Human Resource Blog

Career management is not just a nicety—it’s a necessity

By Greg Reynolds

“I never saw it coming.” That’s what many executives and managers say after they’ve lost their job. “How did it happen?”—“Well one day they called me into the front office and told me I didn’t want to work there anymore.”  And now they’re just another statistic. One of the current 15.1 million people  in the United States who are unemployed. 

 Just another casualty in the job market

Losing a job is incredibly stressful: you have to spend your savings to pay for your living expenses, your self-esteem takes one on the chin, and many people feel depressed and powerless to take control of their lives…, making it even harder to concentrate, to be on your game, and to find the job that’s perfect for you.

It’s a wonder then, why don’t more people take proactive steps to safeguard themselves from losing their job in the first place? Many managers and executives simply don’t understand the importance of a local network of professional contacts. They think they are too busy to acquire new skills, or to attend workshops by local professional associations.

They didn’t have the time, they didn’t take the time, they felt guilty when they did take the time, and now they’re right-sized, downsized or restructured out of their organization. And without a network of professional contacts, they have to start from square one building their reputation.

Start thinking of your career growth and development like a product manager. You are the product. What are you going to do to enhance yourself so that you are “in-demand?”

Whether you are between jobs,  or feeling secure in your current position, managing your career growth and development like a product manager is going to be like an insurance policy against job loss, and to catapult yourself to the next level of your profession.

Here are some simple strategies to help you stay ahead of the curve:

1. Build your personal brand

  “It’s not who you know, it’s who knows you…, and more importantly, and what they think about you.”

 Creating and maintaining a personal brand, and working continually to promote it, are vital to your career growth.

What makes you unique? What makes you stand out?  How do you position yourself as the “go-to expert” in your field? Is this reflected in your resume, your business cards, your online profiles?

Wherever you are professionally, think big and make yourself visible. Make sure to build your profile internally and externally by highlighting your skills in presentations or workshops, writing for publications, and volunteering for committees or panel discussions at a trade conference.

Start small and build from there.

Make sure your message is consistent. Remember that everything you do or choose not to do contributes to your personal brand, from the way you speak to someone on the phone, to the way you conduct yourself at meetings, or how you compose your emails.

And don’t forget that the way you do things is often as important as what you do. Do you speak concisely? Do you command attention? Do you look the part? 

2. Acquire relevant new knowledge and skills

Life-long learning is essential to growth and empowerment.

To stay relevant, professional development is, or should be, an essential component of your career growth and plan: “Professional networking events, trade association meetings and professional development seminars, updates and briefings are not niceties, they are career necessities”. 

Start attending regularly. Is there a class at a community college that can help you strengthen your skills?  Enroll in the class.  To remain proficient in your professional, improve or strengthen your work performance you constantly need new skills and knowledge – now and in the future.  

3. Build your network and expand your horizons

Networking is not only for those actively seeking employment.

You can use networking to meet new customers and prospects, to conduct market research and gather market intelligence, and discover the skills that will be most valuable to your employer or your clients.

By networking you can: 

• Raise your profile by becoming an established and regular networking member of a group, getting your face and the business known, 
• Meet new people and build mutually beneficial business relationships, and 
• Expand your opportunities meeting new business contacts with potential customers, suppliers, and business partners.

To avoid being a statistic, you need to be proactive and take control… work every day on becoming distinguished in your career

Savvy professionals view their own career growth and development like a product manager… “what do you need to do every day to stay competitive and ahead of the curve so you stay relevant?”

Networking activities and professional development functions as excellent opportunities to hone their professional skills and expand their professional network, which will increase their value to the organization and help them grow in their career, which is a safeguard against a job loss. 

Time is of the essence. Tomorrow it might be too late. Start working on your personal brand, acquire some new skills, and get serious about networking today.

You are your own product manager – for YOU 2.0

Greg Reynolds is the Director of Client Development for Dise & Company. You can contact Greg directly at the Pro People Page on Diseco.com.

By Mark Gonska

Finding a job in a recession is not easy.  Even in good times, a successful job search requires time, patience, and creativity.  These days, hiring managers and executives are choosier than ever and looking for reasons to screen people out, i.e., they are looking for reasons not to hire you.  However, if you’re able to avoid the most common job search mistakes, you can still land your perfect job, even in this tough market. 

