Tough Times: What to Do (and Not Do) with Your Team

Day by day, the writing on the wall becomes clearer: The U.S. economy continues to shift toward possible recession, and international markets are seeing the effects as well. How will businesses survive? Maximizing competitive advantage is a must, and the first step is to reexamine your human assets:

1. First and foremost, remember that the best way to weather turbulent times is with the willing engagement of a focused, fired-up, capably led workforce. Avoid the moronic tactics so often invoked during a slowdown, guaranteed to make workers power back a notch or two. Things like knee-jerk layoffs (unless survival is truly at stake), poorly conceived pay cuts (especially incentive pay), and petty cutbacks. When you are forced to make painful cuts, remember – officers bleed first.

2. Don’t let fear cause your workforce to disengage. Asking people to be judicious about expenses is one thing - injecting an added dose of fear into the workplace is another. The degree to which employees are concerned about losing their jobs varies inversely with the degree to which they are concerned with doing their jobs, and taking care of customers. And they’ll be looking at the owners and CEO for telltale signs of fear…and of hope.

3. Don’t try to work your way out of a short-term earnings problem by “dumbing down” the organization. One of the first shoes to fall in a questionable economy usually lands squarely on top of the organization’s training budget. If you’re doing training that doesn’t need to be done, then you should stop it anyway. But the notion that we can somehow help the business by deferring necessary training is intellectually bankrupt. Think about that the next time you fly or have surgery.

4. Don’t (repeat, don’t) stop recruiting. If anything, redouble your recruiting efforts, and encourage your hiring managers to do the same. In case you didn’t notice, Warren Buffett, one of the savviest investors of all time, closed deals to buy two businesses the week before Christmas. He’s on a buying spree, adding solid businesses to his Berkshire Hathaway portfolio. The same principle applies to rounding up talented people. They’re out there. Go find them, and start a conversation with them now.

5. Don’t be afraid to talk candidly with your people about how the business is doing. Don’t delegate this. This is the CEO’s discussion to have. The one thing that distracts people more than anything else is not knowing what’s going on. As psychologist Karl Jung observed, “When facts are few, opinions loom large.” Every minute your folks spend wondering or worrying is a minute your customers are being ignored.

6. Crank up your “high touch.” Going through a difficult economic period isn’t just about business. It’s personal, too. This is an excellent time to show that you care by spending a bit more quality time with the people on your team, listening to them, and making sure they have what they need. Especially those on the frontlines. Don’t pry, but sharpen your awareness of special circumstances. Has a spouse been downsized? A mortgage foreclosed on? Watch for signs of added stress. Don’t play psychologist, but make sure your Employee Assistance Program is ready to respond and help where needed.

7. Pay extra attention to the customers you’ve got. Translate the meaning of that for all your employees. Too many businesses hunker down and go below the radar when economic growth slows. This is an ideal time to show customers that you care about them. If you do, chances are you’ll exit the current rough patch with better customer relations, and maybe more customers.

8. Smile. That’s right, smile. And do it often. The fact that things are getting a little shaky and people are scared (including maybe you) doesn’t overturn the principle that people prefer to be around those who are positive and optimistic. Your smile will lighten up folks around you little; they’ll get more done, and feel better about it, too. - Richard Hadden and Bill Catlette Richard Hadden and business partner Bill Catlette are co-authors of the newly released business book, Contented Cows MOOve Faster.

Interview Questions that Uncover Talent

My long time Headhunter friend Russ Riendeau, Ph.D.shares these timely questions you can use to uncover talent for your team.

"Traditional interview questions oriented around performance, duties and responsibility are important, but the answers often obscure a person's commitment or emotional intelligence required for the job. By asking new questions, you’ll be amazed at what you can find out. The findings can help you make better hiring decisions, lower turnover and significantly reduce hiring costs significantly.

Here are behavioral-based, legal, gender-friendly questions designed to flush out the deeper and more complex behaviors and thinking patterns of a candidate for hire.

