Top 10 Hiring Mistakes

Hiring the right people can make our world with full of flying colors and the success gives us everything we want in our business. Yet, sometimes we do not approach hiring in the right manner and often make the some repeated mistakes. Here are the most common Top 10 errors a recruiter could do:

1. Taping candidates' background.

No matter what the candidate may include on their resume, we unknowingly/knowingly skip reading the resume. If we are serious about specified candidates placement, make sure that their work history are accurate, and check at least a reference or two is available. It helps recruiters to check the basic background of the candidate. We need to conduct some due diligence for the successful closure.

2. Being overly influenced by advanced degrees.

Candidates with plenty of letters after their names have certainly worked hard to earn their degrees. But there is no substitute for real-world business experience, and people often make the mistake of overlooking candidates with track records but not degrees.

Note: this does not apply, however, to specialized fields that require advanced degrees.

3. Not having a long-range plan.

Hiring someone to fill a current need can help you through a busy time. Beyond hiring someone on a temporary basis, we need a long-range plan for that employee beyond our immediate need. Include a plan to develop the career of the candidate where he or she fits in with our company's long-range plans.

4. Making promises which cannot be Kept.

It can be a very costly mistake to make promises that are not well thought out. Know ahead of time what we can and cannot offer a prospective employee.

5. Hiring someone for all the wrong reasons.

Unfortunately, this is a common mistake. Whether we are doing our cousin a favor or are impressed by the way someone looks or talks, hiring should not be done for the wrong reasons. Our focus should always be on the best candidate for the best job.

6. Not conducting a good interview.

Conducting a good hiring interview is a skill which many people do not experience off late. It's important to ask the right questions to determine whether the candidate is right for the position and fits into the company’s goals.

7. Not looking for a good fit.

In most businesses there needs to be a rapport among employees. If we hire someone who does not fit in with the team's chemistry, we foresee our self with unnecessary problems.

8. Not giving employee offer letters.

Offer letters contains all the important details, including the starting salary, bonus structure, start date, at-will status, and benefit information. It is mandatory that the candidate signs and receives a copy before he/she joins the organization.

9. Not being prepared.

We can easily make a hiring mistake when we are not prepared for the interview and hiring process. Prepare the list of questions to be asked for the candidate and the type of employee we are looking for. Also be ready to explain the position and answer questions about the company to the candidates.

10. Expecting way too much.

A common problem these days is looking for one person to save a sinking ship. An unrealistic, lengthy list of qualifications and background requirements — as frequently seen in employment ads — creates a situation where we settle for someone whom we think can do a little of everything, but does not excel in the key areas. Narrow our focus to the most important aspects of the position.

By Mr.Vijay Anand

Ways to find a job in a tough market

Getting a new job may be tough in a glum economic environment, but that should not deter you from looking. Following some easy, yet often ignored, steps should help you sail through.

Map your Competency

"Individuals should identify the skill sets they are good at and should look for industries where they fit in," says Sunil Goel, director of executive search firm Global Hunt. Perry Madan, executive director at EWS Search, adds: "When times are hard, people should think out of the box and concentrate on the skill sets rather than limiting themselves to their industry."

List your Options

Make a list of companies you wish to work for and identify their structures and hiring cycles. "One could make two separate lists - of companies that are most desired and companies that are not high on priority, but can work as a platform for getting another posting elsewhere," says Goel.

Go Glocal

A lot of MNCs are ramping up operations across the country, and not just the metros. "Tier II, tier III cities and rural markets have plenty of opportunities and a lot of companies within the F&B and education space have ambitious plans for such areas. One should not hesitate in exploring such opportunities," says Madan.

Meet People

Get active on social networking websites and job portals, and meet people if possible. "It is always better to meet people rather than mailing or calling them, as face value has a greater recall ," says Goel.

Be Specific

Your profile should be specific and should highlight your work areas and expertise. Avoid overloading your resume with content to prevent misrepresentation.

By Mr Vijay Anand

Talent management – More than just HR?

While most organisations have ad hoc approaches to talent management, it is found that a large portion of them do not have a formalised talent management approach in place 

In a changing business environment a well-thought out approach to talent management is most responsive to identifying and nurturing necessary talent. While most organisations have ad hoc approaches to talent management, it is found that a large portion of them do not have a formalised talent management approach in place. This can often lead to strategic gaps in fully recognising potential issues and lead to problems such as difficulty in recruiting for vital roles within the organisation, inability to respond swiftly to changing external environment and promotions taking place before people are ready.

While most organisations would agree that a talent pool is vital to move an organisation forward, it is equally important to nurture and encourage this talent from within the company. In other words, everyone from the leadership downwards should be willing and able to nurture internal talent.

Managers need to see talent management as part of their role and actively undertake its identification and development. It should also form an integral part of the organisation's strategy and business planning process and also gain a buy-in and commitment to undertake the necessary responsibilities.

Talent management needs to be accepted as a business process and not merely an HR one. Once everybody in the organisation is onboard on the need for talent management needs to be a clearly understood and working methodology to spot and nurture talent in the organisation.

