Employees First

Dave Berkus is an accomplished speaker, author and angel investor.  He provides common sense advice to all businesses through his blog, Berkonomics.

His recent post deals with the frustrations of business owners who perceive that government regulations always favor employees.  His advice?  Recognize the realities of the times.

He's right!

Ten Truths for the Boss

Anyone who's read this blog over the years, or who knows me personally, is aware that one of my heroes is Michael Josephson.  Mr. Josephson has commented for years on the relationships between ethics and successful, sustainable business models.  One of his greatest radio commentaries discusses "10 Truths for the Boss", which I've put here:

Why is it that most employees think their bosses are at least a little out of touch? Probably because they are. Even those who worked their way to the top lose some credibility and effectiveness because they don't recognize what I call Ten Truths for the Boss:

1. The more certain you are that "it can't happen here," the more likely it is that it will. Be careful about overconfidence and complacency.
2. There are lots of things you don't know, and lots of people who hope you don't find out. Hardly anybody tells you the whole truth anymore. Information is filtered through the fears and career aspirations of subordinates, and many employees believe you will "kill the messenger" if they deliver bad news so they tell you what they think you want to hear.
3. To those who want to please you, your whisper is a yell and your comments are commands. Be careful, people may do foolish things to please you.
4. What you allow, you encourage.
5. There's never just one bad employee; there's the employee and the manager who keeps him.
6. At least someone who works for you is "gaming" the system so they appear to reach their business objectives with smoke and mirrors rather than real achievement.
7. According to the law of big numbers, if you have lots of employees, you probably have a few crooks and psychopaths working for you.
8. Few people think as highly of your ethics as you do.
9. No matter how many good things you do, you will be judged by your last worst act.
10. No matter what your job description says, what matters most is how you manage relationships and people.

The Josephson Institute of Ethics website is here.

To follow Mr. Josephson on Facebook, click here.

To follow Mr. Josephson on Twitter, click here.

Firing an "At-Will" Employee

Gina Madsen is one of the really bright small business attorneys in Nevada.  She recently asked me to write an article on a 'real-life' situation - and I chose the concept of firing an at-will employee.

Even though most states abide by at-will concepts (you can fire an employee at any time for any reason - other than a few exceptions), there are many compliance and management principles that should be followed.

Here's the blog on her great website - http://www.madsenlawoffice.com/

The Art of Persuasion

It's always a little strange to see your thoughts in writing - especially if they're being written by someone else.

I was recently interviewed by students at the USC Marshall School of Business - they are candidates for Master's degrees in Leadership and Management.  The focus of the interview was how to persuade employees to see your point of view.

Here's the paper (and I didn't edit at all!)

Background:  Eric Swenson has over 20 years of experience in management, sales, training and marketing. He has managed hundreds of employees and interviewed over 2,000 people in his career. RSJ/Swenson LLC is a management and human resources consulting firm with offices in California and Nevada.

Interview Summary: Eric shared his insightful thoughts about the leadership and persuasion. For Eric, persuasion is a natural process and he prefers soft tactics. He is always honest to his superiors and subordinates. Eric believes that effective leaders are very expressive when they come to everybody. They are very candid and direct and these personal traits play a key role for persuasion process. According to Eric, the three most important aspects for managing up and down are communication, openness, and setting a positive tone that focuses on the end result.

Persuasion Strategies:

• Self Persuasion: “If you were in my position, how would you handle my problem?”
• You should let team members identify the solutions on their own. You also remind them why they live in the same organization. This especially helps you deal with some conflicts with your members.
• Logical reasoning: 
• You use facts, figures, and belief that your idea is correct. You also consider the goals, needs, and interests of your subordinates/superiors you’re trying to persuade. The more they see an idea can help them, the more likely they are to help you.
• Persuasion Tactics: 
• Collaboration: You need to work with your subordinates, not at them, in order to get them to enthusiastically support your requests. You collaborate with team members, rather than using authority. You don’t need to overuse that power. The relationship based on the trust is a key for the collaboration.
• Communication/Honesty: You should facilitate communication and be very honest to your people.
• Improving Persuasive Skills: Appeal to the subject’s self-interest: You make it sure that what you need align with their best interests.
• Present strong evidence to support your views/positions: You do intensive research and show the team members an idea that will likely work.
• Establish credibility: You’re more likely to persuade your subordinates when trust and respect you. You promise to take the blame if it does not go well. This leads you to build up the trust and respect you’re your subordinates.
• Make your objectives clear: You should get your team understand what you are doing and why are why you are doing that.