Here are the 10 most common job search mistakes, and what you can do to avoid them.

1. Thinking it’s all about YOU.  Few people outside your family are concerned that you don’t have a job. Employers want to know what you can do for them.  What’s in it for the employer if they hire you?

The job search is about YOUR PROSPECTIVE EMPLOYER – your prospective employer’s needs, their problems, their issues.  Not yours. What’s keeping THEM up at night?  What’s waking THEM up too early in the morning?  THEIR problems and issues are the only reason or justification to hire YOU.  If you don’t know what these issues are, you could find out by asking some people in your target industry, by reading trade magazines, or by connecting with a relevant professional association.  

2. Living in the past. Yesterday is in the past. Today is a new day, and the time for action is now.

Many who are guilty of this mistake are living in the past in thought, word, and deed.  They don’t just think old, look old and sound old—they are continually asking themselves “why did this happen to me?”  They talk exclusively about how things “used to be” in the good ol’ days.  Instead you should: 

• Update your attitude – Give yourself a “check-up from the neck up”.  Get excited about your future.  Go to the library and check out some motivational CDs that you listen to in your car between appointments.  This will help you get motivated, and when you speak to people you’ll sound like you are WORTH a Million bucks.
• Update your appearance – try a new hair cut or a new hair style.  Treat yourself and get a pedicure, manicure or massage.

3. Defining yourself based on your old job. Your old job does not define you. Many of the old jobs are gone, and “they ain’t comin’ back”.

Unless your last job was your perfect job, you need to redefine yourself based on your skills and desires inventory, and what you’d really like to do now and in the future.  When you find and capture your perfect job—the job you can’t live without—everybody wins.  Maybe it’s time to update your skills along with your resume.  In the knowledge-based economy of the 21^st century, you should be constantly investing in yourself, acquiring new skills and learning new things.

 4.  Being undecided. It’s your life and your future. How long can you be undecided?

Your career, depending on your timeline to retirement, represents thousands of hours, and hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Either all your dreams fulfilled or a shipwreck on the shoals of life. If you are not really sure what to do next, you need to do some real soul-searching.  Being reactive and answering ads in the newspaper or responding to job opportunities on the job boards that “seem interesting” will get you nowhere fast. Instead you need to:

• Take responsibility for your job search and your life – What makes you unique?  What is it that you can do that few other people can do?  This is where you will find your next big opportunity.
• Be decisive and take action – at least identify what you think you MIGHT want to do and pursue it. Start moving in that direction. Talk to people about it.  It may open the door to discovering your real calling.
• Identify 10 people who are doing your target job RIGHT NOW – call them up, tell them you’re evaluating career options, and ask them if you could buy them a cup of coffee.  When you meet them, come prepared and ask them good questions that will help you gain a better understanding of their problems, putting yourself in a better position to solve them.

 5. Procrastinating. Your job search is a full-time job, and you should treat it as such.

 You need to plan your work and work your plan.  Plan your time in advance.  Who are the most important people you hope to connect with tomorrow?

• Create a ‘Job Search Success Calendar’ with nothing else on it except your job search efforts.
•  Decide in advance how long you will spend on doing “research” on the Internet… how long you will take on other tasks.  Write down your estimate and compare your actual results.  Know what your time is worth and treat it that way!
• Do the most important things and most difficult things first.  Even if you get a “NO” Rejection often paves the road to success.

 6. Finding a convenient excuse. Einstein was thought to be mentally challenged.  Sandra Day O’Connor was home-schooled. Abe Lincoln lost more races than he won. 

Are you too old? Too short? Too female?  If you give up before you’ve even started, you don’t stand a chance.  Acknowledge your shortcoming and decide you can overcome it.  Turn that blemish into a beauty mark.  You can do it.  You have no excuse that someone else hasn’t already overcome.  If someone hasn’t, you can be a pioneer!

7. Spending all day on your computer.  Spending your day on Linked-in and Facebook is an ineffective form of networking.  Nothing replaces the real thing.  Avoiding all human contact and building a relationship with a new web portal each day won’t help you get any closer to a paycheck.  Instead you should: 

• Seek out opportunities to hone your networking, interviewing and sales skills,
• Plan one or two major job-seeking activity out of the house each day, Engage others in conversation where you’re asking them questions about them and learning more about what they do.  Remember this is not about you, and
• Make a list of 10 people you could talk with each day.

