The Power of Feedback

“47 percent of people actively looking for new positions say company culture is the main reason” — Hays.com

When you read this statistic, does it scare you or make you feel confident about your company’s employees? Is it strange to you that corporate culture is the main reason for employees wanting to make a change? Does this make you wonder if you might have some work to do around your office?
 
For the next few weeks, we are going to start a series about simple strategies to improve your work culture.  I’m going to share some of my experiences with the companies who are finding success in creating a great culture.  And don’t worry - by culture, I don’t mean ping pong tables and free snacks (although those aren’t bad).
 
#1- Providing Feedback
The first (and cheapest) strategy that helps to create a better culture is… PROVIDING FEEDBACK.  Professionals want to know that they are valued!  There are two very easy ways to do that. 

1. Verbal Feedback – Are you taking the time each week to go up to your employees and let them know that you are thankful for something they have done? Your direct reports should hear a verbal thank you or praise at least once a month. And that should happen IN PERSON if possible. This is where walking around with coffee in the morning without an agenda is an incredible tool. Stopping by offices and cubes can make a world of difference to your employees. If you don’t have an office – a once a week check-in call just to say hello with no agenda is critical.

2. Written Feedback – When was the last time you sent your direct reports a hand-written note to thank them for something that they exceeded expectations on? When did you write a note just letting them know that you know that they could choose anywhere to work and you are thankful that they chose your workplace? Have you done this EVER? Setting aside 15 minutes a week to encourage your employees is a great, no-cost way to radically change the culture in a really quick amount of time in your company. If your response to this suggestion is to tell me there is nothing great to say to them, then you probably should call us to help you find some new team members. Gratitude and encouragement FEED our employees – they want to feel appreciated and valued.

As you sit in your office thinking right now, “She’s wrong! I don’t have time for that”, consider this statistic: “69% of employees would work harder if they felt their efforts were better appreciated.” – Socialcast  
 
Hmm. It looks like setting aside 15 minutes each week to show some appreciation is a good business decision and will not only help to reduce turnover, it will also likely impact your bottom line.

Candidate Spotlight: Sarah is available to hire

Are you looking for a marketing/executive support specialist? If so, meet Sarah. Sarah has over 10 years’ experience specializing in brand marketing, project management, content development and executive support. More specifically, she is well versed in social media content creation and management, email campaigns, website updates, tracking analytics as well as live event management.

Sarah is dynamic, self-motivated, reliable and extremely organized. Sarah is on the market because the company she most recently was with is shutting down and she is hoping for an exciting, new professional challenge!

Work location preferences: Sarah is currently looking for a remote or partially remote position, working anywhere from 20-40 hours/week.

Salary range preferences: Negotiable depending upon the hours and scope of the position.

Here is a video message from Sarah: http://bit.ly/iomeetsarah

To start the conversation about how Sarah may be a perfect fit for your company, contact Matt Filer at mfiler@innovative-outsourcing.com

Hire one of our top three HR Director candidates, and the placement fee is CUT IN HALF!

In this climate of employees leaving jobs often and the litigious environment we find ourselves in, now is the time to make sure you have the right HR professional on your staff. Maybe you have felt for a while that your HR person is not the right fit for your culture, or maybe your company has grown and now his/her skillsets are not a match. You need an HR person that is an expert at both compliance and strategy to support your initiatives. You probably know that you need to make a change, but change can be difficult since this person does all your hiring... We understand that!

After completing a full search for one of our clients, we now have several available excellent HR candidates that might be perfect for your company. What benefit is this for you to choose one of these?  Our standard placement fee is 20% of the first year’s salary, but since we have already invested our time identifying and qualifying three excellent candidates, we will pass this saving along to you. Hire one of these three candidates, and your fee is CUT IN HALF... only 10% of the first year’s salary.

Here is a review of their skillsets:

• Current knowledge of HR compliances guidelines and implementation

• Proficient in tactical execution of payroll, compensation planning, performance management

• Talent acquisition/Full-cycle recruiting

• Employee on boarding and off boarding

• Employee relations and fostering employee engagement

• Prior experience with building an HR department from scratch

• Master’s degree and/or SPHR certification

• Demonstrated ability to handle both the tactical and strategic needs of HR management 

Annual Salary Range: $115-125k/year
Location: Candidates reside in Powder Springs, Smyrna, and Atlanta

If you are interested in learning more about these candidates and this limited time offer, or if you have any full- or part-time staffing needs, please contact Matt Filer, mfiler@innovative-outsourcing.com 404-259-6449

Hire one of our best social media candidates!

