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Hiring and Development
On the Bookshelf
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Hiring and Development

In looking for data on the cost to hire or replace an employee, we found estimates ranging from 30% – 200% of salary. It’s not cheap to make a bad hire, especially when you factor in soft costs like client frustration with turnover.

Because we found behavioral assessments so helpful in our “line” management experience, we have decided to make them available to our clients. Through our affiliation with Target Training International, Inc., we offer a variety of assessments—all of which have been validated by comprehensive research and analysis.

We would be happy to let you “test drive” any of these tools in order to understand how they work and determine which one(s) would be most appropriate for your firm. Click here to request more information or a sample assessment.

On the Bookshelf

Good to Great – Jim Collins

What we most loved about this book was finding empirical data on the relationship between charisma and leadership. “Less charismatic leaders often produce better long term results than more charismatic ones.” You don’t need to be Mahatma Ghandi or Mother Theresa to be a really great leader. Go for it!

The First 90 Days – Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All Levels – Michael Watkins

If you didn’t hear about this book before a recent promotion or transition, pick it up and backtrack to see what you may have missed. Major public companies are using Watkins’ book as a resource in their leadership development programs. His suggestions are on point and presented clearly.

Love Is the Killer App – Tim Sanders

Tim Sanders, Chief Solutions Office at Yahoo! advocates that we build a personal brand around sharing valuable business knowledge and perspective, connecting people to create new opportunities, and restoring compassion to the workplace. His mantra: “Nice, smart people succeed.”

Hug Your Customer – Jack Mitchell

The story behind this book involves a retail clothing store, but Mitchell’s principles readily transfer to any service business. “Hugging” your customer transforms your focus from “building sales” to “building relationships that generate sales.” Mitchell’s take on the importance of owners’ involvement in day to day operations: “if the service is awful, the odds are that the owner is out …fishing or putting out on the ninth hole.”

Managing Transitions – Making the Most of Change – William Bridges

Some people like uncertainty, adventure, and uncharted paths. But lots of us don’t. So, well-intentioned managers and leaders try to allay fears by promising stability and continuation of the status quo. In many cases, that’s were cynicism and mistrust of management begins. Bridges tells us that (1) change is inevitable and (2) we really CAN engage people at all levels of the organization in facilitating the process. He offers a basic transition process and thought-provoking self-assessments.

The Five Dysfunctions of a Team – Patrick Lencioni

The parable in this book focuses on a leadership team, but the principles readily transfer to entire organizations and systems. Lencioni offers a self-assessment questionnaire and specific suggestions on how to tackle each of the dysfunctions.

Nonviolent Communication – A Language of Life – Marshall B. Rosenberg, Ph.D

Rosenberg promotes “non-violent” communication primarily to improve the quality of life on the planet, not to facilitate communication among business colleagues. Yet, the possibilities for impact in the business context are significant. Read this book to enhance your ability to: deliver feedback, make and receive requests, take responsibility for your own feelings, and resolve conflict. An added bonus is that this process also works at home.

The Wisdom of the Crowds – James Surowiecki

Surowiecki’s premise is that the value of individual expertise is over-rated. He argues that diverse groups of people will almost always make better collective decisions. The book includes dozens of interesting examples (some of them not new) about how groups can come up with better predictions or outcomes than individual participants.

In considering how to apply Suriowiecki’s perspective to everyday business opportunities, we share his opinion that “In small groups, diversity of opinion is the single best guarantee that the group will reap the benefits of face to face discussion.”
Three cheers for the “devil’s advocates” who accept the risk of alienating colleagues in order to present alternative points of view.

A Bias for Action – How Effective Managers Harness Their Willpower, Achieve Results, and Stop Wasting Time – Heike Bruch and Sumantra Ghoshal

Based on extensive research, the authors conclude that only 10% of managers get the job done. The rest are either frenzied (40%), procrastinators (30%), or detached (20%).
While the book title says that it’s about “action,” the major theme is that “purposeful” managers are strongly connected to a valuable self-defined purpose. They crave an organizational framework that fosters self-expression and fulfillment.

The book includes a lengthy discussion of how organizations can unleash the type “productive” energy that can produce breakthrough results. Three specific examples are: (1) rally the troops around a common enemy or threat, (2) connect people with an exciting future vision – a new product, a new market, a new acquisition, and (3) combine a focus on some immediate threat or challenge with a vision of the joy and pride that will accompany a victory.

Leading the Way – Three Truths from the Top Companies for Leaders – Robert Gandossy and Marc Effron

The three truths are these:

CEO’s and boards of directors at top companies provide leadership and inspiration.
Top companies have a maniacal focus on the best talent.
Top companies put in place the right programs, done right.

The book discusses each of the principles in detail, providing specific examples of how large companies design and implement leadership development and succession plans.

Web Connections

newsletters

October, 2005: Lessons Learned on the Golf Course: See Your Target
October, 2005: 15 Tips for Building Your Bench Strength
November, 2005: Groundrules for Interpersonal Effectiveness
December, 2005: Set Yourself Up for Success: How to Create Goals that Propel You Forward
January, 2006: Making Dreams Real: Building a Framework for Success
March, 2006: Building Trust in a Wired World
May, 2006: Lessons Learned on the Golf Course: How to Tame the Inner Critic
July, 2006: Between the Lines: How to Leverage the Power of Non-Verbal Communication
September, 2006: The Simple Secret to Managing Stress
November, 2006: The Customer is Always Right—Really

articles

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