Stolen credit cards and wrong candidates!

How does the credit card company’s computer spot your stolen card? The same way you spot the wrong candidate. Patterns. The computer has an algorithm which locks onto certain spending patterns, one of which is; one big purchase, usually a luxury item, followed by a bunch of small purchases. For example, a $5,000 flat screen, or jewellery, followed by lunch and gas, particularly gas. Thieves all buy gas after their big hit! I made a mental note not to buy gas after my next flat screen purchase. How do you spot the wrong candidate? Very much the same way, you look for patterns. High or low performance probability shows up in the life and times of the candidate. Here are a few patterns that we use to spot the wrong candidate before they end up on your payroll.

1. Serial short term employment, (excluding construction projects). Most poor performers can hide for about two years on the job, after that it gets difficult. In the third year somebody notices, and starts thinking you’re not needed. That would be accurate. On the other hand, some most lousy employees find it hard to hide for five or six years. There are some creative ones that manage. Employment duration is part of a pattern.

2. People who change of careers for quality of life reasons. When candidates launch into enlightened lectures, I see it as a cover up. These “coming of age” conversations. Words like; you can’t take it with you, there’s more to life than money, all show up more often with underperformers. Higher performers don’t talk that way. Nothing wrong with all that, I believe it too. It’s a non sequitur, flawed logic, one has nothing to do with the other. Should I believe all the other employees at the company you left are living an unfulfilled and tragic lives? That the only source of happiness lay outside your previous employer? Could be, but not likely.

3. People who talk transferable skills bother me. Think it through, that means a parts manager could be a museum curator. Very similar positions, it’s all inventory. There are times when hiring for potential will factor in transferable skills. Your lowest risk is to hire someone who’s done 80% of what you need done. I like candidates who stay on track, focus, and just move up the food chain.

4. Be careful with chicken soup people. Candidates who have not advanced in their role scope and responsibility after six to ten years have become “chicken soup” people. They bring a little chicken soup value to a lot of tasks. They become generalists, do many things beyond their job title, their employer has kept them because they know where everything is. They are glue people, they keep it all together. No problem with that, but you can no longer take their job title at face value. Their skills have expanded into everything and not always where you need them for your new hire.

5. The skills, achievements, and accomplishments crowd. Candidates who list their extensive skills and accomplishments up front. They googled “how to write a resume and hide your shaky employment history.” They’re all hiding something. At the very end of page five, is a line item list of their chronological employment history. My my, aren’t we proud. If you have a skills and accomplishments section in your resume, - these are half lies.Yes, it's true I know how to raise children. It is not true that would do that kind of work ever again. Never! The honest thing to do is omit parenting skills in my "skills" section on the resume. None of us are willing to do the same work we did ten years ago. We can, but we won't. When I get a ten year Ledcor guy, the resume says, ten years with Ledcor, on the first page in 16 pt bold.There is no skills and accomplishments section.

I’ll finish this list in the next management letter. Pass this around to your managers and get everyone looking for patterns, just like the credit card company’s computer. We’ll all make better hiring decisions. If you need help finding people who can transform your company, we should talk. Thank you Wolf Partner

Hiring the right manager can change everything!

Two groups of moviegoers were given free popcorn and a soft drink to a free Mel Gibson movie. They were asked to stick around after the move and answer a few questions. What they didn't know was they were part of a study on irrational eating behavior. The popcorn they received was terrible. It was engineered not to be tasty, had been popped 5 days earlier and it squeaked when you ate it, (like styrafoam). Two moviegoers, forgetting they had not paid for it, asked for their money back. Half the group received a large bucket, the other half a medium sized bucket. The question was, would the group with the bigger buckets eat more than the group with smaller buckets? Both buckets were so large, nobody finished them. The question then became, would someone with a large inexhaustible supply eat more than someone with a medium inexhaustible supply? The survey results, here’s what happened. People with the large buckets ate 53% more than the people with the medium sized bucket. Other studies have consistently shown that people eat more when you give them bigger containers. What’s the management lesson? Context, environment, path, situation, influences behavior, - a lot. We as managers shape the "bucket," and that's why different managers will have different results with the same group of people. Some other life examples of how "buckets" influence behavior.