1. What question do you have for me right away?

2. What would really surprise me about you? What else?

3. What’s your real motivation to change jobs? No, the real reason (test, re-test)

4. What’s your philosophy on goal setting?

5. What reading material would I find on your coffee table?

6. Tell me a story about when you found yourself in an ethical dilemma and what happened?

7. How did you earn money while in college?

8. How far away from home have you traveled? (Have a map on your desk)

9. Draw me a pie chart showing how you spend an eight-hour day.

10. Are you a curious person? If so, show me an example.

11. What’s your favorite success story? What’s your favorite failure story?

12. What should I have asked you that I haven’t?

13. Do you want to be a millionaire? Why? What are you doing to prepare for it?

14. Are you ready to resign from your job in 5 days? What will your employer do when you quit? What do you think they will say about you after you’ve left?

15. Have you ever created a 30, 60, 90-day strategic plan for your job or a future job? (Well, today’s their lucky day)

Research shows that more than 75% of executives today lack any formal interviewing training. The consequences of weak interview skills are lasting and sometimes unrecognizable until it’s too late. The wrong people get hired, or great talent is overlooked. Utilize these 15 questions to your company’s advantage and hire candidates who are truly right for the job.

Russ Riendeau , PhD has been in the executive search business since 1985. He’s written five books in the last 12 years and does public speaking and workshops using live music. Senior Partner of The East Wing Search Group. He’s also the co-author of a new book, “The CEO’s Guide to Talent Acquisition.” He can be reached at www.eastwingsearchgroup.com, or 847-381-0977

Ten Rules for Doing Layoffs Right

“I am sorry to have to inform you that your job is being eliminated. Please report to HR for processing.”
.
FAIL!

I have personally removed thousands of people from their jobs through layoffs. I think this is why I keep writing about the credit crisis and the impact it is having on our economy. It sucks.

The people and companies who caused this to happen suck.

Layoffs suck.

Layoffs bite.

The worst task in Human Resources is having to go and tell a group of useful and productive individuals that the company doesn’t need them any more!

Doing layoffs right is difficult. Communicating layoffs correctly is a critical skill, and one that Human Resources professionals and managers must do well. The cost is too high not to do it right.

Here are the rules.

1. Don’t do layoffs
2. Don’t do layoffs without severance
3. Don’t do layoffs without thinking about it first
4. Don’t use layoffs to deal with other management issues

If you have to perform this task, it is critical that it be performed competently, with compassion and respect for each individual.
Ideally, when you do this, you will be able to tell your associates that the company has done everything it could do to avoid having a layoff. Hopefully, they will know that this is being said with credibility.

Business sometimes has no other alternative, regrettably.

Having said that, I am not a fan of reducing the workweek of all employees before you make a cut if you know the lull in business will be extended. Quoting Mr. Spock from Star Trek, “Sometimes the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one.”

Don’t Act Like Spock at the Layoff Meetings

Checklist of essential tools for doing layoffs the right way

1. Be emotionally available. Don’t put on your Mr. Spock face! When people are being told they are losing their jobs, they are angry, scared, frightened, in short, emotional. They need to know you are emotionally available to them as well. They also need to know that you care. Don’t be afraid to show it, even though the tendency is to avoid it.

2. You need to “stand up’. Don’t try to push the blame off on corporate or some other member of management. In this moment, you are the face of the business. You need to let the associates kill the messenger if need be. (Figuratively, one hopes!)

3. Bring your mega-managerial skills! Be prepared to listen attentively, answer difficult questions, absorb some anger, defuse some conflict.

4. Have answers. Come with as much detail about who, what, when, where and why as you can. Hold group meetings if necessary and then follow up individually until everyone gets the answers they need. Information on severance pay, benefit continuation, separation dates, are other opportunities available are all questions you should be able to answer.

5. Get answers if you don’t have them. Get back to people quickly. Have contact numbers for support staff like health insurance, EAP, unemployment office, 401(k) administrators available in a package.

6. If the reduction is not immediate, take the group temperature frequently. Talk to people, see how they feel.

I hope I never have to do this kind of work again. It isn’t in my current job description.