If you are like most business owners, you are constantly looking for new ways to get your company’s brand on the radar of potential customers. Using social media marketing is a great way to engage with current customers as well as attract new ones. Most small to medium-sized businesses have to choose between using people in-house or using an agency for their social media marketing.
 
Get the Best of In-House AND Agency
It can be a real struggle to consistently handle social media marketing, but we want you to know that you don’t have to choose between trying to figure it out on your own and using an agency. Innovative Outsourcing can offer a better solution.
 
Why should you spend excessive money on an agency instead of having a chance to really grow a staff member who knows and loves your business? And if you try to do this in-house with your current staff, they may not have the background to provide professional content and excellent strategy.
 
Choose Our Best Social Media Marketing Professionals
Innovative Outsourcing has Social Media Marketing candidates ready to help you.  Our candidates are available on a fractional basis (from as little as 10 hours a week) for reasonable hourly rates.
 
We have recently filled several Social Media positions and we have a variety of candidates ready for you to hire.  Many of our candidates have years of experience creating, managing, and implementing content marketing strategies and lead generation campaigns.
 
An Example of One of Those Exceptional Candidates

Whether you need help with your existing Digital or Social Media Marketing plan or need to develop one, contact Matt Filer today!

Interview Prep Isn't Just For Job Applicants

Everyone knows the importance of being well-prepared for an interview with a potential employer. However, how much do YOU prepare before you are interviewing candidates for a new position in YOUR organization? There are several things you can do that will help to ensure that you have productive meetings with your candidates, and you can ensure that you are not exposing yourself to any unnecessary legal risk. 
 
Over the next several weeks, we will be reviewing some important elements of an effective interviewing process. Many of these reminders come from feedback from our candidates after returning from interviews. Just a few extra minutes on the front end and a few minor changes can help to ensure that you are putting your best foot forward and that you select a person who will be a great addition to your team.
 
We believe reading through these tips will be helpful as you grow, and you can always keep them on file to review again before your next search process begins.
 
Today's Interview Element: Determine WHO You Want To Hire
 
We know this sounds elementary. Of course, you have thought about the skills and experience you need for the open position in your company. However, there are some extra steps you can take that will make a huge difference in the success of your hiring efforts.

Write a good job description.  Having a specific and thorough outline of what a candidate will do on the job makes it easier to assess an applicant’s previous experience and skills and how they line up with what you need. Make sure you list your “must-haves” and your “nice-to-haves.” Some things are essential in order for a new employee to be able to hit the ground running while others can be trained.

Know the intangibles that you need/want.  As you have probably learned the hard way over the years, skills do not typically cause an employee to fail in a position. However, it is more typically issues related to work ethic, personality match, being a team player, etc. Ask yourself these questions, as the answers will lead to a great hire. 

• “What makes a person successful in this role?”

• “What type of behaviors/ attitudes make a person a great member of my team?”

• “Who on my team would I like to clone and what is it about them that makes them so valuable to me?”

Write down some specific questions.  Based on your must-have skills/experience and the answers to your intangible questions, write down some specific questions that you will ask each candidate. It’s okay to move off-script and go with the flow of the conversation, of course. But by making sure you ask each candidate 10 or so of the same questions, it will make it a lot easier for you to do your evaluations once the interviews are over.
 
Behavioral Interviewing Questions are one of the best ways to get to those “intangibles” that you are looking for in your next hire.  Stay tuned for some easy ways to implement those in our next post!

Looking for a good business book?

Need a recommendation for your next great read?  Cindi Filer, CEO of Innovative Outsourcing, offers her thoughts on what she and her staff have been reading lately.  She calls this her "Book Buzz," and she would like to offer you this reference of what's on the IO shelf right now.  Click on any book shown below to read the review and learn how this book may benefit your business.  Then please provide your comments in the section below so we can get the conversation started!

A Billionaire wants to mentor YOU!

