tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-58046547224931416682024-02-20T12:35:08.372-05:00HR Water CoolerHR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.comBlogger184125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-46110544638496107502010-03-31T08:28:00.002-04:002010-03-31T08:33:59.931-04:00Final PostHR Water Cooler is signing off. I hope that some of my postings were helpful to my readers. I have enjoyed my "blogging experience".<br /><br />I wish each one of you Godspeed!HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-90548315808081971882010-03-01T19:42:00.002-05:002010-03-01T19:48:18.365-05:00Life LessonsWhy not write down all (9) "Life Lessons" on a sheet of paper and leave it near your computer. Re-read it once every week-then the lessons will help you because you will have saved them in "the computer between your ears!"HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-26295264839973078632010-02-24T19:20:00.001-05:002010-02-24T19:22:12.249-05:00Life Lessons10) YOU WILL FORGET ALL OF THIS.....or will you?!HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-72785460118634525762010-02-22T16:35:00.002-05:002010-02-22T16:38:12.291-05:008) What you make of your life is your choice-you have access to all of the tools and resources that you need.<br /><br />9) The answers to your challenges are available-all you need to do is look, listen, and trust.HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-75794880051097537232010-02-18T20:39:00.002-05:002010-02-18T20:42:43.705-05:00Life Lessons7) Other people are only mirrors of you. You simply cannot love or hate something about another person unless it reflects something you love or hate about yourself.....HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-75539531380869637592010-02-15T16:44:00.002-05:002010-02-15T16:50:50.458-05:00Life Lessons5) Learning does not end. There is no part of your life that does not contain lessons. If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.<br /><br />6) "There" is no better than "here". When your "there" has become a "here", you will simply obtain a "there" that will look better to you than your present "here".....HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-83154891157738752462010-02-11T19:16:00.002-05:002010-02-11T19:22:55.798-05:00Life Lessons3) There are no mistakes, only lessons. Your growth is a process of experimentation, a series of trials, errors, and occasional victories. The failed experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiments that work.<br /><br />4) A lesson is repeated until learned. Lessons will be repeated to you in various forms until you have learned them. When you have finally learned them, you can go on to the next lesson.<br /><br />More to come.....HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-6556584460133087592010-02-08T20:22:00.003-05:002010-02-08T20:34:37.830-05:00Life Lessons1) You will receive a body. You may love it or hate it, but it will be yours for the duration of your<br /> life on Planet Earth.<br /><br />2) You will be presented with lessons. You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called "life."<br /> Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn several lessons. You may like the<br /> lessons or hate them.<br /> <br /> To be continued.....<br /><br />(Source: "If Life Is a game, These Are the Rules"-author Cherie Carter-Scott)HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-17740159031246537802010-02-04T19:23:00.002-05:002010-02-04T19:33:55.132-05:00Encouraging OthersThey all turned around and went to help him. All nine of the contestants, including the little boy who had fallen, linked arms and crossed the finish line together. This same belief holds true in the workplace-what really matters is helping the other members of your work team win, even if it means slowing down and changing your own course.<br /><br />Thanks for reading.HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-71679394216277198242010-02-01T18:01:00.002-05:002010-02-01T18:55:33.258-05:00Encouraging OthersWhether we are dealing with other people inside or outside of the workplace, we can all learn a lot from this true story:<br /><br />At a Special Olympics track and field event, nine contestants, all physically or mentally disabled, gathered at the starting line for the 100 yard dash. At the gun, they all started out, except one little boy. He stumbled on the asphalt, fell a couple of times, then stopped trying and began to cry.<br /><br />The other runners heard the boy crying, slowed down, and looked back at the boy.....HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-27998621421616517412010-01-28T15:31:00.004-05:002010-01-28T15:49:05.032-05:00LeadershipFor the next (5) days, make a deliberate effort to pay more attention to this "under-performing" employee. Go out of your way to find the good in this person. Compliment him/her on his/her work, make helpful suggestions, include this employee in a project that you would normally exclude him/her from participation-you get the idea.<br /><br />Make sure your actions are sincere, and watch for positive results.....too bad most of you won't take on this assignment. Oh well.HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-20502520540669623042010-01-25T16:22:00.003-05:002010-01-25T16:41:49.676-05:00LeadershipWhy not test the "Pygmalion Theory" for yourself? Pick a fellow employee that you "assume" does not have much unused potential. In other words, in your opinion, this person is doing about as much as he/she is capable of doing for your organization.<br /><br />Now, in my next post I am going to give my readers an additional assignment-and most of you either won't even begin the assignment, much less complete it.....HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-26215372953159191332010-01-21T17:12:00.004-05:002010-01-21T17:28:51.481-05:00LeadershipBack to Rosenthal and Jacobson-does the self-fulfilling prophecy exist in the workplace? You know the answer-<span style="font-weight: bold;">of course it does!