you for your loyalty, even in the times where I haven’t earned it.

Gratitude is a greatness encourager. Gratitude allows us the ability to see not just what we have, but to see the value in what we have. Gratitude encourages each of us to reach higher because we feel valued, respected and important. And though we think first of Thanksgiving as a family day, the best workplaces are those that help their employees feel like family.

May you be grateful for your teams, their effort and their wisdom – and may they continue to be part of your workplace family. Happy (Employee) Thanksgiving.

Please share this with someone who can benefit from it and find a way to thank each employee. Be sure to see information on my new book, The Greatness Zone – Know Yourself, Find Your Fit, Transform the World – a great gift for employees to help them discover and live in their “zone” – at www.TheGreatnessZone.com.

Consider asking these questions of both customers and employees to assess and ultimately activate their emotional connection. Emotional connection inspires loyalty.

1. Would you recommend us to a friend? To a customer, is your service so exceptional you would put your reputation on the line to recommend the company? To an employee – is the workplace dynamic, engaging and personalized enough to suggest your friends work there as well?
2. What is the best thing we do for you? For both, knowing this allows the organization to repeat successful behaviors.
3. What is not working for you right now? For both, inviting the discussion to share negative things that may not be addressed without the prompting.
4. At our company, we focus on making others feel like family; how have we made you feel like our family? For both, activating the sense of connection to family and belonging is key to creating personal relationships and activating loyalty. Behaviors identified in the responses can be repeated.
5. What information do you hear from your social networks and do you see in the world around you that would help us be a better company? Customers and employees are the eyes and ears of all great companies. Loyal employees and customers openly share what they hear, think, value and see. Organizations dramatically expand their connection to their world by using engaged and loyal customers to observe and assess their worlds. This keeps companies informed, current and aware of what is truly important.

Customers and employees both require a personal and emotional relationship to activate their best performance and loyalty. The more connected management is to employees, and employees are to customers, the more important and valued both feel.

In a service workplace, success is built through relationships. Valued employees create valued customers. Disconnect from employees and customer and performance, innovation and loyalty suffers. Develop a culture that constantly asks great questions of each, and uses the information to improve, engage and activate loyalty.

Please forward this to someone who can benefit from it and contact me to help you build a workplace that inspires both customer and employee loyalty. It will show in your bottom line. More information at www.LiveFiredUp.com.

What had me thinking about mushrooms is a program I have been presenting to companies on workplace culture – and how it inspires or destroys exceptional employee performance.

Most organizations, particularly in the recession, have reverted back to the mushroom culture – the culture of keeping employees in the dark and feeding them half-truths. Think how dangerous this is to performance, customer loyalty, employee loyalty and business sustainability.

In a highly connected workplace, employees need constant clear contact from management – to keep things focused and to successfully manage the information employees encounter during the day. In the absence of clear communication from management, employees fill in the details with supposition, hearsay and misinformation. Limiting information in today’s workplace is the same as taking away manufacturing employees’ equipment and still holding them responsible for their work.

So, in a challenging economy, it time to reassess whether you have a mushroom or an open-air culture:

1. Is there a constant flow of information from management to employees? This could be in the form of a weekly e-mail, post on an intranet or even a recorded call.

2. Is there an easy and effective flow of information from employees to management? Is it easy for employees to share what they hear, think about and are concerned with? This could be an idea center on the intranet, a special management e-mail site for ideas or comments or other idea centers.

3. Is every effort made to keep the organization aware and focused on events that affect the strategy, direction and business purpose? Constant repetition of the mission statement, key strategic objectives, customer service slogans, etc. helps employees stay aware of what is important among the significant distractions they encounter each day.

When we find ourselves in new or challenging territory, we frequently share less of what we know and think; we play our hand close to the vest. As we do this, our employees do not know how to respond. They need our guidance and constant communication to help them stay focused and to navigate a changing workplace. The best ideas for responding to any challenging or constantly changing environment do not come from being kept in the dark. We all work better when we love where we work.

Please contact me to help you develop a powerful employee-focused workplace culture. Be sure to forward this to someone who can benefit from it.

An M&M’s real value is in its filling, not in its candy coating – the inside matters more than the outside. It is the same with hiring employees and voting for candidates.

You can’t tell by looking at someone if he will be a good or poor fit for a role. As with the M&M (the candy coating on the outside doesn’t add any particular value to taste or to the candy), a person’s age, gender, ethnicity, religion or even sexual preference has no direct correlation to his/her ability to be great in a job. An extraordinary customers service employee is one who is a great listener, empathetic, problem solver and solution-focused. An extraordinary political candidate must be visionary, strategic, a great listener and a consensus-builder. These attributes could be in a 65-year old woman, or in a 23-year old man. These attributes could be in a black employee, or a gay white middle-age Greek man. Greatness is not based on the exterior.

We can’t assess who is a good fit if we don’t hear meaningful dialog about what candidates (political and employment) believe and think. In the workplace we host interviews. We ask talent-based questions to determine how candidates would handle actual workplace situations to assess their thinking and fit – their “filling.” We then hire those who have the talents, passions and strengths to be successful, and celebrate their “candy coating” – whatever it may be. We hire the best. Great organizations hire for the “inside” and celebrate the “outside.”

I am reminded of this as I watch our electoral campaigning. Candidate debates and speeches are our way of “interviewing” candidates for “fit” – to assess their talents, passions and strengths and to see if they are the right for the role. When all we hear are attacks on other candidates we do not have the necessary information to choose wisely about a candidate and we allow our biases to limit our options – so many Americans still have a problem with a black president, gay cabinet members and women on the Supreme Court. We are in an age where the best person for the job is the one that has the talents, passions and strengths (the filling) to do the job – CEO, customer service, senator or judge. I see a constant focus on candy coating instead of filling in the workplace: I also see it in government.

As you hire employees or go to vote, focus on a candidate’s ability to do the job in an extraordinary way, make a difference and add value. You’ll find when you hire or vote for “fit” you’ll get a more passionate, engaged and productive employee or candidate. Things get done. Progress gets made.

One of the reasons I think we are stuck in “average” is we continue to use outdated thinking in both who works in our companies and who works in our government. Shouldn’t we demand performance greatness from both? Shouldn’t we require both to be fully accountable for results? Shouldn’t we improve this process by hiring for fit – by hiring for “filling,” not candy coating?

Maybe if we learn from the M&M, we’ll elect and hire those who show up committed to making a difference. Maybe if we realize it is what you know, what you are good at and how you use what you know to handle today on today’s terms that generates results, we’ll choose wisely about who we want on our team. Who knew there would be so much wisdom in an M&M?