Other key factors:
Decision making is a collective effort: As a leader, you have to be honest to your team members. If you found you made a wrong decision, you would change the decision. There is nothing wrong with admitting a mistake.

Employee Communication is a 2-Way Street

The most frequent criticism of management, in every 360 survey we’ve done (and seen on a national basis) is

“I don’t get enough feedback from my boss.”

- or -

"My boss(es) is/are not good at communicating.”

I believe that communication is the crucial component in managing people.

And I agree that most managers and leaders don’t do a good job at communication.

One of the best bosses I ever had was the Training Manager at a large company. He trained me when I started years before. I eventually became a trainer. Chris spent time watching me train and really left me alone. But I had no idea what he though of my performance.

I finally asked him what he thought, and he said, “You’re the best trainer I have, and one of the best I’ve ever seen.”

That was flattering, but I asked him for his suggestions for improvement, and he gave me a few which really helped me.

Chris told me his attitude was “If you’re doing well, I don’t need to talk to you.”

His mistake, which he corrected after this conversation, was that I didn’t know what he thought of my performance.

Implicit in the failure of managers to properly communicate is the failure of employees to “manage up”. Managers cannot simply divine, through ESP, what an employee wants and needs; it’s equally incumbent upon employees to ask and tell their manager what they’re looking for as well.

A good manager will always welcome the chance to find out what their employees need.

So – if you’re an employee who’s unhappy with the lack of feedback, or feels that communication is poor – make sure to ask your boss! You’ll be surprised that your boss didn’t know that was an issue, and the best bosses will take your information and be able to transform your employment experience.

Employee Morale: The leading predictor of future growth and profitability

...or so says Roxanne Emmerich, author of "Thank God It's Monday: How to Create a Workplace You and Your Customers Love."I have no reason to disagree with her.

In this economy, there are fewer employees doing more work.  And for those employees who are unhappy - and there are legions - there are no other jobs to get.

While the economy begins to recover but job creation a long long way away, it's time to find out what to do in order to improve morale in your workplace.

Give 'em training, self-improvement courses, or survey your employees to find out what they want.

When this economy recovers, the last thing you'll need is to have all your employees looking for another job.

Leading People In A Down Economy

Yes, the economy is slow to recover and things are tough all over.

But now the workforce cuts have largely been made and the question for business owners is – how do I do more with less?

The following are two major trends I’ve noted in working with small businesses (generally less than 200 employees) in the western United States:

EMPLOYEES HAVE TRANSFORMED THEIR MENTALITY…
A few years ago, the typical employee had an ‘entitlement’ mentality – they felt their employer was lucky to have him or her. Unhappy employees could (and did) pick up and leave for a better opportunity at the first sign of disappointment. The typical attitude was not that of a team player – but as an individual who is owed a promotion, salary increases and more attention. This was nowhere more apparent than the “Generation Y” workforce.

Now, things have changed completely on its axis. Everyone has worked with people and are friends with people who have lost their jobs with little hope for a similar compensation program in a future job. As a result, employees now feel privileged to have their job. Everyone knows that layoffs have been pervasive, and they could be the next to go. This will result – if managed properly – in employees who will complain less, work harder, and become more appreciative of the job they have.

BUT THEY ARE REALLY, REALLY UNHAPPY…

Employees are simply grateful to have a job right now, but that doesn’t mean they’re happy in their job. A survey from Adecco North America, released just this week, shows:

• Two-thirds (66 percent) of American workers are not currently satisfied with their compensation.
• 76 percent are not satisfied about future career growth opportunities at their company.
• Almost half (48 percent) of workers are not satisfied with the relationship they have with their boss and 59 percent saying they are not satisfied with the level of support they receive from their colleagues.

Workers are also critical of their organization’s brain trust, with 77 percent saying that they are not satisfied with the strategy and vision of their company and its leadership.

We’ve noticed the number of complaints from workers are way down. People are still being harassed and discriminated against, but they’re afraid to complain because of fear of job loss.

By the way, most large companies have laid off more employees than small companies; that’s because it’s easier to lay off workers at bigger businesses because employees at smaller companies typically perform multiple tasks.

That means when the economy starts kicking into gear, and there are more job opportunities, those employees are going to either leave or file major complaints.

WHAT TO DO?

