Lee Vikre, SVP of Organizational Development, BestCompaniesAZ

By Lee Vikre, SVP Organizational Development and Consulting

The more people believe you have their best interests at heart, the more direct you can be with them.

Coaching conversations become so much easier when there is a relationship of trust. In a “best company” culture, the needs of the employees and the company are in alignment.

A good new year’s resolution for managers is to build that level of trust with all their team members.

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Marketing to your own employees is part of a strong employer brand. In most companies marketing and HR departments don’t work together. That’s a mistake. Tear that silo down. HR people need to be marketers. Marketing principles can help create and sustain a great company culture.

Your company culture is a product. Most companies don’t sell that product, although some like Zappos and Disney do. Most great organizations, like Catholic Healthcare West and McMurry, simply reap the rewards of that product in the form of higher productivity, client loyalty, and profitability.

As an employer, you are always selling the value of working at your company to your employees, and you want them to not only buy in, but sell the culture to others. If you don’t market the value of your company to your employees, you can bet recruiters will be selling them on the value of someone else’s.

Marketers all understand the “know-like-trust” factor; that people buy from those they know, like, and trust. How does that apply to building your employer brand?

Know

• As a senior leader, be as transparent as possible. Share some things about yourself. Add a human touch. Make yourself approachable.
• Develop a clear picture of what it’s like to work at your company and promote that vision.
• Let people know about your commitment to being a great place.

Like

• Develop a friendly “voice” for your company communications that reflects your culture. Is your culture warm and friendly? Powerful and professional? Innovative? Fun?
• Evoke positive emotions about working at your company.
• Communicate frequently to build respect.
• Show appreciation for good work.

Trust

• Be honest and share news openly. Employees don’t complain about over-communication from management.
• Give employees a say in decision-making. People don’t always have to have a vote, but they always have to have a voice.
• Communicate results, and celebrate successes.
• Demonstrate that you have the best interests of the employees in mind.

De Anne Russell, Employment Brand Manager for Catholic Healthcare West Arizona, emphasizes the value of honesty and frequency in communication. “Our leaders communicate good news and bad, and interact with employees in their workplace on their shift”. In a hospital, that means CHW leaders interact with staff on three shifts and weekends. It’s no wonder CHW found a direct correlation between staff satisfaction and patient satisfaction.

Is there any better reason to market to your staff? Know-trust-like can help you turn your employees into brand ambassadors.  What do you think?  We would love to have your feedback on employer branding.

Is your top performer looking for another job?

Does that thought scare you? It should. Depending on what survey you read, it’s estimated that between 30 – 85% of employees are ready to jump ship. Despite sluggish job growth, in the US last year more people voluntarily quit their jobs than were laid off. On the other hand, only 14% of employers fear losing key players. There’s obviously some disconnect.

People are worn out from the recession and its lingering effects on their families. If someone feels stagnant and trapped, changing jobs can feel like a way to take control. Top performers aren’t complainers, though, and they often won’t tell you they’re unhappy till they’re out the door.

How do you know if your top people are eyeing new opportunities? Here’s a hint; if you’ve caught yourself saying “they should just be grateful to have jobs”, your company is at risk.

The positive side to this is that companies with great cultures can cherry-pick the best employees. What can you do to attract the best, and make sure they stick around? Here are four areas to consider.

Show your employees you care about them as people. Build camaraderie. Take them to lunch, or bring lunch in. Create opportunities for teams to get to know each other. Show sincere care and concern. Express your appreciation for their good work. For example, award-winning healthcare organization CHW Arizona teams hold “huddles” on a regular basis to discuss concerns. 

Create opportunities for employees to learn and develop. If training isn’t in the budget, arrange for mentoring, peer training or cross-training. Give them feedback and coaching. Give them what they need to feel accomplished.

Provide flexibility and freedom. Hire the best people, and trust them to make decisions. Top performers need to have a sense of ownership.

Flexibility in scheduling is fast becoming an expectation. It doesn’t cost the company, but is worth a lot to employees. Insisting on “face time” in the name of productivity is likely to cause a loss of productivity down the road – and from what we’re observing, “down the road” is right now. 

Have fun. You can take your work seriously without taking yourself too seriously. People are more productive and engaged when they’re having fun.

Are you seeing turnover in your company, and what are you doing to retain your best people?

