Home

Advertisement

Customize
Dee Allan
18 November 2008 @ 12:15 pm
Breaking News! Employer Of Choice Podcast Series  

EMPLOYER OF CHOICE- PODCAST SERIES

Hi All, apologies for the lack of regular blogs, we have been busy recording and releasing our new Podcast series titled' Employer of Choice'

The series is aimed towards HR, Business Owners, Executives, and Decision Makers.  Whilst the economic climate is changing daily, it is important to understand that several industries will be facing an impending 'War for Talent', broadly speaking due to changing demographics, lower fertility rates and an aging population.

Our 3C Synergy podcast series aims to provide tangible, creative and often low-cost solutions to the SME and larger firms, on how to become 'Employer of Choice'.

The podcast series can be subscribed to via I Tunes (Search Employer of Choice and/or 3C Synergy) or perhaps easier, you can subscribe to the sessions, via the link below.  I hope you enjoy the sessions, and i look forward to hearing your feedback.

http://www.3cgoldstar.com/3C_Synergy_Employer_of_Choice_podcasts/3C_Synergy_Employer_of_Choice/3C_Synergy_Employer_of_Choice.html

Tags: , , , , , , ,
 
 
Current Location: Singapore
 
Leave a comment
 
Dee Allan
18 November 2008 @ 11:40 am
BREAKING NEWS! Top Dog Podcast series  
TOP DOG- PODCAST SERIES

Hi All, apologies for the lack of regular blogs, we have been busy recording and releasing our new Podcast series titled' Top Dog'

The series is aimed towards Jobseekers, Candidates and generally any one who wants to improve their career prospects. 

Our 3C Synergy Top Dog podcast series, aims to provide tangible, creative and proven ideas on how to improve your interview technique, negotiate a pay rise, search for a job overseas, analyse your own body language etc.  All ideas lend themselves to candidates improving their career prospects and becoming 'Top Dog' in their own right.

The podcast series can be subscribed to via I Tunes (Search Top Dog and/or 3C Synergy) or perhaps easier, you can subscribe to the sessions, via the link below.  I hope you enjoy the sessions, and i look forward to hearing your feedback.

http://www.3cgoldstar.com/3C_Synergy_Top_Dog_podcasts/3C_Synergy_Top_Dog_Podcast/3C_Synergy_Top_Dog_Podcast.html
 
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
 
 
Current Location: Singapore
 
Leave a comment
 
Dee Allan
27 July 2008 @ 11:17 am
Leave me alone Tom Dodd  

Leave me alone Tom Dodd

I have been inspired to write this blog based on my very own experience, which is based on true events (names have been changed to protect the identity of the person involved)

First a little history, personally, the thing that gets me pulling my hair out most, is when candidates apply for a job which they very clearly are not suited to. 

I will now present to you a short but true story:

One warm and balmy late afternoon, I set upon writing up 4 well written job descriptions and person specifications for the Senior Quantity Surveyor, Architect, Engineer and Site Manager roles I was recruiting for (1 hour to write the ads and 2 hours to check it complied with the every increasing UK employment legislation…you can never be sure what has been snuck in).

Proud of my well written master pieces, I continued to post these ‘babies’ on some of the big name job-boards (not seriously expecting to hit jackpot, but none the less hoping that I may attract some relevant interest).  2 days later I opened my emails to discover 5 candidates had applied to my jobs, and not only that each job had an application. ‘Great’ I thought to myself, lets check these out right-away, my coffee can surely wait. 

So I proceed to open email no 1 (the application for the Senior Quantity Surveyor) and I noticed that a chap (who we will call Tom Dodd for the purpose of protecting the identity of the real joker) applied for the role. Holding down my excited anticipation, I proceed to scan the resume, and search for the key useful information.  I scanned, searched, read, re-read, read backwards, read right to left, but I couldn’t find anything remotely relevant to the job description.  Where was Tom Dodd’s Quantity Surveying degree? (perhaps he forgot to mention it) Where was Tom Dodd’s experience of working on ‘volume, new-build, fast-track housing developments’ (perhaps he didn’t think it was worth mentioning), where was Tom Dodd’s Chartered Surveyor accreditation? (Perhaps he was still waiting to hear back from the RICS on it). 