Lead. The number one thing that business owners and managers can do is actually lead. You're a leader. You are on stage. You're not allowed to show frustration or weakness. Leaders lead - they say "here is the way I believe we need to go," and then go. This is the attitude you must take when managing change. Virtually any change breeds opportunity - the key is finding the opportunity and act on it.

Communicate. It is imperative that frequent and clear communication lead the way to your success. There is fear in the marketplace. Employees are wondering if you’re going to cut staff, perquisites, and their free coffee. Employees are heavily invested in the success of the business, and they have a right to know what you’re doing. Even saying, “I don’t know” is preferable to not communicating. And it’s more than a memo or company-wide e-mail; managers and supervisors must be empowered to candidly talk with their staffs as well.

Performance Management. If you're maximizing the people you have, you won't need so many people! You can get more done with fewer people by knowing what your people do best. Evaluate your talent. Carefully consider your need for every one of your employees. Most businesses are not maximizing each and every employee they have. There are techniques available to ensure talent maximization – so find and replicate your best performers.

In 2009, the business owner and leader who has the ability to honestly evaluate talent, performance and make the decisions necessary to sustain the business not just in the short term, but for the long term, is the leader who will be highly successful both this year and beyond.

Training New Managers

Most managers get that role because they're the hardest worker; the best salesperson; or the smartest person in the office.

But those traits don't translate into being an effective manager.  That's where screening, development, and - most importantly - training - comes into play.

A new article in HR Executive Online discusses how and why to get managers properly trained as well as establishing metrics for success.

And yes, I'm quoted in the article.

Thanks to Scott Westcott and HR Exec Online

Management & Leadership Trends 2nd Half 2009

Last week, I gave a presentation in Las Vegas on what I perceive to be the significant trends for managers and leaders during the last half of this year - check it out!

Management Leadership Trends 2nd Half 2009

View more OpenOffice presentations from Eric Swenson.

Avoiding EFCA and Leading Better

The EFCA is designed to make it easier for employees to organize into a union. Although the bill has lost some momentum recently, the possibility of your business turning into a union shop is stronger now than at any time since the NRLB was enacted in 1935.

If you don't want your workforce subject to the demands of a union, what do you do?

In 2008, Kenexa Research Institute published a report of a study made of 10,000 U.S. workers. Each participant was asked to agree or disagree with a list of statements about their employers. A significant percentage of those favoring unions responded negatively. Although there were also negative responses from the employees who were not in favor of unions, the number of negative responses was substantially lower. The following are statements for which the “pro-union” employees had a significantly more negative view as compared with employees who did not favor unions:

1. My organization shows a commitment to ethical business decisions and conduct.
2. I have confidence in my company's senior leaders.
3. When my company's senior management says something, you can believe it is true.
4. Where I work, ethical issues and concerns can be discussed without negative consequences.
5. My manager treats me fairly.
6. Senior management is committed to providing high quality products and services to external customers.
7. My company enables people from diverse backgrounds to excel.
8. My manager treats me with respect and dignity.
9. Management shows concern for the well-being and morale of team members.
10. Senior management demonstrates that employees are important to the success of the company.
11. I feel free to try new things on my job, even though my efforts may not succeed.
12. My company supports employees' efforts to balance work and family/personal responsibilities.

How do you know if your employees agree or disagree with those statements? Many employers believe wrongly that their employees are satisfied, but with little evidence to back that up. Remember, employees will tell you what they think you want to hear.

Get an employee assessment/360 degree survey done right away. At a minimum, it will provide a road map to show you how to improve your business.

And at most, it may help you avoid unionization of your workers.

Ways To Improve Morale

In the down economy, with layoffs all over the place, its critical for management to take steps to maintain and improve morale of their existing employees. After all, you need your existing employees to do more now that there are fewer people to do the work.

How do you increase morale when budgets are so tight?

The key is constant, frequent, and candid communication with employees. They deserve to know what's going on and what you're doing about this frightening economy.

An excellent summation (including, thankfully, the call for transparency and communication) is found in this Wall Street Journal post about a case study at a company in Boston - Greenough Communications.

Why Do I Root For Troubled People?

People who have amazing and unique talents fascinate me. Yet so many of those people have problems and issues that their talent can go to waste.

Do we forgive or do we forget?

Two such people are in the news these days - Manny Ramirez and Artie Lange.

Their similarities might surprise you - both have insane talent; both have battled substances; and even Lange (while you might not notice it today) was an All-League Shortstop at Union High School in New Jersey. Both are making incredible amounts of money - Ramirez, about $20 million per year for the Dodgers, and Lange - at least a couple of million a year doing standup comedy and serving as Howard Stern's invariable foil and sidekick on Sirius XM Radio.

