Rob
I agree with Rob on the whole series of Gallup Books. Here is a review of a few in the series taken from a past
SFS newsletter.
Let’s listen in on a phone conversation:
Good morning this is Global Carpet Cleaning, how can I help you? This is Mrs. Piffleton and I have company coming Saturday unexpectedly. I need my whole house and several pieces of upholstery cleaned as soon as possible. I don’t need an estimate I just need it cleaned. Well Mrs. Piffleton I am sorry but we don’t have any openings for three weeks. My tech left last week and is working at the new Starbucks on Meridian Street and I am doing all the work myself.
This may seem like a pipe dream but unfortunately it is an all-too-common occurrence. Many multi truck companies have shrunk down to one truck due to a lack of technicians. Finding good employees is the main deterrent to growth today. Unemployment is at record lows and the demographics (people 50+) are swelling in our service market while shrinking in our labor pool (under 30.)
It is time to learn how to recruit, train, energize, and retain quality people. Fortunately there are several good books that have studied this problem and developed solutions for those who will implement. If you are not strong in the implementation department picture yourself pushing a wand at sixty years old.
The Gallup organization has been doing interviews with people for over 50 years. Their series of books are based on a tremendous amount of data.
The first book
First Break All the Rules: How Great Managers Do Things Differently, Marcus Buckingham, Curt Coffman was published in 1999. This book was culled from 80,000 interviews with supervisors and managers from small companies to Fortune 500 companies. The title came from findings that were contrary to many long-held viewpoints concerning supervision and training. From these interviews they boiled down the most important criteria to 12 statements, which they refer to as the Q 12.
While the statements seem rather simplistic they get to the heart of employee satisfaction.
1. I know what is expected of me at work.
2. I have the materials and equipment I need to do my work right.
3. At work, I have the opportunity to do what I do best every day.
4. In the last seven days, I have received recognition or praise for doing good work.
5. My supervisor, or someone at work, seems to care about me as a person.
6. There is someone at work who encourages my development.
7. At work my opinions seem to count.
8. The mission or purpose of my company makes me feel my job is important.
9. My associates or fellow employees are committed to doing quality work.
10. I have a best friend at work.
11. In the last 6 months, someone at work has talked to me about my progress.
12. This last year, I have had opportunities to learn and grow at work.
The book spends a great deal of time explaining the reasons for these 12 statements. I like the idea that much of the material dovetails nicely into my favorite book of the past ten years
Good to Great by Jim Collins.
The section detailing how to select employees is summed up in 4 steps:
1. Select for talent (not experience or intelligence).
2. Define the right outcomes (not the steps).
3. Focus on strengths (don't try to work on weaknesses).
4. Find the right fit (don't keep promoting people out of positions they're strongest in).
Key discussions are on the distinctions between skills, knowledge, and talent. Skills and knowledge can be taught, talent is something innate.
2001 brought
Now, Discover Your Strengths, Marcus Buckingham, and Donald O. Clifton.
This book fully describes 34 positive personality themes the two authors have formulated (such as Achiever, Developer, Learner, and Maximizer) and explains how to build a "strengths-based organization" by capitalizing on the fact that such traits are already present among those within it. Most original and potentially most revealing, however, is a Web-based interactive component that allows readers to complete a questionnaire developed by the Gallup Organization and instantly discover their own top-five inborn talents.
The downside to this could be that employees learn that their strengths are not being used in their current positions. If this is true they are not helping you anyway or as the Gallup people refer to this situation, they are not fully engaged.
Amazon chose this book as one of 2001’s best books.
March 2003,
Discover Your Sales Strengths: How the World’s Greatest Salespeople Develop Winning Careers, Benson Smith & Tony Rutigliano
Sales Strengths is a continuation of using the 34 themes. The difference is this one deals with how your particular strengths or talents can be used effectively in sales.
My favorite section was the great sales myths. The talents that make great sales professionals are not gender, race, or age specific. I was really relieved to read, “we can find no evidence to support the notion that the best-looking people sell the most.”
The myths included:
Education, half of the Forbes 400 CEO’s did not graduate from college. Most of the best performers did not achieve high grade point averages in college.
Experience, Gallup rarely found a strong correlation between experience and results.
The good salesperson can sell anything; because you are a technical person does not mean selling technical products is a natural
The right sales approach; everyone has a different sales approach that is right for him or her.
Training, you can take art lessons for years but you will never become Rembrandt unless you have artistic talent. Training helps those with inherent strengths and the right fit much more than it helps poor performers.
Relationships, I had a tough time with this one but after reading the material I understood. Dale Carnegie wrote his famous book How to Win Friends and Influence People 75 years ago. The second half of the title is worth considerable attention. The best salespeople influence others….they don’t just make friends.
Money, money is important to everyone at some level, but no one reward is equally important to everyone in any profession. Motivation may come from areas other than money.
Desire, motivation is critical to excellent performance, but it alone is not enough. Society sends the message that people can do anything they want to do as long as they are willing to work hard and make it happen. It just isn’t true or we would all be professional athletes.
Each of these myths led back to the same idea. Your underlying strengths are much more relevant than your education or your experience. If you understand and develop your strengths you will be happier and more productive.
The managers also have two myths to deal with.
1. Anyone can manage
2. Our best salespeople are likely to be our most effective sales managers.
The sales manager’s score on the Q12 is critical to the success of the people who they manage. Sales managers who did a better job on the Q12 achieved a 56% higher attainment of customer loyalty. They also achieved 38% higher results in productivity and 27% higher results in profitability and had 50% lower turnover rates.
While many people feel that the CEO and other senior management establish the company culture, the data shows that managers create their own cultures within their work groups.
In 2005 Marcus Buckingham jumped back into the fray with T
he One Thing You Need to Know: ... About Great Managing, Great Leading, and Sustained Individual Success
While some of this book builds on the research from the original First Break All the Rules it seems to get to the heart of the matter faster. My favorite saying is great managers play chess while average managers play checkers. In checkers every piece is alike and all move the same. Chess pieces are all unique and move in a unique fashion.
Leaders are different from managers. Leaders look at the overall goals of the company and try to move the entire workforce. Managers tend to be sharpshooters challenging each person to excel in their own way using their particular strengths. Great managers don’t try to change a person’s style. They don’t tell Tom to be more like Fred
To find out what your techs strength is ask what his best day on the truck was. Not necessarily his highest grossing day but the day he felt best. For his weakness do the opposite and ask which day he felt most uncomfortable.
Finally while you may think that money is the greatest motivator it is actually recognition. It is your job to find out how they like to receive recognition. They still require a decent salary but recognition will keep your stars happy.
So if you want to guarantee that your life will not be spent on the end of the wand take a look at the findings in these books. Gallup the company has spent more money than we will ever see determining what a great manager does to find those engaged employees and how to keep them engaged. You don’t need to reinvent the wheel just implement proven techniques.
