An Important Insight Into Employee Morale You Don't Want to Miss

One of the activities I love to do is to bring clarity to commonly used language we use in our every day work as managers, leaders, and HR professionals...and that also address critical needs for successful business success.

One set of words we use frequently and that directly affect employee morale is employee appreciation, rewards & recognition.

You might find it interesting to note that each has its own definition and impact. It's useful to understand this because, as we know, there are all essential to feeding and maintaining employee morale and motivation. As, we help clients implement our Smart Management Blueprint - it's the 8th building block of our 9 steps for developing effective managers and teams. It's built into the practice of managing - it's not an option.

Beyond the 3 listed above, here are the 5 most popular, along with their specific definitions:

1> Recognize - notice its existence
2> Acknowledge - external expression of the fact, importance or quality of
3> Appreciate - recognize the full worth of - its value to...

4> Reward - make a gift (give a thing or serve) of something to (someone) in recognition of their services, efforts, or achievements.

5> Celebrate - mark something of meaning with fun, partying, excitement, praise or honor

As you review these, here's what you might notice - each provide a different human experience. We commonly use some of these interchangeably - e.g. recognize - acknowledge, however, there is a difference.

For example you can recognize someone's activity - internally notice - and yet not acknowledge it  - externally express. Each of these serve their own distinct purpose. Of note, you have to have the first - recognized, notice for the others to occur. 

Another - receiving appreciation from a manager has a different feeling/experience than receiving it from a colleague or a team.

I also think celebrating holds its own very unique impact. I don't think we do this enough...in life in general, let alone in the work environment.

Just in case you've forgotten, all 5 are not optional to being an effective leader-manager, talent management, employee engagement.... you get the point. For those of you who consistently read our work, you know our philosophy is ...meet the human needs and your bigness needs will be met as well.

2 Coaching tips: 

1. Notice the distinctions and use accordingly. 

2. Customized your rewards - survey your team members to find out what is personally meaningful to them. You can even categorize the rewards based on $ value - for example: under $25.00, $50-100. A company I worked for ( #1 on the INC 500 list) did this - under $25.00 metro cards were popular (this was in Chicago), $50-100 - dinner or theatre tickets...are some examples.

Several years ago there was a survey done of a group of health care workers. The question was asked, "What is the one thing you would like from your boss?" The #1, most popular answer was a handwritten thank you note. Interesting...

If you're like some creative ideas, here are a few great resources I've referred clients to throughout the years. Bob Nelson has put out a series of books to choose from with a variety of themes: reward, motivate, engage..etc. 1501 Way to Reward Employees - this link will lead to his complete offerings on Amazon.

Exciting News! // We're excited to launch our new digital arm - Manage Global. To compliment our global reach with our LinkedIn Learning courses, we're offering a compelling resource - The Smart Management Blueprint that can be accessed and implemented in any business environment, world-wide. It provides a step-by-step roadmap to simultaneously improve business and people management while developing competent managers. If you feel a need for improvement in any of these areas you'll want to learn more. Check it out here! => https://manageglobal.solutions

Is Your Business Wasting Moola? Find Out!

One of our distinct and overriding goals is to help business leaders boost their business acumen by integrating people acumen...simply put - learn how to improve their people management and develop competent managers by integrating a step by step blueprint into their day to day operations.

We call that smart management. People management is business management - no other way around it.

And with that, one of our biggest frustrations is business leaders who are not able to make that connection. I've experienced this is the #1 reason why - they do not see, understand the financial impact to not having great people management and therefore the need to train and develop managers.

Do you know there is more money on average spent on acquiring employees than training the folks who will then be managing them? Does that make sense...fiscal sense?

So, to help awaken the senses of decision-makers and their HR partners, I've created a list of questions ... call it a cost analysis exercise to help them think more about the financial impact of not offering effective management training - note the word effective.

Here's the thing - you cannot change things you cannot see. Seeing...building awareness of what's happening financially in your business is crucial and is a key characteristic of business acumen.