Ramirez' troubles have been extensively noted. Lange has battled cocaine (and won) and heroin (an ongoing fight). Ramirez, after infuriating the Boston Red Sox and their fans with boorish antics - was literally given to the Dodgers despite his amazing offensive prowess.

Lange, who is trying desperately to get off of heroin, has missed several days of work on the Stern show; had to cancel a major gig at the Comedy Central Bob Saget Roast (ironically, it was Saget who gave Lange his comeback opportunity when casting him in Dirty Work).

The classic manager in me says they're not worth the trouble. They should be fired or given ultimatums - clean up or your out the next time.

But the human in me recognizes how few people possess the talent that Ramirez and Lange have - Ramirez at 36 already has Hall of Fame numbers, and Lange's legion of fans are notoriously loyal to a man who's appetites have spawned websites such as savebabygorilla.com and artielangedeathwatch.com.

Both are tinkering with losing what's most important to them - their core consitutency, their fans. How long can they expect to keep loyal fans with their screw-ups.

What's worse, and perhaps what makes them more empathetic, is that I don't think either can help themselves. It's easy to write a blog and tell Manny no more banned substances, or tell Artie to shut up, quit drugs and booze cold turkey, and show up to work.

There are demons there, and until they are completely conquered, the demons may end up destroying a talent the precious few of us have.

If you're a manager - do they stay or do they go?

Leading During Difficult Times, Part 3

In previous posts, we've discussed leading during difficult times. It's about making hard decisions and communicating them effectively.

Some new studies are now showing issues that leaders and HR departments should immediately address.

Employees across the country reportedly spend an average of nearly three hours a day worrying about their job security, according to a telephone survey of approximately 1,000 U.S. workers commissioned by the firm Lynn Taylor Consulting.

Bosses might be exacerbating employees’ fear by one simple action—staying behind closed doors; 76 percent of employees responding to this survey said that when faced with this scenario unexpectedly, it triggers thoughts of being laid off.

Now, it's about effectively managing those who stay after reductions in force. The concept that 'we must do more with less' needs to have a process in place to make sure it happens.

Workforce Training Myths

A terrific list of workforce training myths from Vince Grassi, the director of global learning and knowledge management at Air Products, as quoted by John Teresko in Industry Week:

Myths of workforce training:

1. If you build it, they will come.
2. When times are tough, training is the first thing you should cut.
3. Just build Web-based (e-learning) courses. It's cheaper.
4. All training must be done in an instructor-based classroom setting in order to be valuable and important knowledge.
5. Once learners go through training, the manager never needs to find out how they are applying what they learned.
6. It is always better to look for your own local vendor. National, regional or global contractors involve too much internal bureaucracy, and they don't understand your special problems.
7. Sending people on a training course will solve all performance problems and development needs.
8. It will be obvious to a skilled trainer what each class participant needs so there is no need to discuss it in advance.
9. I've done presentations. Professional trainers make out that it is far more difficult than it really is.
10. We don't need a university -- we have a learning management system.

The most important part of workforce training - whether you conduct it in-house or use a consultant - is to understand that training is not an event, it's a process. A training course by itself cannot provide the sustainability needed to allow the trained concepts to fully integrate throughout your organization. Follow up is always needed.

Can A Manager Be Too Nice?

Of course he/she can. And just like raising a child, a parent or manager needs to set clear parameters and goals.

So what happens when a manager is too nice? Alison Green writes in U.S. News that there are four immediate issues from an employee perspective (the italicized comments are mine):

• The boss won't make hard decisions or have hard conversations. That's true. But managers are there to make the hard decisions. That's why their paid more.
• You'll have a slacker working at the next desk over. There are always employees who attempt to do as little as possible. A nice manager avoids confrontation with that employee - which often results in everyone lowering their performance standards.
• You'll receive fuzzy, unclear messages. Managers need to be directive and establish expectations early in the employment cycle. Most importantly, managers must follow up to ensure their expectations are met.
• You won't get useful feedback. Good bosses tell employees how they can grow and develop, which necessarily entails pointing out things they could be doing differently, something too-nice managers often find awkward. Another trait all good managers must have is the ability to help their employees develop. Candid feedback is the only way to accomplish this.