Imagine this! You just received an invitation to meet weekly for coffee with one of the 100 wealthiest people in the world, a billionaire investor and philanthropist. He is taking a special interest in you, and he wants you to fully grasp all the important things he has learned in his 68 years of life and work.  He will mentor you by tracing his footsteps and missteps, his successes and his failures.  When your mentoring sessions are completed, you will be equipped to carry that spark as a blazing torch, enlightening your personal life and your business.

While it may not be an actual “talk-over-coffee,” Ray Dalio’s #1 New York Times bestseller Principles: Life & Work is the ONE must-read book this year, both for your business and your personal growth. Even if you are not a “book” person, there is just too much great stuff here to let this one slip by another day.

RAY DALIO is the founder and co-chairman of the best performing hedge fund in the world.  He’s made the list of the most influential people in the world by Time and Bloomberg Markets. Even if you have not a stiff of interest in hedge funds or investing, the stories he tells and the life principles he shares will keep you hanging on his every word.   

There are two overarching themes that ooze through the richness of Dalio’s wisdom.  

• Principles are ways of successfully dealing with reality to get what you want out of work and life, so identify and use your principles as a measuring stick for all you do.
• In applying these principles, be radically open-minded and radically transparent.  This will assure that you learn quickly, and that you don’t get hung up on what things “should” be like, but what is reality.

It is impossible to highlight the favorite parts of this book, but from a staffing perspective, let me jump right to Part III where Dalio hits the very heart of building a business based upon solid work principles.  Because there is just so much rich information, Dalio does us a tremendous service, and begins this section with a summary and table of these principles, indexed to the pages where each topic is covered in more depth.  He begins by saying, “An organization is a machine consisting of two major parts:  culture and people.” Then he proceeds to itemize how to get the culture right, and how to get the people right.  These are not pie-in-the-sky ideas, but instead he outlines specific steps.  For example, to support his principle that you need to create a culture in which it is okay to make mistakes, but unacceptable not to learn from them, Dalio provides five specific steps any business leader can follow to assure this happens. 

After learning how to get the culture right, my favorite section explains how to get the people right:

• Remember that the WHO is more important than the WHAT
• Hire RIGHT, because the penalties for hiring wrong are huge (then he adds eight steps to assure you succeed in this)
• Constantly train, test, evaluate, and sort people (and he gives you very specific strategies to accomplish this)

As a reader and a business leader, you are challenged to manage your business like someone operating a machine to achieve a goal. Just as a machine operator knows the components that produce the product, “…know what your people are like and what makes them tick, because your people are your most important resource.”

Ray Dalio admits that he is no different from you. "Whatever success I’ve had in life hasn’t been because of anything unique about me—it’s because of principles that I believe anyone can adopt."

So grab a cup of coffee, open the book, either hardcopy or audio, and enjoy a few moments each week as Ray Dalio fills you with the inspiration and wisdom that may make you think differently about your life and work.  Oh, and Part III of Dalio’s book — that’s our sweet spot, so Innovative Outsourcing would be honored to come along side you to put these principles in motion as you build your team at your company.

Listen to Ray Dalio’s Ted Talk 
Watch the Animated Series (30 minutes divided into 8 short episodes) 
Book Summary Outline 

Your next new hiring task just got easier!

Assembling an ideal staff is no small task. And when you need to replace or add an employee, the rest of your work can't just be put on hold while you devote time to this critical team-building part of your company.

You need high-performing team members that fit into the culture that you’ve so painstakingly built over the years. Finding the perfect fit can be an exhausting, time-consuming process, typically taking an average of 60-80 hours per hire.

HERE IS HOW THIS WORKS

When you make the decision to allow our experts to do most of the really time-consuming work for you, Innovative Outsourcing will source and present fully vetted top candidates. All you have to do is choose your favorite from the cream of the crop.  This reduces your time investment to about five hours instead of 60-80.  

Businesses just like yours have been relying on us for over 24 years. Innovative Outsourcing has been taking the hiring pressure off business owners and helping them build the teams they need for ultimate success. This short video highlights the steps in our proven process so you’ll know what to expect when you partner with us on your next hire.  Have an opening in your company?  Then let’s get started finding a great addition to your team now! Or better yet, let us get to know you now so when are are in a pinch for a new hire, we are all set to get to work for you. Give Matt Filer a call, and we will get started.

Matt Filer
Business Development
phone | 404 259 6449

Take it from the hens!