When it comes to how employee performance (including managers) impacts your business financially it's tough to see unless you have a trained eye. We'd like to help you see what we see...everyday! If your business is wasting money ....would you want someone to tell you?

If you're answer is yes, I've created some resources to help you..and here's one. I've listed a series of questions based on the format of our 3 stage / 9 block smart management blueprint to prompt your thinking. I've also created a worksheet you can download to use as an guesstimate exercise for you and your leadership team (or if you're an HR partner as an internal consultant to make the case).

 To get the most out of this cost analysis, you can preface each question with: 
 >What is the financial cost?  > What are other costs?  ...there are a variety of costs beyond financial to consider.

Cost Analysis | Questions to Cultivate Business Acumen 

Learning how to financially quantify people performance to improve business outcomes.

Stage 1 : Me & My Team - Our Performance

What's the impact when a manager is not able to influence or have a good working rapport with members of their team?

What's the financial impact when a leader/manager is not an effective time manager?

What’s the productivity impact?

Does not delegate appropriately? (financial impact / productivity impact)

What's the impact when allowing employees to perform below expected w/o expectation and plan of improvement?

Stage 2: My Ability to Achieve Targeted, Strategic Results Through Leading My Team

What financial impact does confusion or foggy thinking have, lack of clarity have?

What does a manager's inability to facilitate needed team outcomes cost?

What financial  impact does the lack of effective team time management have?

Are you able to demonstrate ability to impact P/L / strategic goals in a timely fashion

Stage 3: My Ability to Develop my Team, Process Improve & Generate Growth

What's the impact when there is little if any consistent efforts to improve?

What's the impact when employee performance improvement is not tied directly to operational improvement?

what's the impact when employee performance improvement is not attempted in timely way?

What's the impact when there are attempts to grow a company without growing the capacity of employees to handle the growth?

What's the impact of not activity helping employees expand their contribution/ capabilities?

What's the impact when employees aren't acknowledged, appreciated, valued? - not given opportunity/ resources to refuel?

What's the impact when there is not planned, thoughtful, growth?

The Important Conclusion
Many decision-makers I work with initially have something called "fos" - fear of spending. That fear comes from a lack of understanding of the positive financial impact of management training and development and how to quantify the value and ROI of the investment. So, I've put together some resources to help learn how.

Note: Financially measuring and quantifying people performance is a core, embedded component of our smart management blueprint (and as mentioned earlier of business acumen) - it's built into each stage and building block.  Learn about our blueprint here.

Your Resources

=> Action: Download your copy of the Simple Cost Analysis Worksheet 

- do a guesstimate exercise - total up your numbers and let me know what you come up with. 

Em: joann@manageglobal.solutions

=> View: our short mini-course How to Calculate the Financial Loss of an Underperforming Manager. - click here

=> Grab a copy of Show Me the Money - Solving the Mystery of ROI to Unlock Profits & Increase Company Value. It's one of many topics in our Executive Briefing series. You can get it on Amazon or just email me and I'll send you a complimentary pdf version.

Exciting News! // We're excited to launch our new digital arm - Manage Global. To compliment our global reach with our LinkedIn Learning courses, we're offering a compelling resource - The Smart Management Blueprint that can be accessed and implemented in any business environment, world-wide. It provides a step-by-step roadmap to simultaneously improve business and people management while developing competent managers. If you feel a need for improvement in any of these areas you'll want to learn more. Check it out here! => https://manageglobal.solutions

Have You Ever Misjudged What an Employee Can Do?

And...what kind of headaches did it cause?

I recently posted a short info video on how to determine when it's time to let someone go. It's one of the most popular struggles for leaders, managers, entrepreneurs, business owners...yes...just about everyone with a leadership role. :-)

This post is a quick follow up to that. In the video I give what elements to consider... a bit of a checklist to determine when it's time to fire someone. One area of assessment I didn't include was the functional capacity or capability of an employee.

