| Greetings!
All of us here at The Rainmaker Group hope that you had a wonderful Labor Day holiday weekend and were able to spend some quality time with the loved ones in your life.
We've got a great newsletter this week covering some interesting topics. Our lead article covers employee engagement. This is quite the hot topic as of late and we'd like to offer a fresh perspective on the issue by examining the effects of a proper job fit on employee engagement efforts in the workplace.
Best wishes,
Your partners at The Rainmaker Group
Power quote:
"Excellent firms don't believe in excellence -- only in constant improvement and constant change"
-Tom Peters |
| Causes of Employee Disengagement |
 Employee engagement is all the rage these days in the management world. It seems one can't visit a business related website or open the Wall Street Journal without coming across a study or an article about employee engagement and how to improve it in your organization.
While many of these article do provide some good suggestions for encouraging high levels of employee engagement, almost all fail to identify the key reason why employee engagement has become such an important issue.
Simply put: if you do not understand the root cause of a problem, you cannot correct it. This couldn't be more true when it comes to employee engagement.
In our experience working with a number of different organizations in many different industries, the top reason why employees are not actively engaged in their work is because they are in positions that they simply are not a proper fit for. Read on... |
| If the Job Could Talk, What Would it Say? Part 1 of 2 |
 Chris Young - Founder, The Rainmaker Group
If you've ever read any of our blogs or visited our website there is a pretty good chance that you've heard us discuss the importance of job fit and having the right people in the right positions in your organization.
Central to this effort is a process called job benchmarking. Job benchmarking identifies the behaviors, values, and personal attributes that are key predictors of success for a given job position. The job benchmark serves as a portrait of the ideal employee for the job, giving hiring managers a yard stick to measure applicants and current team members against using their personality profile to determine their "fit" for the job.
A job benchmark is an incredibly powerful tool that must be used responsibly and ethically. To ensure that you are aware of how to responsibly use a job benchmark in your employee hiring and talent management efforts I have put together a two part series on job benchmarking called "If the Job Could Talk, What Would it Say?".
Be sure to watch your inbox in two weeks for the second part of this series! |
| Featured Guru - Jim Collins |
 Jim Collins is the author of one of the most influential business books in the past decade, Good to Great - Why some Companies Make the Leap... and Others Don't.
Collins' book is based off of years of studying companies that were able to dramatically improve performance while others in the industry lagged behind.
In his 2001 article in Fast Company magazine he discusses his research that fueled the best selling book and addresses the issue of change.
It may surprise you, but Collins reports that the companies able to make the leap from Good to Great all underwent considerable change, but not in the dramatic way you might guess.
These companies did not undergo drastic and massive change initiatives, rampantly acquire smaller competing firms, or offer excessive stock options as motivation to make the needed change happen.
Collins uses colorful metaphors and real words examples to illustrate that although change can take a considerable amount of time to occur, it can gain incredible momentum and bring about extraordinary results.
Check out Collin's Fast Company article "Good to Great" for some great insight on how you can take your organization to the next level. Read the article here. |
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QBQ! Personal Accountability QuickNote - "Why are Customers so Demanding?" |
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Have you ever had a customer who seemed to want and need everything you could possibly think of and more?
If you've ever serviced customers in any way your answer is likely "Yeah, there was this one guy..."
While the customer might not always be right, they are always your customer and help to provide the paycheck you enjoy twice a month.
Maxine Clark of Build a Bear Workshop has a great service philosophy that serves as excellent advise for business leaders and anybody who serves customers in their organization:
"There is virtually nothing we can do for a customer that will put us out of business."
Read that statement again and think about what it means for your organization. For Maxine it means making the customer's experience with her organization the best it possibly be.
She accomplishes this through a culture of personal accountability that ask questions such as "What can I do right now to help my customer"
Creating a culture of Personal Accountability should be a top priority for all organizations. Team members who think and practice Personal Accountability can bring about incredible changes for an organization. The blame game disappears, morale increases, and Customer Experiences are enhanced all thanks to the power of Personal Accountability.
The Rainmaker Group is proud to offer powerful day long QBQ! workshops instilling the power of Personal Accountability into teams and organizations across the country. For more information about these workshops or to purchase John Miller's books, QBQ! and Flipping the Switch Visit our website at: http://www.personalaccountabilityatwork.com
John Miller is author of QBQ! The Question Behind The Question, the authoritative guide to practicing Personal Accountability. | |
Is your organization living up to its full potential? Is high turnover hurting your bottom line? Do your team members create the powerful experiences your customers deserve? Do team members have difficulty effectively communicating with others?
Bring Chris to your organization and start realizing your organization's full potential. Chris can deliver powerful and motivating keynote speeches, design customized training programs and workshops, help identify barriers to communication, and much more. We don't sell training out of the box, but rather insist on customizing it to your needs! For more info, send an e-mail to Chris@therainmakergroupinc.com
Or call 1-866-988-7246
About us:
The Rainmaker Group is a People Maximization and Development group located in Bismarck, ND. Our mission is to help those we serve make their difference in the world.
We hope you found this newsletter interesting and informative. If you like what you read, please give us a shout, we're here to help!
"He is able who thinks he is able."
- Buddha
Sincerely,
All of us here at The Rainmaker Group
1-866-988-7246
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| For More Great Articles and Stories: |
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The Question Behind the Question
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Recommended Reading:
Patrick Lencioni's Five Dysfunctions of a Team
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| The Rainmaker Group Experience |
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Start Maximizing Possibility in your organization today! We offer a variety of services to help your organization realize its full potential. Check us out today!
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Recommended Reading:
Jim Collins' Good To Great
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