 8.  Being a wallflower.  Employers do not need people to punch in and collect paychecks.  They’re looking for leadership. Employers want people who can manage themselves and others, and people who will make things happen without being told exactly what to do.  Even if there is a hiring freeze, most people are interested in talking with an experienced professional who understand s and brings workable solutions to their biggest problems, i.e.  top line revenues or cutting costs.  With this in mind you need to be prepared to show:

• How you are going to add value?  Show how you’ll pay for yourself and provide a return on investment to the company.
• Many employers do not realize that doing nothing can be their most expensive option.  Help them calculate the cost of NOT HIRING YOU.
• Be a business person, not a job seeker.

 9.  Failing to take care of yourself.  People who exercise are more relaxed and confident, and it shows.  You need to take care of the physical you to look and feel your best.

• Go for a daily walk in the early morning or at your lunch hour.  
• Ride a bike on the towpath or in the MetroParks on the weekend.
• Join a gym or a yoga studio, and work out at least 3 times a week.
• Take an exercise class at your local YMCA or community center.

 10.   Not networking enough.  Networking is the fast track to a new job.  Statistics show that 4 out of every 5 jobs are found through networking.  Disregard the want ads and focus exclusively on building your network.  Try to have conversations with as many people as you possibly can.  And you should:

• Be prepared – Business cards, resume, and elevator speech.
• Set goals — each day you should talk to 10 new people on the phone, and set one new in-person appointment. The interviews will follow.
• Evaluate the results – take a look back and see how you did. What can you do better next week?

Finally, the biggest and most common job search mistake of all is not asking for help.  Everyone needs a helping hand every now and then. Asking for help can be a courageous act – and you shouldn’t view it as a weakness.  There are times when you just don’t have the expertise, such as doing a skills and desires inventory, doing a career assessment, or updating your resume.  If you let your pride get in the way and refuse to ask for help, you may just lose the opportunity you were seeking.  Asking for assistance is sensible, and will help you overcome obstacles in your career search.  Don’t be afraid to ask.  You may even recognize other areas of your life where an expert’s help will save you time, money, effort and energy.  Making your life easier by asking for and using well-informed experts is a smart thing to do.

Times are tough.  Jobs are harder to come by.  But, by avoiding common job search mistakes, you will be closer to finding the job you really want.

Mark Gonska is Executive Vice President of Career Transition Services for Dise & Company. You can contact Mark directly at the People Page on Diseco.com

By Ralph A. Dise, Jr.

Why managing your company’s reputation is more important than ever

“Your reputation, good or bad, can make you or break you.”

Usually we think of managing a reputation in terms of individuals, but this axiom holds true for companies as much as it does for individuals.

Being known as “a great place to work” is highly desirable. Happy, contented workers are more productive, more considerate towards customers, co-workers, and suppliers—and are less likely to make mistakes.  

A company with a good reputation also finds it easier to attract and retain top people.  Attracting and retaining that one great person, the one that’s perfect for the job—who is able to create a workable plan and then marshal the troops to execute it—is the difference between merely surviving this recession or being positioned to take off during the coming recovery.

If your company has a poor reputation, the word gets around quickly, making it much harder to hire the best candidates. This leaves you with “B” players; and stuck in the self-perpetuating cycle of an unhappy workplace.

Companies with a poor reputation suffer because they:

• Have difficulty recruiting the people who could help them the most
• Experience high attrition rates and increased recruitment costs of both time and money, and
• Have low employee morale and decreased productivity

Companies with poor reputations suffer the most during a down economy because consumers and business buyers alike are more cautious about with whom they are spending their money. If you lose a few deals or important new customers because people are skeptical about your company, the consequences to your bottom line will be serious.

 “Don’t promise what you can’t deliver”

There is often a disconnect between what companies promise as an Employer Brand and what they deliver as an organization.  This happens when there is a temptation—to attract higher quality candidates—to overpromise when it comes to the opportunities available. 

In business, as in life, what you do is often more important than what you say.  And that is why it’s critical to deliver on your Employer Brand Promise.  If you can’t deliver the moon and the stars, don’t promise the moon and the stars. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.

As a general rule, it’s always better to under-promise and over-deliver.

It’s the duty of the HR Leader to assure that the company has the ability to deliver on its Employer Brand… or change the brand promise.

