Friday, October 10, 2008
Reputation
Having a powerful reputation can be a real asset as famed ventriloquist Edgar Bergen once learned. Upon his arrival at the White House to perform for the president, Bergen was stopped by the guards at the White House gate. They demanded identification.Bergen fumbled through his pockets but could find nothing to properly identify him.
After confirming it would be acceptable to have someone else identify him Bergen opened the car’s trunk. Guards watched as Bergen reached into a suitcase to pull out his wooden dummy, Charlie McCarthy. Bergen sat Charlie up and, nodding the dummy’s head said “Yes sir, He’s Edgar Bergen”.
The guards immediately let him in.
Life Lesson #1: The “dummy” on the front line is generally more recognizable than the genius behind them.
Life Lesson #2: Without the “dummy” on the front line we cannot get to where we need to go.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Reputation
Having a powerful reputation can be a real asset as famed ventriloquist Edgar Bergen once learned. Upon his arrival at the White House to perform for the president, Bergen was stopped by the guards at the White House gate. They demanded identification.Bergen fumbled through his pockets but could find nothing to properly identify him.
After confirming it would be acceptable to have someone else identify him Bergen opened the car’s trunk. Guards watched as Bergen reached into a suitcase to pull out his wooden dummy, Charlie McCarthy. Bergen sat Charlie up and, nodding the dummy’s head said “Yes sir, He’s Edgar Bergen”.
The guards immediately let him in.
Life Lesson #1: The “dummy” on the front line is generally more recognizable than the genius behind them.
Life Lesson #2: Without the “dummy” on the front line we cannot get to where we need to go.
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
So, You Don’t Screen Executives for Integrity?
I’m always intrigued when a client decides to use the Step One Survey II™ to prescreen lower-level employees for Honesty-Integrity issues and then exempts management or executive candidates from the same screening. The rationale usually goes something like this: “Executive Candidates are already so thoroughly vetted, the assessment would be redundant.” Or, alternately, they may reason, “Executive candidates would be offended by the questions on this assessment.”Assume, for a moment, you hire someone of questionable integrity. At what level in your business could they cause the most damage? Is hiring such a person as an executive or manager really that unlikely? Will the candidates be offended when they discover you are taking extra care in selecting the right people to run your business? As you consider these questions, consider these:
- The president of Chevron West Credit Union in Utah embezzled $168,000 over 8 years, never taking more than a few hundred dollars at a time.
Another Credit Union president in the same Utah town took $132,000 during the same period. - Indiana-based Travel Zone Inc. reported charging a former employee with fraud, after he allegedly used his (company provided) login to access their iBank accounts by computer, then deleted the entire records of 17 corporate travel clients.
- A former America Online executive pleaded guilty in federal court to defrauding the Dulles-based Internet company of $100,000 through a phony contract for an outside consultant who did no work for AOL.
- A former insurance executive was sentenced to six years in prison on a fraud conviction involving a $5.7 million mortgage fraud scheme.
Labels: Assessments, Ethics
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Basic Behaviors in Short Supply
by John W. Howard
It seems like basic workplace behaviors are in short supply. Remember when employees showed up on time, ready to work? Nowadays you are lucky if they show up at all!
A White Paper is now available from author and people skills expert John Howard that takes a look at this important issue of work ethics. Howard offers his view of the impact and potential solution to this profit drain through this White Paper, which is available at no charge by clicking here.
It seems like basic workplace behaviors are in short supply. Remember when employees showed up on time, ready to work? Nowadays you are lucky if they show up at all!A White Paper is now available from author and people skills expert John Howard that takes a look at this important issue of work ethics. Howard offers his view of the impact and potential solution to this profit drain through this White Paper, which is available at no charge by clicking here.
Labels: Ethics, WhitePaper
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Big brother really is watching
So you think your data is secure? Maybe not! According to a Cyber-Ark survey of senior IT professionals, one-third has admitted to snooping on confidential data. The targets include the personal emails of other employees, salary data, personal information, and minutes from confidential meetings.
Note these are “SENIOR” officials, not just the mid- and lower levels where creativity and time for snooping would be more prevalent.
Where are ethics?
Note these are “SENIOR” officials, not just the mid- and lower levels where creativity and time for snooping would be more prevalent.
Where are ethics?
Saturday, June 7, 2008
Employees steal 90% of all goods
Did you know that more than 90% of all company thefts are perpetrated by employees?Are you interested in solutions to recurring employee frustrations that keep you awake at night?
Interested in solutions to recurring employee frustrations that keep you awake at night? Please allow us to offer you a complimentary subscription to our e-newsletter, Impact Today. It is loaded with helpful ideas and solutions to those recurring employee frustrations that can keep you awake at night.
Proven methods to effectively:
- Reduce employee turnover
- Increase sales
- Enhance customer satisfaction
- Reduce employee theft and fraud
- Improve employee morale
Defy Bureau of Labor statistics:
- 1 out of 3 businesses will be sued over an employment issue
- 2 out of 3 new hires will prove to be mistakes within the 1st year
- 2 out of 3 employees would rather work somewhere else
- 9 out of 10 employees will “exaggerate” during an interview
- 9 out of 10 thefts are committed by employees
To register for your complimentary weekly e-newsletter, click here.