Michael VanDervort
Human Resources Writer and Consultant
http://humanracehorses.blogspot.com

Tech Attire in today's market

Working with a variety of technology professionals, most rise up from the ranks of engineering related jobs. Engineers are notoriously known for focusing on their designs, products and projects more so than their appearance. Hence the pocket protectors, white socks with black pants, tennis shoes with a suit, and bed-head. As an engineer rises in the ranks of their career, most acclimate a grasp of dressing well – realizing the need to interact with non-technical business professionals. Yet I’m always reminding people of the little fashion faux pas’s that they may overlook – making them appear less professional in a management meeting, client visit, trade event or in a job interview.
Harvey Mackay wrote a good article worth reading – even if you may not be interviewing, there are many gold nuggets of information for looking your best.


“No firm came to symbolize the opulence of the economic boom better than Google. With some "workplaces that feature pool tables and volleyball courts," this Internet giant has bent over backwards to woo top performers. Tough times are upon us all, including this mega-search engine. "Google has also begun chipping away at perks," the Wall Street Journal reported recently. "In recent months, it reduced the hours of its free cafeteria service and suspended the traditional afternoon tea in its New York office."
Just months ago, you could get your foot in the door of many an employment office sporting a tattered sneaker. Talent was king. According to the Department of Labor, more than 10 million people were unemployed in December. Of these, more than 1.2 million lost their jobs between September and November. Overnight, job hunting has become a buyer's market, and employers have turned downright picky about who will be offered a coveted spot on the payroll.
A crisp and businesslike appearance is back as an expectation on the part of many prospective employers. A recent New York Times article announced "The Return of the Interview Suit." It quotes Gloria Mirrione, a managing director of a financial services placement firm: "We are back to a time when every company expected both women and men to wear suits and we didn't have a Casual Friday. . . . They are looking for a sharper style. I recommend a strong suit that says you are collected and ready to work."
The article highlights some critical appearance details. For example, a solid black suit screams attention to dandruff flecks or gray hairs. White shirts should be "pristine" and preferably new. Ladies' tote bags need to provide a professional-looking home for one's BlackBerry. In other words, don't look like you're going camping.
The clothes you wear—and they don't need to be expensive—say a lot about your discipline, taste and social poise. That accepted, the most important thing you need to dress for an interview remains your mind.
Learn everything you can about the company and its immediate needs. Any company hiring in this economy is banking on their new employee making a key contribution immediately. Find out what that is.
Times author Eric Wilson suggests scouting a prospective employer's tastes and expectations before an interview. "The key is to research the corporate culture to learn what a potential boss might expect." I like that research to go well beyond appearance preferences. If your prospective boss is a golf nut or is crazy about symphony music, be prepared to say something sensible about these topics.
Sometimes standing out can win the day. One reader, who was no hockey wizard, got a job as a hockey announcer by suiting up as a goalie in everything from mask to skates.
Rob Donkers, a Canadian educator, recently emailed me that a young woman sewed up a job as a "software programming ninja" when she appeared for the interview in a Japanese warrior costume. For most jobs, though, the button-down look is the better bet.
When you enter an interviewer's office, zero in on memorabilia and personal touches:
• What books are prominently displayed on the shelves? Can you share a comment or two about an important lesson you learned from reading one of the authors?
• Autographed photos and civic or industry awards can be particular points of personal pride. If you can offer some authentic praise or admiration, consider making a passing comment.
• The individual's laptop, monitor or other office equipment can open up a conversational opportunity.
A job interview is fundamentally a sales encounter. People buy from people they like. And people hire people they like. It's that simple. People like people who are genuine, pleasant, sincere, easy to talk with and friendly.
Have a clever story, quote, or anecdote or two in mind that you can slip into the conversation. Something positive and memorable. Billionaire Oprah Winfrey, for example, uses an unforgettable trademark line: "I still have my feet on the ground, I just wear better shoes."
Follow-up a job interview with a handwritten thank-you note. They are essential, especially when they mention how you will fit into the company's culture or help meet its immediate business needs.
Paying attention to how you look can help you get a job. For that matter, it can also help you keep one. With companies trimming right and left, they want to retain people who best present their firm's image.
Mackay's Moral: Dress like a mess and you won't see success.”