Business Culture:

• It's what makes your best employees choose to stay with you or take another job offer.
• It's what makes some companies 12% more profitable than their competitors
• It's what creates a line outside your door “just in case you have an opening”.  
• It's what good small businesses spend time maximizing
• It's what small business owners usually have no idea how to create.  
• It's what you are creating (good or bad) even if you don’t know you are - THIS SHOULD MOTIVATE YOU!

Take a look at this Ted talk.  The health of your business may depend on it. 

Do you know what your culture is in your company?  Is it positive, negative or neutral?  Are you sure?

IO considers culture incredibly important as we help you hire and retain your best team.  We have a new product that can help you determine what your culture is and the things that you must do to create the culture that you want.

If you are interested, please contact Matt Filer, mfiler@innovative-outsourcing.com, 404-259-6449.

http://bit.ly/2ow1WDo
Image Credit: http://www.wildhenfarm.com.au/

Advice from a sage businessman

This is Alan Ketzes. Alan is a chair at Vistage International with the role of business coach to over 60 CEOs in the Metro Atlanta area. He thrives on bringing executives together through peer groups, giving one-on-one coaching, and has driven many executives and their businesses to new heights. 

In this 2 1/2 minute video, Alan offers a time-saving suggestion that he gives to his clients, and he believes this can help your business as well. We personally loved his answer and hopefully you will, too. Enjoy Alan Ketzes! 

https://youtu.be/rtwLe6pVsko

Book Buzz: Killing Marketing

You’ve grown a successful business based upon sound marketing principles. So what if you came to realize that all you know about marketing could actually be holding you back? Marketing is on the brink of change, and those businesses that can successfully pivot their marketing strategy now will reap the rewards, as those businesses less progressive scramble to play catch-up.

Killing Marketing, by Joe Pulizzi and Robert Rose, provides a new and shocking perspective that could change how you market your business. Through the insights of these authors, you may consider how actually “killing marketing” as we know it could be the start of a whole new way you grow your business. These two authors are the world’s top marketing experts of our age, and they begin this book with an alarming realization. Over the past two decades, we have seen a dramatic shift in both B2B and B2C buying and brand loyalty, yet the way we market has remained the same. 

Using the traditional marketing strategy, we grow our business by climbing to the top of a mountain and screaming, “Look what I have. Here is why you want to buy it.” By seasoning this message with thoughtful features and benefits, we hope to bait anyone who will listen into becoming a customer. According to Pulizzi and Rose, this is old-school, and if we continue to market this way, the world is going to move on and leave us screaming from our mountain top while no one is listening.

To beam our marketing strategy into the 21st century, the authors begin by asking three questions:

• What if what we’ve been taught or experienced in marketing doesn’t show us the full picture?
• What if we’ve limited our view of marketing to one area (what we know), and that is not allowing us to see the full potential of what can be accomplished (what we do not know yet)?
• What if placing marketing solely in the marketing department is killing the approach of marketing as a strategic business process?

When you consider marketing, what comes to mind? Advertising, product brochures, sales support material? According to Pulizzi and Rose, marketing focused solely around the product or service that your business provides is what needs to be “killed.”

Through a series of very progressive examples, we read stories of how companies of all sizes are using this new strategy.  Whether it is a small business with expertise in raising chickens or a large, well established business like Red Bull or Lego, there is a clear benefit of growing an audience by offering great content.  Build an audience, and then get to know them long before you ever consider introducing a product or service. Once you really know the heartbeat of your audience, then sales will follow by a natural extension of meeting the need. 

How does this apply to my business?
So what could your business benefit from the radical marketing ideas this book presents? First of all, if you are in a small- to medium-sized business, chances are good that you ARE the marketing department. The good news here is that you have the flexibility to give this a try. With all the digital marketing tools available, it has never been more cost-effective for you to reach your target audience. Imagine potential customers flocking to your weekly blog because the content is so compelling and valuable to them that they would even pay to receive your information. Next, consider an in-person event where you are a featured expert, providing your potential customers with industry expertise that only you can succinctly and conveniently provide. Once you have this relationship with your potential customers, selling a product or service is simply a natural extension of your established customer outreach. This is how the authors propose we begin “killing marketing.”