The smile faded from my face, and the flickering recruitment flame in my little heart was rapidly put out. On the other hand, I noticed that Tom Dodd from the years 1999- present had started his career working for ‘his old man’ on ‘odd jobs’ here and there. Tom then proceeded to grow his career and work on ‘paint jobs’ on student let accommodation, and the grand finale is that his most recent job saw him working on behalf of a small estate agent on ad hoc maintenance jobs.

Putting it down to bad luck, I proceeded to open the email application for my Architect role.  Lo and behold Tom Dodd’s name pops up again, along with his ‘oh-so familiar’ resume.  I then open the application for the Engineer role, it’s Tom Dodd again, then the Site Manager application……….I’m beginning to sense a pattern, yes it’s Tom Dodd.

‘TIME OUT TIME OUT’ I say to myself. Now I have nothing against painter decorators as they play a vital role within the very large and generic realms of what is coined the ‘Construction’ industry. However, as you can see, as you can surely surely see, how can Tom Dodd (the probably very competent Painter/ Decorator) be a Senior Quantity Surveyor, Architect, Site Manager and an Engineer?  How can he possibly be all of those things, and have all of those attributes I so eloquently listed in the job description and personal spec?  How I ask?

The short answer is he didn’t have the required attributes or the competency required to do any of the roles he applied for. However he still felt the need to apply for all the roles.  Call it eager, desperate, pro-active, or darn ridiculous, Tom Dodd applied for 4 roles which he was clearly not suited to. 

Yes it almost ruined my morning, yes it annoyed me, yes I wasted previous moments sat in dis-belief, BUT I managed to move on.  I made my cup of coffee (which I still hadn’t had by this point) and sat back down on my desk.  I closed my eyes and inhaled a deep, long breath, and exhaled through my mouth, I was going to start my day again. 

Now you may recall that earlier in my blog, I mentioned that I had received 5 applications for my roles.  Well 4 were useless as we know, but I still had 1 more application to assess.  So with my new renewed and focused mind, I proceeded to open the application………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Yes it was Tom Dodd AGAIN, applying for the Senior Quantity Surveyor role, AGAIN.





Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
 
 
Current Location: Singapore
 
Leave a comment
 
Dee Allan
27 July 2008 @ 11:15 am
Resume blunders- Don’t do it!  

Resume blunders- Don’t do it!

Here’s a question for you, out of the following situations, which is the biggest ‘turn-off’ for a potential employer?

a) candidate showing up late for interview
b) candidate wearing inappropriate clothing
c) badly presented resume or CV?
d) candidate swearing during an interview

Well if the title of this blog hasn’t given it away, then you may be surprised to know that it is c) a badly presented resume or CV.  According to research findings by job-board Fish4Jobs, 73% of employer’s find badly presented and written resumes/CVs, more of a turn-off than option a) b) or d) on the above question.

The most annoying list of mistakes include mis-spelling key information such as the employer’s name and job title (as reported by 67% of recruiters), waffling (yawn) and including irrelevant information (65%), general spelling/grammatical errors (89%) and another 63% found the use of inappropriate personal email addresses as irritating.

The funniest of funnies is what Fish4jobs highlighted as the most common mistakes that resumes/CV’s are likely to contain. Presented here are my TOP 6

1) Those who are trained in “fist aid” rather than first aid (can you teach me please?
2) Candidates who love to “work in a busty office” (yes me too)
3) Candidates who seek a role in “pubic relations” (could get a bit hairy, sorry I know it’s poor quality but I couldn’t help it)
4) Candidates claiming to be “a good leeder” (according to a search I quickly ran on Wikipedia ‘There is no page titled "leeder")
5) Those who went to  “a very good skool” (a place for ‘cool’ people maybe? I wouldn’t get in)
6) Job-seekers who  “attended collage” (a place where posh people go perhaps?)

Whilst this goes out to the minorities I’m sure, my message to everyone is to use spell check (check you are using the right dictionary ie: UK or US), and read, re-read and read again, your resume, before you ping it off anywhere. 
You have one chance to get it right, and if you can’t even get the spelling right, then I suggest you find a good skool or collage to teach you the basics.





Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
 
 
Current Location: Singapore
 
Leave a comment
 
Dee Allan
27 July 2008 @ 11:10 am
Body talks, what is yours saying?  

Body talks, what is yours saying?

I have been reading the fantastic book by Derren Brown called ‘Tricks of the mind’.  This inspired me to write this blog on body language, and how using it correctly can put out the right signals.

First let’s start with a question, are you aware of the subliminal messages you are putting across, based on your body language?  Do you naturally smile a lot when greeting someone new? Or are you a scowler? Do you tend to walk upright? Or slouch facing the ground? Do you look people in the eye when they address you? Or have you got better things to do?

Being aware of your physical actions/reactions is pretty darn important, if you are to put out the ‘right’ message to your audience.  You may be talking to your landlord, prospective employer, peers, neighbors etc, each of these groups of people form part of your daily community, and how you interact with them in both your spoken and unspoken manner, really does affect their perception of you. 

Based on various articles, websites and books I have referred to, here are my Top 5 (in no particular order) non-spoken body languages to be aware of.

1: Head Position: This is easy enough, tilting your head to one side suggests you are being friendly and in listening mode.  To appear in command and confidant, one should try holding their head bolt upright (straight).  Apparently holding your head in this way also allows your message to be taken more seriously.

2. Eye contact: We have all heard about the importance of eye contact.  To appear interested in the other party’s conversation you should maintain eye contact with them, using ‘break-aways’ every so often, so not to appear too ‘intense’.  Holding someone’s gaze can really show them that you respect them and are genuinely interested in what they have to say. 

However I must add one interest contradiction to this theory, did you know that in many African countries it is considered rude to stare someone in the eyes? In fact it is down right disrespectful.  So the lesson is to be sensitive to cultural differences. Although for the majority of us, feel free to look people in the whites of their eyes….just don’t overdo it though, you don’t want to end up having a ‘bogging out’ competition as we used to call it in school.

3. Mouth movements- Our mouth movements are often linked with our eyes.  When we smile genuinely, small creases appear around our eyes.  When our lips are pursed, we may subconsciously narrow our eyes.  All of these signals give off vibes as to our mood.  Often when we are in ‘thinking’ mode, we twist our lips or roll them inwards.  We may also use these mouth movements when we are holding back negative/angry comments. 

These mouth shapes are strong indications to what you are feeling, so although you may refrain from verbally speaking, your audience may be able to sense your disdain. Generally open, and wide mouth movements imply that you are more of a positive, happy type of person.  So get smiling.

4. Posture: Here’s an interesting story (well interesting to me), I always thought I had pretty good posture, until I saw a video clip of me at my own wedding, and my shoulders were hunched over and i looked pretty scared and nervous (I didn’t feel it at the time, honestly).  So I’ve been making a special effort to sit straight and walk tall, as of late.  Anyhow, I digress… did you know that sitting straight and upright actually makes you feel good? 

On a healthier note, slouching restricts your chest and produces shallow breathing patterns, this can lend to the feelings of nervousness, which causes you to feel uncomfortable.  For those of you who have ever undertaken scuba diving, you will know the impact of how shallow breathing causes anxiousness and nervousness, which eventually results in you floating near the top of the water.  Linking this back to our blog, you can always tell someone who suffers from nervous disposition, to that of a confident person.  We never see politicians slouch in their cabinets do we?
 
5. Keeping Distance: So do you come across as aggressive? aloof? stand offish? pushy?

To give of the right signals you really do need to be aware of the correct distance to adopt between you and your audience.  In a group scenario, you may come across as being ‘distant’ if you literally sit further away from everyone, than others in the group.  If you are too close however, the other person may be thinking ‘It’s my lucky day’ or may find it very uncomfortable as you are stood in their ‘personal space’.  Quick tip, if someone backs off a little when you are stood close to them, take this as a hint to step back a little, as you are definitely within their ‘invisible un-chartered territory’ (strictly reserved for those with permits).  Gauge the correct distance and use it accordingly

I will add to this list of body languages in another up-coming blog.  In the meantime, can anyone add or share their experiences on this topic?







Tags: , , , , , ,
 
 
Current Location: Singapore
 
Leave a comment
 
Dee Allan
27 July 2008 @ 11:05 am
Undermining your employees?  
Undermining your employees?