Labels: Assessments, Ethics
Thursday, January 10, 2008
Vendor Chargebacks: intension vs. reality
David Ashear wrote us in November after hearing about "Life's Leadership Lessons", the new book from Max Impact founder Rick Weaver: You have a book that talks about “The Vendor Chargeback Program”?Actually the book contains only one chapter about vendor chargeback programs. The book looks at the people, events, andthings that have taught me important aspects about leadership throughout my life. The book would not be complete without atleast discussing the chargeback program at Kmart. I had the misfortune of being involved in this program at its inception.
The now defunct Andersen Consulting that sold the initiative to Ron Floto, then Kmart Vice President. Paul Foley and myself were the instrumental developers for the merchandising team. Paul and I knew there were problems right from the start. Andersen Consulting expected the program to increase on-time deliveries from Kmart's vendors by creating a pain threshold for noncompliance. Floto, Foley, and I thought the program would only work if it was completely fair and had a goal of raising shipment issues to the point of discussion and investigation.
Although we never the saw the program as being a revenue generator, Foley and I confided in each other that if the program was ever budgeted, it would completely destroy vendor relations.
The other side of the guillotine
In a strange turn of fate, I would find out what it was like to be on the otherside of the issue. Read about it by clicking here.
Labels: Ethics, Kmart, Strategy
Monday, October 1, 2007
Top Three Reasons Executives Break Ethics Code
Business ethics are in the forefront of today's news as corporate scandals continue to surface throughout America. Many companies have developed new ethic guidelines in the last few years in an attempt to emphasize the importance of ethics to their management teams.Despite the emphasis on ethics, most companies issue ethics statements and policies without addressing the key issue, which is behavior. Companies fall into the false promise that have a strong ethics code their management team will somehow have the character and poise to meet the ethics code.
A recent survey conducted by the American Management Association and the Human Resource Institute identified the top three factors that would cause people to break their organizations ethical standards. These three include:
- Pressure to meet unrealistic objectives or deadlines. An overwhelming 70% of the 1,121 respondents indicated a willingness to break with ethical standards if they needed to do so to achieve a difficult objective or meet and overly aggressive deadline.
- Career advancement. In a distant second place, 39% said they would compromise and ethical standard if it meant advancing one's career. This could be taken to mean that the employee would break company policy for an internal advancement or that they might reveal proprietary information in order to land a job at a competitor.
- Protecting their livelihood. The third most prevalent temptation is that of self preservation. 34% of the respondents indicated that they would compromise ethics if it would protect their livelihood
Two Proven Ways to Reduce Ethics Breaches
Two simple solutions are available to organizations to reduce these three potentially dangerous ethics breaches.
The first is relatively easy: use team decision-making skills. The effective use of team decision-making skills sets realistic objectives and deadlines for an organization. This is not to say that the deadlines and objectives represent any kind of sandbagging, it is to say that the group analyzes the decision to be made and works together to achieve a plan that is both expeditious and attainable because the team believes it is possible.
The results are typically astounding. “That Total Team Experience” is a program developed at MaxImpact, the leadership and organizational development company that connects teams to a common vision, has been very effective by producing substantial results. One manufacturer that use the program saw a 53% decline in rejected parts within one month after completing the program.
A second successful method is using interactive ethics workshops. These workshops do not just discuss the need for ethics or the ramifications of not complying with ethics. The most successful workshops are those that help individuals understand exactly where it is that they would personally draw the line when he comes to breaking an ethic. Workshops of this nature are filled with self-awareness exercises that are instrumental in helping understand exactly where the person envisions the line between right and wrong.
“Most people realize that it is wrong to steal a laptop computer. Unfortunately many people feel it is okay to steal a pen,” says Max Impact President Rick Weaver. “But people don't realize is that what play between a pen and a laptop that okay becomes not okay. You can do all the preaching you want about what is right and wrong but until someone really understands where they personally view ethics you will not have a lasting impact.”
Two simple solutions are available to organizations to reduce these three potentially dangerous ethics breaches.
The first is relatively easy: use team decision-making skills. The effective use of team decision-making skills sets realistic objectives and deadlines for an organization. This is not to say that the deadlines and objectives represent any kind of sandbagging, it is to say that the group analyzes the decision to be made and works together to achieve a plan that is both expeditious and attainable because the team believes it is possible.
The results are typically astounding. “That Total Team Experience” is a program developed at MaxImpact, the leadership and organizational development company that connects teams to a common vision, has been very effective by producing substantial results. One manufacturer that use the program saw a 53% decline in rejected parts within one month after completing the program.
A second successful method is using interactive ethics workshops. These workshops do not just discuss the need for ethics or the ramifications of not complying with ethics. The most successful workshops are those that help individuals understand exactly where it is that they would personally draw the line when he comes to breaking an ethic. Workshops of this nature are filled with self-awareness exercises that are instrumental in helping understand exactly where the person envisions the line between right and wrong.
“Most people realize that it is wrong to steal a laptop computer. Unfortunately many people feel it is okay to steal a pen,” says Max Impact President Rick Weaver. “But people don't realize is that what play between a pen and a laptop that okay becomes not okay. You can do all the preaching you want about what is right and wrong but until someone really understands where they personally view ethics you will not have a lasting impact.”
© 2007 Max Impact.
PS: Did you know you can measure integrity before you hire? See how.
Subscribe to Posts [Atom]
