DataDome Blog

Art Schoeck was a featured speaker at the 2007 Atlanta HR Star conference, held at the Georgia World Congress Center on May 2.

Predicting Turnover: How to Keep Your Best From Leaving
Arthur G. Schoeck
President, Data Dome, Inc.

Employees are showing less loyalty and less patience for their employers. In addition to the more aggressive recruiting efforts of other companies, employees now have easy access to information about what positions are available in their industries. Coupled with a fast-approaching drain of skilled workers that is looming on the horizon, what can you do to proactively attract and retain talent? Some companies play a “hit or miss game” to try to retain their most talented workers, but now is the time to gain a real competitive edge with employee loyalty and engagement. In this session, you will learn exactly how to determine who your best people really are, why they would leave, and what you can do about it. Topics include:

• Why your best employees may leave.
• Why current practices like exit interviews and certain reward systems are not working.
• How current workforce trends impact turnover.
• How to uncover the bad news you can’t afford not to know.

Data Dome Inc. was also a featured exhibitor at the conference. Qualified participants at the conference received a valuable behavioral style assessment from Data Dome, so that they could see its accuracy and applicability for themselves. We donated a complimentary Career Planning assessment (with a debriefing session) for the end-of-conference giveaway.

Art, Heidi, Ralph and Amanda enjoyed meeting with HR professionals and other HR resource vendors at the conference. This is the second year of our participation, and we look forward to future HR Star conferences!

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Last Friday, we installed Zone Alarm Security Suite 3 on one of our workstation computers. During the install I had added our network as “trusted” but could no longer connect. On restart, the computer would no longer boot up. It would get as far as trying to find a network connection, then the blue screen of death flashed by – too quickly to read the error message – and the computer restarted itself.

It did not take long to realize that whatever had gone wrong was beyond my capability to find, much less fix. I checked the forums and support FAQs and so on, and experimented with a number of possible solutions, but nothing worked.

Rather than wasting more work time on the problem, I recommended that we get outside technical help. Consumer Reports had ranked Geek Squad as providing better tech support than any manufacturer but Apple, so we decided to give them a try.

We called a local branch, and left a voice mail message. No response.

After a couple of hours, we visited the Geek Squad web site to request an “agent dispatch” to “our coordinates” but their contact page form was broken. What?

On the second call to the local branch again, someone answered, but only to notify us that they were not authorized to schedule anyone to come to our location. It had to be arranged at the central 800 number. Right.

At the 800 central command post, we were told that all their systems were down. Systems down at Geek Squad? Hmmm.

I elicited a promise from the agent that he would call us back personally to schedule an appointment just as soon as the systems were back up. He dutifully took down our details.

It’s now Tuesday, and no-one from Geek Squad ever called or even emailed us.

Meanwhile, the support ticket that I submitted at Zone Alarm tech support came back (it took 3 days, but that includes the weekend). Their message wasn’t very helpful. The solutions they offered had been tried and were unsuccessful. My reply didn’t append properly to the support ticket. Unfortunately, we purchased a 3-license version of the Security Suite from Zone Alarm – intending to put it on three computers. I have submitted a refund request.

Fortunately for us, our computer “guru” friend made himself available over the weekend. He worked on it for several hours. He did not find a workable solution either, which actually made me feel a bit better about my inability to find or fix the problem. He was able to uninstall the program, and on his advice we have decided to install a different anti-virus solution for that machine.

So, what happened to Geek Squad?

Centralized systems were down and there was no return call or email that day, not even to notify us about the status of our request? Four days later, they still haven’t been in touch.

You would think that “geeks” would have a plan B.

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Fully one-half of global companies report that less than half of the sales team achieves its sales targets, according to the 2007 TAS Index Global Sales Effectiveness Benchmark Study.

Sales management and sales reps have widely differing perspectives on what’s working and what’s broken.

• 72% of sales managers believe that their sales process is well defined, but only 56% of sales reps believe this is so.
• 48% of sales managers think they spend their time coaching (not chasing the reps for updates), while just 34% of reps agree.

• On the other hand, 58% of reps believe they close deals when originally forecasted, while only 46% of managers agree.
• 53% of reps believe they are effective at maximizing return from existing accounts, versus only 42% of managers.

Salespeople employing sales methodologies more than half the time perform much better than those who don’t. Salesforce turnover is also lower – by 39% – when methodology usage is high.

The study notes that more American salespeople lack deal-closing skills compared to their European and Asian counterparts, but are better at managing the sales cycle.