All three companies showed a deep commitment to a greater good. As Adam Goodman said, “You could look at it as just moving furniture out the door, but for us it’s far more than that. We want to change our community.” Dunn Transportation/Ollie the Trolley employees are proud to be considered ambassadors forScottsdale. During the trolley ride, Cricket, the driver, returned waves from pedestrians. “Everyone loves the trolley”, she beamed. “I love my job, I get to meet people from all over the world.” McMurry’s mission focuses on making other companies, as well as theirs, profitable – and then sharing the wealth with the staff (through profit sharing) and community (through McMurry Charities). People love working for a cause that’s larger than a paycheck. What elevates your company’s work to the level of a cause?

All three companies hold employee events, finding creative ways to hold down costs. Dunn/Ollie the Trolley holds barbeques at different times of the day and night, to accommodate all shifts. The VP of Operations, Jerry Durwin, cooks the food himself, at an estimated cost of $125. McMurry’s annual Celebr8ion features a staff talent show – less expensive and more fun than hiring entertainers. The cost of events is not important, but appreciation and camaraderie is priceless. 

While you don’t have to offer lavish benefits in order to be a great company, one or two extraordinary benefits can help your company stand out. Dunn/Ollie the Trolley offers fully paid gym memberships. McMurry pays $3000 for successful staff referrals, and a $1000 bonus to those who give ten Toastmasters’ speeches. The companies ultimately benefit from those investments.

Longevity, as well as financial performance, is built into great companies. Goodmans is in its third generation, McMurry its second; Dunn was founded in 1986. What are you doing to build your company into a strong employer brand?

Lee Vikre, SVP of Organizational Development, BestCompaniesAZ

How would you like for your company to be in the top 50 of 6,000,000 businesses in the US? Three Arizona companies enjoy that honor.

Three Arizona small businesses were recently named in  The Great Place to Work^® Rankings:The Best Small & Medium Workplaces presented by Entrepreneur^®.  Congratulations to #8 McMurry, a content marketing firm that has placed in the top 10 nationally for seven years; #12 Heinfield, Meech & Co., a Tucson based five time winner; and #15 Infusionsoft, an internet services company that has won many local awards before making its debut on the national list.

What’s so special about these organizations? Quite a lot, actually. The best practices from these three companies could give us enough to write about for the rest of the year. Like McMurry’s personalized logos and 64 benefits, or Infusionsoft’s unique workspace that includes massage chairs and a smoothie machine. It’s not all about wowing employees with glitzy facilities and benefits, though.

These companies have enjoyed business success from building such strong work cultures. Said McMurry CEO Chris McMurry, “We’re often asked how a company becomes a great place to work. The answer is not an easy one, but it begins with hiring truly exceptional, like-minded people interested in an unrelenting commitment to mutual fulfillment. That’s where it starts. Where it ends is in business growth, which may surprise some who confuse being a great place with being altruistic. Our staff and company both seek growth, personally and corporately.”

Does this sound like what you want? Any company can be a nationally recognized great organization, with the right commitment and focus. I strongly recommend that all companies aspiring to greatness apply for The Great Place to Work^® Rankings: The Best Small & Medium Workplaces presented by Entrepreneur^®. Registrations for 2012 are now open. Even if you don’t make the list the first time you apply, you’ll gain lots of valuable data and insight that will help you build your business.

At BestCompaniesAZ, we’d love to help you reach out for national recognition in 2012. We’ve been there and we know how to do it. You’ll need to get on it immediately – the time to plan is right now.

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Lee Vikre is SVP of Organizational Development, BestCompaniesAZ

By Lee Vikre

Employer branding mystifies many leaders. In a recent TLNT post, the president of Career Builder North America said “half of companies don’t have an employer brand”. I disagree – I think all companies have an employer brand, whether they know it or not.

Your employer brand, or how your culture is perceived by prospective and current employees, either helps or hurts your company’s bottom line. Without brand recognition you will attract primarily desperate job seekers, and if you want top talent you’ll probably have to bribe them with supersized salaries. Your best people may jump ship when they become highly valuable.

Research shows that starting salary is less important to job seekers than their perception of the organization. 70% of job seekers said they would accept less than their minimum salary for an employer they believe is a great place to work.

Here are seven tips for building an admired employer brand.

