What Comes with the Title?

Everyone likes to be shown appreciation.

Some people prefer it be displayed by a promotion with a title. This symbolizes career growth and promotes the idea that a star is on the rise. Every title does not have the same meaning, especially when it comes with no authority. Before accepting the title change, understand what is involved and how it translates to the workplace outside of your organization.

An example is the title Vice President in the Financial Industry. The people who sit behind the desk at a local bank have these titles. So how does that correlate to any work-related skills with the same title at a Fortune 100 company in another industry? It most often doesn't.

Check job boards like Monster.com, Indeed.com and specific ones catered to your industry and research similar job titles as the one you hold. What is required? What is the organizational makeup? Who does the person report to? What decisions can be made? What fiduciary and personnel control is authorized?

Find a mentor in the same field but a different industry and conduct an informational interview to determine what authority and required skills fall short with the title you hold. Create a plan to develop in these areas and discuss the potential of gradually gaining areas of authority to make decisions that the title commonly warrants.


Prepare an evaluation plan that only you will monitor. Use this to track all the extra projects and work done to meet the criteria of the title's job description elsewhere. Constantly evaluate where improvements can be made in the existing role to prepare for the move outside of the industry.

It's not in the title. It's all about what comes with it that will get you to the next level.

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Posted in: effective hiring,Get A Clue,getting promotion,Hiring,jumping for the promotions,promotion,titles no authority

Come As You Are - Developing Employees

If a person does not have the talent or experience needed to help a business or department operate better, there must be a good reason to provide a job offer. There is potential along with some other attractive attributes that garnered the attention of the interviewers. Ultimately this is a project on top of the ones that are expected to produce results for the company. It requires management, extreme oversight and guidance - all of which take time that most claim to not have.

As NFL team executives gather and pick players from their draft board today, part of the evaluations that have taken place over the last nine months is knowing that playing a position in college is different than playing professionally with stronger adult bodies. The speed and explosiveness from college can transcend but the ability to play within the rules of a team's playbook at a professional level can be troublesome. In these cases, the potential and the attributes combined can sway a General Manager and Player Personnel team to take a chance and draft a developmental player.

Here's how to be prepared for what is involved in developing employees.

Know the turnover rate and the areas that experience the most churn. For positions that have less longevity, create a blueprint with a skills map that can be used to develop employees in this area. The employees that learn in this area will more than likely be committed to the company, work harder, be dedicated to prove themselves, and stay longer.

Set a timeline for the development project. No company can afford to develop an employee forever. There has to be a timeline for when that person must show themselves worthy or be shown the front door. If the goal is to outperform competitors in a region by next year, that's three to six months allotted for the person's growing pains. If the team's goal is to prepare for a veteran to retire or experience dwindling performance in 2 years, the position coordinators have roughly one training camp and one season to devote the time to this player.

Create a performance tracking plan with key milestones. You must be able to evaluate how well the person is doing, what is being learned, how effective the work has been, the ability to work with others, and the displayed character. The plan should be transparent and discussed frequently to allow improvement in areas deemed as weaknesses as well as maintain strengths.

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Posted in: developing employees,effective hiring,employment,employment practices,Hiring,hiring and firing,New Employment,NFL Draft,sports business,talent acquisition

The Art and Science of Talent Acquisition

Find The Right Person 

Hiring the right person for a job is more than evaluating the experience, references, and accomplishments from prior positions. The process must also be based on the character and emotional intelligence the individual displays in order to function in the work environment and around the vast personalities of others. Large companies employ human resources departments and sports teams hire sports psychologists to assess the attributes of future personnel through standardized tests and questions as a science. But knowing the right fit for a position based on the talent needed to get the job done is more of an art.

Learning On The Job vs. Character Qualities 

Certain skills can be taught on the job - written communication (although it is assumed that should be a strength if graduated from high school), computer programming, budgeting, marketing techniques, presentation skills and social media tactics. In the case of sports, understanding a playbook and remembering the plays associated with a position can also be developed while with a team. However sound judgment, good character, loyalty, ambition, and commitment are innate and rarely learned attributes. Understanding the fundamentals of how the sport should be played either comes naturally or through hard work and dedication for those who have mastered specialized athleticism.

