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TQT: Competitive Advantage
Today's quick thought is about competitive advantage. Every business owner is looking for a competitive advantage. Some slash prices through innovation or technology (or out of spite) to draw customers, others work on developing a newer or better product. The smartest companies know that their biggest competitive advantage is the people who work for them. This is not pop-psychology or 'feel-goodery.'…
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TQT: Performance Management 101
Today’s Tuesday quick thought is on Performance Management. For a number of years now, the highest ranking problems that companies are facing revolve around the recruitment, retention, and engagement of employees -- particularly high performers. What it takes to keep these employees is performance management. I’m going to elaborate on this in a later piece this week, but here is the outline…
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Grab Bag: March 2018
This week I’ve put together an assortment of quotes and statistics for you to use. Make sure to check out our other content for interesting topics! Quotes We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act, but a habit. Aristotle Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards. Vernon Law Without hard work, nothing grows but weeds. Gordon…
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Scale: Balancing Quality and Growth
Be a yardstick of quality. Some people aren’t used to an environment where excellence is expected. - Steve Jobs I heard a story recently from a consultant that worked with Chick-Fil-A corporate a few years ago. I’m a fan of CFA, I worked as an operations director of high volume store when I lived in Chicago, and I think they have awesome food and an awesome culture. So this story shouldn’t be surprising. A…
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TQT: Real Differences
‘People actually do see the world differently. It’s not merely that they’re possessed of ill-informed opinions.’ - Jordan B. Peterson Today’s quick thought is about real differences. Dr. Peterson has become a bit of a cultural flashpoint for some of his ideas. I originally started watching him for his lectures, first at Harvard and then at the University of Toronto. I valued (and still do) his…
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Jobs and Their Inherent Behaviors
If you’re a regular reader of any of our material, you’ll know we talk a lot about ‘the job.’ Phrases like ‘if the job could talk’ or ‘let the job talk’ are mentioned regularly. This is a big part of our philosophy on hiring: you have to understand ‘what the job needs’ before you even consider hiring or promoting an employee into the position. You’ll also see this thinking come up when we talk about…
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TQT: The Perils of Resume Aggregators
Today’s quick thought is about using aggregator sites to hire. I was talking with a hiring director recently and he introduced me to a new concept I had not heard before. It’s called ‘whitefonting’ - here’s how it works. These sites - think indeed, monster, etc - use algorithms to pull candidates together and present them to you, Mr. or Ms. Hirer, based on your search criteria. Let’s say you wanted…
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No Heartburn Hiring
I posted a video about this process on LinkedIn yesterday and it’s gotten a good number of views, so I thought I would share the content here. I’ve never talked to a business owner who doesn’t have at least one bad hire under their belt. It’s a scar that puts you in a fraternity. We can’t get rid of the scar, but we can help you not have another one in the future. People make a bad hire for all kinds…
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TQT: Recognition vs. Measurement
Today’s Quick Thought is about the difference between recognition and measurement. I talk to business owners and executive leadership regularly about their hiring process, and I keep noticing a pattern. Here’s how it goes. I ask them about their process: how do you recruit, how do you interview, what do you look for in a potential employee? Most of the time, I get pretty good answers. They have…
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As a Leader, Know Your Limitations
If you are a history buff, let me recommend to you an excellent podcast that I listened to throughout the fall of 2017. It’s called ‘The History of Rome’, hosted by Mike Duncan. Duncan is really good and the entire podcast is not only educational, but also very entertaining. I’ve been on a Rome kick for the past couple of years. You have to have a pretty incredible organization and system to dominate,…
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TQT: Hiring a Winner
Sorry for the hiatus. We’re posting regularly throughout 2018 after a busy end to last year. Hopefully our archive kept you company. Thanks for reading. Today’s quick thought is about hiring. I heard a quote recently that I really like: ‘A resume is not data. It is creative writing.’ I think the first class I took on ‘How to write a resume’ was when I was in high school, maybe 10th grade. I took…
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TQT: The Hiring Process
Today's quick thought is about the hiring process. I hear this question regularly: what are the elements of a successful hiring process? Here are the key elements to a hiring process that will help you select the right candidate the first time: Identify the Key Accountabilities of the Job Create a Job Benchmark Assess Candidate(s) - we prefer at least behaviors and motivators Utilize…
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Executing an Effective Interview
Glad to be back on the blog - sorry for the hiatus! Make sure to check out the blog archives for plenty of material. Interviews are the front line for your company. It's amazing to me how many people know and understand that, yet struggle so much with executing an effective interview. The numbers about effective interviews are very clear: No interview: ~25-30% success rate Unstructured…
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TQT: End of Year Review
Today's Quick Thought is about compliance. More accurately, it's about taking stock of your HR processes and procedures. Most companies are getting to the end of their fiscal year, and a large part of that process is some kind of annual review. So we have seen an increased desire from our clients to take a look at their HR function and make sure it is doing everything it should. It's an end…
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Quotes, Vol. I
It has been a busy April for us at PG&A, so the content has been a bit spotty. I'm currently working on a piece about hiring that will provide some great advice for solopreneurs and small businesses that are growing quickly about who to hire first. In the meantime, this post will highlight some quotes that we really like. As leaders, speakers, or teachers, we always need quotes to reinforce our…