Key areas:

Identifying talent with the use of targeted recruitment strategies, competency frameworks and assessment techniques;

Managing and developing talent using tools such as performance management systems and 360° feedback;

Matching talent to where it is needed through and career and succession planning processes.

Competency frameworks are a great tool to help identify talent and can offer a clearly defined set of expectations to measure performance against, based on linking individual and organisational performance. Well structure competency frameworks encourage organisations to think about performance in terms of demonstrated behaviours rather than subjective opinion, regarding what is effective versus poor performance.

Recruitment: External recruitment and selection of the right people is a vital step in maintaining a high quality talent pool. An organisation would need to be careful in identifying the strategic gaps and then pick the right candidates to fill specific gaps.

Assessment and development centres play an immensely important role in providing the organisation a specific and detailed analysis of performance and future potential. A well-planned and implemented assessment centre can help an organisation identify not just an individual's ability but also creativity, motivation and also provide indicators that the individual has the necessary expertise to move into a new role. These provide a replication of the pressures that an individual may face in the future and allows an organisation to assess the response and map it to certain specific criteria.

360° feedback and performance management systems: Organisations are increasingly realising the value of performance systems that monitor performance, give feedback and draw up concrete development plans. As part of the development process, feedback from multiple sources (360° feedback) can be useful in establishing a benchmark in terms of skills and behaviours. It provides a strong platform to build on the strengths and remedy any weaknesses. The outcome of this exercise can be used not just as part of development with regard to the current role but also to ensure future development

Succession and career planning: As part of the talent management process it is as important to develop people for future needs as it is to develop them in their current roles. Linked to talent management, succession planning ensures that every role is back filled in order to develop future leaders from within.

To conclude, identifying and nurturing talent requires organisational buy-in, particularly from senior management and a structure to support the process. Each link in the entire chain of talent management and development has to be strong because just as a chain is only as strong as its weakest link; an organisation is only as strong as its people.

The authors are Sangeeta Singh, partner, human resources, KPMG and Perez Katpitia, recruitment manager, KPMG(source:itsmyascent.com)

Five Tips to Make the Most of Exit Interviews

Exit interviews don't need to be a formality allowing disgruntled employees to voice their complaints. If used correctly, talent managers can use this opportunity to learn why the employee has quit and determine whether changes need to be made so other workers don't follow suit.

Savvy employees understand the risk of burning bridges, so they're often hesitant to share their true feelings about the reasons behind their departure. However, by incorporating these strategies, it's more likely for talent managers to get more candid feedback.

1. Wait a while.

It's common to try holding an exit interview before the employee leaves the company, but employers should consider holding off for a short time. The final days on the job can be emotional for an employee, given the stress of finishing up projects and anticipation about a new job. For this reason, organizations may not get the most objective responses to questions during this transition period.

Instead, employers can request permission to speak with the departing employee after a few weeks, by which point he or she may have a fresh perspective on certain situations after joining another organization. For instance, employees may find that what they thought were excessive workloads at the company are in fact standard in the industry and did not constitute grounds for leaving.

2. Use a neutral interviewer.

It's best that someone other than the employee's direct manager conduct the exit interview. Companies are more likely to get open, honest input from an individual if he or she hasn't worked directly with the person prying for information. This is particularly true if the issue prompting a professional's job change was a problem with company leadership. Some organizations even hire third parties to handle exit interviews in hopes that it will encourage a more forthright discussion.

3. Offer a reason to be candid.

Employees who've left should be reminded that the exit interview is designed to learn more about concerns that may be affecting all staff. By giving thoughtful responses, these individuals may help their former colleagues. Chances are they bonded with at least one co-worker while at the company, so this type of encouragement may prompt them to open up.

4. Be creative with questioning.

It is best to avoid broad questions such as, "Why did you quit?" because they're likely to lead to generic responses. Instead, employers can pose more targeted questions to yield better responses:

a) What prompted your job search?
b) What does your new employer offer that we did not?
c) What was the best part of your job here? The worst?
d) How does our compensation plan compare to what's offered at your new company?
e) What advice would you give to the person filling your position?
f) How would you describe the management style in your old department?
g) Under what conditions, if any, would you consider returning to the company?

Sharing these questions with the employee prior to the meeting could be beneficial as it gives employees a chance to think about their responses. This also can help the discussion feel less like an interrogation.

5. Take action.

Talent managers need to make sure the information shared is taken seriously. There's no point in conducting exit interviews if they're done only as a formality. Companies should be open to making changes as a result of the feedback, particularly if the same problems are heard from several people. For instance, it may be learned that the lack of salary increases in recent years has become a major retention issue, meaning it's time to make appropriate adjustments.

Positive changes can result if employers use exit interviews as learning experiences and rethink the way their workplace operates. As competition for skilled talent grows and retaining employees becomes a greater priority, leaders can build greater job satisfaction and ensure that their top team members want to remain at their company.


By Robert Hosking | Talent Management - executive director of OfficeTeam

Organizational Behavior Assumptions

Use this SkillGuide to view assumptions of what drives organizational behavior.

