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Archive for the ‘Books’ Category
It Ain't a Performance Review If You Have to Memorize Phrases
Apr 1
You don’t want to make Baby Jesus cry, but you could if you were SHRM and featured a book this month titled “Perfect Phrases for Performance Reviews.” Get out the Kleenex, because this is going to be a doozy. Here’s the description:
Writing performance appraisals is one of the most difficult and time-consuming tasks managers face. Perfect Phrases for Performance Reviews simplifies the job, providing a comprehensive collection of phrases that managers can use to describe employee performance, provide directions for improvement, and more. For example:
“Sets priorities well”
“Misses important deadlines”
“Thorough, reliable, and accurate”All managers and HR professionals will value the book for its:
- Hundreds of ready-to-use phrases, organized by job skill and performance level
- Tips for documenting performance issues and conducting face-to-face reviews
- Easily adapted performance review templates covering five performance levels
With the wide-ranging assortment of descriptions available in this book, managers will be able to find the perfect terms to help them analyze and understand the work performance of each person they work with.
Here’s where I have a problem with this book: It starts at the title and ends with the back page. And everything in between. Seriously. Phrases for managers to memorize and use in performance reviews? Here’s an idea, SHRM, how about this title? Get Rid of Crappy Performance Reviews and the Crappy HR Managers Who Think It’s Okay to Memorize Perfect Phrases for Performance Reviews. I’ll write it for you this weekend. For free. Honestly, people would buy it.
Look, I don’t know the authors of this book. I haven’t read it. But as nice as the authors surely are, this is stone BS. And I blame SHRM for selecting this kind of book for a monthly feature. Want to know why HR ends up being a laughingstock? Show managers out on the front lines this book. Do I have to explain to you why employees end up cynical?
Twitter Power: Book Review
Mar 27
Who better to write a book that’s subtitled How to Dominate Your Market One Tweet at a Time than the fabulously-named Joel Comm? After all, Twitter is a communication device if there ever was one, even if it’s communication at 140 characters at a time.
In Twitter Power, Comm (man, I wish that were my last name. I’m in the communication business. Instead, all I’m qualified to write about, I guess, based on my last name, is the pest of the earth) writes about what Twitter can do for you and your business.
The book is really good for Twitter newbies and for people who have been using it for a while. Twitter Power outlines how to get started, how to gain followers, and how to get people to do what you want. (That’s the part I liked best — driving behaviors using Twitter.) The book is written very clearly and has nice illustrations/photos. I have to say one funny thing, though: It seems like it would be cool to write at least a chapter on Twitter. It’s kind of funny to read a whole book about something that has so few characters. It’s a small point in a book that’s really well done.
When you’re done reading Twitter Power, please add me. I’m @frankroche. (My two cents: Use your own name on twitter. The days of hiding are so 1999.)
Success for Hire
Aug 14
I know that the pearl in the peapod was a graphic design decision in Alexandra Levit’s Success for Hire, but it caught my eye. Alexandra’s writing kept me going.
Success for Hire has a very descriptive subtitle: Simple strategies to find and keep outstanding employees. You know what I like? It’s true. Alexandra set up this book to look at the entire hiring trajectory, from figuring out why you want someone in the first place, detailing what they will do, checking them out, making the offer, and — my fave — making them feel welcome once they’re hired.
The book is organized very well, and Alexandra’s writing is smooth and coveys ideas quickly. Plus, each chapter includes forms and checklists for hiring managers to use. Although you could say that Success for Hire is a hiring and retention primer, I think it’s more than that. Experienced managers could do well to pick up a copy of the book and read the chapters about setting real position requirements and how to keep people once they’re in the door.
I really enjoyed Success for Hire. It’s a quick read and well worthwhile if you’re hiring people. (Yep, even in this economy, people are getting hired.)
