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Pure Accountability

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One of the reasons I have always loved high school wrestling as a sport is that a competitor lives and dies on his or her own merits… yes… females are becoming more prevalent in High School wrestling. One of the aspects of the sport that has always attracted me is that when you lose there is no one else to blame.

You can’t hide behind ‘the team’. You are out there on your own. This creates a certain sense of urgency and determination to win. It’s embarrassing to be beaten in front of hundreds of spectators… much less be pinned!

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About the Author

Jeff Kortes is known as the ‘No Nonsense Guy.’ He is the President of Human Asset Management LLC, a human resource consulting firm specializing in executive search and leadership training. He has trained hundreds of first-line supervisors, managers, and executives during his career. His approach to training is no-nonsense, and practical.

Jeff is also a member of the National Speakers Association and a regular speaker on the topics of retention, recruiting and leadership. For more information, visit www.SlugProofYourTeam.com.

The Focus Factor

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Several years ago, my youngest son won his first two matches to advance to the semi-finals of the Wisconsin State wrestling tournament the next day. Prior to his heading to the tournament we talked about what he wanted to accomplish at the tournament. This was a continuation of a discussion that began at the start of the season when he thought about… and… actually put his goals for the season in writing. Certainly not anything I ever did as a kid!

Our discussion got me thinking about how we often fail to have discussions about development goals with our kids… or our employees. The discussions tend to be more spur of the moment… not that it’s a bad thing to have discussions when the moment arises… but certainly no substitute for structured discussions that force the parties to think about where they want to go in their career.

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About the Author

Jeff Kortes is known as the ‘No Nonsense Guy.’ He is the President of Human Asset Management LLC, a human resource consulting firm specializing in executive search and leadership training. He has trained hundreds of first-line supervisors, managers, and executives during his career. His approach to training is no-nonsense, and practical.

Jeff is also a member of the National Speakers Association and a regular speaker on the topics of retention, recruiting and leadership. For more information, visit www.SlugProofYourTeam.com.

StrategyDriven Welcomes Jeff Kortes

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The StrategyDriven family is proud to introduce Jeff Kortes as our newest contributing author!

Jeff Kortes is the President of Human Asset Management LLC, a human resources consulting firm which specializes in executive search, retention, engagement and front line leadership training. He is a ‘no nonsense,’ action oriented strategist that helps organizations acquire talent, engage and retain people as well as training the heart of their organizations… their front-line leadership using his Execution Focused Leadership® series.

In addition to running his executive search firm, he is a skilled facilitator, trainer, and professional speaker who energizes participants. Jeff has 25 years experience in human resources in both public and private sector organizations. He obtained this experience while functioning in construction, manufacturing, municipal government, and high tech environments.

Jeff is a regular blogger on retention, recruitment, and leadership and has also written and published the book No Nonsense Retention: Painless Strategies To Retain Your Best People. No Nonsense Retention is a hard hitting yet easy to read primer on how to develop and implement a strategic retention process in any department or organization. The book is based on real life experiences and research of organizations that successfully retain their talent.

Speaking Engagements

Jeff is a regular speaker to associations and companies about retention, recruitment, and leadership. His programs include:

  • No Nonsense Retention… Painless Strategies to Retain Your Best People
  • Slug Proof Your Team… No Nonsense Strategies to develop a High Performance Organization
  • Anyone Can Recruit… But can you sell the Organization?

To learn more about Jeff’s programs, visit his website www.SlugProofYourTeam.com

Follow Jeff on Twitter: twitter.com/nononsenseguy

The Great Eraser

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I am a big proponent of continuous improvement and the need to always improve. Unfortunately, it has brought with it a real negative. It took me 8 years of watching my two sons wrestle until I realized I had fell victim to that negative consequence.

My youngest son won a tournament by beating the prior state champion in the finals. It was an incredible match and he wrestled impressively. As he came off the mat, I shook his hand and congratulated him… telling him that this was the best I’d ever seen him wrestle. Then, in the next breathe, I nearly said… ”BUT you look like you we running out of gas and need to do some extra running so that your stamina improves.” The kid has just wrestled the best match of his life and here the old man is thinking what he could have done better. That’s a sad commentary on what has happened to us.