Alison Green also writes a wonderful, succinct advice column for managers. I love her thoughts. You can see them here: http://askamanager.blogspot.com/

You Know You're A Bad Boss When...

Comedian Jeff Foxworthy created a cottage industry when he started saying, "You know you're a redneck when..."

This post talks about a similar awareness: "You Know You're A Bad Boss When..."

And awareness is the key component. Employees will always tell you what they think you want to hear. If you aren't completely aware of what's going on in your workplace, then you're failing as a manager.

The other key component in awareness is to be completely honest with yourself when assessing your strengths and weaknesses. It takes a courageous manager to ask employees what is good and bad about his or her management style. (A 180-degree survey is also helpful, and most managers are rightfully scared to death of them).

Steve Wyrostek, the Chicago Small Business Strategies Examiner (www.examiner.com), wrote a recent article that inspired my post. Among his excellent thoughts:

You just might be a poor boss if ….

• You claim an open door policy and wonder why no one comes through that door.
• Your employee has to ask you why her check increased instead of you telling her prior to payday that you gave her a raise.
• You feel sorry for the Dabney Coleman character in the movie “9 to 5”
• The turnover percentage in your area is the same as the winning percentage of the White Sox.
• Your leadership role models are Machiavelli, General Patton and Atilla the Hun.
• You find a copy of A Survival Guide for Working With Bad Bosses: Dealing With Bullies, Idiots, Back-stabbers, And Other Managers from Hell by Gini Graham Scotton an employee’s desk.
• You have a budget of 30k to spend on employee bonuses and never use it.
• You think it’s good management to come in under the paltry 3.5% budget available for salary increases.
• You think that losing your temper is an indication of management strength.

Remember, being honest with yourself is the first, most important step in improving both your skills and performance - and those who work for you.

The Dangers of E-mails in the Workplace

There is no such thing as an innocent e-mail in the workplace. While people believe it's electronic and potentially harmless, e-mails live in storage forever, and often are resurrected by lawyers when it comes to employee litigation.

In a recent newsletter, Fisher & Phillips attorney Tillman Coffey top lines the reasons why e-mails are so dangerous. We've also written about it here and here.

There are several reasons why both managers and employees should re-thinking sending an e-mail hitting the "Send" button:

1. E-mails about employees are discoverable. Comments on an employees performance (including comments whether they are too old, or sick, or ineffective) are actionable. Lawyers love to see these e-mails.
2. Among the most common problems in e-mail: Messages that create a sexist, racist or hostile work environment, note experts. One e-mail message that made the rounds at Chevron in 1999 was titled "25 reasons why beer is better than women," Flynn said. Four female executives used it as evidence of a hostile work environment and were awarded $2.2 million.
3. The tone of an e-mail is easily misconstrued (using all CAPS, for example).

Before sending an e-mail, take a breath. Ask yourself if you'd like to answer questions about it in front of a jury.

Make sure to get an e-mail policy included in your handbook.

And remember, hitting the send button memorializes your comments forever.

Tardiness on the Rise

So 20% of American workers are late to work at least once a week.

In an era where jobs are becoming more and more precious (and conversely, layoffs are becoming more common) - it's disturbing to think that 1 in 5 workers think so little of their jobs that they're willing to gamble on being late once a week.

The usual culprits are excuses: traffic, dealing with children or pets, etc.

I am beginning to advise employers of the benefits of a high employment rate - that is, you can get a much more qualified worker now than ever before. And if that worker has been out of a job, they will be more loyal, work harder, and improve your productivity.

Jobs are scarce. Workers had better value their job (and show up on time), because there are many people out there who would take that job more seriously.

Management & Leadership Trends 2009

My recent article generated enough interest that I recently turned it into a presentation. Here it is in PowerPoint format.

Management & Leadership Trends 2009

View more presentations from Eric Swenson.

Creating Value For Your Employees

In the last two employer assessment surveys we conducted for medium-sized businesses (both since the recession started) - both employers were ranked very low by their employees with the statement "I know what my benefits are". In addition, employees felt their benefits package was inferior.

One way small businesses can manage those issues (which go directly to morale and performance) is to communicate precisely what those benefits are worth to each employee. In fact, we're designing those communications for those clients right now.

The best communication tool I've seen in this area in a long time comes from Jessica Lee, an HR executive with APCO Worldwide, and blogger at Fistful of Talent and now her own blog.

Take a look how she designed the compensation summary - it's clear, concise, and communicates not only what is included in the employee's benefits package but the dollar value on what it costs the company.

Beautiful