But even though you aren’t great at everything, you are great at some things. Find those and build them into your job and you excel. Find those and you have the potential to move from good to great.

Today’s best performance happens (supported by Gallup, Marcus Buckingham, Daniel Pink, Seth Godin) when an employee is both good at what the job requires and likes doing it. This means today’s managers must function more as “engage-and-inspire” coaches than “command-and-control” sergeants. They must get better at building strong relationships to know their employees’ talents, values and interests, to find ways to activate their emotional connection to their work. And it all starts with a clear understanding of what employees are good at – because great performance can never happen if employees do not feel capable and competent.

I am working with an organization that is in the process of changing its hiring process away from using standard job descriptions requiring candidates to have similar work experience. Remember, just because an employee has done a job before does not ensure the employee was both good at the job and liked doing it – both now required for exceptional performance. Instead, this organization now uses a Talent Matrix, a summary of the key talents, team talents and core skills that will encourage success in the role. They look for people are are naturally capable and interested in the responsibilities of the job. From this information they can better advertize what they need, source candidates that are a better fit and more successfully hire higher performing people.

At a time when employees are now more in front of customers (and therefore constantly building or destroying your brand), hiring the right employee is now the most critical component of activating sustainable and exceptional performance. This requires finding employees who are capable, competent and passionate about the responsibilities of the job. When these employees are hired, they are good at and interested in doing exceptional things for customers, which actives customer loyalty and strong results.

Call to action:
Do you know how to hire in an intellectual age? Do you know the attributes that will make an employee successful in each role?

Resources to get you where you need to be:
Check out Awesomely Simple by John Spence and my book, Fire Up! Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition. Contact me if you need my help to learn how to attract and hire the right employees.

Though our workplace has changed, most companies still hold onto an outdated approach to hiring employees, resulting in performance and retention problems.

We are in a service workplace; much of manufacturing has moved offshore. Instead of performing repetitive tasks, employees now creatively invent service responses on the spot; each response must be “customerized” – appropriate for each customer. The better the service event, the more committed and loyal the customer. The more committed the customer, the more significant the bottom-line results. And at the center of this process is the employee – the right one can win customers for life. The wrong one can send them away forever.

Hiring the right employee is now more critical than ever. Though this is critical, most organizations do not have great success hiring the right employees for these two reasons:

1. Organizations continue to use outdated job descriptions that do not define the key performance attributes needed to be successful in the job. The do not assess, define and articulate the talents, strengths, passions and critical skills (performance attributes) needed to be successful in each role. Without a proper way to assess and define the performance attributes of a job, the organization is unable to share these requirements with potential job candidates – and the wrong candidates apply.

2. Job candidates are not very self-aware. They do not know their talents, strengths, passions and critical skills, so even if a company can define what the required performance attributes, most people don’t know whether they are a good fit for the job. This complicates the hiring process and increases the probability of hiring the wrong employee.

Both sides are at fault. Both sides need to change and to meet someplace in the middle.

Organizations must now clearly define the talents, passions, strengths and performance skills need to be successful in each role. This allows the organization to share these success attributes so that job seekers can assess their fit for the role. For the organizations I consult with, I use a Talent Matrix – a one-page summary of the performance talents, team talents, and skills and experience needed to be successful in each role in the organization. From this information, organizations can more successfully source candidates who have the required hard-wired attributes.

Job candidates must become more self-aware; they must make the effort know their talents, passions and strengths to be able to assess whether these attributes match the attributes required in the job. I coach organizations to require job candidates to apply using a talent-based resume; skill and experience resumes are rejected. A talent-based resume summarizes the job candidate’s primary talents, key work experience (that showcases the talents) and other valuable performance information that helps the hiring manager assess whether the job candidate would be a fit in the current employment opportunity. And to be able to complete a talent-based resume, a job seeker must be well aware of his/her strongest performance attributes. This encourages job candidates to only apply for jobs that seem a good fit and results in fewer, but better, candidates for hiring managers to review.

Your bottom-line success is based on your ability to have highly engaged and passionate employees doing great things for customers. The primary component of employee engagement is employee fit. Employees who are good at what the job requires and passionate about doing it, do the work in an epic way. This requires hiring the right employees.

So to get it right, both sides need to improve the hiring process. When both improve, it will be an easier and more effective process to align the right employee to the right roles – employee performance, satisfaction and loyalty improves; the organization’s bottom line improves. With such critical things at stake this is a change that cannot wait.

Contact me to learn about the Talent Matrix, my work on talent-based interviewing and the talent-based resume. The way to fire up your employees is to first get them in the right jobs.

“Prosperity-induced padding”– how interesting? Prosperity is the thing we work hard to achieve. “Padding” is the thing we work hard not to achieve. What does this tell us about how we use our prosperity? What does this tell us about our choices?

Prosperity brings us:
Time – many have enough resources not to need to work.
Talents – many have the ability to develop their personal greatness.
Treasure – many have great financial resources.

How do you use these to bring something more significant to the world? Consider using your prosperity to:
1. Reorganize and redesign your space to commit to recycling 100% of what can be recycled to tread more lightly on the planet.
2. Donate to and support a charity you find personally valuable and meaningful.
3. Buy healthy food for those who don’t have enough, or any – locally, nationally or internationally.
4. Sponsor a child’s education – locally, nationally or internationally.
5. Mentor a child, peer or someone older in what has helped you achieve your personal or professional prosperity.
6. Invent something new and valuable that advances the quality of life, the respect for the planet, improved health, or something else significant for humanity.
7. Educate about tolerance, acceptance and respect for differences.

Having access to so much doesn’t always make us better. Many times it makes us less healthy, less charitable and less concerned. “Prosperity-induced padding” is what I now call using my “extra” for me instead of for others. And I am committed to ending it – for health and for impact; I know I can’t be just aware of me.

So consider returning some of your prosperity back to your world. A little more time, talent and treasures shared with the world can help others improve their lives. Absolutely celebrate your success and prosperity. But then share this prosperity with others. Another way to say this is, be great, then share this greatness with the world.

Please share this with someone who can benefit from it. And The Greatness Zone is finally here. Starting Monday, October 11, 2010 you will be able to order it at the new and robust www.TheGreatnessZone.com, and at Amazon.com. Learn how to live in your greatness zone; it is the end of average…

An organization takes its lead from its leaders and managers. Consider these questions as you assess your role as company “inspirer:”

1. How compelling and clear is your vision and mission? Does it attract people who believe what you believe about service, value and performance?
2. What is the organization’s perspective of customers? Are customers critical to the success of the organization and deserve consistently extraordinary service? Does the organization consistently pull out the stops to do stand-out and exceptional things for customers as the only way of conducting business?
3. What is leadership’s and management’s perspective of employees? Are they viewed as assets to invest in or expenses to manage? Are they well chosen, well supported and well developed? Are employees valued as the means to create customer loyalty, which drives the bottom line?