Every working day, we all come across individuals complaining about their employers. They moan about everything form the coffee to their colleagues, and sometimes they complain about the actual work itself!! However, companies sometimes do themselves no favours when it comes to building and managing their relationships with their own staff. They always seem able to completely disregard the feelings of their own employers on a day to day basis.

So if you have ever had the displeasure of being unhappy at work and moaning about your employer, then you will identify with some of the common errors made below:

    * Adding another level of management because people aren’t doing what you want them to do.
    * Appraising the performance of individuals and provide bonuses for the performance of individuals and complain that you cannot get your staff working as a team.
    * Failing to create standards and give people clear expectations so they know what they are supposed to do, and then wonder why they fail.
    * Creating hierarchical, permission steps and other roadblocks that teach people quickly their ideas are subject to veto and wonder why no one has any suggestions for improvement.
    * Asking people for their opinions, ideas, and continuous improvement suggestions, and fail to implement their suggestions or empower them to do so. Better still - don’t even provide feedback about whether the idea was considered.
    * Finding a few people breaking rules and company policies and chastise everybody at company meetings rather than dealing directly with the rule breakers.
    * Making up new rules for everyone to follow as a means to address the failings of a few.
    * Failing to address behaviour and actions of people that are inconsistent with company policies and procedures.
    * Asking employees to change the way they are doing something without providing a picture of what you are attempting to accomplish with the change.

From personal experiences, the last three are most common I have come up against, and I feel are certainly very frustrating as an employee!!













Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
 
 
Current Location: Singapore
 
Leave a comment
 
Dee Allan
27 July 2008 @ 11:02 am
Coaching, the way forward?  
Coaching, the way forward?

It has to be said, gone are the days when remuneration alone could attract people. For quite a number of years, and perhaps more so today, training and development has become one of the key ‘swaying’ factors, for someone deciding to accept a job or not

Most of us know that training can be a very expensive commitment.  You are often shelving out heaps of money, without any guarantees of a return, and perhaps will have to endure a time-lag between your staff receiving the training, and producing the desired result.  However, like it, love it, or loathe it, providing some sort of training is a major factor to ensure you have a happy, healthy and wise work force.  This in turn helps with staff retention rates and hopefully growth of the company.  For the smaller companies though, lack of budgets may pose a problem when trying to satisfy your bottom line versus your staff members.  However with a little creativity and panache, there may be a solution.  Have you ever considered implementing a mentor style coaching or buddy program?

Coaching in my opinion is different to traditional training.  Coaching is more associated with using the strengths of your existing team, to bridge the knowledge gap of certain individuals or new recruits.  It is in effect ‘on the job’ training.  For example, if Monica (our fictitious Admin Assistant) happens to be darn good at working power point, then why not ask Monica to coach Lee (our fictitious new recruit) how to create a powerful presentation for his next sales pitch?  Alternatively if Arun (our fictitious web developer) understands how Web 3.0 is changing the way we conduct business, why not have him coach Leanne (our fictitious Marketing manager) on how to maximize on the power of the web to get her PR message to the masses.  What I’m trying to illustrate is that often we overlook the strength of skills and knowledge within our prevailing team.  Coaching or implementing a ‘buddy system’, allow you to harness the strength of what you already have at your fingertips.  One can then compliment coaching with more traditional forms of training.

Funnily enough it is more often than not within human nature to want to help other people.  Hence your team will probably respond positively to being asked to mentor/coach/buddy up with someone, on a particular topic, or for a length of time.  Not only that, there is the age-old adage of empowerment and positive breeds positive.  ‘Coachees’ often find themselves within the role of ‘Coach’ when it is their turn to ‘pass on the golden nuggets of knowledge’.  Additionally the ‘one to one’ nature of coaching means attention and responsiveness is often high (Compare that with sitting in a classroom style of training, when the sound of the presenter’s voice starts to hurt your ears, and the clock hands can’t reach 5pm quick enough).  Coaching is versatile and flexible and can be immediate.  Employees often find themselves trouble-shooting through problems to find the solution, as opposed to be told the theory from a text-book or training manager.