Mistakes in recruiting are costly. They lead to high attrition, lost time, and lost opportunities.  It’s a shame because mistakes due to failure to deliver on an Employer Brand Promise are completely avoidable.

Your HR practices should deliver a consistent experience that supports and affirms your promise, not only in recruiting, but as these practices pertain to: 

• Development of a compelling and concise Employer Brand
• Skill and competency assessments
• Training
• Compensation
• Performance Appraisals
• Career development
• Recognition
• Social events

But what if your current operations are not “sustainable”?

How you separate from the people you no longer need affects your reputation as much as how you attract and retain the people you do need.

This recession has made it difficult for everyone. By the looks of things, it’s not over yet. Difficult choices are being made every day. Sometimes layoffs are the only solution.

Used sparingly and with advanced planning, layoffs can be an organizational lifesaver, but when layoffs are used repeatedly without a thoughtful strategy, they can have a disastrous impact on your company’s effectiveness.

Remember the “golden rule”

If losing a job is frightening during normal times, today it is even worse.  A sudden lay off can destroy a family’s financial health and lead to the destruction of the family itself. How you separate your unneeded employees in this economic climate really matters. 

Employees, both current and past, will remember their treatment, their severance pay, and whether the employer helped with outplacement services. They’ll remember whether they were treated with dignity, respect, and compassion—or whether they were simply let go with little or no warning. 

If layoffs are necessary, you need to separate your employees from your organization with as little drama as possible, and give them a chance to get back on their feet again.

It really matters—to the people who leave, and to the people who remain.

The most important rule to remember is, “Treat others the way you’d want to be treated.”

The bottom line? Your reputation as an employer, good or bad, depends on it.

Ralph A. Dise, Jr. is the President of Dise & Company, the Director Emeritus of Lincolnshire International, and has worked in the field of Human Resources his entire career. You can contact Ralph directly at the Pro People Page on Diseco.com.

Combat the negative person in your workplace

By Mark Gonska

Do you know anyone who is always looking for advice? But as soon as anyone offers up an idea or suggestion, his or her common response is: “NO – that won’t work!”

Do you know anyone who wishes they could be recognized for their brains and creativity, but have “NO ideas ” about how they could add value?

Do you know anyone who constantly complains about personal problems, the economy or global competition.  Yet, when it comes to professional development, additional training or any improvement that requires additional effort on their part, they have “NO interest”?

When asked to consider new people, new ideas, new line extensions, diversification – you guessed it… their answer is “NO!”

“Mr./Ms.  kNOw- it-Alls” are particularly common in today’s tough economy. 

Although doing exactly the same thing and expecting different results may seem unlikely, “Mr./Ms.  kNOw- it-All” sees NO need to entertain other possible solutions.  Because everyone “kNOws” they won’t work.

How do you combat the Mr./Ms.  kNOw- it-Alls? Just say “NO” to their negativity.

• Challenge pessimistic thinking and negative beliefs. Don’t let assumptions go unchallenged.
• Avoid negative people. They are their own worst enemy and could become yours.
• Avoid being sympathetic. If you are forced, through your position in the company, to work with a negative person don’t buy in to their road to NOwhere.  Tough love for tough times.

• If all else fails, talk to your own supervisor or human resources staff about the challenges you are experiencing in dealing with the negative person. Your supervisor may have ideas, may be willing to address the negativity, and may address the issue with the negative person’s supervisor.  

Note: Negative people will not bother to read this blog.  They already kNOw it’s just common sense.

Mark Gonska is Executive Vice President of Career Transition Services for Dise & Company. You can contact Mark directly at the People Page on Diseco.com

How Lubrizol implemented a Global Ethics Program to protect the value of the company for all the company’s stakeholders

For many years Lubrizol, through its Lubrizol Additives and Lubrizol Advanced Materials business segments, has been a global provider of specialty chemicals serving a wide variety of markets and end-use applications. 

Lubrizol’s products are used in gasoline and diesel engines, automatic transmissions, gear drives, marine engines, tractors, personal care products and pharmaceuticals, plastics, coatings, paints and inks, and industrial materials.

It has taken time and sustained effort from many people to attain this position. Founded in 1928 in Cleveland , Ohio,  Lubrizol has 7,000 employees worldwide, and  $5  billion sales per year.

The challenge

The new millennium marked a perfect storm for ethics and corruption problems that have resulting in the catastrophic failures of major American Companies.

