Tag Archives: hiring practices

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employee disconnect

Employee Disconnect Is a Challenge For Everyone

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Have you observed employee disconnect with your team? Have you noticed it for yourself? Is it possible to reconnect?

Many organizations report that part of their onboarding process is an attempt to find the right fit. Many candidates may have the appropriate technical skills, but will they fit?

I often talk with groups about what we call the golden rule. Most associate the golden rule with the concept of treating others as you would like to be treated.

The fallacy of the golden rule is that not everyone wants to be treated like you. It assumes everyone has the same view of values and beliefs.

News flash. People don’t universally have the same values and belief systems.

This may be the place where employee disconnect begins.

Employee Disconnect

Some people see an act of God, others see medicine that works.

Some people see luck and others see a calculated approach to success.

Whether it is coincidence or gut feel, observations on what happened, or predictions of what will happen next it is a unique experience.

No one has identical thoughts, experiences, and beliefs as you do. You may be able to connect with people who share similar experiences, yet your experience is still unique.

What you have lived and felt is always individualized.

This is exactly why connecting employees with purpose is the single best way to ensure engagement. Money matters, but it often is not connected with the willpower to make a difference or persevere.

Employee connection or engagement is exactly where the most successful organizational cultures accel.

It is not because the cultural connection is dictated. It is because it is experienced.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


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workplace norms

Workplace Norms and What Is Different

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Do you fall perfectly in line with the culture at your workplace? Are you following the workplace norms?

Many organizations hire for fit. Fit is often viewed as the most important attribute immediately following a handful of specific skills.

Do you feel like you fit? What is the real narrative of the culture?

Fitting in has value. So does, a different opinion. In many cases, something different creates more value not less.

Need Not Apply

We must remove some variables.

A person who is against alcohol consumption probably isn’t right for a winery or liquor store.

The same may be said about gun shops, vape stores, or your local specialty meats store. If you are strongly against, you probably don’t fit.

What about someone who loves to go fishing instead of playing golf. Someone who loves tiny homes instead of a mansion, or who drives a junker car instead of a brand-new BMW?

Why does any of this matter?

It matters because decisions connected to your personal preferences or taste, should not necessarily count you out for being valuable to the organization. Strong differing values and beliefs may not work, but otherwise different may be just what the organization needs.

What are the workplace norms all about then?

Workplace Norms

People often want to hire people who are just like themselves. The belief often is that if we agree on nearly everything, the work will be easier.

The prominent thought is that it will allow for greater success, more efficiency, and fewer people problems.

Don’t confuse easier with better, or success with fewer problems.

The leadership team at Blockbuster must have agreed with each other. The same might be said for strategy developers at Sears, KMart, or Radio Shack.

You may not be in love with technology, you may not understand why some co-workers ride a bicycle when they have a car, and perhaps you can’t imagine why anyone would eat brussels sprouts, yet it may not be relevant for doing the best work.

Workplace culture enjoys a special dance with empathy. Empathetic cultures embrace many differences and use those differences to form special bonds with the organizational mission.

A football team isn’t made up entirely of quarterbacks. Healthcare doesn’t only hire nurses. And the construction company probably needs an accountant.

Fit is often really a frame that is often misinterpreted as meaning, “Just like me.”

What is different may be exactly what you need.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.


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hiring practices

Hiring Practices Tell a Story

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It seems almost counterintuitive. Low unemployment rates, organizations claiming they can’t find employees, and potential candidates expressing they can’t find employers. Does it have something to do with hiring practices?

The easy answer is, “Perhaps.” Another good answer would be, “It depends.”

If you are an emerging potential candidate you should consider the effort that appears to be taken by the potential employer.

Hiring Practices

When a job is posted on a job board or other online quick post system what did it cost the employer? What are the details? What effort appears to have been taken to roll out this job?

When you’re looking for work it is easy to jump to the idea of, “There is an opening. I’m on it.” Sure, there may be a job there, but is it the job for you?

You can count on one thing. If the job advertisement process appears to be a mundane and disinterested roll out, it is probably going to feel like that and much worse if you get the job.

We don’t care, you don’t care, so nobody cares and we’re all disappointed.

Putting widgets in a box is rapidly being replaced by automation. If it hasn’t, or it isn’t in the works, this probably isn’t your dream employer.

In this case the employer see’s little value in the employee. The desire is, “Put the widget in the box until the end of your shift.”

When Turnover Is Popular

When the employer has little skin in the game. Turnover is popular, but not so costly because there is no intellectual value lost. Little effort went into the recruitment process, and like a lottery ticket they’ll just buy another.

So, the cycle continues. Organizations claiming that they can’t find employees, and potential candidates expressing they can’t find employers.

An investment in nothing, yields nothing.

-DEG

Dennis E. Gilbert is a business consultant, speaker (CSPTM), and culture expert. He is a five-time author and the founder of Appreciative Strategies, LLC. His business focuses on positive human performance improvement solutions through Appreciative Strategies®. Reach him through his website at Dennis-Gilbert.com or by calling +1 646.546.5553.

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