The best organizations are those whose leaders have created a powerful employee-focused workplace culture that treasures its employees and holds them completely accountable for creating a consistently strong customer-focused organization. They inspire the best from each employee by hiring them into roles that play to their talents, strengths and passions; they share critical information; they establish clear performance expectations; they believe in their people and expect them to do what is right.

We are in a service economy. Success in this kind of economy is created in the quality of relationships we establish (and inspire) – employee/customer, employee/employee, employee/leader, employee/manager. Inspiring employees to play to their greatness helps employees not only develop the skills and confidence to do great things for customers, it also earns the manager and leader great employee loyalty.

We always watch others to learn how to approach the changes that happen in our days. Customers watch employees. Employees watch managers. Managers watch leaders. Everyone is watching…what do you inspire?

Please share this with someone who can benefit from it and contact me to learn how to be your company “inspirer” by learning how to attract, hire and retain today’s best employees.

I believe that we invent our lives – and our best lives are invented around our talents, strengths and passions. Though these attributes are part of who we are, they aren’t always initially obvious to us. They show up in the way we feel, what we notice, what matters to us and what moves us – and this requires time and good attention. We don’t notice these things about ourselves if we are moving at 100 miles an hour with our heads down and blinders on. We miss a lot of our world and our reactions to it. It is in these reactions that we get connected to who we really are. It is in these reactions that we know ourselves. And this is critical information we need to live a great life.

So what do you get if you lose the blinders and become more self-aware?

o You can better choose work environments that play to your talents and passions; this allows you to be more effective and more successful. Besides, you’ll like it more.
o You can choose better about life relationships and how you use your time; this allows you to be involved with people and events that move you, inspire you and engage you. Your performance again is better and you’ll enjoy it more.

Your life’s quality is based on your choices. And the more aware you are of your core talents, strengths and passions – your gifts – the more you can build your life around what makes you feel successful and happy. It is up to you to do this – others can’t do this work for you. It’s your life; you create your happiness.

So, lose the blinders. Start to notice everything. Because in each thing is information about you and how you respond. Get to know yourself to make decisions that help you live your best. Then bring that best to the world.

Please pass this on to someone who can benefit from it, and we are just one week away from the arrival of my latest book, The Greatness Zone – Know Yourself, Find Your Fit, Transform the World; to be available at www.TheGreatnessZone.com and at Amazon.com. Great information delivered in a great story.

So what do they do off the field that helps them realize their greatness? What helps them move from good to great, from ordinary to extraordinary? And what can this tell us about encouraging championship behavior in the workplace?

Champions first know their talents; their natural aptitudes start them out as “good.” What helps them achieve champion (exceptional) status is an intrinsic passion for what they do; this provides the energy, drive and focus to commit to the extra work, effort and disciplined achievement to move from good to great.

So let’s talk workplace. Good employees are those who can do the job. Great employees are those who have the passion to excel at the job. They do things both in and out of the workplace to improve, grow, learn and achieve. They excitedly go to training programs, watch videos and buy resources, even with their own money. They set goals for themselves that are many times greater than the goals their managers set. Passion drives excellence. Passion creates champions.

Marcus Buckingham presents in his book First Break All the Rules, that 65% of employees do just enough not to get fired. They are good, not great. They are not champions. Core to this is they are either in jobs that don’t play to what they are good at (the don’t feel capable or competent), or they are good at the job but don’t love it (the find it boring).

To learn how to activate your employees’ passion, you must first be able to connect through a regular and recurring dialog – person-to-person. In this dialog you learn about the things that move and inspire your employee. You start to gather critical information to help you realign an employee to a role that he is both good at doing and passionate about doing, or make modifications to an employee’s existing role to include more of what appeals to the employee.

Consider the following questions to connect with your employees and to gather critical information:
1. What do you love most (least) about this job?
2. If you could work in any area of the company, what area would it be and what job would you want? Why?
3. What are you talents, values and interests? What do you love to do outside of work? What matters to you in and out of work? What do you think you are capable of being great at?

These several questions allow you see into your employees to better understand what matters to them and what moves them. And when you know what moves them, you can activate their passionate response – the response that leads them to “championship” performance, because champions are what your customers and business need.

Please forward this to someone who can benefit from it and contact me to show you how to activate the “champion” in your employees.

Ken Blanchard of Raving Fans fame calls it +1; chef Emeril Lagasse calls it BAM! The point is they realize that achieving greatness in life is by playing to what you are good at and whenever possible, doing just a bit more – kicking it up – doing the stand out – committing to greatness.

In business, studies show that customers are more loyal when employees get things right and, whenever possible, do the extras – they do just a bit more.

Relationships soar when both sides do their best to add just a bit more to relationship, showing the other person how valuable and cared for he/she is.

At work, we improve our performance, achievement and impact when we do what is expected, then a just a bit more.

So, in what environments can you do just a bit more – how can you be a little more loving, forgiving, encouraging, supportive, disciplined, personal, caring, strategic, or innovative? How can you be a little more available, responsive, thinking, committed, kind, interested and flexible? You choose.

What you get when you do just a bit more?

o A look of love and appreciation from a spouse or partner.
o Applause from a colleague or friend.
o Greater achievement, performance and impact.
o A deeper relationship, purpose or significance.

I am motivated to always do “just a bit more” when I see the impact my writing and speaking can have on the lives of others. For you, it may be in how you make others feel, how you challenge your personal performance, or in visualizing the impact you intend to make in the world. The motivation is personal.
So, look at your life. Align yourself to things that play to your talents and passions – this helps you be good. Then, whenever possible, do just a bit more. This helps you move from good to great. And our world could definitely use more of us doing “just a bit more…”

Please pass this on to someone who will benefit from it, and watch for my new book, due out in 2 week – The Greatness Zone – Know Yourself, Find Your Fit, Transform the World. It is a tool to help you discover and live in your greatness zone. Sign up for all the events at www.TheGreatnessZone.com.

So many organizations do the same with their new employees. They ask a few predictable questions then put this new employee in front of their customers. This is a dangerous strategy.

Your employees build or destroy your brand with your customers, so hiring the right employee is both critical and requires great preparation. This includes clearly defining the critical talents (thinking), strengths and passions the employee will need to be successful in the job.