Have you ever kept an employee in a position way too long when it was clear they were struggling... with no acceptable level of improvement in sight...over an extended period of time?

When describing elements of Human Resources - which I do in the most literally sense in my executive briefing book The Human Quotient: The Most Potent Force for Your Business Success - I describe job function abilities in these ways:

Technical Capabilities

Skills – exceptional ability: competent excellence in performance; expertness

Capabilities – having power and ability to act and/or do

*Bandwidth - mental capacity; intelligence: a person's capacity to handle or think about more than one thing at the same time

*Capacity - the ability to receive or contain: power of receiving impressions, knowledge, etc.; mental ability: the maximum amount or number that can be received or contained

*Aptitude - capability; ability; innate or acquired capacity for something; talent: readiness or quickness in learning;

Job specific – activities related to a job description, job functions, job specific knowledge.

The Dilemma
I've witnessed on many occasions, particularly in industries with low skilled workers, that employees are kept in positions way too long that contain functions an employee just can't adequately master - even after an extended period of time. 

One of the main reasons this happens is because those managing, supervising or leading, see the task, function or role as very simple. And so, it is beyond their comprehension that a person is not able to grasp it - they just don't believe they can't.

The result?...they just keep giving them more time to "keep trying" motivated by the belief that "certainly at some point they'll get it".

In many cases, they don't... and as time elapses, the manager becomes more frustrated and angry (which is difficult to control or hide and which seeps into the day to day interactions with the employee). 

This condition subtly chips away at the employee's sense of self esteem-self worth as it and their performance continues to decline. Mistakes can even increase in parts of the job they can do. 

It becomes a downward, unhealthy cycle for all involved - the employee, the manager and fellow team members and in some cases with mounting collective bad attitudes and resentments. In human performance, this is called "the point of diminishing returns".

What You Need to Know
1). There are certain functions people just won't get...no matter how simple it may be to or for you.

2). There are certain functions that an employee may take more time than what a business can and should handle for them to barely get it. This is a lose/lose situation for you and the employee.

And here is the key to this knowledge - it will only be valuable for you (and your business) depending upon how quickly you can recognize, acknowledge, accept and believe it!

A manager's disbelief, aka not accepting reality, keeps employees in jobs for which they are not nor will ever be qualified.

By the way, this doesn't just apply to low skilled workers. I graduated near the top of my high school class and almost flunked college chemistry. For me, this was a reflection of aptitude.

Here's another example. We all have something called capacity range (some call it bandwidth). This range varies person to person. So you might be able to handle much more in responsibilities and activities than a fellow leader. Job types have different capacity needs. 

Note, it is good to grow or stretch in an attempt to expand capacity... just be careful folks aren't stretched to the point of being broken. If you or an employee start experiencing extended "points of diminishing returns" with additional adverse results, then it's time to make a change.

Ideally you want taking on new learning/responsibilities for those with aptitude and capacity potential to look like this:

Note: Some may never get above the line (or slightly above) and then performance drops below the line and may even decline further

By the way ..."plateauing" in this case is not a negative thing. It suggests that little to no effort is now required because mastery or unconscious competence has been achieved. It also can be an indicator that it could be time for new challenges.

This post in conjunction with the video how to determine when it's time to let someone go should give you adequate guidelines to determining what's best for you and your employees as you smartly manage your talent.

Additionally, successfully addressing these people management issues are included in our newly launch blueprint for smart management. It's so much easier to confidently (and with less stress) arrive where you want to go when you have a proven map. That's why we created the smart management blueprint. Learn more here.

Exciting News! // We're excited to launch our new digital arm - Manage Global. To compliment our global reach with our LinkedIn Learning courses, we're offering a compelling resource - The Smart Management Blueprint that can be accessed and implemented in any business environment, world-wide. It provides a step-by-step roadmap to simultaneously improve business and people management while developing competent managers. If you feel a need for improvement in any of these areas you'll want to learn more. Check it out here!