Book Review: Smart Networking by Liz Lynch

I’m Gary Perman, a headhunter that owns a boutique firm that provides critical management for technology companies throughout North America.
This is a great book for the novice as well as the experienced networker.
It guides the novice through step by step networking methods as well as
Gives the reasons “why” one networks and the benefits received from networking.
The experienced networker will learn some great advanced networking methods
As well as pick up many nuggets of Gold to use at professional and social events,
On-line, and over the phone. I’ve been networking for years and found this book
Contains a tremendous amount of ideas I could put to use immediately.
This book is well worth your time.

Managing During Tough Times

During the easy times, everybody can make things happen. But tough times, especially economic downturns, require a different approach to managing. In fact, the ability to re-assemble the team and manage the interpersonal conflicts that arise during tough times is seen as a key to survival and growth. But what can you do to maintain morale when tough times strike?
- First, be honest with yourself. Do not end up believing in your own marketing and PR
campaigns. Do not lose your intellectual honesty.
- Second, refocus on your true competitive strategy. Do not overreact to current industry conditions and chase trends. Start by investing in a strength instead of shoring up weaknesses, and do not work on anything where you might be just average. It is important to emerge from tough times without compromising the potential future growth.
- Third, revisit your value metrics and look hard at what you truly need to measure and analyze. Consider what may happen during growth periods, when inexperienced venture teams may be hiring “B” bodies (called “under-hiring”) instead of going after quality “A” team members. Once the growth curve (topline sales) flattens in tough times, these “B” bodies become dead weight and the organization will lose its lift. In such down times entrepreneurs often stay in denial, then not cut deep enough or quick enough. Tentative or partial cuts will only slow the bleeding, not stop it. Do not be afraid to “prune the tree deeper than imagined.” If you need to reduce headcount, make your cuts based on performance, rather than on arbitrary factors like seniority, nepotism, or friendship. Focus on keeping the people who can help you drive value.
- Fourth, you need to create and communicate a positive agenda for your remaining workforce that creates a sense of purpose, and strategic direction for keeping the venture moving forward. It is important to clearly communicate that the decision to retain each of them was based on an objective examination of their contributions to the venture. Make it clear that they are still with you because your management team wants them there.
- Fifth, a reduction in headcount is an excellent time to revise or implement an effectively targeted incentive program. In the middle of tough times, such an effort by the venture team makes it clear to the remaining employees that your venture is looking ahead through lean times and will not be passive in its pursuit of success. In tough times, great teams pull together. Like John Elway’s famous ”drive” during the football game, this action reassures the remaining employees that management not only has a strategy to address the tough times, but more importantly is committed to sharing the upside benefits of achieving that strategy with its people. It is financially sound too, because by relying on incentive programs instead of salary increases, you can motivate targeted behaviors that drive value while simultaneously holding down fixed salary costs.

The weakening economy and turmoil in the U.S. financial system have left employees uneasy in workplaces across the country. How bad will it get? When will it end? As workers fear for their jobs, employers wonder how to make their teams as productive as possible so their companies can survive the crisis with a minimum of damage.

Bad Economy or not…poor management skills cost companies big time

In an article written By Dr. Travis Bradberry “No one influences an employee’s morale and productivity more than his or her supervisor. It’s that simple. Yet, as common as this knowledge may seem, it clearly hasn’t been enough to change the way that managers and organizations treat people.
In a recent survey, 64 percent of managers admit that they need to improve their management skills. When asked where they are supposed to focus, managers overwhelmingly say, “Bringing in the numbers,” and yet managers are most often fired for poor people skills.
Here are some more hard truths we face in the world of work:
• Approximately 50 percent of Americans are dissatisfied with their jobs.
• More than two-thirds of North Americans are actively considering leaving their current job.
• Thirty-two percent of employees spend at least twenty hours per month complaining about their boss.
• Employees whose manager often uses “seagull-type” behaviors are 30 percent more likely to develop coronary heart disease than employees of a manager who rarely exhibits these behaviors.
Few organizations recognize the degree to which managers are the vessels of a company’s culture, and even fewer work diligently, through training and coaching programs, to ensure that their vessels have the knowledge and skills that motivate employees to perform, feel satisfied, and love their jobs.
The Seagull Manager
Seagull managers frustrate and alienate those who need them the most by engaging in three behaviors which are the hallmarks of a disenfranchising and unproductive work environment:
Swooping: Rather than staying current and involved with their team’s performance, seagull managers swoop in on problems only at the last minute.