In our service workplace, employees rarely do the same thing over and over. Instead, they must be constantly thinking and assessing to provide the most effective, efficient and profitable response in each situation they encounter. This means they must think through their day – and since we all don’t think the same way, not everyone will be a good fit for every job.

Skill and experience don’t always show aptitude or fit – they show endurance. Remember, just because a candidate has experience doesn’t mean he was good at the job or liked doing it – the two criteria for successful performance. When you know the critical thinking (talents) needed to be successful in the role, you can better source candidates who exhibit these talents. This is where the “test drive” comes in.

Today’s interviews must assess how candidates think and how they would handle true workplace situations. To assess their thinking and responses, host a talent-based interview, and use talent-based interview questions. Here are some important things to remember:

1. Do not ask predictable questions. The goal is to see how candidates really think so you must ask questions that force their top-of-mind reactions, not a rehearsed response.
2. The best talent-based questions look to see how the candidate will handle real job events, challenges and requirements. My favorite question is an easy one to remember, and can be used in any job situation. You say, “Here’s a situation you’ll find in this job (then give details). How would you handle this?” It may be dealing with a difficult customer, driving effectively, teaching employees, developing products, etc. It is customized to the actual job and workplace.
3. You are looking for the candidate’s first and most immediate reaction. This is the reaction he would have had in the workplace in this same situation; you need to see this response – to assess its effectiveness. Does the candidate seem capable and competent? Did he assess and handle the event you asked about in a productive way? Is he interested in being successful?

What is critical in talent-based interviewing is that you get the candidate to think on the spot – this is where you get a test drive to see how the potential employee would handle real job events. You are spending a lot of money – be sure you get what you pay for.

Contact me to learn about my Fire Up Process – a step-by-step process to attract, hire and retain today’s A-level employees. This includes talent-based interviewing and the talent-based resume. More information at www.LiveFiredUp.com.

We all spend more time considering what we are not rather than what we are. We always compare ourselves to others – to who they are, what they have and what they think. Instead, we should check in on ourselves – to understand ourselves and use our voice, not the voices of others, to direct us in work and in life.

My work has me speaking to audiences and writing about discovering and playing to our talents, strengths and passions. I always find that we are all infinitely more capable and more connected than we initially believe, but don’t know this because we don’t invest the time to self-discover. When we are unfamiliar with how capable and competent we are, we allow others to direct us into areas that do not play to our greatness – we pass the wheel to another driver. And we end up on a road that is not always right for us. Life is too short to spend any time on the wrong road.

As I like to say, and is part of my personal belief, that someone larger than you thought you should be you, and equipped you with gifts that show up as your talents, strengths and passions. And when you play to these gifts, you see how capable you are.

I feel empowered with that news. That makes me want to discover my talents and build my life and work around them. This is how I connect to what I am naturally good at. This is how I feel capable and competent in a constantly changing world. This is how I invent my life in the way that makes the greatest sense for me. And inventing our lives is the greatest gift there is in life. And to do it well it requires that we “know ourselves.”

The first thing I always recommend for people starting to reconnect to who they are is to journal. Spend 10 minutes each day writing your thoughts.

Here are some good prompts to get you going:
o What am I doing when I am happiest?
o When I feel like I am making a great difference, I am doing…
o Two things that I love about my life are…
o What surprised me most about today was…

The goal of the journal is to help you start to notice you – how you think, what you believe, what you feel and what you notice. This is a great way to get introduced to your talents, strengths and passions. This will tell you a lot about you.

Journaling may be difficult to start, but once you start, you will look forward to the time each day to get connected to yourself, share your thoughts and be in the moment. The more you learn about yourself, the better decisions you will make about life and work. In the process, you will see how brave, strong and smart you really are. And this is something important you should know…

Please share this with someone who can benefit from it and watch for my new book, The Greatness Zone – Know Yourself, Find Your Fit, Transform the World, due out October 1. Sign up at www.TheGreatnessZone.com to hear of our events and resources, and friend us on Facebook at “The Greatness Zone.”

1. Don’t hire someone who is currently unemployed – they are that way because they are unemployable.
2. Tell your current employees they are lucky to have a job – this encourages them to work harder.
3. My favorite – and what I want to talk about: Don’t hire people who are overqualified – they will just leave when times improve.

Though a person may have qualifications in excess of what a specific job currently requires, it is the future potential that should also be considered. No job remains static. Today’s responsibilities are quickly outdated by changes brought on by competition, technology, social trends and other variables. The greater impact and performance an employee can bring to an organization the better. Hiring is not just for today – it also for the future.

Today’s best employees are not those who just show up and do the defined job. Today’s best employees use their talents, strengths and perspectives to continually look for opportunities and areas to augment the business and its success. Employees who have more qualifications, and are coached to use these qualifications in addition to their regular jobs, help the organization become more competitive, more responsive and more creative. Consider changing the term overqualified to “significantly qualified.” How can a significantly qualified candidate add value for your organization? Shouldn’t you always look to have the best talent for your organization?

Consider: A previous sales manager is now hired for a customer service role. In addition to handling the role well as defined, he/she could also:

o Redefine the service standards and host departmental training.
o Initiate a needed and yet to be implement customer survey process.
o Mentor other employees in more significant service responses.

It is management’s responsibility to keep this capable employee focused on reaching for greater
performance – to understand the employee’s other qualifications and find ways to connect him making a difference using his best talents and strengths.

Not taking advantage of the best person for the job – even “overqualified” – is like selecting a cheaper quality used car when a better car is available for the same money. For the same money you can dramatically improve your experience. For the same money you get the job done and bring in someone capable of helping you grow in areas that you may have never considered. For the same money, you expand the performance capacity of your team. This doesn’t mean that anyone who is overqualified is a fit – nor anyone who is overqualified is not a fit. It just means consider everyone who can make the most significant difference.

Remember you are investing in your people. Consider each candidate for both current and future impact. Hiring is both for performance AND potential.

Please forward this to someone who can benefit from it and contact me to help you learn how to use talent-based hiring to bring in the best talent.

To keep your garden tools working effectively, you spend a morning changing oil in the lawn mower and cleaning debris off the rakes, shovels and other tools.

To keep the air conditioning system working effectively, you shut it down and clean the filters.

Nothing works all the time without maintenance, repairs and updating. This process improves the impact and extends the life.

What a great life lesson. What personal maintenance do you do to amplify your impact and extend your life?

Through the traditions of Lent, Yom Kippur and Ramadan, we are reminded of the need to recommit to self-inspection – to assess where we are, to recommit to where we need to be and to own the process of realignment – of doing periodic maintenance. Life is complicated. Without some regularly planned self-maintenance, we can get easily overwhelmed, off track and burned out.

