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aren’t equally talented and passionate about what work needs to be done – but because their approach to finding work is outdated and disconnected from today’s more social media approaches.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.

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.

I am not talking about overworking employees; if you overwhelm them, they may stay for now but will leave as soon as things get better.

I am talking about having the right people in the right jobs – because when your employees are good at what they do and love doing it, performance soars.

The challenge for many organizations is the wrong people have been in the wrong jobs for a while. Today’s recession has created the need to make important changes throughout the organization to align talent to the right roles to better use the performance power of each employee. Each employee is now more critical; each must contribute his best. This can’t happen if they are in the wrong roles.

To start a meaningful realignment process, ask your employees these questions:
1. What are you great at?
2. What do you love to do?
3. What is your least favorite aspect of your job?
4. What is your favorite aspect of your job?
5. What do you wish you could do more of?

This gives you critical information about employee attributes and interests. Use this information to assess for employee “fit.” Realign as needed. Hire the right people from the outside from today’s extreme choice of unemployed talent if the talent you need does not currently exist. Create your A-Team – this team will need to get more done with less.

Back in March, my book Fire Up Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition was published. In it, I defined a process for all managers to learn how to attract, hire and retain great value-building employees. It outlines a step-by-step process to determine who is a good fit (who can do the job well), how to find those who have the talents to be successful in the job, and how to connect these “good fit” employees emotionally to their work to ensure they get fired up and passionate about their work. It is a formula to hire and keep the value-building employees. And as our recession endures, we continue to see the need for employees who do not just show up – there is no extra to carry anyone who does not add get the job done AND add great value. That means aall employees need to be fully engaged, thinking, inventing and finding opportunities.

So this message is for both employees and managers:
Managers – define your expectations of your employees, and hire/realign the right employee to the right job. The right employees are more connected to their work, be more innovative in their responses and add greater value. You must hire right, inspire right and connect right in order to activate employees’ value focus. Create a “value building” environment or you are out of business.

Employees – don’t show up at work expecting to just do your job; those days are over. In addition to getting your job done right, you must start sharing your thoughts about how to make the business better. You must become a greater part of the value building of the business. Add value or you are out.

Time for a team effort. Time to create a high contribution workplace and hire employees who feel compelled to make a significant difference. See the supporting perspectives shared by the NY Times columnist Thomas Friedman in his Op-Ed “The New Untouchables.”

“Adding value” is not the same as “doing your job.” Adding value is more important for both employees and managers.

The rumblings in the HR world are that as the economy starts to improve, many employees will jump ship. Many employees have put up with bad workplaces, out of touch managers and unreasonable work expectations because of today’s economic challenges. Many managers have used the tough economy to raise the expectations, change the benefits and reduce the rapport. And soon, when things improve, these employees will revolt. And when they do, they will exit in significant waves, searching for organizations that cared for, trusted and valued their employees in down times. And with the power of instant communication and social networks, employees are already taking note of which organizations show up on the naughty and nice lists.

Here are the five reasons why when the economy improves, your employees will leave you:
1. You constantly told them they were lucky to have a job and made them feel desperate and not in control of their lives. You constantly reminded them of the number of out of work employees and how tough their situations are. Remind them they have no control and that they are lucky to be working and your employees will leave you.
2. You added more work to each role because some roles were eliminated. Instead of being fair about the workload with changes to compensation, time off or a promise to make things right in a better economy, you took advantage of the situation and forced the extra work on your staff (and reminded them they were lucky to have the job). Not only does this overwork your employees, but it interrupts the critical work/life balance needed to allow employees to feel successful both at work and at home. Make the workload unfair without any attempt to balance it and your employees will leave you.
3. You told your employees how things were going to be instead of presenting the tough situations and asking for their input to solve them. Employees were excluded from difficult news, or given difficult news with little time to react or respond. Successful organizations are based on open, honest and timely communication with employees; not only does this keep them informed and aware, it sets them up to participate in the challenges and opportunities of the organization. Keep them in the dark and refuse to allow for discussion and your employees will leave you.
4. You became more focused on results at the expense of the rapport and relationships you had with your people. Employees require constant contact; they require a real relationship with their managers. Managers who spend time away from their people disconnect from their people. Make your employees feel like a cog or a disposable part of the process and they will leave you.
5. You became so aware of the down times that you forgot to celebrate and make some “up times.” All employees know how critical the workplace and economy had become; it is everywhere in the news. Organizations that did nothing but worry, fret and disconnect, missed an opportunity to show their employees the best opportunities in any economy happen when the outlook is optimistic. Optimism is a choice. Organizations that find ways to be upbeat about things worth celebrating create higher performing and engaging workplaces. They weather the challenges better, becoming more successful for their approach. Make your workplace dismal and a downer and your people will leave you.

