It's Friday, poetry day once more. I like poems that describe ordinary life or those that paint fantastic pictures of events that could never happen, like ordinary life with unusual characters and events. The last time I featured the work of James Tate, on August 15, he was writing about a dog who was so helpful and well behaved during his life, he was reincarnated as a person, with depressing results. Here’s another of Tate’s animal poems; this time it’s about a goat and it's a bit more optimistic.
It Happens Like This by James Tate
I was outside St. Cecelia's Rectory
smoking a cigarette when a goat appeared beside me.
It was mostly black and white, with a little reddish
brown here and there. When I started to walk away,
it followed. I was amused and delighted, but wondered
what the laws were on this kind of thing. There's
a leash law for dogs, but what about goats? People
smiled at me and admired the goat. "It's not my goat,"
I explained. "It's the town's goat. I'm just taking
my turn caring for it." "I didn't know we had a goat,"
one of them said. "I wonder when my turn is." "Soon,"
I said. "Be patient. Your time is coming." The goat
stayed by my side. It stopped when I stopped. It looked
up at me and I stared into its eyes. I felt he knew
everything essential about me. We walked on. A police-
man on his beat looked us over. "That's a mighty
fine goat you got there," he said, stopping to admire.
"It's the town's goat," I said. "His family goes back
three-hundred years with us," I said, "from the beginning."
The officer leaned forward to touch him, then stopped
and looked up at me. "Mind if I pat him?" he asked.
"Touching this goat will change your life," I said.
"It's your decision." He thought real hard for a minute,
and then stood up and said, "What's his name?" "He's
called the Prince of Peace," I said. "God! This town
is like a fairy tale. Everywhere you turn there's mystery
and wonder. And I'm just a child playing cops and robbers
forever. Please forgive me if I cry." "We forgive you,
Officer," I said. "And we understand why you, more than
anybody, should never touch the Prince." The goat and
I walked on. It was getting dark and we were beginning
to wonder where we would spend the night.
From Lost River by James Tate, published by Sarabande Books, Inc
Friday, September 19, 2008
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Real world hiring strategies.
• The core values that Hewlett-Packard identified for high performance include: continuous process improvement, flexibility, teamwork and continuous learning. When H-P set up a new plant in Puerto Rico, the company brought people in for interviews in groups of twenty at a time. First, they filled out applications. Then, the recruiters asked them to look carefully at the application form, and to think about how it might be improved (continuous improvement). Then, they formed teams to summarize their suggestions (teamwork). Reforming into different teams (flexibility), they conferred and reported what they’d learned so far in the hiring process (continuous learning). Every applicant went through this sequence four or five times. Finally, the recruiters asked, “Do you notice something different going on here? What message do you think we’re trying to get across to you?” One H-P manager noted, “They then told us about the core values. We didn’t have to tell them. It’s important to be explicit about what you’re doing, the way you design your culture. You don’t get there by default.“
• At the Gates Rubber plant in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, all job applicants went through a five-step screening and interviewing process. First, they had a general interview with people from the personnel department. Three days later, someone else from personnel interviewed them a second time, to verify information and impressions from the first meeting. The third step consisted of a group interview with the plant manager and two other people from different parts of the plant who evaluated communication skills, work attitudes and general confidence level. Since teams perform all the work in the plant, these interviews also explored the applicant’s ability to respond well in a group setting.
If this panel approved the candidate, the personnel department conducted an intensive reference check. Candidates whose references checked out then come back for a final meeting which lasted a couple of hours and usually took place on a weekend so the candidate’s spouse or significant other could attend. During this meeting, the plant manager and two other people from the plant reviewed its policies, practices and benefits, showed a video on Gates Rubber’s history, and discussed what it meant to join a high-performance company.
Each step in the interview process tried to surface the kinds of problems that might otherwise show up only after the company had hired someone. Given the costs of quality mistakes, injuries, work slowdowns from incompetence, and overtime, Gates believed that its investment in hiring paid off. The Siloam Springs plant had an eight percent annual turnover rate versus 100% in a comparable plant in town owned by another company.
• At the Gates Rubber plant in Siloam Springs, Arkansas, all job applicants went through a five-step screening and interviewing process. First, they had a general interview with people from the personnel department. Three days later, someone else from personnel interviewed them a second time, to verify information and impressions from the first meeting. The third step consisted of a group interview with the plant manager and two other people from different parts of the plant who evaluated communication skills, work attitudes and general confidence level. Since teams perform all the work in the plant, these interviews also explored the applicant’s ability to respond well in a group setting.
If this panel approved the candidate, the personnel department conducted an intensive reference check. Candidates whose references checked out then come back for a final meeting which lasted a couple of hours and usually took place on a weekend so the candidate’s spouse or significant other could attend. During this meeting, the plant manager and two other people from the plant reviewed its policies, practices and benefits, showed a video on Gates Rubber’s history, and discussed what it meant to join a high-performance company.
