I hate people who have a blog but do not keep it current….However, if you want regular content from me the place to be, right now, is to follow me on LinkedIn…

Yes, I should put all those posts here too…it is on my list to figure it out

Onboarding is more than a buzzword, it starts with the offer. Heck, it might even start before the offer.

Some insights I gained at Conexpo in a session by Charlie Kimmel of Kimmel & Associates

I THOUGHT I would attend and get a few pointers I could share with clients. What I got was a new perspective on onboarding.

☑ 58% of folks get a counter offer when they give notice. Plan for this.

☑The fear of unknown can cause people to say yes to the counter. ☑Have a comm plan to reduce anxiety after they accept offer
☑Make your best offer first. Anything less suggests you are being cheap,
☑Would be great if the offer came from the manager, this gets the relationship started.
☑You only have one chance to get it right
☑Onboarding lasts 6 months not 6 hours (that is orientation)
☑ Understand hiring cost VS onboarding investment
☑New employees are needy, they want comfort and piece of mind.
☑Have the owner or President make a thank you call (make the new person feel special)

Hoopaugh Grading Company, LLC has a transition coordinator position. A person dedicated to helping new hires get comfortable and succeed!

But Wally, all this will cost money and take time.
Yah, how is your current process working for you?

If you want to change the outcomes you need to change the inputs.

Wouldn’t it be great if there was an association of training directors in the construction industry. Members might include representatives from medium to large contractors in the U.S. and Canada. The goal of the organization would be to share ideas and resources to improve the skill and competence of construction industry workers.

Oh wait, it already exists and if you are in the job of training construction folks, you should check it out

CIRTN – Construction Industry Resource Training Network’. CIRTN is pronounced ‘certain’.

Some of the best in the industry attend. I encourage you to consider it. Membership is not open to students, consultants (uggh 🙁 ), vendors or other individuals. So it is pure peer to peer.

Wouldn’t that be great?

It would be if you attended.

Are you a left or a righty? I know, it is a stupid question unless I am renting you a baseball glove. You don’t even have to think about it. If I ask you what is your communication style you cannot answer. But you do have a style. It is a default. You don’t think about it and you lack the self-awareness and vocabulary to answer the question with the certainty you do the lefty/right question. But just as you react when I throw you a ball, you react when someone talks to you. The goal here is move from react to response. The difference is a millisecond or two all enabled by taking a deep breath.

If you took a personality assessment of any kind in the past five years and you cannot remember what you are, you cheated yourself and wasted time and money. I hate it when I talk with people who cannot remember

Self-awareness is a key to future success. The more you get to know you the more you can leverage what you do well and avoid what you do poorly. I hate to deal with my weaknesses and flaws but by knowing them I can be more effective.

SO, if you took an assessment in the past few years – dig it up, dust it off, read it. How is all that working for you and what can you do better as a result of what you read

Listen closely as words from Iwo Jima (77 years ago this week) echo to us today. Two weeks after the epic flag raising, a Jewish chaplain spoke at the dedication of the new cemetery. Read this excerpt, take action.

We dedicate ourselves, first, to live together in peace the way they fought and are buried in this war. Here lie men who loved America because their ancestors generations ago helped in her founding and other men who loved her with equal passion because they themselves or their own fathers escaped from oppression to her blessed shores. Here lie officers and men, Negroes and whites, rich men and poor – together – Theirs is the highest and purest democracy. Any man among us, the living, who fails to understand that will thereby betray those who lie here dead. Whoever of us lifts his hand in hate against a brother makes of this ceremony and of the bloody sacrifice it commemorates an empty, hollow mockery. Out of this, and from the suffering and sorrow of those who mourn this, will come—we promise – the birth of a new freedom for the sons of men everywhere.”

Spare me the rabid political rants, this post is about what happens inside your organization. How will you lead. What culture will you create. How will you make all feel welcome and valued

His message is clear – live together in peace.

The simple answer is because it sucks and doesn’t connect with people but here are a few more reasons.

It fails because it is based on theory only. Too many instructors have no idea what happens in the real world.

Because lecture is more important than interaction and learning. Too many instructors are afraid to engage in real discussion with students for fear of not having the answer or because their ego is too big

Because it is viewed as an a event and not part of a program/culture to develop people.

Because context really matters and too many vendors simply do not understand construction which does have a unique culture.

Because, having worked in construction does not qualify one to teach leadership in construction. It does qualify them to tell some great stories but those wear out.

Because it is not science based on current research and adult learning.

Because the people running the company are not committed to it. They don’t show up and they allow people to miss class too often in pursuit of production

Because one size does not fit all. If your instructor cannot see 3 different ways to address a scenario, they are the wrong one.

What other reasons do you think leadership training fails?

You can have a bad day….

Your people cannot have a bad day because you are.

We are people. Humans with hopes, fears and emotions. Simply impossible to go through the day and not get off balance some times.

In fact, showing some emotion and your own humanity is authentic and real. People want that in a leader.

So, you can have a bad day, but your people cannot have a bad day because of it.

You can even say, I am having a bad day but that is not an excuse for you to be a jerk.

Leaders say they want innovation and creativity but have no idea how to get them. Companies the world over spend millions on innovation workshops with little impact.

How do you get people to think? To be more creative? To bring ideas to the table.

Well, working their ass off is not a good way to do it.

I am finally back home after my convention (and two days to play a bit of golf). I have PAGES of ideas and things to do. On the final flight home I started writing and the ideas started flowing. Some of the list are things I learned from someone else. Some are ideas I generated having had the booster shot of learning and camaraderie.

The point for you is you need to create space for all this to happen. People only have so much to give and when they are going all out – as most contactors are these days – it is hard to find that creativity gene.

The challenge now is to implement the ideas. I know I will not get to all of them but I also know I will get to many of them and that has been my plan for 20 years in business. And it has been all the difference between success and failure. Incremental improvement every year. I might have hit a home run or two over the years but far more small wins, singles if I was playing baseball, are great too.

What do you do to recharge and refresh so you are a better employee/leader when you are done?

Much has been written about Emotional Intelligence the past few years. It is an important concept, well worth study and effort. However, it remains very confusing to many people. It is not about being soft and nice. In fact, people with EQ can get angry.

Check out what Aristotle said a few thousand years ago. If you can do this, you are on your way to high EQ

Anybody can become angry – that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way – that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy.”