1. Bigger dishes, bigger portions, cause people to eat more.

2. Vietnam soldiers, 40% took drugs, 20% were drug addicted. Back in USA only 1% stayed rug addicted. Reason? Environment.

3. In Europe public alcohol consumption in public places doesn't start a riot. In Vancouver, we think it will.

4. When the work day begins at 8:29 am, more people show up on time than when it begins at 8:30 am.

5. Problem people in the workplace allowed to prevail, gets worse and attracts a following. When you remove the problem person, the followers revert to their previous compliant behaviors. Changing one person, can change a department.

6. When you publicly post attendance figures, attendance improves.

7. If you struggle with arrogance, your first European luxury car won't help you overcome it. A "bad" bucket.

8. Even if your dog has a really good camera, the pictures will not be very good.

If you want better pictures, change who's holding the camera. It's always about the bucket. Change the situation, change the performance. The right manager can change everything. Hire better buckets. Wolf Partner Metrik Management Inc. Dir: 604-474-1804 Source: I featured this piece in a management seminar I gave in 2013. I don't know the exact source but assume is was Dan Ariely, either from his books on Irrational Behavior or his website. He's a professor at Duke University and a researcher on the subject of behavioral economics. If you haven't yet, you should buy his books. p.s. Five candidates, five different futures for the role you are trying to fill. Problems don't start until after you hire. CONSTRUCTION - HEAVY EQUIPMENT - ENGINEERING - HEALTHCARE - INDUSTRIAL SALES

It's about the bucket! The Popcorn Research Project.

Hiring the right manager can change everything! Two groups of moviegoers were given free popcorn and a soft drink to a free Mel Gibson movie. They were asked to stick around after the move and answer a few questions. What they didn't know was they were part of a study on irrational eating behavior. The popcorn they received was terrible. It was engineered not to be tasty, had been popped 5 days earlier and it squeaked when you ate it, (like styrafoam). Two moviegoers, forgetting they had not paid for it, asked for their money back. Half the group received a large bucket, the other half a medium sized bucket. The question was, would the group with the bigger buckets eat more than the group with smaller buckets? Both buckets were so large, nobody finished them. The question then became, would someone with a large inexhaustible supply eat more than someone with a medium inexhaustible supply? The survey results, here’s what happened. People with the large buckets ate 53% more than the people with the medium sized bucket. Other studies have consistently shown that people eat more when you give them bigger containers. What’s the management lesson? Context, environment, path, situation, influences behavior, - a lot. We as managers shape the "bucket," and that's why different managers will have different results with the same group of people. Some other life examples of how "buckets" influence behavior.

• Bigger dishes, bigger portions, cause people to eat more.

• Vietnam soldiers, 40% took drugs, 20% were drug addicted. Back in USA only 1% stayed rug addicted. Reason? Environment.

• In Europe public alcohol consumption in public places doesn't start a riot. In Vancouver, we think it will.

• When the work day begins at 8:29 am, more people show up on time than when it begins at 8:30 am.

• Problem people in the workplace allowed to prevail, gets worse and attracts a following. When you remove the problem person, the followers revert to their previous compliant behaviors. Changing one person, can change a department.

• When you publicly post attendance figures, attendance improves.

• If you struggle with arrogance, your first European luxury car won't help you overcome it. A "bad" bucket.

• Even if your dog has a really good camera, the pictures will not be very good.

If you want better pictures, change who's holding the camera. It's always about the bucket. Change the situation, change the performance. The right manager can change everything. Hire better buckets. Wolf Partner Metrik Management Inc. Dir: 604-474-1804 Source: I featured this piece in a management seminar I gave in 2013. I don't know the exact source but assume is was Dan Ariely, either from his books on Irrational Behavior or his website. He's a professor at Duke University and a researcher on the subject of behavioral economics. If you haven't yet, you should buy his books. p.s. Five candidates, five different futures for the role you are trying to fill. Problems don't start until after you hire.