Some of the companies that come to mind are Worldcom, Enron, and Adelphia. Not to mention Dynergy, RiteAid, Tyco, Global Crossing, ImClone Systems and many others.

Unfortunately, these  discrete failures were symptomatic of the looming systemic failure, and were followed by the sub-prime mortgage crisis, the global financial crisis, and the uncovering of other large Ponzi Schemes tied to Bernard l. Madoff ($50 Billion) and Alan Stanford ($8 Billion).

These failures were brought about for many reasons, including: a culture of arrogance in the companies, fraud, and conflicts of interest. These were complemented by accounting scandals, and the failure of:  independent auditors, rating agencies, regulators, senior management, corporate boards, and outside counsel.

 In such an environment, how does a  $5 Billion company, with 7,000 employees, operating in many different countries and different cultures around the world take steps to ensure that everyone is working together to create value for the company and its stakeholders, and that not one of their employees or vendors does anything to jeopardize the company?

The solution: The Lubrizol Global Ethics Program

Lubrizol has worked diligently over a period of years to create a culture where ethical decision-making is the norm. It purposefully cultivates leaders who produce exceptional results and who consistently make good decisions that benefit the company.

 As part of that effort, the role of Chief Ethics Officer was established.

Partnering closely with the company’s General Counsel, legal community and internal audit staff, the ethics office is responsible for providing leadership on matters related to ethical and legal conduct through the development, implementation and interpretation of the Corporation’s compliance and education strategy.

Senior executives at Lubrizol decided to take a pro-active approach towards an ethics program many years ago. That approach has served them well in that ethical failures reported in the news clearly demonstrated that an excellent reputation can be instantly lost, and it was in the best interest of all Lubrizol  stakeholders to share accountability for protecting the company’s value.

Much time and effort is spent communicating with employees, educating them about their responsibilities as corporate citizens, so that ethics and legal understanding is integrated into everyday decision-making and behaviors.

The hallmark of the Lubrizol Ethics Program is “Shared Accountability”, supplemented with an “Ethics Helpline”-an 800 number used to answer questions and log ethics inquiries.

The Basic Ethical and Legal Conduct Guideline Policy

“Employees of Lubrizol and its subsidiaries, as well as members of our Board of Directors, must respect the laws, customs and traditions of each country in which they operate. At the same time, employees are not to engage in any course of conduct which, even if legal, customary and accepted in such country, could be deemed to be in violation of Lubrizol’s Ethical and Legal Conduct Guidelines.”

(A link to the complete Ethical and Legal Guidelines can be found below.)

Features important to the program’s success include:

• The Chief Ethics Officer reports to the Audit Committee of the Board and reports on the progress of the program regularly
• The support of the Executive Council is unwavering, as is that of the legal community and internal audit
• The Ethics Office and its global network of regional coordinators support the effort on a part-time basis in addition to other functional responsibilities
• The Corporation’s expectations have been communicated globally, in the languages of all employees, via Lubrizol’s Ethical and Legal Conduct Guidelines
• A toll-free help line is in place to receive questions, concerns and reports
• Employees are trained on the Corporation’s guidelines and its expectations of them; program results are also communicated regularly to all employees
• All reports are recorded and investigated. Violations are dealt with swiftly and aggressively

Outcome

In the last year out of 300 Ethics Cases, 15% resulted in disciplinary action, and 5% resulted in termination.

All ethics inquiries are logged. Calls are analyzed by type, location, and severity. Reports are created for the Audit Committee, Executive Council, Senior Management, and General Employee Population.

Lubrizol’s Ethics Program has been cited as an industry best practice by the American Chemistry Council.  Additionally, the program has been shared nationally in programs sponsored by the Ethics Officer Association, the U.S. Government’s Federal Sentencing Commission and the U.S. State Department.

Conclusion

Lubrizol believes an ethics program is essential.  This is a reality that the executives of many leading companies face as communications are instant and everywhere.

The Lubrizol Ethics program (1) enhances shareholder value by minimizing financial and material risk to the Corporation (2) fosters and an environment of corporate confidence in its leaders, associates and systems (3) guides business decision and behaviors, and (4) enhances the organization’s ability to deal with its customers, suppliers, shareholders and employees with honesty and integrity.

Ultimately the success of the program is measured not by how many people who are caught, but by how many people who are helped. 

