InnerActive Consulting – Insights » 2009

Hiring Tip for Employees – Check the Culture

Here is another tip for those of you who are looking for a new position. This tip is very important assuming you are looking for long term employment. Most potential candidates never take their eye off the position or the income to notice this factor that can influence your job satisfaction.

So what am I talking about when I say “Check the Culture?”

Culture is the collection beliefs of the employees in the company or organization. Too often this important influence to job satisfaction and the development of a high performance attitude within the organization is left to chance by it’s leaders. Therefore, it is your responsibility to check out this element of the company.

Here are a couple of reasons you want to know more about the culture: Continue reading ‘Hiring Tip for Employees – Check the Culture’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on July 16, 2009 at 11:11 am under Hiring, Selection and Retention.
Tags: Higher Job Satisfaction, Hiring Tip for Employees, Impact of culture, Looking for jobs
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Hiring Tip for Employees – Pick a Good Boss

With the recent high unemployment rate, I felt it was time to give a few tips for those who are looking for a new job. So your first tip is…

Pick a Good Boss – If You Want to Grow

Yes, it is important to pick a good boss because they will determine your next level of growth and happiness. In fact, if you are looking for a long term position, then this becomes even more important. Continue reading ‘Hiring Tip for Employees – Pick a Good Boss’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on July 15, 2009 at 5:31 am under Hiring, Selection and Retention.
Tags: checking out the boss, employees rights, hiring and selection, Hiring Tip for Employees
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You’ve Got to Spend Money to Make Money

Looking around at all the headlines and listening the discussions at management meetings, it is obvious why we are in a recession. No one wants to spend any money.

Well, I remember a wise and wealthy Cajun from Louisiana who liked me and shared a lot of his personal philosophies with me. One that I will always remember was…

“You got to Spend Money to Make Money!”

Now this statement is not rocket science, yet, it is sound economic theory if you want to make money in the future. Let me rephrase it to… Continue reading ‘You’ve Got to Spend Money to Make Money’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on July 14, 2009 at 10:03 am under Leadership.
Tags: Economic recovery, leadership challenges, People investments, Returns on people investment, Sales and Marketing strategies, Strategy
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Specialist or Generalist for CEO and Leadership?

This is a question that seems to get more attention during periods of tough economic times. There are supporters for both sides of this question, so why ask the question?

Well, in a perfect world we would have a specialist called Chief Executive Officer and the question would go away. However, since they is no specialist incubator for the CEO position we have to deal with the question at hand. Who makes a better CEO – a specialist or a generalist?

Here is my take on the issue and I’m looking forward to comments from others on this topic. Continue reading ‘Specialist or Generalist for CEO and Leadership?’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on July 13, 2009 at 5:01 am under Leadership.
Tags: Financial, Generalist, Operational, Sales & Marketing, Specialist, Strategy
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Increase Customer Service Ranking Overnight

While having a discussion with a manager of a restaurant, our discussion gravitated to customer service. He asked how he could improve customer service quickly since he had inherited a location with poor customer service.

As we talked about the current situation, one thing became quite obvious – the previous manager had verbally abused the staff on a regular basis. That’s when the problem was solved. Continue reading ‘Increase Customer Service Ranking Overnight’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on July 10, 2009 at 4:55 am under Customer Service.
Tags: Bad Customer Service, Customer Service, Mirror Effect
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Eye Contact gives others confidence when you speak

Today I want to share a tip when you are presenting your ideas – in a speech, sales presentation, leading a meeting or having a one on one discussion with someone. The tip is very simple – Make Eye Contact with Others while you speak.

While working with clients I have seen very smart people get ignored by others or question their competency due to a total lack of eye contact. The worst case is people talking with their heads down – not necessarily reading anything, just staring down while they speak – and others lose interest in listening. Continue reading ‘Eye Contact gives others confidence when you speak’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on July 9, 2009 at 5:24 am under Coaching.
Tags: effectiveness, Eye contact, lack of awareness, sales interviews, sales presentations, self confidence
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Benchmark the Job Rather than the People

When reading some new information about our hiring and selection process, I was reminded that when benchmarking performance in the hiring and selection process -

“You Must Benchmark the Job Rather than the People in the Job.”