Of course one of the biggest attractions to in-house coaching is the cost benefits.  It is often a rapid and wise investment, where the cost is the ‘time’ that coaches spend away from their daily tasks.  That said, one would be wise to spread the coaching responsibilities around the team, and play to different strengths of the prevailing internal talent you have.  This employee empowerment approach creates a positive environment, where staff feel valued and are therefore more willing to share their knowledge.  ‘Coachees’ have the opportunity to listen, question and test the ideas in an intimate more personal format (they also often feel valued, that someone from within the company is taking a heightened interest in their learning). Like I said, positive breads positive.


Coaching is not a replacement for training, it is essentially an ‘add on’.  Think of coaching like ‘sharpening a pencil’, the pencil may have worked before, but once sharpened it writes clearer, quicker and more concise sentences.  Coaching is a rapid solution to many issues requiring a ‘quick fix’.  Therefore results can be immediate (not quite what you would get if that training course you are booked on is in 6 weeks time!).  They say time is money and I can’t agree more.  Time spent effectively coaching, saves you money down the line with training.

Coaches are born and can also be taught.  Granted, some people have a natural affinity when it comes to coaching compared to others.  However most people respond positively to being asked for help or support. They almost get a ‘kick’ out of knowing that they can be beneficial to someone, or their knowledge can ‘make something happen’ This must release positive endorphins, as most people’s ego would get a boost.

With training, the general format is to dictate the message in a teacher-student format.  However coaching is more versatile, whilst ‘teacher-student’ format may exist, so might ‘shadowing’ the Coach during a meeting with a client, or ‘observing’ the Coach during a presentation to suppliers, or ‘following’ the Coach’s lead when negotiating a rate with your customers.  Coaching really can allow your staff to acquire your other team member’s skills, by creating richer dialogue between the parties concerned, hence ingraining the knowledge on a more lasting basis.

Coaching can be tailored to be a longer running program, or an ‘on demand’ tool.  The beauty with allocating coaching responsibilities or allowing people to ‘step up to the plate’ where coaching is concerned, is that problems and issues can be ironed out straight away.  If Lee (our fictitious new recruit again) has a client that wants him to deliver his proposal in 48 hours, then perhaps Monica (our fictitious Admin Assistant) can assume her ‘Coach’ or ‘Buddy’ role to ensure that Lee can deliver the presentation on time.  In this example, the  ‘on demand’ coaching Monica provides to Lee, allows them both to deal with a real problem facing the business, which could eventually impact the productivity of the company.  Positive actions breed positive results.

In summary, coaching is a useful management tool, which apart from being resourceful and versatile, allows sends a subliminal message to team members and new recruits, that the company give a damn!
Tags: , , , , , , , ,
 
 
Current Location: Singapore
 
Leave a comment
 
Dee Allan
27 July 2008 @ 10:56 am
Ships passing through the night? Business topic  

Do companies recognise talent when they see it, or are they ships passing through the night?

This is an ‘open’ blog, as I really would appreciate some insights on this one.

My question is, can HR really spot star talent?  I know it may sound like an absurd question, but seriously are HR teams geared up for spotting the ‘A Class’ type of candidate?  The reason I ask this is because I have witnessed HR fulfilling the task of recruitment, like they would go about their daily supermarket shopping ie: with a tick list of things they want.

I have actually taken it upon myself to ask my clients and their HR teams the same questions.  They say the right things of course. However speaking with some of my own HR friends, I have found that they are often in a catch 22 situation, as they are under pressure to ‘save time’, so often perform a rigid check-list, which often misses out the ‘softer’ more subliminal messages, which help us recruiter ascertain the stars from the norm.

Sometimes, candidates may not even get past resume stage, ie: HR can’t see the prescribed formula that some of them apply, therefore the resume goes in the bin.  What about the fact that some people have transferable skills? And what about the fact that sometimes it may not be best to go for the ‘perfect’ fit, but to go for the ‘surprise fit’.  

I feel sometimes there could be a dilemma for our HR friends, especially the ones who are more ‘CV Processors’ as opposed to ‘CV Extractors’.  This begs the questions, if HR are indeed unable to spot Star talent, then is this because of one of the following:

a) They actually don’t understand what they are looking for?
b) They themselves are the wrong people in charge of recruitment?
c) They don’t appreciate/care what the full impact of what ‘bad hiring’ means for the bottom line
d) They have had inadequate training?
e) Everything above

Don’t get me wrong, there are some fairly slick HR teams and companies out there, who are doing a darn fine job of attracting and retaining talent, but I could count them on both hands only.