Each step in the interview process tried to surface the kinds of problems that might otherwise show up only after the company had hired someone. Given the costs of quality mistakes, injuries, work slowdowns from incompetence, and overtime, Gates believed that its investment in hiring paid off. The Siloam Springs plant had an eight percent annual turnover rate versus 100% in a comparable plant in town owned by another company.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
How to use phone interviews in recruiting.
Use a phone interview to save time and to decide if it’s worth meeting with the candidate in person. Make sure it addresses initiative, talent, span of control, team and management issues, and interest.
Start by spend two minutes describing the company, the job, and who you are. Then ask:
Please give me a quick overview of your present situation and a general overview of how your background fits our needs.
Please give me a quick overview of your current / most recent company and position, and describe the biggest impact or change you’ve made there.
Give me an example where you’ve demonstrated initiative.
Describe how your department was organized, and who you reported to.
Tell me how you developed and managed your work group,
or
Tell me about some team project you were engaged in and describe your role.
Please describe your most significant individual accomplishment (typically a one-time event, such as an analytical or technical study, or a special project).
Please describe your most significant management or team project and clearly define your role.
One of our critical success factors is……………..Can you describe where you've had a comparable success?
When interviewing, ask the candidate for two or three examples for each question, and make sure you understand the context of each example. Look for indications of high initiative in every answer. Probe the answers for the why, when, how and what. Get all the details - size, scope, complexity, effort, issues, dates, and references. Asking for references from the very beginning discourages people from exaggerating or making things up.
For more information, read You're Not the Person I Hired by Barry Deutsch and Brad Remillard.
Start by spend two minutes describing the company, the job, and who you are. Then ask:
Please give me a quick overview of your present situation and a general overview of how your background fits our needs.
Please give me a quick overview of your current / most recent company and position, and describe the biggest impact or change you’ve made there.
Give me an example where you’ve demonstrated initiative.
Describe how your department was organized, and who you reported to.
Tell me how you developed and managed your work group,
or
Tell me about some team project you were engaged in and describe your role.
Please describe your most significant individual accomplishment (typically a one-time event, such as an analytical or technical study, or a special project).
Please describe your most significant management or team project and clearly define your role.
One of our critical success factors is……………..Can you describe where you've had a comparable success?
When interviewing, ask the candidate for two or three examples for each question, and make sure you understand the context of each example. Look for indications of high initiative in every answer. Probe the answers for the why, when, how and what. Get all the details - size, scope, complexity, effort, issues, dates, and references. Asking for references from the very beginning discourages people from exaggerating or making things up.
For more information, read You're Not the Person I Hired by Barry Deutsch and Brad Remillard.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Tips for effective hiring.
1. Create a compelling vision of the job that includes a list of performance expectations. Present the job as a significant and exciting long-term opportunity. That way, candidates will want to sell you about their skills, instead of you having to sell them.
2. Don't talk about money before the interview. Delay any discussion of a salary range until after the first meeting or when you invite the candidate back for a second one. Use their acceptance of a salary range as their ticket to come back for another interview.
3. Don't oversell the merits of the job. You may think you can sell or charm a candidate into taking a job - but this isn't recruiting. While you need to convince the candidate to take the job, you're not likely to do this with a superficial sales pitch.
4. Talk about the merits of the job in one-minute sound bites before each question. To do this successfully, you'll need a complete understanding of the job, as well as an awareness of the candidate's suitability for it.
5. Create an opportunity gap. Paint a picture of what the candidate will learn by taking the job and do this before you've asked too many questions.
6. Test a candidate's interest throughout the process by asking challenging questions.
7. The more interviews you have, the more the candidate has a vested interest in accepting your offer.
8. Test all offers before making them formal. Ask, "What would you think about an offer of $___?" The worst thing you can do is to extend an untested offer and then wait for a response. If you hear "I have to think about it," it means you've moved too fast and lost control of the process. You want candidates to think about it when you're in control, well before the offer is actually made.
9. Practice active listening. Let the candidate talk freely when responding to fact-finding questions as this demonstrates your interest in him or her as a candidate.
10. Stay in touch. Follow up with the candidate every few days after the offer is accepted.
Recruiting is more marketing than selling. If you over-sell, over-talk, and under-listen, you'll either lose the best candidates or pay them too much.
The above comments are edited from Stay in the Buyer’s Seat! by Lou Adler.
2. Don't talk about money before the interview. Delay any discussion of a salary range until after the first meeting or when you invite the candidate back for a second one. Use their acceptance of a salary range as their ticket to come back for another interview.