1. Make internal branding a collaborative effort between HR, PR, and marketing. You’ll need all those skill sets.
2. Conduct internal opinion surveys and focus groups. What is it like to work at your company? What are your strengths and weaknesses as an employer?
3. Ask your employees what words and phrases describe working at your company.
4. Consider your company values. How can you bring them alive through branding?
5. Think of employees as customers. What do they want? Consider the demographics and preferences of professionals in your industry and adjust the employment experience accordingly.
6. If you have a strong external brand, let that guide your internal branding efforts. This may seem easier for large organizations, but Phoenix-based Arizona’s Most Admired Company winner Goodmans Interior Structures is a perfect example of a small business with consistency in external marketing and employer branding. It’s hard to look at their website and not want to work there, and their turnover is nil.
7. Submit nominations to “Best Companies” lists, and when you win, make sure everyone knows about it!  This is one of the most effective ways to build your brand in an authentic way.

Please share your ideas.

Career Connectors will celebrate its second anniversary by focusing on the industries and businesses headquartered in the Phoenix market.  This event includes representatives from career transition experts, job search resources and hiring companies Sept. 21, 9:00-noon at 5757 N. Central Avenue in Phoenix.

Career Connectors

Career Connectors is a volunteer organization that helps put professionals back to work by hosting six networking meetings per month at three Valley locations (Phoenix, Gilbert, and Mesa). The events bring in actively-hiring companies, keynote speakers, and career transition coaches who provide free services to professional job seekers, including resume and interview coaching, free head shot photos, social media training, and financial counseling.

The second anniversary meeting theme is designed to “take the current mindset of being an employee to thinking like an entrepreneur.  This can be a life-changing perspective on how professionals should be handling our job search,” said Jessica Pierce, founder of Career Connectors.  Speakers will be Kimber Lanning, Director of Local First Arizona, a coalition of 1,800 locally-owned businesses, and the Greater Phoenix Economic Council’s Mitchell Allen, whose title is Business Attraction Associate.  Allen will give an overview of which industries are growing and where to find professional jobs locally.  Cartel Coffee Lab, a local Phoenix coffee shop, will be catering the event with croissants, bagels and muffins.

Two companies will discuss their current job openings: Avnet, named by Fortune Magazine as one of the “Most-Admired Companies” for the past three years, and LifeLock, a Business Journal “Best Places to Work” winner.   Personal time with these companies will be offered.

“We wanted to do something extra special for this anniversary event, so we’re bringing in more career coaching volunteers – a service that is absolutely free to job seekers,” says Jessica Pierce, founder of Career Connectors and a former professional recruiter.  “I’m looking forward to that moment where people will have a true understanding that the local Phoenix market is full of opportunity, a great place to live, work and play.”

About Career Connectors: Career Connectors  brings together business, non-profits, government, and faith-based organizations to connect Real People with Real Careers.

As Arizona’s fastest growing job seeker program, the organization hosts six free job seeker events per month in Mesa, Gilbert and Phoenix. In each networking event, Career Connectors  showcases hiring companies, and offers free services including education workshops, DiSC profile assessments, networking tips, interview and resume coaching, community resources, and job leads.

Founded in 2009 by Jessica Pierce, the first Career Connectors  event hosted 30 attendees. In less than 2 years Career Connectors  has successfully served over 4200 job seekers in the Phoenix area and there are plans for a larger expansion in 2012. Career Connectors has been supported by Power-One, Computer Skills Institute, International Cruise & Excursions, Inc. (ICE)  and most recently The Superior Group, an international work force and business solutions provider.

Career Connectors is currently pending nonprofit status.  For more information or to register for an upcoming event, visithttp://www.careerconnectors.net. For more information about becoming a corporate sponsor, email jessica@careerconnectors.net.

Arizona’s Most Admired Companies  are selected based on how a company has performed in the following areas: Workplace Culture (as voted by employees), Leadership Excellence, Corporate and Social Responsibility (community and environment), and Customer Opinion (as assessed by customers).  Four companies were recognized with a Spotlight Award for each of the four categories:

Customer Opinion:                  International Cruise & Excursions

Quality Leadership:                 The Arizona Diamondbacks

Social Responsibility:             ScriptSave

Workplace Culture:                  Catholic Healthcare West of Arizona

“This is the most comprehensive and prestigious corporate awards program in Arizona because it recognizes the contributions and impact these “most admired companies” bring to our state”, says Denise Gredler, co-founder of the Most Admired Companies Program.