Squawking: Seagull managers have an unhealthy need for control, which leads to one-sided conversations and orders in the place of advice.
Dumping: People who work for a seagull manager are always waiting for the hammer to drop. Praise is infrequent or nonexistent. Mistakes are punished without constructive feedback or opportunity for improvement.
The Three Virtues of Superior Managers
In the course of my work with organizations large and small, I’ve witnessed a peculiar common trait among the most successful enterprises. These companies step confidently beyond the success strategies of conventional business wisdom—brand strength, strategic leadership, technological innovation, customer service, and the like—to leverage the single greatest resource inside every company: its people.
To date, the TalentSmart Study has analyzed more than 150,000 managers in every industry, at every level of management, and in a wide variety of job functions. We’ve found that superior managers—those who lead their teams to the highest levels of performance and job satisfaction—often share three critical habits. Those three habits are:

1) Set clear expectations: Superior managers ensure that employees’ efforts are spent doing the right things the right way. This means thoroughly exploring what is required of employees, how their performance will be evaluated in the future, and getting agreement and commitment to work toward established goals. There is a big difference between telling people what’s expected of them and making sure that what they’ll be doing is completely understood.

To improve expectation setting, make sure you’re the one explaining what’s expected, and what needs to be done. Don’t pass this responsibility to someone else.
2) Communicate frequently: Observe what employees say and do, and speak openly with them about their work. Delivers the resources, guidance, and recognition your employees need by communicating frequently and in simple terms.

To improve communication, check in with your team frequently and with sincere interest. You can’t help people get results if you don’t know how they’re doing.
3) Attention and feedback: Pay attention to each employee’s performance, and offer praise as frequently and emphatically as you do constructive feedback. Positively reinforce successful endeavors and realign efforts that become misdirected.
To improve employee performance, schedule time in your calendar each day where you focus solely on the needs of your team. Remember, as a manager, your primary purpose is managing people.
Are You A Seagull Manager?
If this article has achieved its purpose, you’ve asked yourself that question at some point along the way. But the real question is, when are you a seagull manager? It would be wonderfully simple—albeit frightening—if we could each be categorized as the “right” or “wrong” kind of manager. We can’t just target “problem” managers, when the reality is that we’re all the problem. That’s right. Every single one of us is a seagull manager sometimes, in some situations, and with some people. The real challenge lies in understanding where your seagull tendencies get the better of you, so that you can fly higher and eliminate the negative influences of seagull behavior.”
Dr. Travis Bradberry is dedicated to the scientific study of individual excellence and company performance serving more than 75 percent of Fortune 500 companies. His new book Squawk! How to Stop Making Noise and Start Getting Results addresses the problem of seagull managers in the workplace.

Upgrading Talent During this Downturn

A downturn can give smart companies a chance to upgrade their talent.

Downturns place companies’ talent strategies at risk. As deteriorating performance forces increasingly aggressive head count reductions, it’s easy to lose valuable contributors inadvertently, damage morale or the company’s external reputation among potential employees, or drop the ball on important training and staff-development programs. But there is a better way. By emphasizing talent in cost-cutting efforts, employers can intelligently strengthen the value proposition they offer current and potential employees and position themselves strongly for growth when economic conditions improve.

Companies can maintain their attractiveness to internal and external talent by using cost-cutting efforts as an opportunity to redesign jobs so that they become more engaging for the people undertaking them. A job’s level of responsibility, degree of autonomy, and span of control all contribute to employee satisfaction. Head count reductions provide a powerful incentive to use existing resources better by breaking down silos and increasing the span of control for challenging managerial roles—thus improving the odds of engaging key talent in the redesigned jobs.