3. Don't oversell the merits of the job. You may think you can sell or charm a candidate into taking a job - but this isn't recruiting. While you need to convince the candidate to take the job, you're not likely to do this with a superficial sales pitch.
4. Talk about the merits of the job in one-minute sound bites before each question. To do this successfully, you'll need a complete understanding of the job, as well as an awareness of the candidate's suitability for it.
5. Create an opportunity gap. Paint a picture of what the candidate will learn by taking the job and do this before you've asked too many questions.
6. Test a candidate's interest throughout the process by asking challenging questions.
7. The more interviews you have, the more the candidate has a vested interest in accepting your offer.
8. Test all offers before making them formal. Ask, "What would you think about an offer of $___?" The worst thing you can do is to extend an untested offer and then wait for a response. If you hear "I have to think about it," it means you've moved too fast and lost control of the process. You want candidates to think about it when you're in control, well before the offer is actually made.
9. Practice active listening. Let the candidate talk freely when responding to fact-finding questions as this demonstrates your interest in him or her as a candidate.
10. Stay in touch. Follow up with the candidate every few days after the offer is accepted.
Recruiting is more marketing than selling. If you over-sell, over-talk, and under-listen, you'll either lose the best candidates or pay them too much.
The above comments are edited from Stay in the Buyer’s Seat! by Lou Adler.
Monday, September 15, 2008
Selecting and hiring great employees.
A company policy that often needs redesign is the selection and hiring of new employees.
Hiring good people is like getting married - if you do it right, you don’t have to do it often. The first rule of staff degradation is that people who rank a seven on a scale of one to ten usually hire people who rank a five or a six. Aim to break that rule, and never hire anyone you wouldn’t want to work for. An organization’s hiring process should be consistent with the values it wants to live by, so start with that end in mind.
If you’re in a situation of excessive risk, hire someone who's already learned to shave on someone else’s beard. Hire the management team you think you’ll need five years from now if everything works out. Hire people who share your vision and agree with your business principles (make sure these are clear to the people being recruited). Have the best candidates spend time with the people they’re going to be working with. Hire backups for key people; the biggest weakness in smaller companies is often a lack of bench strength.
Options to improve employee selection typically include:
• Change hiring requirements to place greater emphasis on personal values and a willingness to learn, in addition to assessing current credentials and past experience.
• Use work simulations to assess a job applicant’s attitudes and skills.
• Involve those who will work with the new employees in their selection.
In considering these ideas, it’s important to bear in mind that staffing for high-performance requires hiring people who are assertive, ambitious, and have an expansive attitude toward work and life. Current employees should participate in choosing the candidates because it develops their ownership for the success of new employees. In the long run, time spent screening and scrutinizing potential staff should pay off handsomely in terms of commitment, loyalty and service to customers. A formal buddy system, pairing new hires with veteran employees, helps to get people up-to-speed quickly once they're hired.
Skills can always be taught on the job, but attitude is pretty well hard-wired in people and is difficult, if not impossible, to change. As a result Southwest Airlines interviews are full of questions designed to expose an applicant's personality, congeniality, style, and coping skills. Typical questions include 'Describe a situation in which you handled a crisis at work' and 'Give an example of when you were able to change a co-worker's attitude about something.' The right answer is an expansive one, a well-told tale, and it's crucial that the applicant demonstrate a sense of humor. Southwest used to also ask interviewees point-blank to tell a joke.
I'll provide some more innovative and successful examples of hiring processes tomorrow.
Hiring good people is like getting married - if you do it right, you don’t have to do it often. The first rule of staff degradation is that people who rank a seven on a scale of one to ten usually hire people who rank a five or a six. Aim to break that rule, and never hire anyone you wouldn’t want to work for. An organization’s hiring process should be consistent with the values it wants to live by, so start with that end in mind.
If you’re in a situation of excessive risk, hire someone who's already learned to shave on someone else’s beard. Hire the management team you think you’ll need five years from now if everything works out. Hire people who share your vision and agree with your business principles (make sure these are clear to the people being recruited). Have the best candidates spend time with the people they’re going to be working with. Hire backups for key people; the biggest weakness in smaller companies is often a lack of bench strength.
Options to improve employee selection typically include:
• Change hiring requirements to place greater emphasis on personal values and a willingness to learn, in addition to assessing current credentials and past experience.
• Use work simulations to assess a job applicant’s attitudes and skills.
• Involve those who will work with the new employees in their selection.
In considering these ideas, it’s important to bear in mind that staffing for high-performance requires hiring people who are assertive, ambitious, and have an expansive attitude toward work and life. Current employees should participate in choosing the candidates because it develops their ownership for the success of new employees. In the long run, time spent screening and scrutinizing potential staff should pay off handsomely in terms of commitment, loyalty and service to customers. A formal buddy system, pairing new hires with veteran employees, helps to get people up-to-speed quickly once they're hired.
