Words of Wisdom: 15 Powerful Thoughts on Leadership

Reposting a great infograph of timeless thoughts on leadership originally posted on Profiles International's Workplace 101 blog.   If your company is looking for ways to identify rising leaders and/or developing those already in leadership positions, contact Parsley Performance Solutions to learn more about our Executive Leadership Assessment and our CheckPoint 360 Feedback & Development program.

Are You Paying for Bad Hires?

The following post was published on Profiles International's Workplace 101 blog.

Bad hires impact more than a company's bank account... they can have tremendous impact on a team's morale and productivity. We asked some of our colleagues about their pastexperience with bad hires, and here are a few of their responses:

• "The woman was so far from suited for the job! Her skills, experience, and personality all clashed with our department. I ended up having to spend hours upon hours training her repeatedly. That wasn't in my job description."
• "Our boss was so desperate to fill a role, she hired the first person that applied. They were so negative, it ruined our positive team dynamic."
• "Think of how many people are involved in onboarding and training a new hire... HR, payroll, management, and the department's whole team. It's time consuming, especially when that person won't be around in a few months!"
• "I worked at a factory, and found out that a co-worker had been stealing supplies for years before he was found out."

________________

Parsley Performance Solutions has helped companies achieve greater success by identifying top performers, providing for each candidate a job fit gap analysis, a customized interview guide to more effectively interview each unique applicant, a view of which "seat on the bus" would be the ideal fit (if any) and a coaching report to help in the on-boarding process if hired.   Adding science to the art of hiring makes sense and helps you add hire great additions to your team, avoid the costs of bad hire and helps applicants find jobs that they will enjoy!   Contact us to learn how we could help your company and to request a free copy of Job Fit: The Power of the Right Person.

Why It’s So Hard to Fill Sales Jobs & Costly to Mis-Hire!

Timely article written by Lauren Weber in today's WSJ: Why It's So Hard to Fill Sales Jobs.    

My takeaways... 

1.  Wanted: Great Sales Reps - 24% longer to find a sales rep vs. other positions

2.  2X$  Sales pays on average 2X than annual wages of other positions

3.  New Millennial priorities: team & purpose

4.  $teady Pay:  Applicants value more base vs. commission  

5.  High Cost of a Mis-Hire:  Employers face a high risk when hiring a sales rep given the costs of training and ramp up time (min. 6 months).  

Finding top talent to propel your sales results is a very high risk proposition particularly given the changes in what the current generation of graduates are valuing.    Given the bottom-line reality that the cost of mis-hiring a sales rep costs anywhere from 50% to 200% of annual salary, it pay to approach this hiring challenge with a proven sales assessment - the Profiles Sales Assessment that identifies Top Superstars who will fit your company's culture.  Contact Parsley Performance Solutions to discuss our approach to successful sales results.   Our programs help you select, coach and evaluate the performance of your sales team.

To read the full article, you can click here.

Why More Employees Are Considering Leaving Their Companies [INFOGRAPHIC]

I want to share an informative but somewhat dated Infographic published by LinkedIn on a critical topic now that the economy is picking up and good employees are looking for greener grass.  

~ David Parsley

As you can see, the top reason employees say they’ll jump ship (better compensation/benefits) and the top reason they actually jumped ship (greater opportunities for advancement) differ. Perhaps it has created a misconception among employers that has prevented them from developing internal mobility (a.k.a. mobility and talent mobility) programs that advance their employees’ careers, and as a result, increased preventable turnover? Wrong.

View the full article by clicking on this link.

San Antonio - Remembering the...World Conference

Photo Note:  Upper right photo of me along with Mark Bartholomew, Vice President of Sales at Profiles International enjoying a Texas banquet!

----------------------------------------------------------

In mid-January, I attended the annual Profiles International World Conference held in San Antonio, Texas along with over 300 members of the global team of Strategic Business Partners, company executives & H.R. professionals.  We deepened our knowledge of how businesses and organizations are achieving significant results from using our talent assessment, management and development programs. One of our keynote speakers zeroed in the power of people who know who they are and show these strengths in their business and personal relationships. As of last year, our team has assessed over 45 million people and 40,000 companies, but with a new year comes new opportunities to help even more companies and organizations.

What Would Ernest Do? 7 Leadership Lessons and Ways to Increase Productivity from Ernest Hemingway

I recommend these 7 Lessons presented by Ty Hall on Profiles International's Workplace 101 Blog.      ~ David Parsley

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’d have a difficult time telling you my favorite author. But, gun to my head, I’d have to say Ernest Hemingway. I read The Old Man and the Sea when I was nine, and I learned about perseverance. I read The Sun Also Rises when I was 22 and it helped put a nasty breakup in perspective, getting me out of a slump. In fact, emulating Hemingway (while trying to abandon some of his bad habits) is one of the reasons I really became a writer. I’ve learned a lot from the man refered to as “Tatie,” including ways to increase productivity and be a more effective leader. Even if you’re not a writer, there are some things you can glean from Hemingway’s methods.


1. Keep things simple.
Hemingway allegedly wrote the shortest story in written history: “For sale: baby shoes, never worn.” In my opinion, he effectively surmised modern masculinity in less than 12,000 words with The Short, Happy Life of Francis Macomber. To get to the point, be brief. To increase productivity, get rid of as much extraneous distraction as possible.

2. Don’t talk too much.
Almost the same as above—but more about work—don’t talk about what you’re doing or how hard you work—just get it done. Hemingway said that when talking about work, it loses “whatever butterflies have on their wings and the arrangement of hawk’s feathers if you show it or talk about it.” Improving productivity will reverse when you spend time talking about it instead of actually doing it.

3. Learn from the best, and keep improving.
Hemingway studied literary  masters to ultimately beat them at their strengths. Sure it was arrogant, but it made him that much better. Effective leaders study and try to improve upon other effective leaders. Another lesson to be learned in this line is to.....  LINK TO FULL BLOG POST