Consider Cisco Systems’ approach to downsizing during the last recession. In 2001, as deteriorating financial performance forced the elimination of 8,500 jobs, Cisco redesigned roles and responsibilities to improve cross-functional alignment and reduce duplication.1 The more collaborative environment fostered by such moves increased workplace satisfaction and productivity for many employees. Initiatives like Cisco’s succeed when companies focus on redesigning jobs and retaining talent at the outset of downsizing efforts.

In addition to redesigning roles, companies cutting jobs should carefully protect training and development programs. These are not only essential to maintaining workplace morale and increasing long-term productivity, but they also give people the skills necessary to carry out redesigned jobs that have greater spans of control. During the last recession, International Paper continued offering classes at its leadership institute by replacing external facilitators with the company’s senior leaders.2 This approach not only reduced the cost of delivery but also, thanks to the involvement of senior leaders, redirected the content of the leadership program by tying it more closely to decisions and skills affecting the company’s current performance. Similarly, IBM retained its employee-development programs during its major performance challenges in the mid- to late 1980s. It took the arrival of Lou Gerstner as CEO and a new strategy to turn the company around, but the historical investments IBM had made in developing its people helped achieve a successful turnaround.

Before undertaking widespread layoffs, companies should use their performance-management processes to help identify strong employees. Companies that conduct disciplined, meritocratic assessments of performance and potential are well placed to make good personnel decisions. These companies should also bring additional strategic considerations to the decisions. They should assess which types of talent drive business value today and which will drive it three years from now, as well as which talent segments are currently available and which will be in the future—keeping in mind, for example, that new MBAs will be equally available in two years. They should also look at which types of talent would take years to replace or develop—for instance, skilled electric utility engineers in an environment where retirements are dramatically reducing supply. Performance management well informed by key strategic questions can minimize the negative cultural impact of downsizing, improve the bottom line, and help identify talented people the company should try to retain.

Companies that are reducing staff must focus relentlessly on the internal cultural and external reputational implications of cost-cutting efforts. Although strong employer brands are resilient, it’s difficult to reestablish brand strength once the culture has been damaged. The way many companies conduct large-scale downsizing decreases efficiency, morale, and motivation on the part of remaining employees. It also increases voluntary turnover among high performers and compromises a company’s ability to attract strong talent in the future, as potential employees wonder how risky it is to take a job there.

Counteracting these tendencies requires creativity. In 2001, Cisco gave generous severance packages and assistance with job searches to the workers it laid off and launched a program that paid one-third of salary, plus benefits and stock options, to ex-employees who agreed to work for a local charity or community organization. Steps like these protected Cisco’s employer brand by attempting to make departing employees feel better about Cisco and underscored the company’s commitment to its people for those who remained. The results were measurable: employee satisfaction remained high, and Cisco retained a prominent spot on Fortune magazine’s “Best Companies to Work For” list.

A strong employer brand is also important for companies undertaking selective recruitment even as they cut personnel costs elsewhere. Using slowdowns to uncover and hire displaced talent is often fruitful. Studies have shown that although overall levels of recruitment may level off or even fall, the quality of workers hired rises in recessions. 3 And opportunities to find and hire displaced talent may be particularly valuable during this downturn, as massive downsizing in the financial-services sector makes available to nonfinancial companies a large pool of highly educated and motivated professionals who previously might not have considered jobs outside their previous employers or industries.

Some organizations are moving surprisingly quickly in response to these opportunities in the talent market. In late October 2008, the US Internal Revenue Service hosted a Manhattan career fair targeted at displaced financial-services professionals. More than 1,300 people attended, many standing in line for three hours to learn more about an employer that offered a newly interesting brand of “job stability.”

Cost cutting during a downturn is often necessary to ensure a company’s current profitability and future competitiveness. Rather than freezing all hiring and employee-development programs, companies should use this period as an opportunity to upgrade talent and better engage existing staff. This means reinvesting a percentage of the capital liberated from cost cutting into, for example, selective recruiting and development programs and in efforts to safeguard the culture and to redesign jobs so that they are more engaging to the remaining employees."