Skills can always be taught on the job, but attitude is pretty well hard-wired in people and is difficult, if not impossible, to change. As a result Southwest Airlines interviews are full of questions designed to expose an applicant's personality, congeniality, style, and coping skills. Typical questions include 'Describe a situation in which you handled a crisis at work' and 'Give an example of when you were able to change a co-worker's attitude about something.' The right answer is an expansive one, a well-told tale, and it's crucial that the applicant demonstrate a sense of humor. Southwest used to also ask interviewees point-blank to tell a joke.
I'll provide some more innovative and successful examples of hiring processes tomorrow.
Friday, September 12, 2008
Smart, a poem by Shel Silverstein
It's Friday poetry day again, featuring the work of "Shel" Silverstein (September, 1930 – May, 1999). Silverstein was an American poet, songwriter, musician, composer, cartoonist, screenwriter and author of children's books. He never studied the poetry of others, and therefore developed his own style which was very laid-back and conversational.
This is a poem to read to your kids - or someone else's kids if you have none of your own. It will appeal to their sense of humor.
Smart by Shel Silverstein
My dad gave me one dollar bill
'Cause I'm his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
'Cause two is more than one!
And then I took the quarters
And traded them to Lou
For three dimes - I guess he don't know
That three is more than two!
Just then, along came old blind Bates
And just 'cause he can't see,
He gave me four nickels for my three dimes
And four is more than three!
And I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs
Down at the seed-feed store,
And the fool gave me five pennies for them,
And five is more than four!
And then I went and showed my dad,
And he got red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head -
Too proud of me to speak!
This is a poem to read to your kids - or someone else's kids if you have none of your own. It will appeal to their sense of humor.
Smart by Shel Silverstein
My dad gave me one dollar bill
'Cause I'm his smartest son,
And I swapped it for two shiny quarters
'Cause two is more than one!
And then I took the quarters
And traded them to Lou
For three dimes - I guess he don't know
That three is more than two!
Just then, along came old blind Bates
And just 'cause he can't see,
He gave me four nickels for my three dimes
And four is more than three!
And I took the nickels to Hiram Coombs
Down at the seed-feed store,
And the fool gave me five pennies for them,
And five is more than four!
And then I went and showed my dad,
And he got red in the cheeks
And closed his eyes and shook his head -
Too proud of me to speak!
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Choosing reward and recognition systems.
No design discussion would be complete without including some design options that make pay and rewards more relevant and effective. Ideas about how to do this typically include:
- Rewarding both work group and individual performance.
- Linking pay levels to the number of skills an employee learns and uses. Skills can be associated with business, administrative, and interpersonal competencies, as well as with technical operations.
- Creating reward systems that recognize not just certified skills and knowledge, but also the willingness to use those skills, and the results of successfully applying those skills.
- Tying pay-for-knowledge with performance planning, so employees regularly contract with others who depend on them based on their joint expectations for future performance.
- Providing individual and group incentives in addition to regular pay, based on exceptional project performance, cost reduction, or other important operating parameters that are within the direct control of the employee or the employee's work group.
- Setting up all-salaried pay schemes to eliminate a "we - they" culture in the firm, recognizing that the company's success depends on equality of effort and contribution by employees at all levels.
When considering these ideas, make sure that pay-for-knowledge schemes reward only the skills employees use on a regular basis and that actually benefit the bottom line. Skill training without sufficient application time to consolidate learning, or without proven certification processes (that include opportunities to explain, perform, and problem solve) will result in paying people for contributions they haven't really made. This will in time encourage exploitation rather than responsible behavior.
- Rewarding both work group and individual performance.
- Linking pay levels to the number of skills an employee learns and uses. Skills can be associated with business, administrative, and interpersonal competencies, as well as with technical operations.
- Creating reward systems that recognize not just certified skills and knowledge, but also the willingness to use those skills, and the results of successfully applying those skills.
- Tying pay-for-knowledge with performance planning, so employees regularly contract with others who depend on them based on their joint expectations for future performance.
- Providing individual and group incentives in addition to regular pay, based on exceptional project performance, cost reduction, or other important operating parameters that are within the direct control of the employee or the employee's work group.
- Setting up all-salaried pay schemes to eliminate a "we - they" culture in the firm, recognizing that the company's success depends on equality of effort and contribution by employees at all levels.
When considering these ideas, make sure that pay-for-knowledge schemes reward only the skills employees use on a regular basis and that actually benefit the bottom line. Skill training without sufficient application time to consolidate learning, or without proven certification processes (that include opportunities to explain, perform, and problem solve) will result in paying people for contributions they haven't really made. This will in time encourage exploitation rather than responsible behavior.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