// Manage Global is the digital arm of JCS Business Advisors a strategic business management consultancy. Through our expertise in human behavior, we develop high-performance leadership teams and organizations as we partner with forward-thinking senior leaders, entrepreneurs and their HR counterparts, bridging the knowledge & execution gap of connecting people, performance, and profits. // Email: joann@jcsbusinessadvisors.com 
// Ph: 888.388.0565 // Schedule a complimentary advisory call and receive a copy of our latest executive briefing. Learn about our "all-in-one" system that develops competent leaders and managers, effectively manages operations, people & talent.

** Check out our Coffee Talk Series - Business Management Q&A for the Busy Business Leader in 10 mins or less: Dilemma - You feel as if your business is overwhelming you and your life... you're having a love/hate relationship with it...

How to Make Employee Feedback Valuable

How to Make Employee Feedback Valuable

Guest post: It offers great reminders for effective performance management!

As a manager, maximizing the return on investment (ROI) of just about everything you do is critical. Making sure the company earns more money than it spends is crucial to your success.

That’s a good reason to implement a continuous performance management system. Doing so will allow you to give employees regular feedback. Research indicates that doing so has a very positive impact on your ROI.

Here’s how:

Reducing Turnover Rates

Hiring a new employee can be costly; you need to devote time and resources to training them. If they’re taking the place of a former employee, their performance likely won’t match their predecessor’s right away. This can result in a loss of revenue until the new worker reaches a certain skill level.

That’s why managers need to work hard to reduce turnover rates. One study indicates that hiring a replacement worker when an employee leaves a role can cost as much as 33% of the previous staffer’s annual salary.

According to Gallup, providing feedback and being sure to highlight an employee’s strengths is one of the most effective ways to improve retention. Employees are more likely to remain with a company if they feel their accomplishments are appreciated and are provided with support when they’re struggling.

Constantly Improving Performance

Feedback can’t merely take the form of annual reviews. Surveys indicate that 95% of workers aren’t satisfied with the performance review processes of their employers. Furthermore, 90% believe these processes don’t actually yield any useful information.

Managers should agree. If an employee isn’t living up to their full potential, giving them one opportunity a year to discuss where they need to make improvements isn’t going to be enough to encourage a major change.

On the other hand, offering regular and continuous feedback gives both you and your employees the chance to address issues early. This means their performance will improve sooner rather than later, bringing in more revenue for the company and making the employee feel more engaged.

Boosting Engagement

Your staff are an investment. Engaged employees, who are actively committed to doing the best work possible, offer the greatest return on that investment.

Unfortunately, Gallup reports that 85% of workers throughout the world are not engaged with their work; many are even actively disengaged.

You don’t have to fall victim to those statistics. Polls indicate that communication within the organization boosts overall engagement. Giving both positive and negative feedback lets your workers know you appreciate their efforts and will help them succeed if they are having difficulties in a particular area. The result is a more committed team that will perform much more consistently.

That said, it can’t be stated enough: feedback must be continuous. Employees have made it clear that meeting with a supervisor once or twice a year for a review provides little value. If you truly want your workers to deliver a positive ROI, make sure you’re regularly checking in. Doing so is key to improving your bottom line.

// JCS Business Advisors is a strategic business management consultancy. Through our expertise in human behavior, we develop high-performance leadership teams and organizations as we partner with forward-thinking senior leaders, entrepreneurs and their HR counterparts, bridging the knowledge & execution gap of connecting people, performance, and profits. // Email: joann@jcsbusinessadvisors.com // Ph: 888.388.0565 // Schedule a complimentary advisory call and receive a copy of our latest executive briefing. Learn about our "all-in-one" system that develops competent leaders and managers, effectively manages operations, people & talent.