Traditional Assumptions

• people try to satisfy one class of need at work: economic need
• people act rationally to maximize rewards
• people act individually to satisfy individual needs
• no conflict exists between individual and organizational objectives

Human Relations Movement Assumptions

• organizations are social systems, not just technical and economic systems
• people are driven by many needs
• people aren't always logical
• people are interdependent, with behavior often shaped by social context
• informal work groups are major factors in the attitudes and performance of individuals, and management is only one factor
• job roles are more complex than their simple job descriptions, and people act in ways not covered by the job descriptions
• there's no automatic correlation between the needs of the individual and the organization
• communication channels cover both the business aspects of an organization and people's feelings
• teamwork is essential for cooperation and effective decision making
• leadership should include human relations concepts
• increased job satisfaction leads to increased job productivity
• management should have effective social skills in addition to technical skills

Source: Human Resources Fundamentals (HRCI/PHR - 2007-aligned)

7 Ways to Sharpen Your Leadership Skills

Very few people describe themselves as natural born leaders. It takes buckets of self-confidence to get others to follow your lead. But you don't exactly need to grab the microphone to exude leadership. Leadership is a skill; one that can be learned and developed. Strong leadership skills will help you score more responsibility at work, which means higher chances of a promotion, increased salary, and growth opportunity overall.

So, if you want to give your boss more reasons to promote you, consider doing at least one of the following each work day:

1. Foster a reputation for being helpful and resourceful.You don't have to know how to do everything to be seen as a leader, but you do need to be a problem solver. Keep your eyes and ears perked to be aware of what's going on, even in other departments—who's the best person for graphics? Or who's the most accessible person in the IT department? When a newbie co-worker or manager asks for help, you'll know exactly who to direct them to, which will solidify your status as someone who knows the ropes.

"Top performers are widely known and respected by others not because of their frequent contact, charm or likability, but because they help others solve their problems," says David Maxfield, co-author of New York Times' national bestsellerChange Anything: The New Science of Personal Success. "By doing so, they become invaluable resources." Aim to be helpful; knowing about your surrounding resources is a great start.

2. Be a self-starter. At the very least, you should become thego-to, indispensable person in your little corner of the company. Do whatever it takes—whether it's classes at night, attending conferences, or starting a blog about your field—to become a super authority on your job.

The key here is to kick into self-starter mode—a major prerequisite to gaining leader status. It's not just about doing the job you're assigned, it's about starting your own side projects to keep practicing and mastering your skill.

3. Mentor someone newer. If you see a co-worker who is clearly struggling, point them in the right direction if you can. After all, what better way to practice leadership than to let someone follow your lead? The trick here is to be an effective communicator. Their success is a testament to yours, and at least one person will now see you as a leader. You have to start somewhere.

4. Get on the radar by networking. Networking is important because it'll not only place you on the map but it'll also help you achieve tip No. 1. Joanne Cleaver, author of the upcoming book The Career Lattice and president of the strategic communication consulting firm Wilson-Taylor Associates, says you need alliances with co-workers who can pull in the resources and expertise you'll need to get a project done. "People often assume that they must network up in the organization, but in this era of professional social networking, lateral networks are just as crucial," she says.

5. Lead collaboratively, not cutthroat. Leadership is centered on teamwork rather than going it alone. If you're only out for yourself, why would anyone follow your lead? A good leader recognizes others' strengths and harnesses them to orchestrate a collaborative project.

6. Gain your colleagues' trust. How do you gain trust in the workplace? Simple: Don't give others a reason to be mistrustful of you. This one is really a matter of being ethical. Don't lie, cheat, steal, or throw anyone under the bus to get ahead. Following the Golden Rule will go a long way in earning trust with your work mates.

7. Encourage others through positivity. Leadership requires strong, positive energy—people gravitate toward positivity. Tony Shwartz is the president and chief executive officer of The Energy Project, a company that teaches people how to have a more engaged workforce. In a guest blog post for theHarvard Business Review, Shwartz writes about how leaders should "Serve as Chief Energy Officers—to free and fuel us to bring the best of ourselves to work every day."

Leaders exude positivity, and it's this energy that helps fuel everyone to do their best. This goes back to being solution-oriented and resourceful. A can-do, pleasant attitude is much more respected than a negative one.

By, HR Power House

Make Sure You're Spending Your Time Wisely

HR professionals tell me that while they are intrigued by the idea and promise of HR's strategic potential, their 100-hour weeks just don't have room for much of that.

The way HR spends its time tells us about its evolution and effectiveness. Since 1995, the Center for Effective Organizations has conducted the "Achieving Excellence in the HR Function" study.

HR leaders were asked to allocate 100 percentage points across several HR activities. We have results every three years since 1995, covering strong and weak economic activity, and several eras of HR evolution. In every year the percentages are very similar, with "maintaining records" receiving about 14 percent, "auditing/controlling" at 12 percent, "human resource service provider" at about 30 percent, "development of HR systems and practices" at 17 percent and "strategic business partner" at about 25 percent. Perhaps HR has changed in 15 years, but the data suggest that how HR leaders spend their time is remarkably similar. The difference in the surveys is never more than one or two percentage points.