December 2008 • Matthew Guthridge, John R. McPherson, and William J. Wolf
Back to top
Notes

1See Victoria Chang, Jennifer Chatman, and Charles O'Reilly, “Developing a human capital strategy,” California Management Review, 2005, Volume 47, Number 2, pp. 137–67.

2See Jessica Marquez, “Ready for recession,” Workforce Management, April 7, 2008.

3See Paul J. Devereux, “Occupational upgrading and the business cycle,” Labour, 2002, Volume 16, Number 3, pp. 423–52.

No IT Succession Management?

No IT Succession Management? Fire Your Board


The second in a series of the pros and cons of succession management plans for IT executives.

Succession management has been bantered as a topic of interest in companies and IT departments for several years. Recently there has been an increase interest among IT shops as the need for skilled talent becomes more critical.

Succession management is defined as making provisions for the replacement of key people and requires a clear understanding of an organization’s values, mission and strategic plans. It is a proactive approach that ensures continuing leadership by cultivating talent from within the organization through planned development activities.

Companies who ignore the need for succession management planning risk potentially devastating losses to growth and financial profits when any of the following events occur:
• Executives or managers depart from a company because of retirement, termination or death.
• Key performers leave for another company.
• Promotions within a company leave a vacancy without a trained successor to fill the open position.

Considering the importance of being prepared for unexpected staff changes, I would have guessed succession management was a common topic among company managers. I have been surprised to discover that a lack of succession planning is more rampant than I could have believed possible.

According to the National Association of Corporate Directors, 45 percent of companies with gross sales over $500 million still do not have a clear succession plan. Companies earning less than $500 million experienced even lower succession planning. Succession planning is nearly non-existent in startups and small companies.

Companies can experience tremendous financial losses when they are not prepared for the departure of a key employee. Delays in finding a replacement are common. Due to the skilled labor shortages in technology and related professions, the time that is required to achieve successful replacement results has increased from three weeks to three months.

During extended vacancies, projects are delayed, revenues unrealized, accounts lost, innovation stifled, patents gone, overtime costs rise and employee morale drops. If companies want to be effective at filing unplanned vacancies, they must commit to the development of a detailed and progressive succession management plan to ensure that they have the future skills required for corporate sustainability.

The realities of a continued talent crunch and an ever-widening gap between the number of jobless and the number of skilled technical talent are driving more and more companies to making succession management a priority in their companies. “There is no logical reason not to practice succession planning,” says Bill Bliss, an executive leadership development consultant to several public companies. If (corporate boards) don't demand that a plan is in place, the stockholders should fire the board.”
they are leading—family, employees, customers, and other stakeholders.”

Second, the CEO and even his team are often too focused on short-term issues and not focused on longer term issues—again, this can be for selfish reasons.

A third reason Bliss has experienced: CEOs think about succession but rarely share the ideas with others. “This is not a great strategy, as the likely successor does not know the position they are in, nor is the CEO putting that person on an adequate development plan to get them fully ready,” he says.

While the costs of avoiding succession management are significant, the rewards for companies that do practice succession management are even greater. Succession management can be incorporated into any size company from the smallest startup to large corporate giants.

Norbert Kubilus, former COO of National Data Corporation and now CIO at Tatum Partners in San Diego, credits succession management to his rise at his previous employer. And he's taken that lesson to heart in his professional roles. "As a CIO/CTO/COO, I've developed formal succession plans for my team," he says. "Some CIOs may feel threatened by the concept of CIO succession planning ... but developing one or more strong candidates demonstrates that the incumbent CIO is concerned about the continuity of IT leadership and about protecting the company's technology investment."

Succession management also preserves knowledge including intellectual property within a company. “With a lot of intellectual property inside people's heads these days it is important to preserve those heads via a good succession plan," says Manuel Mellos, director of IT at Woolworth’s. "Succession planning may assist in extracting that intellectual property out of those heads as well.”