A Fantastic Twist to KPIs You'll Quickly Want to Use

Writers Note: This post is a follow up to the post "Can You Read Human Behavior Like the Beach Boys".  I recommend you read that one as well.

One of the key, distinct elements of our consulting practice is the lens from which we help leaders see and evaluate their operations. It is from a "how and why humans operate the way they do" point of view. 

Over a great number of years in the field of human performance, I have developed a keen eye regarding human behavior from which I can quickly identify an issue and equally important, determine how to resolve it, if it can (in the context of a typical business setting).

This knowledge I have coined the "human quotient" and it's what I transfer to my clients to help them work with the human aspects of their businesses more effectively... and this is what is sorely needed and dramatically missing among most business leaders and, as I've discovered over the years, their HR counterparts. Without it, decision-making is greatly handicapped and many decisions are made against the self-interest of the leader and company. Additionally, the absence of this knowledge hampers the ability to successfully manage employees for optimum operational effectiveness.

Here's an example.

In the HR, talent management world, we talk a lot about behavior competencies or the qualities desired in those we want to hire and posess in our company cultures. Yet, in many companies, those qualities are not emphasized, given much attention, or intentionally developed. 

I think the main reason why is we don't understand or appreciate the direct impact qualities have (positive or negative) on our processes, results and profits.

In fact when you think about it, it's common for qualities to only be given significant attention when they are negative and have reached the level of intolerance.

Imagine for a moment -- if there was a heightened, intentional emphasis of positive qualities. Imagine in a team or department, certain qualities were given lots of attention, talked about regularly, fostering collective awareness, support and reinforcement. 

The result? I've seen over time those qualities grow in volume, dimension and intensity, overcoming unwanted qualities...and they are fiercely protected because everyone is witnessing and enjoying their value.

And, if a new team member comes on the scene with negative qualities, one who let's say is toxic, that team member wouldn't fit and perhaps wouldn't last very long or the collective power of the group qualities would influence a change in the behavior and performance of that team member.  That's what I call "positive peer pressure".

Practical Application - A Unique Twist to KPIs
KPIs are a common theme for measuring a variety of elements in business. As it relates to our theme of qualities, we encourage our clients to incorporate KPIs related to qualities. We call them "key people indicators". 

Teams are encouraged to identify values and qualities they want their team and team members to be possess. Those are then regularly monitored. It's kinda like taking the pulse of the team to monitor its health. If there is any variance, what ever is adversely impacting the qualities are quickly and constructively addressed. Imagine addressing issues within a team quickly and effectively!

One of the biggest weaknesses of many leaders is not addressing issues regarding employee behavior quickly.

It's clear to see that qualities rule and they are fuel! Certain qualities act as fuel, they give life, in fact are the energy of performance. We commonly call this being "empowered". Qualities impact motivation, engagement and provide strength emotionally, physically and spiritually.

While some qualities empower, other qualities de-energize, can drain or suppress motivation, more specifically undermine one's life force. They are known as "disempowering".

Let's stop for a moment and make sure we're clear on what is a quality. Here's a simple dictionary definition:

Definition:

a distinctive attribute or characteristic possessed by someone or something.

"he shows strong leadership qualities"

synonyms:

feature, trait, attribute, characteristic, point, aspect, facet, side, property "her good qualities"

In the book Power vs. Force, here are some examples of qualities and their impact:

Energizing qualities: peace, joy, love, willingness, courage, acceptance, pride, desire, understanding, patience.

De-energizing qualities: Fear (it can go either way initially, but sustained would trend toward depleting), grief, apathy, guilt, shame, despair, regret, despondence, pessimism.

Every human quality has a motivational and engagement quotient as well as a vibrational  energy level that impacts ones experience, the atmosphere of a team and all the elements involved in human performance to get results. 

Those vibrational levels have been gauged and documented in the book Power vs. Force - The Hidden Determinants of Human Behavior, by David Hawkins. I write more about this in the post Can You Read Human Behavior Like the Beach Boys. It is one of the differentiating elements in our practice, and one of the reasons why our work is so unique and effective. 