Every year, we also ask HR leaders to recall how they spent their time five years before the present survey. Again, the results in every survey since 1995 have been within two percentage points. However, the estimated percentages show a different pattern when HR leaders are recalling five years earlier versus their current estimates. Five to seven years ago, they always recall "maintaining records" at about 23 percent, "auditing/controlling" at about 16 percent, "human resource service provider" at about 33 percent, "development of HR systems and practices" at about 14 percent and "strategic business partner" receiving about 14 percent. HR leaders recall evolving away from administration toward strategic partnership. Yet, the data suggests that things haven't changed. For talent managers this means efforts to promote HR strategy still face an uphill battle if the time allotted to strategy is not sufficient.

Is 25 percent of time on strategic partnership enough, or do those who spend more time achieve better results? Certainly, the answer will vary, but our data suggests that spending more time on strategy seems to lead to greater HR and organization success. We examined three outcomes: HR's strategic role, HR effectiveness and organizational performance. HR's role in strategy was measured this way: 1=HR plays no role in business strategy; 2=HR is involved in implementing the business strategy; 3=HR provides input to the business strategy and helps implement it; 4=HR is a full partner in developing and implementing the business strategy. HR effectiveness reflects ratings on 11 questions about different HR goals such as change management and cost effectiveness. Finally, organizational performance reflects a question on how the organization has performed on its strategic goals relative to its peers.

The pattern is again consistent across all three outcomes. Time spent maintaining records, auditing/controlling and providing HR services are all negatively correlated with all three outcomes. Time spent developing HR systems and practices is slightly positively associated with the three outcomes. Time spent on strategic partnership is strongly and positively associated with all three outcomes. The implication is that HR organizations that spend less time on activities other than strategic partnership and more time on strategic partnership also report a stronger strategic role, greater internal HR functional effectiveness and even greater overall strategic organizational performance.

Through activities such as being a member of the management team, being involved with strategic HR planning, organizational design and strategic change in the day-to-day work of our profession, can we hope for anything to change? Perhaps a return to a simple, old school tool of time tracking may prove enlightening. Gather some data on how your HR professionals spend their time. If you are like the companies in this study, you may find the answer has barely changed in decades, and it matters for many of your key outcomes.


By John Boudreau | Talent Management [About the Author: John Boudreau is professor and research director at the University of Southern California's Marshall School of Business and Center for Effective Organizations

How to Negotiate Your Next Salary

Negotiating a salary can be an uncomfortable process. You want to get what you're worth but you also don't want to offend or scare off your future employer. This situation is only more complicated in a tough job market. When offers are few and job seekers are plenty, you might be tempted to take whatever is offered to you. But, that's rarely the smartest thing to do.

What the Experts Say
Regardless of the state of the job market, you should always negotiate. "You don't ever want to just say thank you," says Katherine McGinn, professor of business administration at Harvard Business School and co-author of "When Does Gender Matter in Negotiation?" Getting a new job, or a new role, is an opportunity to increase your compensation, one that doesn't come around that often. John Lees, a career strategist and author of How to Get a Job You'll Love, says that people rarely get to re-negotiate the terms until after two years on the job.

Prepare for your next salary talk by following these principles.

Know your alternatives 
"The advice I got when I was graduating from college was try to have the offer from your second best choice in your pocket when you negotiate with your first," says Danny Ertel, a founding partner at Vantage Partners, LLC, a negotiation consulting firm in Boston, and co-author of The Point of the Deal: How to Negotiate When Yes is Not Enough. Of course that's tougher in a difficult employment environment. When you don't have alternatives — either other offers or a current job — you have a lot less power, McGinn acknowledges. "So you have to be creative about demonstrating the value you'll bring to the company," she says. For example, you need to explain why you are the perfect person to fill this specific job, with the necessary skills and experience, not just a solid candidate. "In a time of full employment, employers are looking for a person who can do the work. In a time of unemployment, they are looking for the absolute best person to do the job," she says.

Do your research
Employers set salaries based on what they currently pay people to fill similar roles and what they believe competitors are paying. They may also have a certain budget or a predetermined range. Information is power in negotiation so the more you know about these data points the better. Do some sleuthing. Search websites such as salary.com, vault.com, and payscale.com to gather information about the organization and what it pays. Use Facebook and LinkedIn to reach out to people who might know what an appropriate salary is. Maybe it's someone you trust inside the organization, a career advisor, a search consultant, or contacts in the same industry. It may be uncomfortable to ask directly how much your friends in similar positions (or near strangers) make. Instead you can say, "What do you think the organization would pay for this position?" Then compare the advice you get. Don't rely on one piece of data or one type of source.

Use that information to set your own expectations and the hiring manager's. A good recruiter will ask if you have any base salary requirement. If asked, answer the question honestly. The employer needs to know that you're in the range they're hoping to pay so they don't waste their time or yours. If you're the top candidate, most employers are willing to do what they can to make the numbers work.