This year’s Presenting Sponsors included Catholic Healthcare West of Arizona, American Express and Ogletree Deakins.

To view the complete list of 60 winners and spotlight award finalists, and to pre-register your company for 2012 Arizona’s Most Admired Companies visit www.BestcompaniesAZ.com.  To become a sponsor for the 2012 program, or for more information, contact Denise Gredler at 480-545-5151.

“Celebrate what you want to see more of.” – Tom Peters

Great organizations create greater success by celebrating. Recognizing achievements and milestones boosts pride, camaraderie, and leadership credibility.

Once I was at a national conference at which 50 companies were being recognized with a prestigious award. I asked the CEOs and HR leaders, “So what do you plan to do to celebrate your award?” and was amazed at how many of them said “I don’t know, we haven’t thought about that yet.” Some didn’t plan to do anything beyond an announcement and a press release. What a missed opportunity!

Receiving a workplace award at an event such as Arizona’s Most Admired Companies is exciting, but not everyone from your organization will be there to hear the applause. Maximize the impact of your award by bringing the excitement back to the organization.

People love to work for great companies. A celebration will cement the awareness in their minds that they work for a “Most Admired” company. Leaders can inspire by thanking employees for their role.

What can you do to celebrate a workplace award?

• Create banners announcing the award. Advertising agency EB Lane’s outdoor banner proclaiming “EveryBody Loves Working Here” not only built pride, it attracted TV coverage.
• Give all employees a T-shirt highlighting the company as a best place to work.
• Hold an employee appreciation day with a “We Admire You” theme.
• Food is always a great way to celebrate. Content marketing firm and national winner McMurry had wood-fired pizza ovens brought on site for a special happy hour.
• Have a champagne toast.
• Take a mobile ice cream cart through the office and pass out treats, with thank-you messages attached.
• Draw for gift baskets or prizes.
• Decorate people’s desks after hours, including “we admire you” or “thank you” notes.
• Give employees an extra day off, or a half day off on Friday.

How does your company celebrate workplace awards or other successes, large or small? Let us know! If you comment by September 14, you’ll be entered in a prize drawing.

Companies strive to find the most effective ways in which to measure a potential candidate’s “fit” for an open position. Each test, each assessment, each interview is calculatedly given in order to determine the probability that the particular applicant will be a) successful and b) long-term. One factor in evaluating a long-term fit is assessing whether or not an employee will be happy in a certain position (if they are happy, they are more likely to stick around). Happiness in this case would be defined as having a personality or behavioral tendencies that are in line with the duties of the position. For example, if the job were an Accountant, you would want someone with a personality that fits an ideal employee in that position – i.e. highly-detailed, reserved and by-the-book. It doesn’t mean that a highly energetic, unorganized person couldn’t be a successful accountant, just that the probability of success is increased when certain factors are considered.

Image via Rocky Mountain Neuropsychology

Personality assessments should not be the only deciding factor when evaluating an applicant. Possessing the ideal characteristics for a certain position is only one piece to the puzzle. Experience, intelligence/ability and motivation all play equally important parts in determining the odds of hiring a future star performer. Tests for personality fit should be done in conjunction with other pre-employment assessments.

Before we look at different types of personality testing, what exactly constitutes personality for the purpose of job placement? Characteristics that impact the level of performance and attitude required to achieve high productivity in a certain role would be definitive of “personality” in these instances. There are a variety of these traits that a potential employer can reliably measure to determine position to candidate compatibility. Examples of these would be temperament, creativity, adaptability and sociability.

Each of these traits contributes to a factor that is related to job performance. Recruiters or hiring managers assess how each trait positively or negatively impacts the performance feature taking into considerations job duties and parameters. For example, when assessing a candidate’s determination and strength of mind, you are essentially looking at their leadership skills, whether or not they are goal-oriented, and what their long-term potential for advancement might be in this role or in the future for your company. Other examples of this type of deductive reasoning:

• Ideal work environment and position duties: By assessing under what conditions the candidate works best and what job duties best suit their personality you will be able to determine the likelihood the candidate will be highly detailed, process oriented, adaptable to change or perhaps whether some micromanaging may be necessary.