This information, used over time and applied in real-time business situations, from what happens on the manufacturing floor to executive leadership, provides that refined sensibility to the human experience where:

>  it becomes easier to detect, 
> becomes easier to see the impact to the operations of a business,
> and therefore provides the motivation to quickly resolve issues.

That's why we can quickly save our clients money while helping them make more.

A simple example is working with a dysfunctional manager. Side note: if there is one present, you're already loosing money. We can determine if that manager can be coached to improvement fairly quickly. If not, we give our clients the confidence and clarity to terminate and then help them hire or promote a better option that can quickly grow to operational effectiveness, supporting profitability.

Without this knowledge and awareness, dysfunctional managers are allowed to stay impairing results and getting paid for it! Think about this for a moment. 

Keeping a dysfunctional leader is like paying someone to help you lose money.

Does this make sense? And yet, it's happening everyday.

Qualities are the non-negotiable components of what causes an employee, leader or business to be successful-- or not. And that's why it's critical that every leader and business owner sees and appraises their operations and performance of their employees with this information. Qualities are a business building resource.

Most leaders are conditioned to give attention to and 

emphasize performance over qualities.

This is a missed opportunity.

For those unattuned to human energy, qualities and behavior, the typical leader or manager when assessing performance directs their attention towards an employee's presence and activity, not necessarily the qualities exhibited while present and active. Those matter too. Both can impact the intended results and a company's P/L.

For example: Let's say you have a sales manager that directed his/her team to use specific tactics or processes known to get good results with clients. However, in the attempt to relay, teach and coach, team members are bullied, disrespected and threatened. Those leadership behaviors reflect qualities of aggression, perhaps an unhealthy ego, severe disrespect, and hostility and would certainly affect what could have been better results. 

In fact, a proven formula or process could be weakened or seen as ineffective because of who and how it's being implemented. Even a bad coach can ruin a good team.

Qualities Have Immediate, Short Term & Long Term Impact
All qualities at the outset have immediate impact for all those involved. Imagine the impact, good or bad, if sustained over a period of time. And so, we have to see qualities not only as present, but also in terms of intensity and duration and who is being affected and for how long....all of which have a financial effect.

Consider the operational impact with this in mind. Think for a moment about the positive and fairly high vibrational quality of courage. Imagine it being present in the moment....now imagine it in huge doses, strengthen over a period of time, even bolstered through exceptional challenges and circumstances.  It's safe to say, the results could be dramatic.

Now imagine a negative, low vibrational quality such as apathy being present in the moment. Now imagine it in larger doses over a period of time. Would anything get done?  If nothing else, productivity would be very low and its effect could easily spread like a heavy cloud over an entire team encouraging other unhealthy, counterproductive behaviors to arise (e.g. complaining, gossiping, infighting).

The human qualities we possess and express have direct impact on everything we do -- in fact our very existence -- and so need to be seriously considered when leading and running a business.

Unfortunately, here's what I've discovered regarding a typical leader's relationship to qualities. They are...

• undervalued or not seen as valuable at all
• their connection to achieving desired outcomes is not understood
• not emphasized enough
• seen as all or nothing vs. measure and dimension
• not understood as they relate to human behavior

As you have learned, it's to the advantage of every company that leaders at all levels learn how to see and understand the 'human' element of their business -- that is qualities, behavior and even vibrational energy.

If your leaders need to improve their human quotient - let's have a conversation. Because we are so passionate about this work, we offer a no-obligation 1 hr strategy session. You'll discover hidden dollars even from one session (and maybe reduce a bit of your stress). Just email a request.

Want to Learn More?

If you want to learn more and read case studies in detail,  I recommend 2 of our latest executive briefings: 

> Show Me The Money! Solving the Mystery of ROI to Unlock Profits & Increase Company Value - click here to access This is one of the best, easy to read discussions on how to connect human behavior to profits (a critical knowledge point for all leaders).