One thing is clear: Lubrizol is serious about ethical and legal conduct.

Takeaways

You can’t sit back and wait. It’s important to have a proactive approach towards ethics to protect the value of the company for all stakeholders.

Actions speak louder than words. It’s not enough to have an ethics program. There must be follow-through and the guidelines must be re-enforced with separation of company and employee if necessary.

This case study was adapted by a presentation by Mark Meister, the Vice-President of Human Resources, and former Chief Ethics Officer (a position he held for nearly 15 years) of Lubrizol Corporation, to the Senior HR Thought Leaders Forum, sponsored by Dise & Company at the Union Club in Downtown Cleveland, March 2009.

Supplement: The Fundamentals of the Lubrizol Ethics and Legal Conduct Guidelines

Fundamental #1

Insisting on honesty and integrity in dealing with customers, suppliers, all third parties and with one another.

Fundamental #2

Simply stated:

“We Don’t Lie”

“We Don’t Steal”

“We Don’t Cheat”

Simple Test for Ethical Decision-Making

• How would I feel if my family or friends knew of my actions
• Would I behave differently if I knew my actions would be reported on the evening news?
• Does this meet “the treat others as you would like them to treat you” test?

 More on Lubrizol’s Ethical and Legal Conduct Guidelines can also be accessed at http://www.lubrizol.com/OurCompany/CorporateResponsibility/EthicalGuidelines.html

How to give yourself a competitive edge in today’s challenging job market

We talk to parents of college students every day who express concerns about their children’s prospects for finding employment when they graduate. “My son doesn’t know where to start.”  “My daughter won’t listen to anything I have to say about finding a job.”  Does this sound familiar? 

There is good news!  We have developed a powerful program, the Dise & Company Job Search Boot Camp to help Emerging Professionals attack the job search process with confidence.  Designed and facilitated by Mark Gonska, a nationally recognized job search expert, the Job Search Boot Camp is valued at $3,500.  However, we offer it FREE to children of friends in our immediate and extended network.

The Job Search Boot Camp helps Emerging Professionals (recent graduates or those who will be graduating in December) set themselves apart from their competition in the job market.  Students who will be seeking internships or co-op opportunities are also welcome.

Here are samples of comments from past Job Search Boot Camp participants:

• “I drove home from the seminar feeling really excited to continue an active job hunt (now that I’m armed with the necessary tools!)”
• “I’m sure others would agree that our session was extremely valuable, informative and insightful.”
• “I certainly walked away with a better understanding of what I need to focus on in my job search and what I can do to be more effective.”

Details for the next Boot Camp, which will be held at the Dise & Company offices on Wednesday, June 17, 2009, from 9:30 AM to 3:00 PM, are attached.

Please feel free to forward them to those you believe might benefit from knowing about the program.  Interested students (or their parents!) should contact Greg Reynolds at greynolds@diseco.com or at 216-752-1700 ext 110 to reserve a place at the Boot Camp. Or you can book it online.

Become your company’s MVE – most valuable employee

By Mark Gonska

With the grim unemployment news splashed across the headlines, it is understandable that you may be concerned about losing your job.

According to Traci Bell-Thomas of the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, “The unemployment claim systems in Ohio and other states buckled this week under an onslaught of telephone calls and website hits.

With the number of people being laid off at the end of the year, the systems are just being overwhelmed.  The telephone hotline generally receives about 7,500 calls a day, but has been getting around 80,000 calls each the past two days (January 6, 2009).” 

Business as usual isn’t. 

So, what can you do, as an employee, to ease your anxiety and protect your position with your employer?  Here are some tips to fireproof your current employment by working toward becoming your boss’s Most Valuable Employee:

Make an honest appraisal of your job situation

Do you get along well with your boss?  What are you doing to make your workplace run better, faster and cheaper?  Do you bring solutions or complaints to your boss and co-workers? 

Make sure you are doing the best job you can be – and that you are the best employee you can be.  Identify three improvements you can make at work and DO them. 

You need to take action to make things better.  Don’t wait.  Waiters are for restaurants.

Put yourself in your employer’s shoes – and walk around

What is keeping your boss up at night?  Find out.  Have a discussion with your boss and find out what you can do to help in these tough times.  Simply ask, “what’s the most important thing I can do to help our business in these tough times?  What can I do to make things better for you?”