This is a very important factor for three reasons:

Legal Foundation – a Job Benchmark takes out any bias and focuses strictly upon the job and the traits necessary for the job to perform at higher levels. If you have benchmarks for all the jobs using the same process and used this tool to compare to a common talent assessment, then you have a legally clean system that can be defended or even thrown out of court for lack of bias.
Quality of the Current Team – This is tough for some leaders to deal with, yet, it is more common than most would believe. I have experienced this in the review and evaluation of a Fortune 100′s sales team. They were evaluating the sales team for a complete restructure of the sales organization. When we analyzed the data, the evidence showed the quality of the entire team was low (which had contributed to the decline in sales over the past three years) – so a benchmark of their top performers could have established an B or C level benchmark for future selection. This company needed more “A” players to remain in on the playing field of top performing companies. Their brand name was the only thing carrying the majority of the sales teams performance.
Objectivity – One of the key points for using a job or position benchmark is to eliminate bias or personality from the selection process. It also is the starting point for putting objectivity back in the subjective process of hiring and selection. When there is no check system that uses a proven objective scoring or measurement of traits needed for a job or position to be successful, you will be fooled by people in the interview process.

Does this type of process or system work? Well, yes it does. Our research partner has been following the success of using an assessment based hiring process with the focus on job or position benchmarking. Their data indicates that 92 percent of the people placed in jobs using the patented job benchmark to talent report system are still in their position after a one year. This compares with placement agencies record of 20 to 50 replacement rates.

This improvement in placement and retention rates will have a significant return on investment in your company. If you want to learn about this hiring system, contact Voss Graham at 901-757-4434 and we will discuss how this system can improve your bottom line.

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Posted by Voss Graham on July 8, 2009 at 5:47 am under Hiring, Selection and Retention.
Tags: employee retention, hiring and selection, hiring systems and processes, job benchmarking
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Marketing Applied to the Human Brain Needs

Okay, yesterday I wrote about choosing between Permission and Interruption Marketing. And, based upon the number of visitors – you enjoyed that discussion. Well, here’s another concept for you to think about regarding your marketing plans.

Are You Marketing to People the Way Their Brains Want to Process Your Message?

Now this is really big in my opinion – because the new brain research thanks to MRI and CAT scans are proving the mechanics of the brain and how it works. Then, some really smart people have studied this information and applied it to Marketing. Continue reading ‘Marketing Applied to the Human Brain Needs’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on July 7, 2009 at 5:06 am under Marketing.
Tags: Brain Research, decision making, Emotional decisions, Marketing plans, Neuromarketing
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Permission or Interruption Marketing – Make a Choice

For the past several years I have noticed a strong tendency for more “Permission” marketing – a term developed by Seth Godin. So what is permission marketing? It’s marketing where the customer or consumer opts in to an ad, information source or discussion group. It is designed to inform the consumer rather than hit them over the head with loudness, phone calls at night to pitch something (using a script with no interaction) or some other technique designed to immediately grab the consumers attention.

Consumer and Customers are mostly tired of the old school techniques used in interruption marketing. So, are you using these techniques to market your products and services? If you are, then you are aligning with the old school of marketing and selling which could have a negative impact with more people than ever before. Continue reading ‘Permission or Interruption Marketing – Make a Choice’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on July 6, 2009 at 5:25 am under Marketing.
Tags: Interruption Marketing, Permission marketing, Seth Godin
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Planning for the Unknown

To follow the lead of a previous post regarding the unknown being an 800 lb gorilla, several people have asked me about “how do you deal with the unknown?” So, today is a how to of dealing with the unknown or uncertainty.

We need to become comfortable with the concept of contingency planning. This is a form of creativity being applied to the planning process or the classic “what if …” application of dealing with possibilities. Think of it as simply looking at alternative courses of action.

Being prepared by thinking about possible scenarios of events is the mark of true winners and the best leaders. Why? Because they prepare in advance for the possible changes in the current environment. This allows for individuals and leaders to remain calm in the face of chaos in the eyes of others. Calmness in the face of adversity is a characteristic of great leaders.

Napoleon Bonaparte was a great strategist who was prepared for multiple contingencies as a General of the French army. He thought about every possibility that could occur during a battle and developed a plan to deal with it if it happened. Thus, he has very successful for an extended period of time – when longevity was not a given. Continue reading ‘Planning for the Unknown’ »

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Posted by Voss Graham on July 3, 2009 at 5:24 am under Leadership.
Tags: Contingency planning, Napoleon Bonparte, planning for the future, Planning Process, Strategic Thinking, Uncertainity, Unknown, What if
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Archive for July, 2009

Hiring Tip for Employees – Check the Culture

Hiring Tip for Employees – Pick a Good Boss

You’ve Got to Spend Money to Make Money

Specialist or Generalist for CEO and Leadership?

Increase Customer Service Ranking Overnight

Eye Contact gives others confidence when you speak

Benchmark the Job Rather than the People

Marketing Applied to the Human Brain Needs

Permission or Interruption Marketing – Make a Choice

Planning for the Unknown

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