When the offer is too low
If the initial number is lower than the reasonable expectation you set, feel free to respectfully disagree. McGinn suggests you say something like, "Maybe I haven't conveyed enough the value I think I can bring to your organization because that sounds like a number you'd quote for someone who—" is much more junior, doing a different type of job, has less experience, etc. Then back up your statement with the information you've gathered. Even if you're pleased with the initial offer, Lees recommends you negotiate on some aspect of the job, if not the salary. Most employers assume you will. "If you don't ask for anything you're missing an interesting opportunity," says Lees.

Focus on "we"
Throughout the discussions, be aware of how you are coming off to the hiring manager or recruiter. Ertel says you don't want to appear like you're giving a list of demands. Instead, show that you're trying to come up with solutions that meet your needs and those of the employer. Use positive language. Demonstrate that you are open to other proposals aside from your own. It's a tricky balance; you want to push just enough. "You don't want to negotiate so hard that people are sick of you before your first day," says McGinn. The key is to know what you care most about — whether it be money or other aspects of the job offer — and stick to those points.

Negotiate for more than the money
McGinn says that most people make the mistake of negotiating for compensation rather than for a job. Candidates often focus on money because it is tangible but what makes a position attractive is not just the dollar amount assigned to it. Think about the aspects of the job that will make it satisfying: opportunities for advancement, exciting assignments, the chance to work with senior executives, etc. McGinn suggests asking yourself, "How can I build the biggest job I'm interested in having?" and then negotiate with your potential employer about those non-monetary elements, in addition to salary. Once you are in a position, McGinn says: "It's very hard to negotiate the basic structure of your job. People have to leave employment to do that."

Principles to Remember
Do:

• Reach out to people — friends or colleagues — who can tell you what the employer might typically pay for the role
• Be reasonable and honest with yourself and the hiring manager about what salary you're willing to accept
• Offer solutions that will meet your needs and those of the employer

Don't:

• Negotiate on salary alone; the other non-monetary aspects often have more impact on your job satisfaction
• Accept the initial offer made to you even if you don't have other alternatives
• Go into the negotiation with a list of demands

Case study #1: Get the inside scoop
Anastasia Henderson* had a year left on her contract with a San Francisco-based tech company when her manager asked if she would consider a salaried job. Three years earlier, after having her first child, she became a contractor because she wanted part-time work and a flexible schedule. But, she was ready for more and told her boss she would be interested depending on the offer. Her job description wouldn't change — she would just go up to full-time. She felt she was in a good negotiating position because she had already proven herself and was well liked by her group and the leadership team. However, she still anticipated a low offer. "I knew that my salary would go down because I would be getting other benefits like vacation and healthcare," she says. But the salary Karen*, the company's COO, provided was much lower than she expected and she was disappointed. Karen explained that her last full-time position involved managing a team, this was more of an individual contributor role. Anastasia asked for time to think about it.

Then she sought the advice of the company's CIO, Ted*. "I hadn't worked with him directly but he had a reputation for being a good, upstanding guy. He was a straight shooter and I knew he respected me," she says. He told her that first she needed to take the emotion out of it and focus on what the company needs. He advised her from staying away from "I" statements so she wouldn't come off as demanding. He also gave her the inside scoop that they really wanted her for the position and the COO would likely work with her if she had reasonable requests. Anastasia took this information to heart and came up with a number that she felt she could live with. It was $10K more than the initial offer. She proposed this number to the COO and explained that while the job didn't include managing others, she was adding more value now than she had before. There were also parts of the offer that didn't matter to her. For example, she was already receiving healthcare benefits through her husband. She made it clear to the COO that these were not perks. The COO agreed to take these under consideration and would get back to her.

Within two days, Anastasia's boss told her that her counteroffer was accepted. While the final number was lower than what she initially wanted, it was a number she felt comfortable with. "I was willing to make some compromises for the job security. I knew they could terminate my contract at any time," she says.

Case study #2: Be honest about your alternatives
Keith Ellerman* was moving to New York City with his partner and wanted to find a new job. The first position to get to offer was with a New York City department. He was excited, but disappointed with the initial salary offered. "It was a classic case of misaligned expectations," he says. He had applied to the job through a friend rather than in response to a formal posting with a stated salary band. Throughout the interview process, he had been looking at other city jobs with similar titles and job descriptions and assumed the compensation would be comparable. It turns out there wasn't a correlation.