It is your choice how to handle an economic downturn. You can let the news take you down, and then take it out on your employees; or, you can see that your employees are also affected. You can share information, deal with their fears and frustrations openly and honestly. You can share information about necessary cuts and solicit ideas to help respond in ways that have the least impact the employees and their performance. You can be sensitive to how much work a person can do in a day and build a plan to get the work done and care for the health and safety of the employees. You can choose to create a powerful, upbeat and optimistic approach to the workplace – tough times don’t mean you can’t have fun and love your jobs. You can stay more closely connected to your people, ensuring that they have what they need by building a stronger community in and out of work. You can constantly remind them that they are lucky to have a job and there are hundreds of others waiting to take their jobs if they slip up. Seems almost a return to the early industrial age. But be aware, a revolution is brewing.

So, for the employees reading this, print a copy and leave it on your manager’s desk. Let them know that some of what they do is not inspiring your loyalty. And for managers reading this, remember, your people are your profits – in good times or in bad. Organizations that respect, care for and value their employees, win their loyalty. Making it through the day – average. Making it through the day and getting them excited to come back and do it again tomorrow – priceless. It is your choice how you manage.

Link to BizTalk Radio interview.

Here is what guides me:
1. Stay positive and find the positive, not the negative, in the change. There are always positive events if we look for them; committing to feeling bad doesn’t do any good. As I like to call it – be on the “hunt for opportunities.”
2. Know you will land on your feet. Trust that you have the abilities and the strength to come out stronger, better, happier or more successful. Believing it is critical to your success.
3. Surround yourself with others who can help you. Periods of change should send you looking for help, rather than trying to solve things on your own. Most people feel that their change situation is unique to them. Most situations have happened to others – and they may have wisdom to help guide you through the process. Find help.

Change happens. That is just the way of the world. Be optimistic, welcome it and be better because of it. Whether job hunting, managing or watching your family grow up, find the good. Celebrate the positive and commit to being optimistic.

To help with the impact of change, Job Seekers can check out Stand Out and Get Hired – your resource to help you see what you are great at, which jobs need what you are great at and how to apply in a way that gets you noticed. Managers check out Fire Up! Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition. This is your step-by-step guide to learn how to manage in today’s period of change. Use the tools to be great in times of change.

Catch my interview with Jim Lobaito at BizTalk Radio at www.Biztalkradioshow.com; it overviews Fire Up! Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition, its approach, and how to easily and successfully implement a fired up! attitude in your workplace. See the “For Managers” section in the right column, or go to the Products page for more information. Get your copy today.

Join the blog each day to see my approach to solving this issue and check the earlier two weeks in May to see the other problems and solutions. Get good at assessing what stops your employees’ performance – and how to Fire them up!
Be sure to download chapters from Fire Up! Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition. Check out its tools and perspectives. It is a resource all millennial (intellectual-age) managers need. You will find the right way to activate great performance from each of your employees.

In many areas of the country there is a supply of employed talent. Many organizations now have a greater choice to fill openings or realign. But wait – you first need to know what you need. Learn how to create a Talent Matrix – a one page profile of the talents, skills and experience you need (presented in Fire Up! Your Employees). This means you need to know how to assess applicants for talents and how to define the talents needed in each job. Define it up front and the interview process is easy – you know specifically what you need and you can easily match your needs to the attributes you find in your applicants. Hiring made simple.

Review the free chapter downloads and order your copy of this new hands-on, step-by-step guide to attract, hire and retain the right employees. Fire Up Your Employees and Smoke Your Competition – get your copy today.