To start your regular (monthly, quarterly, yearly) self-maintenance checklist, consider the following- modify as you want:

o Am I doing what I love and making the difference I want to make?
o Do I treat my family, friends and colleagues well, and am I aware of the gift that they are?
o Who needs me to be more open, more caring, more charitable or more generous?
o Do I eat well (healthy), and understand how to exercise for someone my age and in my current health status?
o Do I take medical issues seriously and promptly address changes in my body that need attention?
o What am I learning and how am I growing in knowledge and wisdom?

This is not a period to be critical where critical means fueling those negative voices that critique and blame what we do and how we do it. It is meant to be critical where critical means being self-aware and focused on realigning to be your best.

We all have busy lives that allow us to become easily distracted. At some regular point we must commit to reviewing and assessing how we are living our lives – we must take the time to do some maintenance. This can create the opportunity to stay on track, get back on track, improve your impact and extend your life.

Please pass this on to someone who can benefit from it, and watch for more information on my new book, The Greatness Zone – Know Yourself, Find Your Fit, Transform the World. Sign up to be notified when the book is released at www.TheGreatnessZone.com. And friend us on the Facebook Fan Page The Greatness Zone.

According to the work presented in the book Human Sigma by Dr. John Fleming and Jim Asplund, the primary difference between a satisfied customer (they sometimes come back) and a loyal customer (they always come back and tell their friends about you) is the emotional connection the customer feels to the product, brand or company. When customers feel the love, they commit.

Check in on Southwest Airlines. Its ticker symbol is “LUV.” Here is an organization that understands its success is directly related to the emotions it creates with its employees, and the emotions it inspires between its employees and customers. All carriers can bring you safely from point A to point B. What keeps you traveling on a particular carrier is how they make you feel when they bring you from point A to point B. They have to get it right, AND make you feel the love.

There was a time no so long ago that the greatest discussion companies and customers had was about quality, price and product availability. As our economy moved from products to service, customers still expect the service to be done right the first time. But what activates their loyalty (not just satisfaction) is how they feel when they receive the service. Does your company get it right, AND do exceptional things to create a strong emotional connection with the customer?

These companies create exceptional workplaces and hire the best employees who are passionately committed to consistently “wowing” customers. These employees commit to stand-out service because they know this kind of service wins customers for life, which drives the bottom line.

So in this post, just two questions:
1. How do your employees create the “love”?
2. Do your customers feel the “love”?

Don’t know? You need to ask. Ask your employees how they do (and can do) more than just get it right for the customers. Then ask your customers if they see and feel the extra effort, attention and commitment from your employees.

So, what’s love got to do with it? Everything – “love” is a bottom-line issue.

Please forward this to someone who can benefit from it, and contact me to help create an A-level workforce capable of showing the love and activating customer loyalty.

This is not a book review. Rather, a reminder that wisdom is all around us and that when we tune in, we learn things about ourselves, our lives and our world. The renewed interest in Eat, Pray, Love because of the movie has brought Elizabeth Gilbert and her thinking back into view. I recently saw her list of ten things to be happy and healthy; her perspective is that when these are taken care of, everything else seems to take care of itself.

First, I really like her list. Second, I like that she created a list. So even if some of these things do not encourage you to live healthy and happy, fill in with the things that do. This is a reminder that we invent our lives in the way we want them – we own how we approach our day to make the most of our lives. Develop your list of the ten things to be healthy and happy, and to love your life. (The comments in parentheses are mine – because I always have an opinion about everything.)

Here are her ten things:
1. Talk a walk (invite a friend to enhance the experience).
2. Write something (journal what you think and feel each day, you’ll be amazed what you learn about yourself).
3. Read something (there is too much to know not to stay connected to other people’s ideas).
4. Don’t eat too much (I think she learned this after her time in Italy).
5. Spend some time in silence (I like to spend this time outdoors).
6. Stretch (I like to think this is both body and mind – both atrophy without movement).
7. Send a message of love to someone (great idea – and why not send it to several people?).
8. Drink water (I like coffee better but she has a point).
9. Mess around in the garden (touch nature and be connected to the planet).
10. Floss (stay healthy and show up ready to face the world each day).

The number of things doesn’t matter. Develop your list so life is great. I didn’t present them because she has become a celebrity. I presented them because they are wise. I hope they inspire you to play to your greatness and have a life that is healthy and happy.

Please forward this to someone who can benefit from it and watch for my new book, The Greatness Zone – Know Yourself, Find Your Fit, Transform the World due out October 1. Sign up at www.TheGreatnessZone.com for more information about the book and learning how to find and live in your personal greatness zone.

I read this great new phrase, “head-shaking,” in an article in Staffing Management Magazine that describe the responses customers have at Umpqua Bank, a Portland, Oregon-based bank chain. Not only has this bank ranked in the prestigious 100 Best Places to Work list for the fifth consecutive year, but it is also a bank – at a time when banks are so unpopular.

This organization has a culture that engages and inspires its employees. All employees are actively focused on exceptional service and are committed to the goals and direction of the company.

So I have to ask – why is this the situation the exception instead of the norm? Why are we so impressed when employees provide outrageously great service, and that employees could actually like working for an organization?

More and more organizations are becoming aware that what drives the bottom line is customer loyalty, inspired by employees who consistently do exceptional things for customers to engage them emotionally in the service event. Most any organization can ensure a customer gets what he asks for. But this level of service does not inspire customer loyalty – only satisfaction. And satisfied customers don’t necessarily come back, and they rarely tell their friends about you – loyal customers do. Loyalty drives the bottom line.

So to move from satisfaction to loyalty requires employees who not only work hard to always get it right for customers, but are emotionally invested in doing the extras to win customers for life.

So let’s look at what needs to be in place to engage and inspire this kind of employee performance:

1. The employee must be working in a role in which he feels capable and competent, and which appeals to him. Great performance never happens when employees are not good at, or hate, what they do.

2. The organization has a clear and compelling vision (“why” statement) that attracts like-minded people as employees and customers, and a commitment to greatness.

3. Management believes that it must first be an employee-focused workplace, and by building a culture that supports employees, the organization becomes a customer-focused organization. The workplace openly values, communicates with and respects its employees.

Organizations like Umpqua Bank understand the connection between great results, loyal customers and engaged employees – they work daily to create a powerful workplace culture that activates and supports the best from their employees. Then, employees are emotionally invested into the process of service greatness – they own their work, their impact, their reputation and their results.

How “head-shaking” is your service?

Please pass this on to someone who can benefit from it and contact me to help you create an employee-focused workplace capable of providing “head-shaking” service.