Americans seem to have better alignment with marketing, overall company strategies, and are better at describing the value a company has to offer.

Sales Assessments:

• Advanced DISC Behavioral Style Analysis for Sales – Describes the sales person’s natural sales style (what their natural preferences are for the type of product, how to handle sales presentations, and how to close and service) and their adapted style (how they change their behaviors in response to perceptions of what it takes to succeed in their current environment). It outlines their behavioral strengths and weaknesses as a salesperson, and provides adaptive strategies for selling to different styles.
• Sales Strategy Index – Measures salespersons in 7 critical skill scales for the successful execution of the sales-specific body of knowledge.
• SalesMax – Sales Max examines the 3 areas that affect successful selling – sales personality, knowledge and motivations. SalesMax has been designed and validated to consistently identify candidates with superior sales potential. Candidates who score “BEST” on SalesMax achieve, on average, over 95% of their sales targets and are rated as “top” or “superior” performers by their employers. Selection and development versions are available.
• Assess Expert System – Top-notch tool for behavioral style, thinking style, work style, motivations and intellectual abilities. Selection, development, and 360-degree feedback versions are available.
• Select Pre-Employment Screening System – Identifies customer service, call center and entry-level sales/service providers who have stable work-related personality characteristics and productive work behaviors.

Call Data Dome at 404-814-0379 for your complimentary needs consultation.

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HR Estimates:

• 35% of employees are looking for a new job.
• 32% of employees have updated resumes.
• 40% of employees have surfed online job postings.

But the Reality is:

• Over 60% of employees and nearly 66% of tenured employees are looking for a new job.
• 73% have updated resumes.
• Nearly 80 % of employees have used the internet to look for a new job; 50% have posted to job sites or applied directly to prospective employers.

[Salary.com 2006/2007 Employee Satisfaction and Retention Survey]

60% of human resources executives at mature organizations have trouble even identifying what skills and experience are crucial to the company’s mission.

[IBM Global Human Capital Survey]

We have solutions. Call Data Dome Inc. 404-814-0739

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Employees have high behavioral expectations of their managers, and managerial behavior meets this expectation only half of the time, according to a study by Brussels company Krauthammer.

In the core areas of management behavior that were surveyed, amongst the biggest gaps between the expectations of employees and reality were the following:

• 95% would like their manager to analyze their task problems together with them, 41% experience this.
• 86% would like their manager to create the right context prior to implementing a decision, this is the case 42% of the time.
• 82% would like their manager to listen to their ideas, and encourage them to continue, 56% experience this.

Employees want to be heard, and they want more involvement. Managers need to develop listening and mentoring skills.

Managers are a bit closer in meeting the expectations of their employees in the following areas:

• 94% would expect their manager to spontaneously admit their mistakes, and 69% actually do this.
• 90% would like to be fully involved in the definition of their development goals, and this is the case 68% of the time.
• 83% would expect their manager to arbitrate conflicts, and 65% of the time this indeed happens.

“These potentially alarming results show that in many key tasks, and basic management skills, such as guiding others, listening to ideas, securing delivery and giving feedback, managers simply fail to meet their employees’ expectations. And this lack of performance obviously has a direct impact on companies’ success in business itself, so these results present company executives with interesting food for thought, to say the least.”

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The very common workplace problem of behavioral incompatibility can have devastating effects on productivity and job satisfaction.

This “World According to DISC” anecdote exemplifies how DISC behavioral style analysis can be part of a “painless enlightenment” process to mend a dysfunctional team.

Problem

Two top-level decision-makers were having a very difficult time communicating and it was affecting everyone on the team.

• Misunderstanding one another at every turn, they were taking every communication “the wrong way.”
• Work was not getting done, they were accusing each other of incompetence, and other team members were drowning in the wake of their storm.
• Work pressures – and a failure to prioritize the problem – meant that they did not take time to understand one another’s viewpoint, or their reasons for taking that viewpoint.

Sound familiar?

Revelations

DISC behavioral style analysis showed the key players to be intensely opposite styles.

Competitive environments increased this intensity.

Their conflicts were not, as they had thought, based on who was doing things the “right” way or the “wrong” way.

Solution

They came to understand that every style combination has strengths and challenges, blind spots, and value to the organization.

As this was discussed, both came to realize the tremendously intense strengths and associated weaknesses each brought to the table. Their understanding of each other (and themselves) grew.