Ask, “What do you see that’s working – that I should CONTINUE to do?  What’s not happening that I should START DOING and what’s really bugging you that I should STOP doing? 

Take immediate action on your employer’s recommendations. 

Let your yes be yes

Deliver what you promise.  Don’t wait to be reminded – you need to bring solutions, not problems and complaints. 

If you make a promise, you need to follow through on that promise.  Is your plate already full?  Clarify your priorities and determine what is most important to you. 

What should you purposefully neglect to get this done?  We all need to make sacrifices right now – and you might have to say “yes” more often. 

You now have several tools in your tool belt to help you keep your job.  Act on your fear about losing your job and use that energy to fireproof your job. 

Go into work each day and focus on how you can be the best employee you can be. 

Mark Gonska is Executive Vice President of Career Transition Services for Dise & Company. You can contact Mark directly at the People Page on Diseco.com

So what are you doing to turn the crisis into an opportunity?

By Ralph A. Dise, Jr.

The bad news just keeps coming.

While there is still a lot of uncertainty about the near future, and the economy is shedding jobs at a rate of half a million per month, it’s hard to remember that recessions are survivable. 

For those of us not eligible for a federal bail out, it’s survival of the fittest. Companies and the people running them have to make very tough decisions.  Those who survive will do so by being disciplined about managing cash and creative in their business development efforts.

What will the competitive landscape look like when there is a rebound? Your guess is as good as mine. Every time there’s a recession though, someone brings up the story about the two men hiking in the woods. So please forgive me if you’ve heard this one before, but it’s worth repeating…

The two men hiking in the woods
There are two men hiking in the woods who see a bear not too far ahead running straight at them. One man turns to run away while the other man quickly puts down his pack, pulls out a pair of sneakers, sits on the ground, removes his hiking boots, and starts putting the sneakers on his feet.

 The first man cannot believe his eyes and says, “Those sneakers aren’t going to help you outrun a bear.” The second man replies, “I don’t have to outrun the bear. I just have to outrun you.”

The bear is the economy. You are the guy with the sneakers. The other guy is your competition. All we need to do is make sure that we help you outrun the other guy.

What are you doing to manage the downturn?
Every two months, our firm hosts the Senior HR Thought Leaders Forum at the Union Club in down town Cleveland, Ohio.  At the January forum, we asked the question: “What are you doing to manage the downturn?”  What ensued was a lively discussion with many ideas for you to consider. Here are several of those ideas.

Managing cash flows and conserving cash
Conserving cash does not mean spending as little as possible. What it does mean is that every single penny is spent as effectively as possible, with the smallest level of risk to return.  Managing cash flow requires minimizing debt and doing everything possible to keep the cash flow positive.

It seems most companies have stopped their 401k matching programs, frozen salaries, laid off workers, and cut salaries. They’re doing everything they can to conserve cash. Others are investing in their future leaders by nurturing the talent they have. While merit increases may be frozen, they are offering their “keepers” new responsibilities and interesting assignments, and giving them challenging opportunities earlier than they might otherwise have done. 

Reorganization and restructuring
Public companies have to answer to shareholders, so when there’s a recession like this, leaders must realign their cost structure to weather the downturn and do it with certainty. It’s not personal.  It’s just business. One of our Forum participants told how his CEO could see the downturn coming, and wanted to take radical steps to restructure and re-organize. The Human Resource leader recommended that a significantly large number of employees be laid off, and that others be offered early retirement. The Chief HR Officer’s objective was to restructure one time and only one time.  In this way he hoped to mitigate the long, morale destroying death march he had observed at other companies in the past.

Executive leadership and visibility
Strong executive leadership is needed now more than ever. Leaders should be highly visible and actively communicating about the business environment. They should regularly articulate the plans the company has for managing the downturn. Leaders should constantly remind employees that it is everyone’s job to figure out where to reduce expenses— on everything from copy paper to corporate travel and lodging to raw materials. Especially even factory workers should be asked what could be done to drive down costs. They know where the savings are. They’re just waiting to be asked.

Turning a crisis into an opportunity
The main thing is that you can’t take this downturn lying down.  How are you going to turn this crisis into an opportunity?

Hard times means there are lot of talented people out there. And right now their skills are going to waste. It’s a great time to look for smart people who can get things done.  Are you spending time looking for the star performers that will help you through? You’d better be doing something about this or your competitor might.