There is a life lesson in this same phrase, “if you blend, you lose.” Your greatest happiness, impact and success will be in living your true life, not in following the crowd.

We are truly unique – different from everyone. This distinction is both external and internal. We look different, we think differently. Our brain biology predisposes us to be good at some things and not others. We love some things and not others. Our greatness is in the unique combination of talents, passions and strengths that came hardwired in our DNA when we were born. We were born to be unique – not to blend.

To take advantage of this greatness, we must take the time to know ourselves – to learn about what we are good at, passionate about and what matters to us.

Most of us have a loud “committee” – those internal voices that tell us to play it safe, blend, don’t stand out, do what everybody else does, be concerned with what others think and say. Then, we conform. We listen to voices that steer us away from our abilities, our dreams and our best contributions. When we don’t know ourselves well, we trust the perspectives of others more than our own – others’ voices become louder than ours. We follow the herd.

When we blend – when we act like everyone else even though we are different – we really do lose. We lose when we don’t play to our greatness – when we don’t develop our talents and strengths, and live our passions. We lose when we miss out on the things that move us, inspire us and engage us. And when we say no to these, we give away our greatest gift – the ability to invent our lives as we want them.

So, to develop the courage to stand out and be who you are,
1. Identify your talents.
2. Next, identify your passions.
3. Then, review your life to see how much of your talents and passions you include in the way you live and work.
4. Change things to live what matters to you. Turn down the volume of others’ voices.

My personal perspective is that when we realize our personal greatness, we bring our best to our world – we transform our world. So, if we blend we don’t live authentically, then we cheat the world. When we blend, we all lose.

As has been said, “We don’t get harmony when we all sing the same note.” We are supposed to find our own voice and sing our part. Discover your part and sing it in your way. What a concert it will be.

This perspective is presented in my new book, The Greatness Zone – Know Yourself, Find Your Fit, Transform the World. Join our mailing list at www.TheGreatnessZone.com to be notified when the book is available, and please pass this on to someone who can benefit from it.

Before we can discuss this, I need to ask, why do you pay your employees?

Most say, “to do the job,” “to make a difference,” some even say “because the law says I have to.” These all do not reflect the true nature of the employer-employee relationship. Instead, think “return.”

For your investment in your employee, you expect a return. You pay your employees to create that return, and that is not by only doing the listed components of a job description – the world changes to quickly to live to rigid steps. The real reason why you pay your employees is to create the most efficient, effective and profitable response in each situation they encounter in their jobs. Employees have to think; they have to be emotionally connected to what they do – this is how they add value. And if they see that the job is not as you described it, they disconnect. They feel betrayed. They stop performing.

In your interview process, get good at sharing an honest representation of what a day in the life of the employee in the job is like. Consider the following:

1. Create “A day in the life of” videos for each job in the organization, and host the video on the employment section of your website.
2. Have others who will work with the employee spend time with the serious interview candidates to share their comments about the company and the job.
3. Include a walk-through of where the employee will be working to familiarize the employee with the environment, the people, the attitude, the energy and the personality of the workplace.

What is missing in most employer-employee relationships is trust and honesty. Organizations represent the jobs, potential and workplaces as something different than they are. Candidates represent themselves as being more capable than they are. Then both sides are disappointed in the new arrangement.

Remember that each side must wisely invest in the other. Companies invest in their people. Employees invest in the visions, purpose, opportunities and products of their companies. Knowing the facts about the workplace prepares the job candidate to be well informed in the decision-making process. How can you expect an employee to commit to exceptional performance and loyalty if you are not honest with what the candidate will encounter in your workplace? And when they leave, in a connected world, they tell their friends.

Start a high trust relationship with your employees right from the interview process. This leads to better hiring, more significant performance and more loyal employees.

Please pass this one to someone who can benefit from it and contact me to help you learn how to use talent-based interviewing to hire the right person.

I gently knocked on her window and asked if I could help. The window lowered. She was sobbing uncontrollably. Between sobs she told me she stopped to buy flowers for a sick friend. This friend was in the hospital and was all alone – she had no family in the area. She had been trying to get free for the last half hour, growing increasingly afraid that she would not be rescued and would miss the visiting hours in the hospital. She continued to cry. I took her hand and told her not to worry, that I would help her get on her way. She called me her hero – imagine.

To show her appreciation, she reached into her purse for a wallet and tried to give me some money. I refused but told her she had to do two things for me: first, once we start to get her car moving, she must keep going and not stop until she was back on clear roads. Second, that she had to be her friend’s hero. She promised to do both.

The way to get out of an ice rut is to rock the car back and forth. After four tries, and my pushing at the right moment, the car crested the rut and she was on her way. She waved through her open window and continued cautiously though the bumpy parking lot out onto a cleared street. I watched her drive away and never saw her again.

I think of this often, and other events like it. I didn’t plan on being someone’s hero – I know I just did what we were taught as kids – to always be there for others. Sometimes what seems to be the smallest thing can have an amazing impact on another’s life.

What have you done to be someone’s hero?

When called on to help, do you step up or step away?

Life requires us to be fully present. Sometimes we need help, sometimes we provide help. And in the process we realize we have a responsibility to and in this world. We invent our world in this very moment – and having a profound effect on someone else’s life – to be their hero – is one way we improve life for all of us.

Watch for my new book, The Greatness Zone – Know Yourself, Find Your Fit, Transform the World, due out October 1, 2010. Sign up to be notified when it is available and to be included in our Greatness events, activities and resources at www.TheGreatnessZone.com.

Fast forward to 2008. General Motors, Ford, Chrysler were making cars that few were buying. An economic recession reminded them that the products they make must meet the needs, values and interests of those they hope to sell to. So if you don’t want to make a car that gets exceptional gas mileage, includes the extra safety features important to your customers, or carries a cost that is prohibitive, then customers will go elsewhere. And they did.

In the August 13, 2010 New York Times article, “Detroit Goes From Gloom to Economic Bright Spot,” writer Bill Vlasic stated, “Detroit has vowed to change before, slimming down when sales slumped or pouring resources into vehicle quality to catch up to foreign competitors. Many auto analysts say the current makeover has a more permanent feel, largely learned from the near-death experience of last year’s bankruptcies at G.M. and Chrysler.”

This is just one industry where customer disconnect and management hubris sent the large players falling. What matters most are the lessons learned; here are several of the most important:

1. In a connected world, you are never the only game in town.
2. Always know your customers – what they want, need and value.
3. You earn the privilege of serving your customers by knowing them well, responding in an exceptional way, and by standing behind your product or service.
4. To be retained, employees must add value and make a difference; there is no right to employment – it must be earned.
5. Strip the excesses from the business – run lean, efficient and effectively.
6. Develop a “here today, here tomorrow” mentality; be strategic.