The emotional side of their misunderstandings embarrassed them, and they were relieved to find pragmatic strategies for adapting to each others’ styles in a manner that was productive for both their team efforts and long-term goals.

Using the advanced DISC behavioral style analysis reports, these two power-players were empowered in an entirely new and different way as they learned to utilize the objective, neutral language of DISC.

Instead of making value judgments about their differences, they learned to understand the strengths and challenges of their own style – as well as the style of the other. Armed with this understanding, they not only gained significant insights but also learned to adapt to one another’s behavioral style preferences so that both could bring their unique strengths forward.

Result? A paralyzing leadership struggle turned into a true friendship.

Each had something different, and valuable, to contribute to the projects important to both of them. The team has soared.

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You may have noticed that we’ve had some problems with the blog again. It turns out that it is rather complicated to upgrade WordPress if you are hosted at Yahoo Small Business.

The first time I tried to upgrade, I could no longer access the blog at all. All that came up was a blank screen in the browser. I couldn’t find a solution. Yahoo couldn’t help me. I gave up. I backed up the database with MyPhpAdmin, and recreated the blog from scratch. (To do this, backup all your images and customized files, etc, then create an sql backup of your database using MyPhpAdmin to export. You can dump your old database on the new installation – of the old version – by running the export as an SQL query. I got server 500 errors, but eventually one of them worked.)

After quite a bit of research and experimentation, the blog is now updated. Since Customer Care is unfamiliar with the host issues, and corporate HQ is unresponsive to contact from clients, I have recommended feature requests via email from Yahoo Small Business: a one-click update feature (or auto-updates) so that their version of WordPress is reasonably up-to-date, and a feature request/status page. In the meantime the addition of instructions to their online help files would be helpful.

WordPress has upgrading instructions here, with common installation problems here.

If you are on Yahoo Small Business, though, here’s what you’ve probably got to do (thanks to the resources at the WordPress codex and users’ forum – which were buried a bit, but there – and some very helpful advice from Ray that got me going on the right track).

I’ve documented everything, and I hope that this is a helpful post for other Yahoo-hosted bloggers.

• First, update your plug-ins (Akismet will update by itself in the upgrade).
• Use the WordPress backup plugin to do a backup of your WordPress directory. Download it for safekeeping. You can also use your friendly ftp program to download the entire WordPress directory onto your hard drive, too. (Better safe…)
• Use MyPHPAdmin to export a back up your WordPress SQL database. Make several versions if you are unfamiliar with this. Make sure that use the right character set for export. Make one in the most recent sql, and any other format you might require – so that you have some options later if things look off.
• Go to the WordPress dashboard and disable all your plugins. This will save you a lot of headaches. Just trust me (and the people at WordPress).
• Now it gets complicated. From your WordPress backup on the hard drive, open the current wp-config.php file in the main directory. Delete the line “Define(’WP_CACHE’, true); //Added by WP-Cache Manager” and then save the file. Also save a copy of it under another name, like wp-configorig.php. You’ll need this file later.
• Edit wp-config.php file in the main WordPress directory that you downloaded and change DB_USER and DB_PASSWORD with your yroot user and yroot password and save the file. That’s the username and password you set up to administrate your databases. Yahoo describes these here: http://help.yahoo.com/help/us/webhosting/mysql/mysql-09.HTML. Ftp the new wp-config file.
• Now run upgrade.php by browsing to http://YOURSITE.com/YOURBLOG/wp-admin/upgrade.php. It should succeed, in theory.
• Before you go any further, look at your blog and make sure it’s there. Is it? If you get a blank page, then you’ve put the wrong yroot user and password in the config file. Make sure it’s right and try again.
• If none of this is working for you, you’ll have to download the latest version of WordPress, ftp it up, and then run upgrade again.
• You may have to play with the permissions settings in MyPhpAdmin. Make sure that you have any needed permissions. Customer Care can help you with this part if you run into trouble.
• Assuming that your blog is up, check to make sure that your category links and other links are displaying. If you see an error like [Unknown column 'link_count' in 'where clause'], you’ve got to detour at this point (Try a web search on the exact phrase of that error to get a sense of how many blogs are affected). If you’re upgrading from the version at Yahoo, there has been a major change in the way categories are indexed. I haven’t been able to find the perfect fix for this if the upgrade doesn’t do it, but there are two suggestions. The first didn’t work for me in MyPhpAdmin on Yahoo – perhaps because of yet more permissions issues, or maybe an older version of MySql – but you could try it because it’s probably the better fix:
  Run this SQL query:
ALTER TABLE --database--.wp_categories ADD COLUMN link_count BIGINT(20) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0 AFTER category_count,
ADD COLUMN posts_private TINYINT(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0 AFTER link_count,
ADD COLUMN links_private TINYINT(1) NOT NULL DEFAULT 0 AFTER posts_private;