Do companies really recognise talent or are they ships passing by each other through the night?
Please share your experiences

Tags: , , , , , , ,
 
 
Current Location: Singapore
 
Leave a comment
 
Dee Allan
27 July 2008 @ 10:44 am
So you want to become the Employer of Choice do you?  

So you want to become the Employer of Choice do you?

What message is your company really sending out in all its communication material?  Most companies are flying their flags sky high to push sales, or shouting out from rooftops about their service or products.  Well there is nothing wrong with this strategy, indeed a hearty slap on the back for making the effort, as some companies don’t even get this far. However, the one single message that often gets shuffled beneath all other layers of messages orbiting from companies, is the message concerning the company’s attitude towards its employees.

Let’s explain this notion with the use of an example.  Your business is thriving, you are meeting/exceeding your business plan objectives, your bank loves you, other banks want to court you, your shareholders can’t ask for more, your company on the face of it looks like the ‘cat who got the cream’.  That’s all fine and dandy until you realise that you need more people to sustain the smiles.  So you think to yourself, ‘we will just hire people, everyone will want to work with us’ and you start the recruitment process. However what slowly transpires during your rounds of interviews, is that the intellectual buff sitting opposite you, has been ‘doing his/her own rounds of interviews, and visiting other cats (who by the way, also believe they have got the cream) and that you my friend, are not in sole existence.  In fact in suddenly dawns on you, that you have COMPETITION (shock horror), when it comes to enticing talent in your direction.  All of sudden you find yourself in a Dutch auction or ‘salary war’ to put it more bluntly. Your ‘key hire’ has the power at this stage, not you.  So how can you swing that sea-saw back in your favour?  Is it too late at this stage? Or should you have thought about planting those ‘We are the employer of choice’ seeds, long before this interview came to fruition.

Now, with a pinch of luck and if you are a smooth talking interviewer, who can convince this key hire that they should go with you instead of your opposition, then you may stand a chance of them accepting your offer. However beware, desperation and bitterness can often weigh in with this approach if not used elegantly.  My advice is to not let it get to this stage in the first place.  If you can adopt a strategy that develops your reputation as an "Employer of choice" then you will find people are herding in your direction, wanting to work for you and putting the choices firmly in your hands. This can put your company in a powerful pole position!

Why not try and consider your own impressions of a few household names. If you are a creative, innovative, free spirited kind of person, you may be enticed by a company such as EBay. How about a company with a cutting edge and fresh attitude, someone like Google perhaps?  I’m fairly certain you can draw up a list of companies which appeal to you, and many others who wouldn’t stand a hope in hell in getting you through their door.

This in turn begs the question, why is it that people want to work for certain companies over others?  The likes of Google and EBay, literally get thousands of job applications and really have the opportunity to get the pick of the crop. 

So how do you get your company known as an employer of choice?

It’s fair to say that the big blue chips spend a chunky slice of wonga on their marketing budgets.  It’s also fair to say that not all of us have that sort of money to channel on branding, at least not initially.  The good news is, that you can still build your brand without robbing Peter to pay Paul.  The key is to be creative.

First things first, do you have a company brochure? If not, then invest in some form of company information be it online or off-line. The next task is to review your company brochure, as if you were a potential employee. What messages does your corporate communication send out?  Does your company come across as being at the forefront of training and development? Do you come across as a proactive, aggressive or green employer?  (None of these images are a bad projection, as you will more than likely attract individuals who function well in that environment)
  Are you even aware of the image you're projecting? Are you clients and customers aware that you consider your staff as assets? Clients and customers are the best ambassadors for your company, a positive domino effect is likely if they positively view you as an employer.
  
Wherever possible you should be making yourself known.  There are literally hundreds of opportunities to do this.  Universities, career fairs, exhibitions, giving speeches etc.  Taking Universities as an example, you should have a presence during the ‘milk rounds’, and remember you are there to paint the picture about your company being an employer of choice.  Get it wrong and cold shoulder potential candidates though, and you will find graduates saying they would never work for a company like yours due to the way they were treated at these kinds of events.  Then the negative domino effect begins, and they tell another 20 of their friends how bad your company is, over a beer down at the student union.