In today’s world, a company must stay connected its employees and customers, and all products or services must be responsive and responsible. We are rarely the only game in town. That is okay – it forces us to improve our game and constantly focus on greatness.

Please forward this to someone who can benefit from it and contact me to help you activate your employees to create sustainable value for your customers and organization.

The same should be true for our lives. Who is your personal team of advisors – those friends, family members, colleagues or associates that you go to with your comments, ideas, challenges and successes? Who do you check in with for guidance and support?

Life is tough. And though I believe we are each hardwired for greatness, accessing our greatness sometimes requires help and wisdom from others. When we use this collective wisdom, we invent greater possibilities and opportunities; we can better sort through, discuss and decide.

Here are several situations that would benefit from your personal team of advisors:
1. You have received an unsolicited job offer from another company.
2. You have an idea for a business, book, event, etc., and wonder how it might be received.
3. You are dealing with the loss of a loved one, a broken heart, a lost job or other traumatic personal event.
4. You are deciding whether to buy a house, car, condo, or other large purchase.
5. You are challenged by something critical you heard in church, in your political party, in an association you belong to.

Who do you turn to? Whose opinions do you trust? Who is on your “personal team of advisors?”

Consider the following as a way to select your team of advisors:
1. Do I trust their decision-making process?
2. Do I value their expertise?
3. Do I know, understand and value their beliefs?
4. Do I feel connected to them as people?
5. Can I share something important, have it be kept in confidence and be fairly discussed?

Though life can be tough, we have the gift of others to help navigate the challenges that come with life. We must first know ourselves to be strong and confident on our own. Then, connect with several people who make up our team of life advisors, those who we can always turn to in order to sort things out, share a success or deal with a failure. None of us is as smart (or confident, or sane, or engaged) as all of us. Develop your “go to” team – your personal team of advisors.

Please forward this to someone who can benefit from it, and watch for my new book, The Greatness Zone – Know Yourself, Find Your Fit, Transform the World, due out in September.

And people talk. So, what is the word on the street about your business? Is it a great place to work? Do only the best work there? Are employees encouraged to be their best and do great things? Or, are you known as being difficult to work for, don’t value your employees and don’t move the world for your customers?

Your brand, your image, your impression – what do you create and why should anyone work for you?
“Once an organization earns a reputation for rewarding excellence and rejecting mediocrity, it can become a magnet for top performers.” This quote from Christopher Gergen and Gregg Vanourek shares some critical wisdom – when you commit to excellence and greatness, you attract it. Build a great employee-focused workplace and the best people will come.

Check in on the follow areas of your business and determine if greatness is what guides your approach:
1. Do you have a clear and compelling vision that employees and customers can believe in and rally around?
2. Do you hire people based on their talents, passions and commitment to greatness?
3. Do you provide opportunities for your employees to constantly learn, develop and improve?
4. Do you stay in constant contact with your employees, dialoging about challenges, sharing successes and coaching performance?
5. Do you share performance expectations, so every employee knows what is expected, and that all employees are fully accountable for their value contribution?
6. Do you build a culture that employees feel important, supported, cared for, listened to and most of all, appreciated.

So, what does the world know of your business and culture? Do the exceptional employees find you, and once hired, stay because of what you do and how you do it?

You build your company’s workplace brand everyday. Commit to becoming the employer of choice and build a culture that supports it. This attracts the best employees, who inspire customer loyalty, which drives the bottom line. It starts with employees. And it is true, build it (a great workplace culture) and the best (employees) will come.

Please pass this on to someone who can benefit from it, and contact me to help you create a powerful employee-focused workplace culture that attracts and retains the best employees.

After about 10 minutes of constant complaining, I interrupted and asked, “Has anything gone right?”

My colleague looked at me, embarrassed about the tsunami of negativity. We then spent the rest of dinner focused on the opportunities, successes and possibilities in our lives. It started as a meal destined for an antacid, but developed into an exceptionally uplifting and engaging evening. All it took was a change in outlook.

“So, what went right?” has become one of my favorite phrases. It gets me out of my cynical mindset or when a day or life becomes unpredictably difficult. I can choose to focus on the challenges and how unfair life can be, or I can realize that life is as it is – and that my success, happiness and attitude are based on how I choose to see and respond to life.

Consider the following ways to keep your week positive, upbeat and focused on what goes right:

1. When you start to feel yourself noticing only challenges and difficulties, stop, then list things that are going, or have gone, right. Don’t stop until you have 15 or 20 words, ideas or events. This is easier to do than you think.
2. Spend time getting to know yourself. When you know your talents and passions, you can put yourself into situations and roles that play to what you are good at and the things that appeal to you. This encourages you to feel capable, confident and interested. Playing to your strengths and passions helps you remain upbeat and optimistic.
3. Choose wisely who you deal with. Minimize your contact with negative people – and challenge them to focus more on what goes right than what goes wrong. Get a “no whining” and “no complaining” sticker for your car, office and fridge.

It is our choice to see only the negative, or to acknowledge the negative but focus on the positive. Dwelling on challenges and disappointments is unproductive. Assessing and responding with focus and optimism turns challenges into opportunities. So when things are tough, and you feel yourself starting to complain, ask yourself, what went right?

Please share this with someone who can benefit from it, and contact me to help you learn how to assess your talents and passions, to help feel more connected to work and life.

o The employee is good at what the job requires; he has the talents and natural abilities and is capable and competent in the job.
o The employee likes doing the job; the job is well aligned to his interests and passions.

So, if you do a great job hiring the right employee who has the right combination of talents and passions, and you customize the job to create a strong emotional connection and investment in the job, you have now invested significantly in your employee. This employee is a critical component of your team, your service response and your ability to be profitable. The employee is a treasured asset of the organization.

And then the employee does something completely human like screw up an order or loose his cool with a customer. And you deliver your outrage and anger in your feedback by yelling, accusing and punishing the employee.

Stop. Isn’t this a valued member of your team? Shouldn’t you use the moment of non-performance as a time to focus on performance improvement and support?

Today’s managers must be coaches. Their jobs are to find the right talent, activate it to great performance, provide continual feedback to improve when needed, celebrate when performance and effort is outstanding, and to amplify the personal connection to performance. The better the personal contact between manager and employee, the greater the performance.