• The second suggestion did work on Yahoo, but I hope it doesn’t mess anything up:
  First, save your home copy of wp-admin/upgrade-functions.php under another name, like you did with the wp-config file. Then, edit the original file and delete where it says
  // We are up-to-date. Nothing to do.
if ( $wp_db_version == $wp_current_db_version )
return;
  Ftp it up and run upgrade.php again. Then upload the original version to restore it.
• Now, go get the wp-configorigin.php you saved earlier. Rename it back to wp-config.php and ftp it up.
• In your blog template, replace the current call for your blogroll with < ?php wp_list_bookmarks('title_after=&title_before='); ?>. Some of the older tags have been depreciated.
• Enable your plug-ins one by one to make sure they are compatible. If something breaks the blog, use ftp or the online file management at Yahoo to delete the applicable folder from the wp-content/plugins.

Another problem solved: The bottom navigation on the index page disappeared. Some think that it has to do with plugins as well. I’m not running a “sticky post” plugin, which seems to be the primary problem for others. There is also a thought that there might be an incompatibility between the upgraded Akismet plugin and the Yahoo hosting. Aha! I fixed it by removing a call to the FAlbum plugin on the Index page.

Continuing Problems

Warning: Do not attempt to use the newer version of the WP Cache plugin or the Yahoo version of the Customizable Permalinks Plugin. I haven’t found a fix for this yet. Keep them disabled or they will break the blog, and you’ll have to go back and do a lot of this again. If you know a fix for this, please comment.

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As I was driving into work this morning, I heard a story on NPR about a new study from Deloitte & Touche that examines “what’s going wrong in the workplace, from harassment to embezzlement and theft.” They found that supervisors tend to “set the standard on how to behave.”

At the Deloitte & Touche website, ethical behavior was presented in terms of a good work-life balance. They found a strong relationship between the two factors. Top factors in promoting ethical behavior in the workplace, according to the study which was conducted by Harris Interactive, were the behaviors of management and direct supervisors, coupled with positive reinforcement for ethical behavior.

On Stress and Job Dissatisfaction

• A combined 44% of workers cite high levels of stress (28%), long hours (25%) and inflexible schedule (13%) as the causes of conflict between their work responsibilities and personal priorities, hence contributors to work-life imbalance.
• 60% of think that job dissatisfaction is a leading reason why people make unethical decisions at work, and more than half of workers (55% ranked a flexible work schedule among the top three factors leading to job satisfaction, second only to compensation (63%).
• 91 percent of all employed adults agreed that workers are more likely to behave ethically at work when they have a good work-life balance.

On Management’s Impact on Ethical Behaviors

• With 42% ranking the behavior of management and 36% ranking the behavior of direct supervisors as top factors contributing to the promotion of an ethical workplace, leadership and modeling are clearly important.
• Only 16% ranked ethics training as a factor that has positive influence.
• Only 10% ranked criminal penalties for violations of Code of Conduct as among the top three factors.

They have framed this data in terms of work-life balance. Long hours and an inflexible schedule can certainly create stress, but even a regular schedule in a stressful position will not bring out the strengths of the individual.

The bigger issues here are stress and job dissatisfaction, and they are not unrelated.

Managers and employees who are under moderate to extreme stress will tend to exhibit the weak points (the extremes) of their behavioral style. For example: A High D may move from being decisive to being demanding and dictatorial. A High I may move from being persuasive to being dramatic and emotional, or even attacking. A High S may move from being patient to being falsely agreeable and avoidant. A High C may move from being conscientious to being detached, nit-picky or defensive. These are of course “broad stroke” descriptions; legitimate behavioral style analysis looks at all four quadrants, high and low, for each person. However, the point furthest from the line shows the area in which stress behaviors are most likely to occur.

Most people adapt their natural style – how they prefer to do things – a little bit in order to be successful in their job. However, when there is a significant difference between the style of the individual and the style that the actual job requires, then that puts the individual under stress.Stress behaviors are based on the natural, not the adapted style. So, the person under stress first loses the ability to adapt to the job, then exhibits the weaknesses of their natural style. Add to this the normal stressors of the workplace, long hours, and inflexible (and perhaps incompatible) work schedules, and the potential for “people problems” increases.