It basically comes down to the age-old adage of communication. Having a communication strategy gives you a definite edge over the competition.

The person at the top of the tree, the MD or CEO, often sets the “tone”.  Essentially it is these individuals who set the culture in place.  A hollow mission statement or textbook company values is not enough to attract the talent.  You need to ensure that all messages leaving your office, be it online or offline, written, spoken or heard, define your brand and ethos. Whether it’s your letterhead, or the pay slip your employees receive, the message has to be clear, constant and concise, no matter who

Tags: , , , , , ,
 
 
Current Location: Singapore
 
Leave a comment
 
Dee Allan
27 July 2008 @ 10:37 am
What did you have for Breakfast?  
So what did you have for breakfast today?

Being a Director of a niche SME, I am often asked what my main gripe is within the working environment.

Before I totally reveal my hand on this one, I feel compelled to let you know why I felt it necessary to blog on this topic.

Everyday millions of business decisions are made, millions of transactions take place and millions of interactions are created.  Out of these various business scenarios, I often wonder how much time and money is lost due to factors such as sickness, inefficiency or plain incompetence.

Several countries release data giving indicative figures on the millions of dollars lost out due to employee sickness.  However how can one seriously substantiate the cost of lost business when it comes down to inefficiency or incompetence?

This leads nicely to my next point.  Focusing on efficiency and inefficiency a little more.  What actually makes someone more efficient over someone else?  Can efficiency be taught/learned?  How does someone actually recognize that they are acting in an inefficient manner? How does one substantiate the true cost of inefficiency in the work place?

This blog by no means aims to offer answers or solutions to any of the above questions.  Instead I simply offer my personal viewpoint on the matter.  Whilst I’m not in a position to discuss the effects of inefficiency on business worldwide. I think I’m fairly qualified to discuss the cost of inefficiency to our company 3C Synergy Asia.

As you may have guessed, my main gripe in business is inefficiency.  Thank fully we run a fairly slick machine in our company, so try not to allow room for major errors.  Inefficiency (I’m sure) has different meanings to different people.  For me (without over complicating things) inefficiency simply means doing things the ‘long way round’ and missing key information.  As recruiters we are trained to ‘ask the right questions’.  It was only when I became a Director of 3C Synergy Asia, that I realized the true cost of ‘not asking the right questions’ in our industry.  For me, failing to ask the right questions, costs us time, which in turn costs us money. Simplistic view I know, but why flower things up.  This is fundamentally the base of inefficiency for me.

Put simply, not asking the right questions in recruitment can cost you dearly, and I’m fairly certain this is the case within all other industries.  For us, we could potentially lose a candidate if we don’t find out what their key motivators are, what their ambitions are, what sort of company they do/don’t want to work for, what their personal commitments are, so on and so forth.   Where our clients are concerned, we may loose out on sourcing for key job opportunities if we fail to find out why the position is vacant, what key attributes they are looking for in a person, what the structure, career progression opportunities, training and development structure is etc  If we miss any of these details, if can cost us a valuable opportunity in finding the right talent for the right job.  This is commercial suicide for a boutique consultancy such as ours.

Missed opportunities caused by the lack of asking the right questions is a huge problem for companies/industries world wide.  But I wonder to myself, how many companies actually realise this? Let alone do something about it?

For us it is simple.  Becoming more efficient and operating in a ‘slick’ manner can be learnt and is taught within our small yet punchy outfit.  Right from the outset we play a very fun, yet informative game with our potential recruits during their final stages of their interview. As employers, this light-hearted game (which I will reveal shortly) gives us an opportunity to ascertain training areas for our new recruits.  We also get a closer look into their questioning technique.  The tool helps us make a final decision on hiring the Consultant, but also indicates the training required to bring the candidate up to speed.

OK so what is this game?  Well it isn’t anything scientific (or is it) or anything overly technical or fancy, but aside from playing a full game of monopoly with our potential new recruits, we find this exercise is stimulating, fun and it gives us additional insights into how our Consultants ‘think’ and process information.