So the next time your employee needs feedback, do the following:
1. Start with a positive comment; win the employee into a discussion.
2. Describe the behaviors needing improvement or applause; allow the employee to corroborate facts and share perspectives.
3. Describe the impact and consequences of the behavior; find the “hook” that will encourage the employee to change something unproductive or continue something productive.
4. Create a plan; allow the employee to create and own a solution.
5. End with a positive comment; ensure the employee feels valued and sees the coaching (feedback) as a win-win event.

Not only are these five steps effective in changing behavior and improving the personal connection with employees, but they work great at home. Feedback done well is powerful. So watch both what you say, and how you say it.

Contact me to help you learn how to attract, hire and retain the best employees.

Life now moves at the speed of blur. Most days we fall into bed nearly unaware of all that happened in the day. Information moves through our heads so quickly that it rarely registers as it passes over our brains. So, slow it down for a minute. Get out a journal and write.

Here are some amazing things that happen when you start to spend some time with yourself and record your thoughts:

1. You start to notice details you previously did not notice; you improve your vision and awareness.
2. You start to see how you behave, what you think and what you feel with greater clarity – you start to better understand yourself.
3. You become more connected to your world, your relationships and your sense of self.

Journaling is a great reminder that you own your life and your responses. Journaling helps you to sort through feelings, emotions, ideas and perspectives. Journaling asks you to talk to yourself, to see what you really believe, what you really want, and what you really feel. This is what makes journaling difficult for many people. But the benefits – the awareness it creates – is priceless – in both work and life situations.

To get started journaling, I recommend the following:

1. Buy a lined notebook. I like handwriting instead of using a computer, but do what makes you feel more comfortable.
2. Commit a time each day to journal. Spend 10 minutes in that time period and write whatever comes to mind. The first week is difficult. But once you get your groove, you will look forward to journaling.
3. Start by recording a statement, then journal what you think about it. Examples:
a. I am most happy when I am …..
b. Something that I thought would be difficult, was easy…
c. Two great people I met today were…
d. I feel my most capable when I am doing…
4. Allow yourself to write whatever comes to mind. Don’t edit.
5. Once you get in the habit, spend time reviewing what you write. What information does it tell you about you – your talents, strengths and passions?

Get reconnected to the greatness that is in you. Start by writing down what you think and feel. Start to tell your story. Journaling… it does a body good…

Watch for my new book, The Greatness Zone – Know Yourself, Find Your Fit, and Transform the World, due out this September.

So consider this. Look at the roles and responsibilities in the organization that must be done by the core, fulltime staff. Then determine all other roles and responsibilities that can be hosted by flexible free agents – outsourced by people who are as talented about the particular role as your full time employees are in their roles. Flexible free agents are those who do a particular task for many companies – on a part-time basis. Think of flexible free agents as the half step between a fulltime employee and an entrepreneur. Many have been laid off from their roles and have strung several part-time, task-specific roles together to invent a new job. This creates a new and valuable type of contract employee in today’s workplace.

So, back to your workplace. Some roles are so core to the business that it is important to have them staffed by fulltime employees. Some roles can be done on a part-time or temporary basis by someone who is exceptional at the task (flexible free agents). This way, free agents are hired only when needed, do not incur additional overhead, and are extremely productive. This allows the full time employee to stay more focused on their critical responsibilities – those that drive greater customer loyalty, drive greater results or increase efficiencies.

Here are two examples:

Surveying customers is a critical responsibility of every organization; it is important that your organization always know what your customers think and feel. Though critical, it can easily be outsourced to survey organizations or to flexible free agents who specialize in this work for your industry. You need the information; you don’t need to gather the information.

Creating an employee handbook, a company intranet, or a company newsletter are all tasks that improve the quality of the work life but can be easily outsourced to allow your talented fulltime employees to stay focused on customer service and profit-generating tasks.

So what are the fixed roles for your organization? What roles can be flexible? You don’t need to hire full time employees for every role. Hire fulltime when the role requires it. Otherwise, use flexible free agents.

Please forward this to someone who can benefit from it, and contact me to help introduce how to maximize your employees’ performance.

Here is my perspective. Each of us has specific talents and strengths – attributes uniquely hardwired in us. Some are great with details and solving challenges, others are exceptional listeners, relationship builders or have spiritual insight. Some are artistic and some can write. Some can invent and some are extraordinary teachers. Each of us has the ability to create our personal masterpiece – our great work.

When we discover and play to our talents and strengths, we bring our best to our lives and to our world – we access our greatness and use it to impact the world.

o A teacher’s great work can change the life of a student forever.
o An artist’s great work can change a person’s mood with their art, music or writing.
o A builder’s great work can create a safe place for a family to realize their dreams.

The point is you have a masterpiece in you – there is greatness in you. But most people are unfamiliar with how to find and release their masterpiece. It starts by knowing yourself – the talents, strengths and passions you have. Here’s how:

1. List what you are great at. What comes naturally? What do others say you are great at? What do you seem to have great success doing?
2. List what you are passionate about. What gets you excited, energized and fired up? What could you do all day and never look at the clock?
3. Review your lists. Where do they intersect? What are you good at and love doing? These are your masterpiece areas. These are your areas of greatest performance, greatest impact and most significant contribution. What things come to mind? Where are you at your best?

The more connected and self-aware you are, the clearer your masterpiece areas will become. The world needs you as you are. Don’t try to force it or to be what others insist you be; instead, play to the talents, strengths and passions you that are part of the deeper or “true you.” When you understand yourself, you will see your masterpiece emerge.

I’ll talk more about this in my new book, The Greatness Zone; Know Yourself, Find Your Fit, and Transform the World, due out in September 2010. Watch for more information soon.

Sixty-five percent of employees do just enough not to get fired, according to statistics presented in Marcus Buckingham’s book, First Break All the Rules. His work with the Gallup Organization looked to define what degree employees are thinking and engaged in the workplace. This means more than half of employees don’t actively think their way through the day – they just follow the rules, do what they are told and little more.

Most managers do not take advantage of the thinking power of their employees. They seem content to have their employees simply do their jobs; they do not actively tap into their ideas, thinking and creativity. This wastes one of the most significant assets of the organization – the intellectual capital – the thinking power of the employee.

So how do you get an employee to think? Get in the habit of asking every employee these two questions every day:

1. “What if…?”
2. “What are two ways to …?”

Here are some examples:
• What if we allow employees to work more flexible hours, what would that do to performance?
• What if we eliminated two of our products or services; what would the impact be on customers?

• What are two ways to improve our marketing to our customers?
• What are two ways to attract great candidates to our company using social networking?

The format of the question isn’t as important as the discipline to constantly ask employees what they think. Tap into the resources you fund every week with your payroll. You paid for their thinking, now get what you paid for.