Success for Hire: Simple Strategies to Find and Keep Outstanding Employees
by Alexandra Levit
ISBN: 978-1-56286-504-8
Publisher: ASTD Press
Amazon
The New Gold Standard
Jul 9
I stayed at my first Ritz-Carlton when I was 22 years old. I was sent on a 3-day business trip at Laguna Nigel. Just go take a peek at the pictures in this link and you’ll get the idea. Stunning. I was told before I went on the trip that I would need to “dress,” even in the lobby. That meant I would have to wear, at minimum, a sport coat at all times. I did, and when I arrived and checked in, a Gentleman wearing white gloves escorted me to my room overlooking the Pacific Ocean and gave me an orientation to the property. I’ve been hooked on Ritz-Carlton ever since.
It’s why I was so fascinated by Joseph Michelli’s look at how Ritz-Carlton works so elegantly. In The New Gold Standard, Michelli talks about how “Ladies and Gentlemen Serving Ladies and Gentlemen” is a motto that still works in 2008.
Throughout the book, which is filled with inspiring stories of staff making the Ritz-Carlton experience the best it can be, Michelli outlines two components that have particular interest for HR practitioners.
Inspire staff to focus on purpose and outcomes, not fulfillment and procedures. From the onset of their employee selection process, leadership at Ritz-Carlton looks for underlying talent in service characteristics. They then train and certify the skills necessary for the new hires to do their jobs while constantly linking job function to the overarching purpose of the business – namely to provide for “the genuine care and comfort” of their guest.
Empowering the front-line saves money. While many business leaders talk about their empowered workforce, few put money behind the hype. At Ritz-Carlton, staff members are given the authority to spend up to $2,000 per day per guest, without seeking the approval of their supervisors. This authority allows front-line workers to immediately resolve service breakdowns for guests or simply engage guests by doing something unexpected that will make the hotel stay memorable. Essentially, empowered employees consistently transform otherwise satisfied customers into fully-engaged brand loyalists that spend more and refer family and friends to the business.
I’ve stayed in many Ritz-Carlton hotels since I stayed at that first one in Laguna Nigel. (Note to self: You live a charmed life.) I’ve been lucky enough to stay 50 or 60 times in Ritz-Cartlon Buckhead when we were working on a project in Atlanta. I stayed for a week at Ritz-Carlton’s Hotel Arts in Barcelona. Singapore. Coconut Grove. Madrid. Ritz Paris. I can say that I had an excellent experience at every one. The New Gold Standard is a great inside look at why.
THE NEW GOLD STANDARD: 5 Leadership Principles for Creating a Legendary Customer Experience
Joseph A. Michelli, Ph.D.
McGraw-Hill; July 2008
ISBN-10: 0-07-154833-5; ISBN-13: 978-0-07-154833-5.
The Breakthrough Imperative: KnowHR Book Review
May 19
The Breakthrough Imperative starts with four simple ideas:
1. Costs and prices always decline
2. Market position dictates strategy
3. Profit pools don’t stand still
4. Simplicity gets results
With that straightforward idea, authors Mark Gottfredson and Steve Shaubert launch into an excellent and actionable approach to how to solve those problems. And simplicity isn’t as easy as it might seem.
Coming off of Economic Downturn Week at KnowHR, I was particularly fascinated with this book. Here’s a management book that has deep implications for HR:
Every general manager today—all the way up to the CEO—is expected by his or her stakeholders to achieve new breakthroughs in performance—and fast. Those who don’t make visible progress toward that goal within the first year or two will likely find themselves looking for another job. It is precisely because of this growing breakthrough imperative that managers today, whether in corporations or nonprofits, need to get off to a fast start. They don’t have time for mistakes or for going back and redoing what they should have done right in the first place.
I highly recommend The Breakthrough Imperative, especially for its “those who say things can’t be done are often overtaken by those already doing it” approach. We talk a lot here about HR needing to be businesspeople first. The Breakthrough Imperative talks about getting going or getting out. I like that.
The Breakthrough Imperative: How the Best Managers Get Outstanding Results
by Mark Gottfredson and Steve Schaubert
HarperCollins, March 2008
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