Where do I start?
Moving forward, it’s going to be all about FIRST getting the ear of a consistent and growing audience using content that draws them into a relationship with your company. Once you have consistent two-way interaction, through digital media and in-person events, then the sales from well-positioned products and services that address the needs of a customer base you already know and who knows you will follow naturally. Over the past two decades, Pulizzi has successfully counseled businesses through this process. Begin by identifying what information you have that is of great value to your potential customers. Next, create a consistent and measurable strategy to communicate that to your target audience. Make sure that the communication is two-way, and includes both digital and in-person components. But don’t focus it on your product. Focus on your expertise and the unique way you can provide information to your audience.  

Create, Communicate, and Deliver Value to a Target Market at a Profit
As defined by the famous marketing professor Philip Kotler, this pure definition of marketing still rings true. Pulizzi and Rose are not suggesting that the principle of marketing changes. Instead of making the product or service king, the marketing of the 21st century must focus on curating the audience from which product or service sales will naturally follow. Pulizzi and Rose finish by showing how this strategy can even turn marketing into a profit center for your business.

Download a free preview of Killing Marketing.

Are you thinking of “Killing Marketing,” but you don’t feel like you have the right staff to make this happen? Innovative Outsourcing can help. Contact Kelli Kochs to get the conversation started, 404-271-1592 kkochs@innovative-outsourcing.com

Thumbs Up! 

I absolutely recommend this book for you and your marketing team.

How Long? 

Allow about 5 to 6 hours to read this book. Because much of the book includes stories of great marketing examples, make the most of your commute time by listening to the Audible version.

Read This Book! 

These inspiring stories may be the catalyst that opens your mind to new opportunities using this progressive approach to marketing.

Selecting the Best Interview Questions

I am often asked to suggest good interview strategies. What questions are the best? To help you make the most of the interview experience, consider using some of my favorite questions:

QUESTION: Tell me about a situation in a past job or organization where you encountered some conflict, and how did you address or handle it?

This question reveals these important indicators: 

• This is a fairly complex question. Can the candidate recall a situation on the fly, and then provide a cohesive answer? Their response helps me understand if they can think on their feet, can handle something quickly, can determine a good answer, and then deliver a well-considered reply.  
• How they have handled conflict in the past is a predictor of how they will handle it in the future. If they answer that it was all the fault of the other person, and the supervisor had to handle it, or the candidate simply left the company, that is probably not a good response. If their answer includes how they addressed the conflict directly with the person and talked it out with them, meeting halfway to handle the situation, that is the preferred response.
• If they say they have never had a job with any conflict, that is a big red flag. This candidate is either not truthful or they can’t think on their feet.

QUESTION: At XYZ company, we value helping fellow employees and we are FOR each other. When in a previous position, have you been able to help a coworker get recognized for something they have done or help them achieve success?

Here’s what I am looking for here:

• This is a good one to figure out if they are FOR other people or FOR themselves. To me, this is a significant factor in evaluating a candidate. If they can never remember a time that they helped a peer, then you don’t want them on your team.
• This might give the candidate a glimpse into who you are as a future employer. They may not believe in this value. They may be such a self-centered driver that it is all about them. In this case, your environment would not be good for them, and they might self-select out. 

QUESTION: What is one thing that you would like to be better at in five years?

Look for these things:

• I like someone to be self-aware. Do they know where their weaknesses are, and are they willing to share one with you?  If they answer this quickly, that’s a good indicator. If they don’t, that means that they haven’t thought about this lately and are not trying to self-improve. Ask me this question right now, and I have a list of five things in my head that I am trying to improve upon. That is what you would like to see.
• I am looking for a humble employee. If they are open to share their developmental issues with you, then they are likely humble and this could signify a good candidate.  

Searching for more questions?  Here are 30 you may also want to consider.

When you work with Innovative Outsourcing, we provide you with the finest candidates. Work with us for your next open position. Our outreach identifies the best candidates, and then we use personality testing, phone screening, and in-person interviews to select the best two candidates for your review. Then, we schedule the interviews, and you simply ask some of these good questions.  It’s easy when you let us help!

New I-9 Form. Did you meet the deadline?

No one likes to hear the word "audit". However, like Mondays, they always seem to come around eventually. Make sure your records are flawless by reviewing these newly released guidelines from USCIS regarding the I-9 form.