// JCS Business Advisors helps business owners and leaders rapidly improve operations and business management through our 5 Step Predictive System // Our Core Focus // email: joann@jcsbusinessadvisors // Ph: 888.388.0565 // Schedule a complimentary advisory call

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THE Most Overlooked Resource to Manage Employee Problems

I'm excited to announce the release of my first course with LinkedIn Learning, How to Deal with Employee Problems. 
Here's the link to check it out.

This is a very popular challenge! The course is an attempt to not only provide practical advice, but also to elevate the experience from just an administrative exercise to a strategic experience that serves the broader needs of a business.

My belief is that anything that happens in the work enviroment can be clues to organizational health, operational effectiveness and efficiencies, as well as where profits can be gained or lost. And...employee behaviors play a substantial role in all of this!

That's why dealing with employee problems needs to be handled beyond a traditional, one dimensional approach.

Creating the course served my ongoing desire to remind my fellow HR colleageues and the senior leaders they serve, that behavior needs to be taken more seriously and that a working knowledge of and how to work with it is an imperative competency for all leaders. We call it a leaders HQ or human quotient.

It also reminded me that many HR professionals tend to be more operations and process orientated vs. human behavior - human dynamics orientated. Yet, we really need to be  competent in both.

I love Steve Browne's quote in his new release HR on Purpose, "We need to move away from the practice of pulling out a manual and dealing with people soley through policies and procedures. You need to address people as people first.... When you approach interactions with the intention of understanding first before acting, you'll be surprised how you'll come up with alternate solutions."

Because this competency is lacking -- understanding and working with human behavior -- there are many opportunities to effectively manage talent and employee performance that are overlooked or missed altogether. And, by the way, when I say employee performance, I mean that in the broadest possible sense. I see it as how an employee behaves in all work contexts.

A significant consequence of this deficit is that dealing with employee problems tends to be reactionary. So the course offers several pro-active strategies to minimize or avert what could be major issues. One key theme of all those strategies is to communicate early and often what behaviors are expected as well as unacceptable.

Managing Employee Problems through the Lens of Onboarding
One strategy I did not include in the course is utilizing onboarding. I highly recommend we rethink onboarding through the lens of setting behavior expectations for individual contributor and management performance. 

Why wait until something happens?  Why not set a benchmark right from the start and from which coaching can occur.

So what might that look like? Onboarding could (and I think should) include a training regiment of themes through-out the early months of employment, perhaps 30-90 days, that sets expectations and builds a foundation for positive performance. 

In the work we've done with human performance over the past 19+ years, I've concluded there are 6 core areas every employee needs in most work environments. Those suggested below are presented via 5 questions and then the recommended behavior themes and corresponding learning seminar follow. (In some cases, the theme and the learning seminar topic are the same):

1). Can and in what way (style, attitudes, behavior) will they do their job...will they get the results desired? ..that is execute key deliverables in the time allotted?...driven by how they think and behave.

Related behavior themes & learning seminar topics : 
self management, personal motivation => emotional intelligence (EQ)  
getting results/desired outcomes =>  time & productivity management 
ownership of work product, personal commitment to engagement => personal/professional branding 
ability to learn, think, problem solve = creative, innovative, critical thinking, mental agility

Part B of this is - can and/or are they using technology competently and efficiently to do that work

2). Can they work effectively with others? can they and are they willing to be  understanding, respectful and able to work with different work styles, personalities => emotional intelligence, team collaboration 
rapport & relating style => communication, managing conflict

3). Can they be lead? (an element of #2) e.g. work well with authority / leadership - relationship to authority => EQ


4). Can they and are they willing to add value in ways beyond their job description? personal values => personal/professional branding, situational leadership 

5) Can they effectively communicate in writing. Some employees spend 70% of their time writing =>communicating in written form/ business writing.