Hi there! This article is available for free. Login or register as a StrategyDriven Personal Business Advisor Self-Guided Client by:

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About the Author

Jeff Kortes is known as the ‘No Nonsense Guy.’ He is the President of Human Asset Management LLC, a human resource consulting firm specializing in executive search and leadership training. He has trained hundreds of first-line supervisors, managers, and executives during his career. His approach to training is no-nonsense, and practical.

Jeff is also a member of the National Speakers Association and a regular speaker on the topics of retention, recruiting and leadership. For more information, visit www.SlugProofYourTeam.com.

Fire the Slugs! And Other Great, No-Nonsense Ways to Retain Your Best People

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StrategyDriven Organizational Accountability ArticleThere isn’t an organization anywhere that doesn’t have a problem with some type of personnel turnover problems. Depending on the study you look at, the impact of turnover ranges from three months of salary for a low level employee who leaves to as high as 400 percent of the annual salary of an upper-level person who leaves.

It’s doesn’t have to be all bad. There’s good turnover and bad turnover.

Firing a non-performer is good turnover. When a top performer leaves to go elsewhere and leaves your organization with a huge void, that’s bad turnover. It can affect the performance of the whole organization.

If you are going to maximize your organization’s performance you have to make a conscious, binding top-down management decision and commitment to develop a no nonsense approach to retention. The following are several must-do actions items for retaining the high-value human assets you’ve worked so hard to acquire:

  1. Start at the top! Assess your supervisory and management team! Seventy percent of the people say that the worst thing about their job is the boss. Find out what’s wrong and fix it! Identify the prima donnas and micromanaging control freaks, the whiners, complainers, and blamers. Get them basic supervisory training and improve their performance continuously. If you are the boss, take ownership!
  2. Clean Up the House! Identify the non-performers. Identify the poor managers and supervisors. If they do not respond to training and show significant improvement, remove them from an influential role and replace them with someone that does what is truly desired and required for the role and position they are in.
  3. Manage Visibly! Get out of the ivory tower. Begin each day by walking around. Stroll around the floor several times a day. Meet the customers, talk with employees, visit with the supervisors, greet the vendors, help the delivery trucks load and unload. Get out of your office. Let people know you are there and that you care. The point here is that you set lead by example. If they like you they are less likely to leave you. Visibility drives retention.
  4. Care About Your People! If you don’t really care about your people, your business is doomed. Caring is the reason why people stay. Get to know your people. Learn what each person likes and enjoys. Listen to them and learn about their interests, families, and hobbies. Protect your people from harm and from others in your organization. People are loyal to those who care about them and care for them.
  5. Keep your door open 80% of the time. Let your people know you are accessible to them. Avoid telling people to make an appointment or come back later. Make sure the time you do spend with your people is quality time.
  6. Focus on Employee Assistance Actively. Sit down with the other managers in your organization and identify the problems that are faced by people in your workforce. Develop innovative ideas and deploy specific new plans to provide employees with more flexibility in their work, support for their common needs, and help for dealing with personal issues that impact their life.
  7. Treat Everyone with Respect Always! Every leader and manager and supervisor must set the standard that respectful behavior and sincere open appreciation are expected with no exceptions! Investigate and take immediate action for all non-respectful behavior incidents. Have the managers and supervisors bring food to be shared on a regular basis! Break bread with your people regularly instead of forcing people to eat baloney.
  8. Ask Your People What They Want! Sit down with your people and ask them what they want out of their work. Identify what they want to grow, to develop greater control, autonomy and responsibility for the work they do for you. Help them achieve these goals specifically and incrementally. Meaningful engagement in their own future drives commitment and loyalty.
  9. Tell Your People What You Want of Them! Be specific and be clear but make sure you explain what you expect of them. Give them the tools, support and the time they need to get the work done. If they do not meet your expectations, bring them in and talk with them and find out what it will take to get them on track.
  10. Fire the Slugs. Hold your people accountable for their performance. If they don’t solve the problem, then terminate them with respect and dignity. Your good performers will love you.

About the Author

Jeff Kortes is known as the ‘No Nonsense Guy.’ He is the President of Human Asset Management LLC, a human resource consulting firm specializing in executive search and leadership training. He has trained hundreds of first-line supervisors, managers, and executives during his career. His approach to training is no-nonsense, and practical.

Jeff is also a member of the National Speakers Association and a regular speaker on the topics of retention, recruiting and leadership. For more information, visit www.SlugProofYourTeam.com.