USCIS released a revised version of Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, on July 17. Effective Sept. 18, employers must use the revised form with a revision date of 07/17/17 N at the bottom. Employers must continue following existing storage and retention rules for any previously completed Form I-9. There were some minor changes to verbiage on the form. But the more significant changes relate to the List of Acceptable Documents.

Revisions related to the List of Acceptable Documents on Form I-9:

• The Consular Report of Birth Abroad (Form FS-240) was added to List C. Employers completing Form I-9 on a computer will be able to select Form FS-240 from the drop-down menus available in List C of Sections 2 and 3. E-Verify users will also be able to select Form FS-240 when creating a case for an employee who has presented this document for Form I-9.
• All the certifications of report of birth issued by the Department of State (Form FS-545, Form DS-1350, and Form FS-240) were combined into selection C #2 in List C.
• All List C documents except the Social Security card were renumbered. For example, the employment authorization document issued by the Department of Homeland Security on List C changed from List C #8 to List C #7.

All these changes are in the revised Handbook for Employers: Guidance for Completing Form I-9 (M-274), which is also easier for users to navigate than before. Please visit the USCIS website for more details.

We know it's important to you to maintain a legal workforce. While the changes to the new I-9 form are minimal, failure to comply effective with the September 18th implementation date can result in significant fines for your organization. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced increases in fines for Form I-9 violations last year. So make sure all employees with hiring responsibilities in your company have scrapped the old form and are using the new one. 

Please reach out to you Innovative Outsourcing Account Manager if you need additional information or if you have any current staffing need. We are hear to help you.

Book Buzz: Shoe Dog by Phil Knight

What if you took a “crazy idea” and made it one of the most successful brands the world has ever known? What if you had no idea how to do something but surrounded yourself with the right people to reach that dream? This is what Phil Knight did as he took a love for running shoes and created one of the most recognizable brands in the world.

In his autobiography Shoe Dog, Nike founder Phil Knight weaves an inspiring tale of what began as a “crazy idea” for a class at Stanford and developed into a worldwide apparel bonanza. This compelling story of a young man with a passion to change the status quo and do what he loves is simply inspiring. In this book, Knight weaves his journey of how he turned a $50 loan from his father into a company with annual sales topping $30 billion. The reader is inspired to learn how Knight achieved the improbable, building a wildly successful company from scratch out of his parents’ garage in Portland, Oregon.

The three essential themes Knight outlines in this book can serve as guideposts and inspiration to all types of business leaders:

• Begin with a passion-filled idea
• Build the right team
• Fuel success with grit

A Passion-filled Idea:
Knight had a simple company mission: Import high-quality, low-cost running shoes and sell to runners in the global marketplace. Phil Knight ran track for the University of Oregon, and running had always been his passion. This “crazy idea” was a perfect combination of business and his passion. It was what got him going in the morning. Ask yourself, “What do I have a passion for, and how can I apply that to my business every day?” 

The Right Team: 
To put legs under a passion-filled idea, Knight surrounded himself with a team of talent. He relied upon many decisions made by his partner and track coach Bill Bowerman, and also a compilation of marketing misfits who became united with a purpose of birthing the swoosh as an icon. Putting the right people in the right places was an ongoing challenge. Knight describes how he made hard personnel changes when a team member’s skills could be better utilized in another position, even if reluctant relocation was required. (This sounds like something to which we all can relate!) Change is often met with resistance, and it is certainly not the easy path, but having key talent in the right roles keeps your business firing on all cylinders. 

Grit: 
Possibly the most admirable attribute about Phil Knight has always been his drive to see quality shoes on the feet of worldwide athletes. For example, in the first five years of business, he visited manufacturing facilities in Japan nine times to make sure the shoes were being made properly and that his relationships with companies over there were solid. Setbacks were a common thread in his story, as his tale includes multiple lawsuits, bankers that suddenly refused support of his little shoe company, and doubters who questioned the potential of his ideas and innovation. The roller coaster of risks and rewards was also peppered with stories of narrow escapes, yet through it all, his passionate vision and talented team fueled his success. As a business leader, there will always be people who doubt your ideas, your innovation, and your passion. However, with grit and teamwork like Knight’s, you can envision your long-term success and keep pressing toward the goal.