It's Your Response that Counts

by Jack Canfield

In these troubled economic times, when everywhere you look there's a rumbling of great uncertainty, I think we should all take a pause (and a deep breath) to think about our lives.
Are we moving in the direction we want to be? When things happen in the world that seem so far beyond our individual control, it can feel unsettling. And even though we think we are the masters of our own success, watching the news these days can chip away at our belies.
Even in tough economic times, you get to decide how to respond to certain conditions, opportunities, and outcomes--both good and bad.
While I don't claim to be an economist, I do know one important fact. The economy is the same for everyone, it's how you respond to it that determines how you feel about it.
It's yet another example of what I've been teaching for years. . .
E + R = O
(Events + Responses = Outcome)
The basic idea is that every outcome you experience in life (whether it's success or failure, wealth or poverty, wellness or illness, intimacy or estrangement, joy or frustration) is the result of how you have responded to an earlier event (or events) in your life.
If you don't like the outcomes you are currently experiencing, there are two basic choices you can make:
Choice #1: You can blame the event (E) for your lack of results (O).
In other words, you can blame the economy, the weather, the lack of money, lack of education, racism, gender bias, the current administration in Washington, your wife or husband, your boss's attitude, the lack of support, and so on.
No doubt all these factors exist, but if they were the deciding factor, nobody would ever succeed.
For every reason it's not possible, there are hundreds of people who have faced the same circumstances and have succeeded.
It's not the external conditions and circumstances that stop us -- it's us!
We think limiting thoughts and engage in self-defeating behaviors. We defend our self-destructive habits with indefensible logic.
We ignore useful feedback, fail to continuously educate ourselves and learn new skills, waste time on the trivial aspects of our lives, engage in idle gossip, eat unhealthy food, fail to exercise, spend more than we make, fail to tell the truth, don't ask for what we want, and then wonder why our lives aren't working.
Choice #2: You can, instead, simply change your responses (R) to the events (E) until you get the outcomes (O) you want.
You can change your thinking, change your communication, change the pictures you hold in your head (your images of the world) and you can change your behavior (the things you do). That's all you really have any control over anyway.
Unfortunately, most of us are so engrained in our habits that we never change our behavior.
We get stuck in our conditioned responses - to our spouses and children, to our colleagues at work, to our customers and clients, students and the world at large.
You have to gain control of your thoughts, your images, your dreams and daydreams, and your behavior.
Everything you think, say, and do needs to become intentional and aligned with your purpose, your values, and your goals.
If you don't like your outcomes, change your responses!
Here's an example of how this works...
Do you remember the Northridge earthquake in 1994? I do! I lived through it in Los Angeles.
Two days later I watched as CNN interviewed people commuting to work. The earthquake had damaged one of the main freeways leading into the city. Traffic was at a standstill, and what was normally a 1-hour drive had become a 2-3 hour drive.
The CNN reporter knocked on the window of one of the cars stuck in traffic and asked the driver how he was doing.
He responded, angrily, "I hate California. First there were fires, then floods, and now an earthquake! No matter what time I leave in the morning, I'm late for work. I can't believe it!"
Then the Reporter knocked on the window of the car behind him and asked the driver the same question. This driver was all smiles.
He replied, "It's no problem. I left my house at five am. I don't think under the circumstances my boss can ask for more than that. I have lots of music and Spanish-language tapes with me. I've got my cell phone. Coffee in a thermos, my lunch-I even have a book to read. I'm fine".
Now, if the earthquake or the traffic were really the deciding variables, then everyone should have been angry. But everyone wasn't.
It was their individual response to the traffic that gave them their particular outcome. It was thinking negative thoughts or positive thoughts, leaving the house prepared or leaving the house unprepared that made the difference. It was all a matter of attitude and behavior that created their completely different experiences.
If we all experience the same EVENT, the OUTCOME you get will be totally dependent upon your RESPONSE to the situation.
If you want to take control of how you respond to life, you'll start noticing that your outcomes will be more along the lines of what you have always hoped.
So what can you do?

If you are hunting for a new job: you CAN ConnectWork, find Emerging Opportunities, tap the Network, hit the Recruiters, send Direct Contact letters, capitalize on Ads etc. Focus on that – the rest will take care of itself. The right position is out there, success is right around the corner.
If you are in sales: Now is the time to develop new clients, get to know prospects, ask questions, find out their perspective of the next year. Offer solutions to their needs.