He decided to ask for a higher salary. "I didn't have formal offers but I knew I was one of two top candidates for two other opportunities and I knew the salary ranges," he says. He explained to the chief of staff who had been running the process that he expected to have other, more lucrative offers. "I had to be careful about what I said. I didn't want to lie," he says. He was clear and upfront. "I told them I'm really excited about the substance of the work. All things being equal I would prefer to join the team but because there is such a discrepancy in salary, it's a difficult decision," he says. He then proposed a salary that was 15% more than the initial offer. If the department would meet him at that amount, he would accept. The chief of staff agreed to take the request to HR. He soon came back and said that HR could meet his proposal. "In retrospect, I could've possibly gotten a higher offer had I had that initial conversation about salary in the earlier stages of the interviews but I was happy with the outcome," he says.

by Amy Gallo, (HBR)

Nine Things Successful People Do Differently

Why have you been so successful in reaching some of your goals, but not others? If you aren't sure, you are far from alone in your confusion. It turns out that even brilliant, highly accomplished people are pretty lousy when it comes to understanding why they succeed or fail. The intuitive answer — that you are born predisposed to certain talents and lacking in others — is really just one small piece of the puzzle. In fact, decades of research on achievement suggests that successful peoplereach their goals not simply because of who they are, but more often because of what they do.

1. Get specific. When you set yourself a goal, try to be as specific as possible. "Lose 5 pounds" is a better goal than "lose some weight," because it gives you a clear idea of what success looks like. Knowing exactly what you want to achieve keeps you motivated until you get there. Also, think about the specific actions that need to be taken to reach your goal. Just promising you'll "eat less" or "sleep more" is too vague — be clear and precise. "I'll be in bed by 10pm on weeknights" leaves no room for doubt about what you need to do, and whether or not you've actually done it.

2. Seize the moment to act on your goals. Given how busy most of us are, and how many goals we are juggling at once, it's not surprising that we routinely miss opportunities to act on a goal because we simply fail to notice them. Did you really have no time to work out today? No chance at any point to return that phone call? Achieving your goal means grabbing hold of these opportunities before they slip through your fingers.

To seize the moment, decide when and where you will take each action you want to take, in advance. Again, be as specific as possible (e.g., "If it's Monday, Wednesday, or Friday, I'll work out for 30 minutes before work.") Studies show that this kind of planning will help your brain to detect and seize the opportunity when it arises, increasing your chances of success by roughly 300%.

3. Know exactly how far you have left to go. Achieving any goal also requires honest and regular monitoring of your progress — if not by others, then by you yourself. If you don't know how well you are doing, you can't adjust your behavior or your strategies accordingly. Check your progress frequently — weekly, or even daily, depending on the goal.

4. Be a realistic optimist. When you are setting a goal, by all means engage in lots of positive thinking about how likely you are to achieve it. Believing in your ability to succeed is enormously helpful for creating and sustaining your motivation. But whatever you do, don't underestimate how difficult it will be to reach your goal. Most goals worth achieving require time, planning, effort, and persistence. Studies show that thinking things will come to you easily and effortlessly leaves you ill-prepared for the journey ahead, and significantly increases the odds of failure.

5. Focus on getting better, rather than being good. Believing you have the ability to reach your goals is important, but so is believing you can get the ability. Many of us believe that our intelligence, our personality, and our physical aptitudes are fixed — that no matter what we do, we won't improve. As a result, we focus on goals that are all about proving ourselves, rather than developing and acquiring new skills.

Fortunately, decades of research suggest that the belief in fixed ability is completely wrong — abilities of all kinds are profoundly malleable. Embracing the fact that you can change will allow you to make better choices, and reach your fullest potential. People whose goals are about getting better, rather than being good, take difficulty in stride, and appreciate the journey as much as the destination.

6. Have grit. Grit is a willingness to commit to long-term goals, and to persist in the face of difficulty. Studies show that gritty people obtain more education in their lifetime, and earn higher college GPAs. Grit predicts which cadets will stick out their first grueling year at West Point. In fact, grit even predicts which round contestants will make it to at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The good news is, if you aren't particularly gritty now, there is something you can do about it. People who lack grit more often than not believe that they just don't have the innate abilities successful people have. If that describes your own thinking .... well, there's no way to put this nicely: you are wrong. As I mentioned earlier, effort, planning, persistence, and good strategies are what it really takes to succeed. Embracing this knowledge will not only help you see yourself and your goals more accurately, but also do wonders for your grit.

7. Build your willpower muscle. Your self-control "muscle" is just like the other muscles in your body — when it doesn't get much exercise, it becomes weaker over time. But when you give it regular workouts by putting it to good use, it will grow stronger and stronger, and better able to help you successfully reach your goals.

To build willpower, take on a challenge that requires you to do something you'd honestly rather not do. Give up high-fat snacks, do 100 sit-ups a day, stand up straight when you catch yourself slouching, try to learn a new skill. When you find yourself wanting to give in, give up, or just not bother — don't. Start with just one activity, and make a plan for how you will deal with troubles when they occur ("If I have a craving for a snack, I will eat one piece of fresh or three pieces of dried fruit.") It will be hard in the beginning, but it will get easier, and that's the whole point. As your strength grows, you can take on more challenges and step-up your self-control workout.

8. Don't tempt fate. No matter how strong your willpower muscle becomes, it's important to always respect the fact that it is limited, and if you overtax it you will temporarily run out of steam. Don't try to take on two challenging tasks at once, if you can help it (like quitting smoking and dieting at the same time). And don't put yourself in harm's way — many people are overly-confident in their ability to resist temptation, and as a result they put themselves in situations where temptations abound. Successful people know not to make reaching a goal harder than it already is.