There are integrity assessments that examine potentially problematic attitudes, and these can be very helpful as pre-employment tools.

However, anyone under stress is likely to exhibit behaviors that may be counterproductive in their work environment.

The DISC behavioral style assessment examines how people prefer to do things, providing information about the individual’s natural behavioral style, as well as the adaptations they make to that style to thrive in the workplace. The information can be applied for the life cycle of the employee – keys to motivating, keys to managing, strengths, communication preferences, suggested strategies for improved communications with others, and potential areas for development.

A DISC behavioral profile is an accurate description of our observable actions. There is no right or wrong profile, no good or bad style.

Every style combination has strengths and weaknesses, value and blind spots. A profile narrates exactly how we prefer to do things and in what kind of environment we prefer to do them.

Understanding styles corrects misconceptions, miscommunications, and misunderstandings that might have existed and plagued performance for some time.When people love what they do, they can focus on doing the job itself rather than putting their energy into adapting to the behaviors required to be successful in the position. Stress behaviors and behavioral incompatibilities between individuals are then minimized, especially when managers and employees understand and implement more effective ways of communicating with others who have different styles than themselves.

Job satisfaction is key!

Work-life balance is important, but there seems to be a bit of a leap here from the data to the conclusions. When people can thrive at work using the strengths of their behavioral style, the workplace is a little bit more like a home away from home. They are doing what they love to do, in the way they prefer to do it (how they want to deal with problems, people, pace, and procedures).

Better communication, reduced conflict, better work teams, and a better working environment for self-motivation increase job satisfaction and may well do as much (or more) to promote ethical behavior – and productivity – in the workplace.

Data Dome Inc offers a complimentary advanced DISC behavioral style profile to qualified decision-makers, and a consultation on your current needs and goals. Call us at 404-814-0739 (or contact us via our form).

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Art Schoeck, founder and CEO of Data Dome, Inc., will be interviewed on Business Radio 1160′s “Atlanta’s Business,” a half-hour show that focuses on the movers and shakers of Atlanta’s business community. Schoeck is an expert on employee assessments and behavioral style strategies for the workplace.

Host Jeff Davis and Schoeck will discuss the topic “How to Get the Wrong People off the Bus – Voluntarily” during the show that will air at 6:00 p.m. on Saturday April 21st and Sunday April 22nd. Data Dome Inc. will also podcast the show after it has been aired.

The bus metaphor is sometimes used to explain what it takes to move a company from being average into becoming excellent.

You’ve got to get the right people on the bus and you’ve got to get them into the right seats. This also means you’ve got to get the wrong people off the bus (or at least into a better seat!).

Schoeck will address how the wrong people got in their positions in the first place, and how to avoid putting people in the wrong places. Typical job incompatibilities, and ways for businesses to be able to more effectively predict whether an individual has the potential to be successful in a specific position will be discussed in the context of how – objectively – to determine which people are in incompatible positions (“wrong seats”) or have been mistakenly hired (“wrong bus”). Listen to hear how to present the situation in such a way as to “get the wrong people off the bus – voluntarily.”

Founded by Schoeck in 1987, Data Dome Inc. offers practical, effective solutions to such problems as high turnover, personality conflicts and poor communication. Customized training helps companies to improve strategic planning, assist in implementing and coping with change, enhance interactions between management and support staff, boost sales and productivity and build project-oriented teams. To learn more, visit http://www.datadome.com or call 404-814-0739.

With programming that focuses on the bottom line of both corporations and individuals, Business Radio 1160 WCFO is Atlanta’s exclusive source for all-financial talk radio throughout the week. During the weekend, the station broadcasts original programming such as “Atlanta’s Business” and “Chef and the Fatman.” To learn more about Business Radio 1160 or to hear streaming content 24 hours a day, visit http://www.AM1160.net.

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Art Schoeck, founder and CEO of Data Dome, Inc., was interviewed by Jeff West on Business Radio 1160”s “Atlanta’s Business,” a half-hour show that focuses on the movers and shakers of Atlanta’s business community.

Host Jeff Davis and Schoeck discussed the topic “The Three Worst Hiring Mistakes and How to Avoid Them” during the show that aired in early April. Schoeck is an expert on employee assessments and behavioral style strategies for the workplace.

The 3 Worst Hiring Mistakes and How to Avoid Them – Download mp3

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