Dr Joanne Sujansky: Sujansky Says January 16, 2007

THE NEWEST RECRUITING TOOLS
In today's tightening labor market companies are running up against stiff competition to win the hearts and minds of potential new employees. The old standbys -- competitive salary, lucrative retirement plans, and good health benefits - don't seem to do the trick anymore. Today, organizations looking to compete in the job market for the best and the brightest are augmenting traditional employee recruiting tools with very "untraditional" perks. Just look at Fortune Magazine's list of the top 100 companies to work for (http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/bestcompanies/2007/). The perks enjoyed by employees at these companies include paid sabbaticals, family friendly schedules, gain-sharing, stock options, free hotel accommodations, career counseling, free gasoline, and many, many others. It's easy to see why employees at those organizations are both happy and productive!

But, the leader of the pack is Google, which snagged the top spot in its first year on the list. Google is renowned for perks like gourmet food, free carwashes, free haircuts, exercise classes, onsite laundries, and much more. It makes you wonder how Google's employees get any work done! But they do (as their huge profits prove) and the Internet giant receives more than 100,000 job applications each month.

But what if your company didn't make the Fortune 100? What if your company isn't even on Fortune's radar screen? Does that mean your hands are tied when it comes to attracting the strongest job candidates? Not by a long shot.

"Many persons have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification but through fidelity to a worthy purpose." - Helen Keller

"New Year's day ... is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual." -- Mark Twain

YOUR NEW COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE
Over the years many researchers have looked at the question of what motivates workers. What is it that will attract today's candidates to your company, versus your competitors? The most recent survey to address that question was conducted in England, with interesting results. When 1,060 employees were surveyed by British firm Chiumento HR, 73% said good relationships with colleagues were their main source of job satisfaction. Only 48% named financial rewards as the primary source of satisfaction ("Friendly colleagues rather than money make people happy at work," Georgina Fuller, PersonnelToday, January 10, 2007).

In fact, many factors ranked higher in employee job satisfaction than money. The top eight:

Friendly, supportive colleagues
Enjoyable work
Good boss or line manager
Good work-life balance
Varied work
Belief that we are doing something worthwhile
Feeling that what we do makes a difference
Being part of a successful team

On the other hand, the survey noted a number of factors that diminish satisfaction:

Lack of communication from the top
Uncompetitive salary
No recognition for achievements
Poor boss/line manager
Little personal development
Ideas being ignored
Lack of opportunity for good performers
Lack of benefits

Ironically, many of the factors that cause employee dissatisfaction lay outside the control of most frontline leaders. Salary, promotions, benefits, career development, and organizational communications are usually matters of corporate policy. The good news? Supervisors have tremendous power to affect employees through teamwork, goal-setting, feedback, and recognition. When it comes to employee happiness you have more power than you think!

"Great teamwork is the only way we create the breakthroughs that define our careers." - Pat Riley

LEARN TEAMWORK BY DOING SOMETHING FUN
So what's the secret to creating a friendly, supportive work climate? Teamwork! In a Vibrant Entrepreneurial Organization (VEO) leaders always strive to create the type of environment in which employees pull together to achieve common goals and outcomes. When everybody's 'on the same page' there's less time for destructive conflict or game playing. (Constructive conflict, on the other hand, is a key feature of good teamwork). When your people are functioning as part of a team they're also more likely to appreciate each other's contributions and quicker to recognize accomplishments. Belonging to a high-performing team almost always makes work meaningful and more rewarding.

By how do you transform a group of co-workers into a high-performing team? The conventional approach has been to conduct a teambuilding workshop. You know the drill ... the team spends all day in a classroom - or maybe off at a retreat -- completing exercises, watching slides and reading handouts. Then, when they get back to "business as usual," teamwork probably goes out the window under the pressure of deadlines and crises.

Fortunately, there's another way. Our clients tell us that our newest teambuilding program is one of the more fun and challenging learning experiences they've ever seen. It's called "KEYGroup Quest" and we customize this dynamic program to your organization's unique needs. But the best part is that KEYGroup Quest takes your teams out of the traditional classroom. We give each team role-appropriate assignments to accomplish, a set of clues and a video camera. The teams compete to complete all assignments by the end of the day, and then review the experience to apply principles of teamwork and communication. If you've ever seen CBS's Emmy Award-winning show "The Amazing Race" you get some idea of the challenge and the fun. And after all, if people learn best by doing then it stands to reason that they learn better by doing something fun.

To find out more about KEYGroup Quest visit http://www.keygroupconsulting.com/veo_bootcamp.php or call Dr. Jan Ferri-Reed at 1-800-456-5790 for more information. Believe me, this is program one of the best combinations of laughter and learning you'll ever experience!