The Communicator
Volume II, Issue 8
August, 2000

Editor: Debra Thompson - debra@tgassociates.com
Contributing Editors:
Bill Greif - billg@tgassociates.com
Shari Moore - info@tgassociates.com

TG & ASSOCIATES, LLC
P.O. Box 32601 * Tucson, AZ 85751-2601
Web Site: www.tgassociates.com
Phone: toll free 1-877-TGASSOC (877-842-7762) or 520-751-8922
Fax: 1-520-751-7515

In This Issue:

Summer Travels
Quote of the Month
Recommended Reading
Tactics to Boost Morale
 Ask Debra
HR Tip of the Month

Summer Travels

Since my travel schedule has been quite intense since July, this newsletter is coming to you a little later this month. I wanted to share my fun with you. Our travels began July 14 in San Diego with Bill and I celebrating our anniversary. We spent the weekend in our favorite spot just chilling out – literally. When we left Tucson it was 108 degrees. San Diego felt fantastic! 

We then headed to Chicago for the PrintImage Conference. The attendance was light, but it was still very positive, upbeat, and informative. We had a booth in the Exhibit Hall which was a great opportunity to introduce our “How To” Series, to meet new faces and catch up with our regular customers.

 Next stop was Reno where we attended the Sir Speedy Annual Conference. What a great organization! The first night they shuttled us via bus to the Ponderosa Ranch (home of Bonanza) for great food and entertainment. Had a blast. The next day I gave two presentations on Hiring & Retaining Top Performers.

 From there we drove into San Francisco and spent two days with Printing Industries of Northern California. The first day we did team building with the entire staff which included personality profiles for everyone. It’s always great to see people appreciate each other on a different level after learning about each other’s personalities. The next day I presented a seminar to their members on Hiring & Retaining People within our industry. Since California, particularly the Bay Area, is struggling to find and keep employees, the interaction and feedback in this session was also particularly informative to me.

 From San Francisco we headed to Napa Valley – had to make sure the wineries were doing OK. Spent two days tasting and relaxing, then off to Lake Tahoe for the Signal Graphics Annual Conference. Once again, another great group and we had a fantastic time. Signal Graphics took the entire group on a dinner/dancing cruise which was a great opportunity to socialize, relax and enjoy. The next day I presented a session on Hiring & Retaining Top Performers and in the evening I was asked to present one of the awards at their Awards Dinner. As a former franchise owner for 17 years, I felt honored and touched to be a part of this celebration. 

My thoughts after many days on the road:

        There are many wonderful people in our industry.

        Owners/managers are beginning to realize that in order to be successful, they need to begin placing people issues as a number one concern.

        Successful owners have realized that investing in their people will give them some of their greatest returns. Investing involves money, time, energy, training, etc.

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Quote of the Month

Have fun in your command. Don’t always run at a breakneck pace. Take leave when you’ve earned it; spend time with your families. Surround yourself with people who take their work seriously, but not themselves, and those who work hard and play hard.”

                       -General Powell

 Herb Kelleher of Southwest Air and Anita Roddick of The Body Shop would agree: “Seek people who have some balance in their lives, who are fun to hang out with, who like to laugh (at themselves, too) and who have some non-job priorities which they approach with the same passion that they do their work. Spare me the grim workaholic or the pompous pretentious professional; I’ll help them find jobs with my competitor.

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Recommended Reading

FISH! A Remarkable Way to Boost Morale and Improve Results – by Stephen C. Lundin, Ph.D., Harry Paul, and John Christensen

 A powerful parable that will help you love the work you do – even if you can’t always do work that you love. Imagine a workplace where everyone chooses to bring energy, passion and a positive attitude to the job every day. Imagine an environment in which people are truly connected to their work, to their colleagues and to their customers.

Some of you may be thinking that this sounds too good to be true, but the key of success today is to be an employer of choice and to be addressing today’s most pressing work issues (including employee retention and burnout). With an engaging metaphor and an appealing message that applies to anyone in any sector of any organization, Fish! offers wisdom that is easy to grasp, instantly applicable, and profound – the hallmarks of a true business classic. This book serves as a practical guide for helping you understand the importance of cretaining a passion-filled workplace, and shows through real-world examples how to create that environment.

 I highly recommend this easy read. It’s 107 pages and sells for $19.95 at the bookstore.  

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Tactics to Boost Morale

 Speaking of having fun in the workplace – One of the owner/manager’s most important jobs is to keep spirits up. With the stress levels in our industry, this isn’t always easy to do. However, there are some strategies you can use that will get the job done – without hurting your budget.

         Run a “Guess the Baby” contest. Ask the staff to bring in  baby photos and post them on the wall. Award a free lunch to the employee who can guess who’s who.

        Play with the dress code. If your culture allows it, hold an “Ugly Tie,” ‘Ugly Pants,” or “Ugly Sweater” day. Award prizes for the winners.

        Get out of the office! Whenever possible, hold meetings outside the office – at the coffee shop down the street or at a local restaurant. If weather permits, don’t be afraid to hold meetings outside from time to time.

        Set up a “Humor Corner.” Designate one section of the office as the place for humor and encourage employees to post cartoons, jokes, or other funny material.

Bring your smile to work. You’ll be surprised at the difference it makes.

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Dear Debra,
I am very interested in using the Wonderlic© tests you recommend for finding how smart a person is and also the Personality Profiling for making sure the person has the right personality for the position, but I have one concern. I am wondering how a candidate, especially a production worker, will feel having to take these different tests? Won’t they feel intimidated or overwhelmed?  - Curious About Testing – Sturbridge, MA

Dear Curious,

 I have found that the response you get from the applicant (or current employee) is usually a direct result of how you present the testing process to the person. If you present yourself as “an employer of choice”, providing a fun place to work, good benefits and fair wages, and a place that is moving forward, etc., you will also be presenting the fact that in order to be a part of this great organization, there are high standards that your company has set and must be met. In order to have a good organization, you have realized that you need good people on staff to make this happen, therefore you have also set evaluation standards that people must meet or exceed to be a part of this great team.

By having this mindset and presenting this philosophy, you will be surprised at the positive response you will get from the person. In most cases they will feel privileged to take the tests and much more eager to become a part of your team. 

On the other hand, if a person has a negative response about taking the tests, this could be a red flag and one that you should investigate further. 

These two tests are very inexpensive ($5 for the Wonderlic© and a total of $35 for the Personality Profile). The $40 investment will give you so much valuable information, you can’t afford not to do it. 

Good Luck!
Debra

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HR Tip of the Month

If you’re hiring a new employee, find out whether he or she will like your management style by probing attitudes toward former supervisors. Here are questions that will produce results:

 1.      Tell me about the best manager you’ve worked for. Why was he or she a good manager? What would your ideal boss be like?

2.      What was your least favorite manager like? How did you handle the things you didn’t like about them?

3.      Tell me about a disagreement you and a previous boss had. How did you resolve it?

4.      If I were your boss, what would be the most important thing for me to say or do to support you.

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If you have anything you would like discussed in The Communicator or with Debra Thompson directly, feel free to contact her via e-mail at debra@tgassociates.com or call 520-751-8922.

The Communicator is intended to provide accurate information in regard to the subject matter covered. Advice received from here should be with the understanding that TG & Associates, LLC, is not engaged in rendering legal or other equivalent professional services. If legal advice or other professional assistance is required, the services of a competent professional person should be sought. TG & Associates, LLC, is not responsible for misrepresentation, misinterpretation, or misuse of the data contained in or derived from this system.

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