As Wendy Edgar, Area Human Resources Director, America’s People Team at Ernst & Young said at the conclusion of our meeting, which summed everything up and brought our time together to a close: “a financial crisis is a horrible opportunity to waste.”

Remember the story of the two men hiking in the woods? What are you doing to “outrun” your competition? What are you doing to turn the crisis into an opportunity?

Ralph A. Dise, Jr. is the President of Dise & Company, the Presiding Director of Lincolnshire International, and has worked in the field of Human Resources his entire career. You can contact Ralph directly at the Pro People Page on Diseco.com.

How Dise & Company helped an already qualified job-seeker see the benefits of outplacement services and find a better job faster

Candidate Profile: VP Sales & Marketing, Early-Stage Technology Company

Originally from the New York City area, I had worked in the medical device industry my whole career, which took me from New York to Chicago, to Boulder, and eventually to Toronto—where I was a General Manager with P&L responsibilities, and oversaw sales, marketing, manufacturing, and distribution for a $35 million division of a multinational corporation. That position then led me to an executive role at the Cleveland headquarters for this corporation.

It came as a shock when my position was eliminated.  Still somewhat bewildered, I met with Dise & Company to discuss the benefits of their outplacement services. I have to admit that I was reluctant, and I needed convincing about how they could help me, because I had been unemployed before, and I honestly thought I knew the drill about finding a new position.

Dise & Company offered me much more than a pat on the back and a resume service. They put me through a very rigorous process that helped me:

1. Define the job that was perfect for me
2. Create a target list of companies
3. Repackage myself
4. Make the most productive use of networking meetings
5. Use and expand my network
6. Stand out in interviews

In short, with Dise & Company’s guidance and assistance, which I never could have done on my own, I was able to re-package myself, and in relatively short order turn a meeting over a cup of coffee into a truly productive networking meeting, where I was receiving concrete suggestions, expanding my network, and making it easy for people to help me.

The end result, I found a position much faster than I ever could have found one on my own.

Several years later, after discovering that I was being laid off from another firm, through no fault of my own, I discovered that they had included outplacement as a benefit, but it was with another firm. So I asked if they would let me use Dise & Company instead—and they did.

So I went through the Dise & Company Outplacement process again, only this time focusing on finding a position with a smaller company, and I landed on my feet in a relatively short period of time. It is my honest opinion that every time I have had to go through this process, it has made me more effective at what I do.  I guess it depends a lot on your attitude, but I see that in retrospect they’ve helped me make a step up each time—turning the unpleasant experience of losing a position into an opportunity for personal and professional improvement.

Takeaways:

• If you’re offered outplacement service, take advantage of it—you’ll become better at what you do as a result.
• No matter how much you think you know—it’s always good to have a helping hand.
• Sometimes you can re-negotiate your severance package to include outplacement services—you don’t know if you don’t ask.

How to cope with the pressures caused by the downturn

By Bill Marshall

If you are in Finance or Accounting, or you’re an Executive charged with managing the P&L of an organization, you are probably undergoing a rather large increase in stress as you come to terms with financial conditions you may not have experienced before. 

What many people don’t understand is that when you are charged with ensuring the management of the day-to-day and at the same time safeguarding the health of the organization for the future, you are expected to maintain a certain image, and sometimes you can’t let your guard down.

And this is increasingly hard to do, especially if you’re moving into uncharted territory.

That is precisely what we’ve launched Project CFO:  a confidential consultation that is designed to evaluate the difficulties you may be facing to (1) identify staffing needs before they become insurmountable problems, and then (2) recruit the talent that will help you overcome the challenges that are keeping you wake at night.

Key Attributes of a Project CFO Consultation:

• Inherent understanding of key leadership skills necessary to get the job done in any environment
• Mature approach to understanding your corporate culture and what the ramifications are for finding the right candidates that fit your needs and your culture
• Ability to craft a compelling story about why a highly desirable candidate should want to join your organization

If you’d like to take a short time out of your day—a confidential breakfast or lunch—where you can escape from the pressures of managing the day to day– with an experienced human resources professional who will listen to your story, then let me know by contacting me confidentially through our website (see link below).

Bill Marshall is the Vice President of Executive Search for Dise & Company. You can contact Bill directly at the People Page on Diseco.com.