9. Focus on what you will do, not what you won't do. Do you want to successfully lose weight, quit smoking, or put a lid on your bad temper? Then plan how you will replace bad habits with good ones, rather than focusing only on the bad habits themselves. Research on thought suppression (e.g., "Don't think about white bears!") has shown that trying to avoid a thought makes it even more active in your mind. The same holds true when it comes to behavior — by trying not to engage in a bad habit, our habits get strengthened rather than broken.

If you want to change your ways, ask yourself, What will I do instead? For example, if you are trying to gain control of your temper and stop flying off the handle, you might make a plan like "If I am starting to feel angry, then I will take three deep breaths to calm down." By using deep breathing as a replacement for giving in to your anger, your bad habit will get worn away over time until it disappears completely.

It is my hope that, after reading about the nine things successful people do differently, you have gained some insight into all the things you have been doing right all along. Even more important, I hope are able to identify the mistakes that have derailed you, and use that knowledge to your advantage from now on. Remember, you don't need to become a different person to become a more successful one. It's never what you are, but what you do.

by Heidi Grant Halvorson(HBR)

Choosing Between Making Money and Doing What You Love

"If you're really passionate about what you do, but it's not going to make you a lot of money, should you still do it?"

What a great question! It seems like just about everyone who has ever addressed a graduating class of high school or college seniors has said "Do what you love, the money will follow."

Inspiring. But it is true? Couldn't you do what you truly care about and very well go broke, as the question above (recently sent from one of our readers) implies?

Based on the research we did for our book, we're convinced that when you're heading into the unknown, desire is all-important. You simply want to be doing something that you love, or something that is logically going to lead to something you love, in order to do your best work. That desire will make you more creative and more resourceful, and will help you get further faster.

And, it will help you persist. When you're trying something that's never been attempted before — beginning an unusual project at work, or trying to get a new business off the ground — you're going to face a lot of obstacles. You don't want to be giving up the first time you encounter one.

But, let's be real. None of this guarantees wealth, or even financial success.

A friend of ours was hanging out at a bar with a few fellow professional musicians after a recording session, talking admiringly about another musician they all know. One of them commented on how fortunate it was for this musician that his music was commercial. In those four words, you will find an enormous truth. We all have our music and there is no guarantee that anyone will buy it. Absolutely none. These are two entirely separate things.

So this reader question attacks us straight on and says, in essence, "I have the desire, but I am pretty certain it's not going to lead anywhere that's monetarily profitable. Now what? Should I still go ahead?"

Of course you should.

Now let's qualify the answer a bit:

If you can't afford to do the thing you're passionate about — for example, if you do it, you won't be able to feed your family, or it would keep you from graduating college (which is something you think is more important than whatever you're passionate about) — then no, you'd better not bet your economic life on it. A basic principle concerning how you should deal with an unknown future is that every small smart step you take should leave you alive to take the next step. So, make sure you attend to your lower order Maslow needs of food and shelter and the like.

But even this doesn't mean you can't work on your passion a little — even if it's just for 15 minutes a day.

And you should!

Why?

Research (such as The Power of Small Wins that ran in Harvard Business Review May, 2011) shows that people who make progress every day toward something they care about report being satisfied and fulfilled.

We're in favor of people being happy. And we're also in favor of provoking people into pursuing happiness. The nice thing about this reader's question is that it might get people who have — by any objective standard — more than enough money to reconsider whether they want to continue to do things that are not making them happy, just because it'll make them more money. More often than not, these people say, "Once I get enough money, I'll do what I really want to do. I won't worry about the money." But somehow, they never get to that point. Time is finite. The question might be enough to get you to reconsider how you're spending it.

And of course, the assumption embedded in the question could be wrong. You might, indeed, end up making money if you engage in your passion, even though you currently think you won't. Remember, the future is unknown. Who knows what people will buy, or what you might invent after your very next act. At any moment in time, you are only one thought away from an insight — an insight that can change everything.

As we said in our previous post, when you are facing the unknown, they only way to know anything for sure is to act. When you are dealing with uncertainty — and whether you are going to make any money from your passion at this point is definitely an uncertainty — you act. You don't think about what might happen, or try to predict the outcome, or plan for every contingency. You take a small step toward making it a reality, and you see what happens.

Who knows? Even the smallest step can change everything.

So take those small steps. You might discover that your passion does, in fact, make you money. After all, who knew you could make huge amounts of money figuring out a way to connect all your friends (Facebook) or make a better map (pick your favorite GPS tool).

Even if you don't, you want to spend part of your day doing at least one thing that's making you happy. Otherwise, something is terribly wrong.

By, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Charles F. Kiefer, and Paul B. Brown(HBR)

What Does "Professional" Look Like Today?

From HBR

Building a Highly Engaged Workforce

From the Gallup Management Journal

A GMJ Q&A WITH CURT COFFMAN
Co-author of First, Break All The Rules: What the World's Greatest Managers Do Differently (Simon & Schuster, 1999) and Follow This Path: How the World's Greatest Organizations Drive Growth by Unleashing Human Potential (Warner Books, 2002)


When employees join an organization, they're usually enthusiastic, committed, and ready to be advocates for their new employer.  Simply put, they're highly engaged.