In summary, beyond the question, "Is someone capable of doing a job based on executing the functions of the job", you can see that success in any role can be broken down (assuming they are the right fit for the job) to... 

"Can I and am I willing to manage myself to get results and can I and am I willing to work constructively with others?"...and do I know how to do that...?"

I think we assume, albeit subconsciously, that when most employees walk through our company doors there is some level of maturity and competecy from which they will function related to the list above. Yet, as the labor market tightens, as studies show that emotional intelligence is on the decline, and as volite social factors grow, any asusmptions about maturity related to self management and constructively getting along with others should be set aside. Let's not guess or hope. 

Additionally, consider the same for newly hired managers. Just because their resume reflects experience in managing does not mean they are competent at managing people and/or human behavior. Therefore, onboarding should also include some basic management orientation relating values and exceptions for the kind of manager desired.

Remember experience does not necessarily equal competence or managing from or with the same values.

In summary, if you had to choose what learning seminars to budget for or which to consider including in an onboarding strategy, here are what topics/themes I recommend:

1. Personal - Professional Branding => ownership, engagement, personal empowerment, individual leadership

2a. Time & Productivity Management => get it done, get results
2b. Using software/technology efficiently

3. Emotional Intelligence => work effectively with others, can be managed, lead

4. Team Collaboration => work effectively with different work styles/personalities, managing conflict

5. Creative & Innovative Thinking/Mental Agility => learning to how to think which includes critical thinking, strategy and problem solving.

6. Business writing

If you bring in external help...say a training company, no matter what the creative title is of a seminar (and there are many out there -- seminar companies are good at that for marketing purposes), the learning seminars need to include these elements as core content, teaching participants how to:

>  self manage, self motivate, take ownership

>  management time to get results and learn to be the most productive they can

>  work collaboratively and constructively with others, which includes working appropriately with authority and as well as peers
> learn to think and problem solve (this is an ownership element as well)

> learn to effetively communicate in writing

I hope you'll take the time to pass this information along, as well as take a gander at the course. 

Additionally, I encourage you to take the time to rethink your onboarding program as a way of setting a structure or framework for desired employee behaviors and performance at the very beginning and settting them up with the knowledge and tools -- the how to -- for better results.

If you need additional discussion about core courses for employee on boarding, give me a call as well as go to our website. We have a page entitled:  Employee Core Competencies Series.  All the topics/themes listed above we offer in a package. 

Ph: 888.388.0565 // Em: joann@thehumansphere.com | The link to Steve's Book - HR on Purpose

Here are the relevant links to the course: 

LinkedIn Learning: https://www.linkedin.com/learning/human-resources-managing-employee-problems

On Lynda.com: https://www.lynda.com/Business-Skills-tutorials/Human-Resources-Managing-Employee-Problems/601769-2.html

=======================================================================The Human Sphere™ is a holistic talent management-organizational develoment consultancy that partners with forward-thinking senior leaders to bridge the gap between people, performance, and profits. We help leaders gain a working understanding of human behavior (their HQ-human quotient) to successfully apply to operations and growth. We focus on business growth through human-focused, results based leadership. // email: joann@thehumansphere.com // Ph: 888.388.0565

Learn More

If you want to learn more and read case studies in detail,  I recommend 2 of our latest executive briefings: 

> Show Me The Money! Solving the Mystery of ROI to Unlock Profits & Increase Company Value - click here to access This is one of the best, easy to read discussions on how to connect human behavior to profits (a critical knowledge point for all leaders).

> I've Been Around the Block a Few Times: Let me Save You a Few Trips and Some Money Along the Way (my 20th anniversary briefing of insights and advice, which includes my top 6 business building tips through the lens of leveraging the human element) - click here for a complimentary digital copy.

Both are full of unique business building strategies and concepts that have proven to impact any company's P/L. Want to improve your people management? Want to generate operational improvement? You'll want to get both!

 Schedule a complimentary advisory call and receive a copy of our latest executive briefing.