Just before I reveal our exercise, can I add that I read somewhere (perhaps someone can verify this) that we are no more than 7 questions away from getting the information we require. I don’t know if this is true, however I keep it in my mind as an ‘average’ when I go about my daily duties.  

Armed with the above ‘un-confirmed’ knowledge, we set about to play the exercise which I call ’Who am I’?

 ‘Who am I’ is played by 2 players (can be played by a group, however in our interview scenario we play it one on one).  Player 1 (Employer) starts by writing down the name of someone famous, male/female, dead or alive, human/animated character etc on a piece of paper. This paper is then folded and put away (Player 2 should not be able to see it)  Player 2 then proceeds to ask a series of questions, to which Player 1 can only respond with a Yes or No.  The objective is for Player 2 to find out who  Player 1 is (or the name which Player 1 has written on the piece of paper)

Now, we are not ‘meanies’, so we don’t set a time limit, nor a question quota, on the questioning task. However in the real business world, It is often the case that you have a limited period of time to gather information correctly. This may be during a meeting with a client or customer, or during a phase of a project etc.  In business you most definitely do not have an endless period of time to complete a task, make a decision, or conduct research.  So time is key! Therefore utilising time correctly by asking the right questions in the first place is paramount to being efficient.

Going back to our game, It becomes fairly evident early on if Player 2 is struggling to at least ‘narrow down’ the shortlisted names.  For example, using an over simplified version of ‘Who am I’, lets say Player 1 writes down George Bush on the piece of paper. The following transcript between Player 2 and Player 1 could narrow down the answer:

Player 2    “Are you a human” (this clearly rules out all animated characters, Micky Mouse, Daffy Duck etc could all be eliminated from the equation)

Player 1    Yes

Player 2    Are you Male? (kiss goodbye to the ladies)

Player 1    Yes

Player 2    Are you from Europe? (Clever question tries to pin the geographical location of the person, by eliminating entire continents)

Player 1    No

Player 2    So are you from America? (Trying to narrow down the location)

Player 1    Yes

Player 2    Are you an entertainer on the screen? (This question covers movie and tv stars perhaps)

Player 1    No

Player 2    So are you a sporting personality? (now trying to pin point the profession on this individual)

Player 1    No

Player 2    Do you work in Politics?

Player 1    Yes

Player 2    Are you George Bush?

Player 1    Yes

So the example above shows that 8 questions later, Player 2 gets the desired response.  Now apply this to business.  Are you/ your staff applying careful questioning techniques when you go about your daily tasks?  Are you using time efficiently by preparing intelligent questions which gather the information correctly.  This form of questioning is often referred to as the ‘Funnel’ technique.  I personally don’t care much for the text book titles, however the cost of not using the right questioning technique, I can only imagine runs into its millions.  

For us, we think it is time well spent, understanding (as much as we possibly can) how our Consultants gather and disseminate information they are presented with.  We then proceed to offer training for those who need to focus on their questioning techniques.  We strongly believe that this is the foundation of working more efficiently.  So far, it has worked for us, identify the training issue, train the person, evaluate the response, and monitor the work, then re-train if you have to, until the service offering is sharpened.  

I don’t by an means suggest that we have got it 100% right, but I can say with some integrity that we do make a conscious effort to recognise that our Consultants operate at different levels of efficiency, and to create a sharp yet flexible approach, we take a dedicated approach towards improving the efficiency levels of each individual Consultant, which begins with their ability to ‘ask the right questions’, and build rapport with individuals and organizations we come into contact with.

My business and recruitment mentor from old, trained me to ask the right questions. She had it drilled in me to ultimately find out ‘What my candidate & client had had for breakfast’. She may not have meant this literally, but what she was ingraining from an early point in my career was to extract quality information by asking questions and developing a rapport.  I do this till this day.

How well do you and your employees know your customers, suppliers and associates.  Would you say you know  ‘What they have had for breakfast’?  Or are you operating on a superficial shallow platform which has no foundations for growing relationships?

I would be interested to know everyone else’s thoughts on this?  Since questioning techniques is an age old adage, what other factors do clients consider make their employees more efficient/inefficient?  








Tags: , , , , , , , ,
 
 
Current Location: Singapore
 
Leave a comment
 
 
 

Advertisement

Customize