But often, that first year on the job is their best. Gallup Organization research reveals that the longer an employee stays with a company, the less engaged he or she becomes. And that drop costs businesses big in lost profit and sales, and in lower customer satisfaction. In fact, Gallup estimates that actively disengaged employees -- the least productive -- cost the American economy up to $350 billion per year in lost productivity.

What can managers do to enhance employee engagement? What are the signs that employees are becoming disenchanted, and what can managers do to reverse the slide? We asked Curt Coffman, Global Practice Leader for Q12 Management Consulting and co-author of Gallup's best-selling book on great managers, First, Break All the Rules, andFollow This Path, to share strategies from the world's great managers.

GMJ: What can managers do to boost engagement levels in their work groups?

Curt Coffman: First, it's important to note that most managers aren't against employee engagement. These managers (great, good, or average) want their employees to feel that they're a significant part of the business. In fact, almost everyone joins an organization as an engaged employee. What managers do from that point on determines the path the employee will take -- toward continued engagement or toward the ranks of the "not engaged" or "actively disengaged" groups.

GMJ: Define those terms.
Coffman: Since 1997, Gallup has studied the responses of about 3 million employees that have participated in the Q12 survey, Gallup's 12-question assessment of employee engagement levels. We've found that employee responses to these crucial 12 items tend to fall into three distinct categories.

Employees who are "not engaged" aren't necessarily negative or positive about their company. They take a wait-and-see attitude toward their job, their employer, and their co-workers. They hang back from becoming engaged, and they don't commit themselves.

The "actively disengaged" employees are the "cave dwellers." They're "Consistently Against Virtually Everything." They're not just unhappy at work; they're busy acting out their unhappiness. Every day, actively disengaged workers undermine what their engaged coworkers accomplish.

GMJ: How do engaged employees differ?
Coffman: "Engaged" employees are builders. They want to know the desired expectations for their role so they can meet and exceed them. They're naturally curious about their company and their place in it. They perform at consistently high levels. They want to use their talents and strengths at work every day. They work with passion, and they have a visceral connection to their company. And they drive innovation and move their organization forward.

GMJ: Most people join an organization as engaged employees. What do their managers need to do to keep them engaged?

Coffman: To start with, employees must have a strong relationship with, and clear communication from, their manager. They need a manager who will clear a path for them, so they can concentrate on what they do best, and do more of it. They also need strong relationships with their coworkers. They must feel a commitment toward their coworkers and from them, because that commitment enables them to take risks and stretch for excellence.

Managers also have to challenge employees within their areas of talent, then help them gain the skills and knowledge they need to build their talents into strengths. And managers should help employees develop ownership of their goals, targets, and milestones, so employees can enhance their contributions to the company and increase their impact.

GMJ: But we know that some employees' engagement levels deteriorate. Gallup's most recent research suggests that 29% of the U.S. workforce is engaged, 55% is not engaged, and 16% is actively disengaged. Why does this happen?

Coffman: One reason is that engaged employees tend to get the least amount of focus and attention from managers, in part because they're doing exactly what their manager needs them to do. They're not "squeaky wheels." They set goals, meet and exceed expectations, and charge enthusiastically toward the nearest tough task.

Some managers mistakenly think they should leave their best employees alone. Great managers do just the opposite. Great managers tell us again and again that they spend most of their time with their most productive and talented employees because they have the most potential. If a manager coaxes an average performance from a below-average employee, she still has an average performer. But if she coaches a good employee to greatness, she gains a great performer.

The challenge comes when managers see some of the first symptoms that an engaged employee is wavering toward the "not engaged" category. Then they need to act immediately.

GMJ: What are those symptoms?
Coffman: One is that the relationship between the employee and the manager begins to diminish, and it isn't meeting the employee's needs. The second is that the employee begins feeling that their potential is being wasted -- that they don't make full use of their talents and strengths in their role.

GMJ: What should managers do when they spot an employee whose engagement levels are slipping?
Coffman: Go back to the basic principles of the Q12. Start with expectations. Has the employee lost clarity about his role? Is he confused about what the manager, and the business, need him to contribute every day? Then make sure he has the right materials, equipment, and information to move toward those outcomes.

Next, refocus on that employee -- on his skills, knowledge, and talents. Employees who get to do what they do best every day move toward engagement. And last but not least, catch him doing things right. Recognize him for excellence. Recognition is personally fulfilling, but even more, recognition communicates what an organization values, and it reinforces employee behaviors that reflect those values.

Set clear expectations, give employees the right materials, focus on the employee, and recognize your best performers -- those are the strategies that drive engagement.

-- Interviewed by Barb Sanford

Copyright Ó 2003 The Gallup Organization, Princeton, NJ.  All rights reserved.  Reprinted with permission.  Visit The Gallup Management Journal at www.gallupjournal.com.