The Truth About Analytics 

While the analytics across all the personality and character assessment tests (e.g. Personalysis, Jung Typology, True Colors) can prove to be historically factual to determine which people will work well together and be overachievers or under-performers, it does not account for the required talent that can be gleaned by a hiring manager who has experience determining and acquiescing the job-related strengths and weaknesses of the potential candidate.

Recruiting is An Art

The move towards hiring analytics cannot be taken as the gospel like the facts derived from business intelligence models with key performance indicators. It is an aid or extra information to add to the interview notes. After all, the science of the psychology exam results can waiver if the candidate knows how to manipulate the answers to his benefit. The art lies within the ability to recruit the right person based on the weaknesses that need to be strengthened. Hence, the proof is in the art.

Published February 9, 2015
Photo By Steven Lewis

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Posted in: effective hiring,Hiring,leadership,Leadership Skills,Personalysis,sports psychology,standardized tests,Temeko Richardson,True Colors Test

NFL Black Mondays - Insensitive or Smart

BLACK MONDAY

Black Monday is the day after the last games played during the NFL's Week 17.  

The season has ended and owners are not pleased to have missed the playoffs and a quest for the Super Bowl.  Depending upon the organizational structure of the team, the coach and/or the General Manager can be fired for missing the mark across numerous areas - losing seasons, poor coaching, inadequate draft picks, and volatile personnel selections.  After all the future of the team depends on great talent acquisition, playing towards the strengths and dimming the weaknesses, and understanding when change is necessary to find the way to win.  More correctly put - the future of the Head Coach and the General Manager rests on the ability to determine the best solutions to develop or maintain a championship-caliber team.


If every CEO truly evaluated his company's staying power based on its performance or lack thereof, there would be more focused and motivated employees dedicated and committed to excellence because being fired is a viable option.  It appears to be okay in the sports industry, especially the NFL.  But in corporate America, would this be insensitive or smart?

It is smart because it would force every job to be created and supervised with clear measurable goals that could not be sidestepped.  While performance evaluations are an antiquated way to track the development of an employee and work best for organizations that force camaraderie, collaboration and teamwork, clear metrics like the number of products and amounts of services sold, ROI on marketing initiatives, reduced expenditures, customer satisfaction ratings, and number of systems or applications created are well-defined.  It would remove the under-performers quickly so that they don't have the chance to stay on payroll with no function.  It would also remove the shock that government and large Fortune 500 employees experience when there are layoffs that potentially cut into their pension-earning benefits.  

The insensitivity only comes into play based on how the firing is done.  A text message, voice mail, or conversation immediately before a major publicized event is unprofessional and disgracing.  However, advanced notice is great with a constraint to allow 2 hours to remove belongings in quiet while others are not around with a bonus and payment until the end of the contract or whatever is negotiated for the severance package.  
A person who did not perform to the boss' liking is may be a better fit for another organization.  Rex Ryan will more than likely do well with the Buffalo Bills, Jim Harbaugh will succeed with the University of Michigan after his stint with the 49ers, and John Fox may find his way with the Chicago Bears after missing the Super Bowl run with the Denver Broncos.

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Posted in: Black Monday,effective hiring,firing,hiring and firing,leadership,Leadership Skills,NFL,sports business

Best Read Friday - Save by Paying More for A+ Talent

Money (Photo credit: 401(K) 2013)

I am a proponent of lowering expenses and increasing revenue to enhance the profit margin.  I also support mentoring resources who want to become better with a skill.  But as an entrepreneur and a consultant to many companies who require some organizational change to compete effectively in a changing market, I also know that "you get what you pay for".  

I admonish anyone to hire domestically before looking to global outsourcing.  It's not just about the time difference but the language and business understanding barriers. Sometimes there is such a need to repeat yourself, you might as well do the job yourself.  And in most cases, the job can either be done half-right at the start with a low budget or done correctly with no required rework with the right budget upfront.

Check out this article by Josh Linkner on his opinion "Why Paying More for A+ Talent..." is the right decision.

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Posted in: domestic outsourcing,effective hiring,employment,employment practices,global outsourcing,Hiring,New Employment,outsourcing,paying more for A+ talent,teamwork,Temeko Richardson