So what is this book’s takeaway for your business? Consider these questions:

• Am I fulfilling a business need rooted in my passion?  If I’m not, how can I incorporate my passion in my work?
• Have I made the tough decisions I need to ensure that I have the RIGHT people on my team?  Is there someone that I have tried to train, but is still a drain on my business?  Am I making the hard decisions to get the RIGHT people in the RIGHT positions?
• How do I perform when the times get challenging? Do I find comfort in the easy path, or do I push through toward the goal? Am I a leader with GRIT, and do I foster an environment where gritty leaders thrive?

Are you considering the possibilities, but don't know where to start?  Please call me for coffee, and together we will set a few next steps.  No charge – and the coffee is on me! When it comes to the teamwork piece, that is our expertise at Innovative Outsourcing, and I'd be happy to steer you in the right direction.

Thumbs Up! 

I absolutely recommend this book for your and your managers. It is an easy read that tells a captivating story about guy with a dream. His memoir is humble, intriguing, and surprisingly funny. 

How Long? 

Allow about 10 hours to read this book. Because this is easy and inspirational, make the most of your commute time by listening to the Audible version.

Read This Book! 

After reading this book, you will be motivated to grow your business through passion, great teams, and grit.

Four key parts to a great performance review

Cindi Filer, CEO of Innovative Outsourcing shares helpful advice you can use. Second message in a three-part series on performance evaluations.

Performance reviews are important to your business. Over the past few weeks, we have investigated why this is critical, and then also underscored the importance of a great job description as a precursor to the performance review. Now here's how to set the stage for a purposeful and productive meeting.

In your mind, imagine the perfect 45-minute employee meeting. Now fast-forward to the end of that meeting so you can now work backwards to achieve the best structure. Here is how that time should ideally be spent:

• 18 minutes –  Encouragement
• 9 minutes –  Improvement points
• 9 minutes – Development needs (What do you think they need. What do they think they need.)
• 9 minutes – Self-reflection 

Your past performance reviews may not have followed this ideal 40%-20%-20%-20% strategy, but this should be your goal. Here is how to make that happen:

40% is ENCOURAGEMENT

Why should encouragement dominate your performance review time? Surveys find that the primary reason people leave their jobs is because they do not feel appreciated. While we need to give encouragement often, a performance review is a GREAT time to tell your employee what he/she does well, attitudes you like, and skills they possess USING EXAMPLES. (Recognize the time they helped retain a client, or notice the extra time spent on a result-producing project.) When you share these key examples, even if they are small “wins,”  it sets the tone for a productive review.

20% is IMPROVEMENT POINTS

"Everyone has room to improve." Begin this segment on a positive note, immediately following your encouragement message. Focus on measurable improvement areas. If something is not quantifiable, (for example, their temperament when things don’t go their way), make sure that you communicate this by providing specific examples. Jointly agree upon a goal for improvement and an expected reevaluation date. If you fail to set and follow though on reevaluating, you may as well not discuss improvement points at all.

20% is DEVELOPMENT NEEDS

Next, discuss what the employee perceives they need most, and include what you feel that they need. Perhaps this includes leadership training, skills training, or being mentored by an experienced colleague or outside source. Following the same improvement points strategy, development goals need to be specifically outlined with expected completion and reevaluation dates. By devoting time and money in training, even inexpensive training by webinars, it shows that you are investing in them. You send a two-fold message: "I want you to succeed professionally, AND I value what your continued development brings to the company."  

20% is SELF-REFLECTION

Prior to a review meeting, the employee should complete a self-assessment which will likely mirror many of your thoughts. This self-reflective process is a learned skill equipping the employee to possibly correct future issues even before it comes to a manager's attention. If you need assistance creating an evaluation tool like this, Innovative Outsourcing offers a full range of customized employee evaluation services.  If you are designing your own form, consider a section requesting their perspective on overall company performance, what they would do if they were “king for a day,” and how they could be part of an improvement strategy. The responses you receive could be your company’s best “free” consulting advice!

Let’s review:

• Performance reviews are important.
• It all begins with a good job description.
• Plan your performance review time proportionately between these four key areas.

Next time, we will talk about who should conduct the reviews and the best timing. In the meantime, I’d appreciate your feedback or questions on this topic. Email me at cfiler@innovative-outsourcing.com.