• Attitude and overall outlook: You can deduce from this how a candidate may deal with stressful situations or by their introversion/extroversion how well they might work with others. Insight can also be drawn into whether they are empathetic, adaptable, resistant to leadership or overly emotional.

• Intelligence and thought processes: The type of “thinker” a candidate is will be important when making a candidate to job match. Assess on levels of creativity, ability to think outside the box, analytical skills, etc. The way a candidate solves a problem can also be another way to tell how they deal with pressure.

Take note that with the ability to identify these traits and tendencies, there are disadvantages associated with this kind of testing. Explore all pros and cons prior to inserting any new steps into current recruitment practices.

• Time consuming: If you already have a lengthy recruitment process, these assessments can become time consuming. Choose wisely the length of evaluation you will have time for, as well as at what stage in the candidate selection process you will implement this testing.

• Costly: If your organization is in a major budget crunch, analyze the overall need for adding this step to your screening process. Certain desired results may outweigh the cost of implementation (i.e. high turnover, low employee job satisfaction).

• Training: A combination of cost and time, training is needed on most personality assessments. Recruiters/hiring managers will need to be trained on administering tests, analyzing results and giving advice on hiring decisions based on testing results. If used for employee development, understanding how one type can conflict or work cohesively with another type is essential. Depending on the complexity of the system or program, training can be extensive and costly.

• Interviewing: Consider the idea that the personality best-suited for your open position may not be the best interviewer. A position requiring someone that is reserved, meek and administrative will not have candidates matching the profile who come into an interview outgoing and ready to sell themselves. When using these types of evaluations as a disqualifier in recruitment, be sure to keep in mind these variations during the face-to-face interview portion of the hiring process.

• Improperly Disqualifying: Disqualifying high quality candidates can be a consequence of misreading or misunderstanding test results. Utilizing results as an ultimate disqualifier without weighing other test results or factors can also contribute to this. Be aware that extensive research should be taken to ensure that any test you implement will not have an adverse impact on candidate selection. Adverse impact is defined as a substantially different rate of selection in hiring, promotion or other employment decision which works to the disadvantage of members of a race, sex or ethnic group.

With pros and cons weighed, if you decide personality testing is for your company, you will find yourself next looking for the right assessment tool to use.  Though there are hundreds, if not thousands, of testing options, five widely known assessments are listed below with excerpts from their respective websites.

Pre-Employment Personality Assessment Short List

Predictive Index: The Predictive Index^® System is a powerful process that combines behavioral assessment with world-class training and consulting. At the core of the process is the Predictive Index^® (PI^®) assessment tool. Developed in 1955, PI helps managers identify the motivations and drives of their people. This insight provides managers with invaluable information for improved employee retention, coaching, leadership development, talent management, team performance and more. The Performance Requirement Options™ (PRO) profiles the behavioral requirements needed for optimal job performance. Working together, these tools ensure a strong job fit.

Myers-Briggs: The purpose of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator^® (MBTI^®) personality inventory is to make the theory of psychological types described by C. G. Jung understandable and useful in people’s lives. The essence of the theory is that much seemingly random variation in the behavior is actually quite orderly and consistent, being due to basic differences in the ways individuals prefer to use their perception and judgment.

Kolbe: Kolbe makes finding the right person for the job easier and far less expensive than traditional selection methods. We provide “the missing link” in the hiring process: the rating of candidates based on their natural instincts.

DiSC: DiSC^® is a personal assessment tool used by over 40 million people to improve work productivity, teamwork and communication. DiSC is non-judgmental and helps people discuss their behavioral differences.

Benziger: The Benziger Thinking Styles Assessment (BTSA) is a powerful state-of-the-art tool which has proved itself to be highly effective in a wide range of areas which involve assisting people to improve their self-management skills, general effectiveness and collaborative capabilities. In the world of business and in the world of therapy or counseling, professional trainers, managers and counselors are excited about the results they have been getting.

The value of utilizing personality assessments is not limited to the pre-employment process. This kind of testing also applies to post-hire employee development, affording insight into job satisfaction, development potential and other metrics affected by personality type. Whether pre-employment, post-employment or both, be sure to do your research before implementing new testing procedures. Make sure the type of personality testing is right for your company and the types of positions that you hire. If you feel you are able to self-criticize fairly objectively, try a few free tests to see how close they come to analyzing you and a few other colleagues, using that feedback to aid in selecting the proper assessment tool.

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