Hartford Business Journal

www.HartfordBusiness.com August 1, 2016 • Hartford Business Journal 21 BIZ BOOKS Tips for hiring, managing and keeping great employees "75 Ways for Managers to Hire, Develop and Keep Great Employees" by Paul Falcone (AMACOM, $21.95). Recent studies show the cost of employee turnover ranges from $6,000 for entry-level employees to upwards of $50,000 for mid-level managers. Why so high? The time taken to hire and train a new employee takes many people away from their regular tasks and routines. Falcone offers a template for reduc- ing turnover and increasing productivity. Here are two of the 75 that deal with crucial elements of the hiring process: 1. "Establishing your brand." The greater your brand recognition, the more likely candidates will see you as an "employer of choice." While businesses routinely search social media for information on applicants, they forget that appli- cants will search social media and the firm's website for information. Your social media presence pre-sells candidates. Poorly- organized and outdated information sends the wrong message. Make your online information mobile-friendly because smartphones and tab- lets offer ready-access information. When you've selected interview candi- dates, email them a recruitment brochure. It should contain information about the firm's history and goals, the hiring process and benefits. Your current employees figure in the process, too; posting videos of them discuss- ing their jobs on your website's career page or YouTube help candidates understand how the company does business. 11. "Effective onboarding to maximize the chances of initial success and create true believers." Your sales process doesn't end upon acceptance of an offer. On the new hire's first day, she/he doesn't know anybody, doesn't know departmental functions and protocol and job priorities. Assign an onboarding mentor (i.e. a top performer) from the new hire's depart- ment to show them the ins and outs of why, what and how. This go-to person also provides a new hire with "people" information — the roles of the players, their personalities and penchants. The manager should meet with the new- bie 30, 60 and 90 days after hire to complete the process. These meetings aren't perfor- mance appraisals. They're about finding out how the person has acclimated. Falcone pro- vides a number of "acclimation" questions. Great quote: "What you want for your- self, give to another." • • • "The Execution Shortcut: Why Some Strategies Take the Hidden Path to Success and Others Never Reach the Finish Line" by Jeroen De Flander (The Performance Factory, $19.95). The path to success hides within the people charged with execution. Human behavior, when not synched with the "Big Choice," trumps the best plans. De Flander uses a "Head, Heart and Hands" process to connect human dynam- ics to execution. Head — Noted strategy guru Henry Mintzberg sees strategy as "a pattern in a stream of decisions." Daily choices must align with the "Big Choice." When management provides conflicting (and often competing) messag- es, strategy fails. Example: A manager tells a call-center rep "Your performance is based upon customer satisfaction ratings and call volume." How can the rep effectively solve customers' problems when told that call volume must increase? Heart — People have to relate (i.e. buy in) to the "Big Choice." This involves getting them to see the importance of their roles in execution. When you want to drive home a point, use stories not charts and graphs. Stories talk about what must be done — and why? They energize actions. And since the devil is in the details, seek "big commitments on small things." Their daily choices help or hinder execution. Cel- ebrate small victories to keep their batter- ies charged. Hands — "Complexity is the CO2 of the modern business world." Consider "CO2m- plexity" as the silent killer of execution. It's sneaky, too. Remember the story of the frog in cold water that was slowly brought to a boil? The frog doesn't recognize peril until it's too late. In business, it kills ideas and energy. Look at the long- term impact of new layers of decision-making and proce- dures before implementation. The bottom line: When you leave those affected out of plan construction, you're taking the path to failure. n Jim Pawlak is a nationally syndicated book reviewer. Jim Pawlak TALKING POINTS 3 assumptions that get in the way of good PR By Jason Simms S ince editorial coverage and adver- tisements appear next to each other in print, online and on the airwaves, public relations is often thought of as akin to advertising. But PR is more similar to brand- ing. Your brand is the story you tell about yourself. PR is the story told about you. Press coverage is a partnership between your organization and a media outlet to serve their audience. This mindset is the key to good PR, but it's easy to get off track. Avoiding these common assump- tions can help your organization reach a wider audience and drive engagement via the press. A s s u m p t i o n : The press release should summarize our story. Reality: You need to offer a personal invitation to a story. Companies often wonder why their press releases fail to generate coverage. Journal- ists receive hundreds of emails a day. A press release is likely to be ignored unless the headline tells a story. Consider a hypothetical example: "Company X releases new safer chainsaw" vs. "Man injured by chainsaw builds safer one." Which would you be more likely to open? The content could be exactly the same, but the broader, blander head- line hides what makes the story stand out. An eye-opening stat or striking photo can also help a journalist grasp the story you're proposing quickly. If you have an asset like this, make sure it's mentioned early in your email. Press releases have a role — they come up in search results and some journalists like to work from them — but the one-size-fits-all model is flawed. The New York Times has a very different readership and mission than a regional business journal. A personalized pitch introducing or linking to your press release is more likely to produce results. Assumption: Start with the message you want to put out. Reality: This isn't all about you. It's a partnership. PR campaigns often begin with a meeting in which someone asks the question, "What is the message we want to put out?" A better question to be asking is, "What need does the press have that we can fill?" Read, watch or listen to the outlet you want to be in and imagine what headline you could give them. Get down to the essence of the outlet. Why does it exist? What does it do for its audience? How can you help? The answer may be completely different from the rest of your marketing and it may be very specific. Once you find the overlap between what you do and what the media outlet does, you can contact the outlet in their language and demonstrate familiarity. By illus- trating how your company can contribute to the outlet, you open the door to a story that will include broader information about what your company does. But you can't start there. You have to start with the common ground. Assumption: Press coverage will pro- duce immediate business. Reality: The greatest value of press coverage is realized over time. Media coverage provides value to an organization both in short-term promotion — reaching the audience of the outlet upon publication — and by conferring lasting credi- bility. Except in extreme cases, such as appear- ing on Ellen or BuzzFeed, the short-term pro- motion value of press coverage can be fairly limited. This is primarily because the press doesn't exist to promote, it exists to inform. It is precisely this objective nature that gives press coverage the powerful ability to inspire enduring trust. A media outlet, which exists purely to serve its readers, has validated that what you do is important. That means a lot to potential customers researching you, even years later. It's up to you, however, to take full advantage of it. When integrated with your website, social media, email marketing, print- ed materials, etc., press coverage permanently changes how your company is viewed by those who matter to you. n Jason Simms is a public relations strat- egist. His firm, Simms PR, is based in Deep River. Jason Simms ▶ ▶ The greater your brand recognition, the more likely candidates will see you as an employer of choice. ▶ ▶ PR is more similar to branding. Your brand is the story you tell about yourself. PR is the story told about you.

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