</span> As managers, we have all been guilty of the same thing-assuming a fellow employee does not have some terrific ideas that would help our company because of the following incorrect assumptions on our part- examples: 1) "She is just the receptionist; therefore, she is not very creative." 2) "He is a young guy and is new to the company; therefore, he won't have any bright ideas to make us more money." 3) "He is just a mechanic out in the plant-why ask him for his ideas about how to produce our product more efficiently?"<br /><br />Give me a break-<span style="font-weight: bold;">how "blind" are we?</span>.....HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-34571716656434395762010-01-19T08:35:00.002-05:002010-01-19T09:11:29.870-05:00HaitiI have been blogging about how leaders (teachers) can influence students behavior and performance in the classroom-this of course also applies in the workplace. And there is another type of leadership-Divine Leadership.<br /><br />My wife and I are members of The United Methodist Church. Our local District is made up of 92 Churches. We gathered at a local high school yesterday to pack meals for the Haitian people. The goal was to pack 100,000 meals.<br /><br />In about 5 hours, 3,000 people packed 210,000 meals!!! When Christians are inspired by Jesus Christ, our personal Lord and Savior, our accomplishments are awesome. They glorify Him. Talk about leadership!<br /><br />Please consider giving money through a reputable charity to help the Haitian people. Thanks.HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-74293756971504117672010-01-14T20:27:00.005-05:002010-01-14T20:41:06.342-05:00LeadershipRosenthal and Jacobson discovered that a self-fulfilling prophesy was at work at this school. The teachers had subtly and unconsciously encouraged the performance that they expected to see from these "special" students. The teachers spent more time with them. In addition, they were more enthusiastic about teaching these students. They also unintentionally exhibited more warmth toward them. As a result , these "special" students felt smarter and more capable than their fellow students.<br /><br />Does the self-fulfilling prophecy exist in the workplace?.....HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-79700782728303017322010-01-11T19:47:00.003-05:002010-01-11T19:52:06.171-05:00LeadershipThe students that Rosenthal and Jacobson randomly picked at the beginning of the school year turned out to be the same students that scored the highest on the tests that were actually scored at the end of the school year!<br /><br />How could that be? What happened?HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-26347267090481965932009-12-28T14:21:00.002-05:002009-12-28T14:26:19.843-05:00LeadershipAt the end of the same school year, a second intelligence test was given to the same group of students. This time the tests were actually scored by Rosenthal and Jacobson.<br /><br />What do you think the results turned out to be?HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-12086680158920848952009-12-21T13:38:00.003-05:002009-12-21T13:51:18.918-05:00LeadershipRosenthal and Jacobson randomly picked several of the students names and gave this list to the teachers-<span style="font-weight: bold;">this list was not based upon the students' actual performance on the IQ tests.</span> But the teachers did not know this-they thought these selected students were the smartest ones in their class based upon actual test results.....<br /><br />Source: "Sociologists at Work"-David Newman and Rebecca SmithHR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-66593782991244229562009-12-17T16:33:00.002-05:002009-12-17T16:59:40.859-05:00LeadershipBack in 1968, Dr. Robert Rosenthal and Lenore Jacobsen published their findings regarding the self-fulfilling prophecy-"Pygmalion in the classroom". These two educators had become very concerned that teachers' expectations about lower-class and minority children were contributing to the high rates of failure among these students. They decided to test their theory-their experiment took place in a elementary school that was located in a lower-class but not impoverished community.<br /><br />At the beginning of the school year, these educators administered an intelligence test to a group of students at this particular elementary school. They told the teachers that this test not only measured the students' IQ-it would also identify the students who would make rapid, above average intellectual progress during the coming school year, whether or not they were currently "good" students.<br /><br />Within a few days, Rosenthal and Jacobsen gave the teachers the names of those students who, based upon the test results, could be expected to perform well in the classroom during the coming academic year.<br /><br />However, there was a secret about those students' names that Rosenthal and Jacobsen deliberately kept from the teachers.....HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-39493990817078063432009-12-14T18:02:00.002-05:002009-12-14T18:40:30.026-05:00LeadershipAn employee does as well as his boss thinks he can.<br /><br />This can be effectively illustrated using "The Pygmalion Effect" concept.<br /> <p>This idea is also known as “the self-fulfilling prophecy”. When you believe that another person will perform well, in some strange, magical way he does. And similarly, when you believe he won’t perform well, he won’t.</p>There is enough experimental data to suggest that the self-fulfilling prophecy is in fact true.<br /><br />Let's take a look at this fascinating subject and see how it applies in the workplace...HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-70052437066087433962009-12-11T00:15:00.002-05:002009-12-11T00:26:05.752-05:00Habits-Attitudes-Beliefs-Expectationsopportunityisnowhere<br /><br />What did you see when you read this string of letters? Did you see "opportunity is nowhere"...or did you see "opportunity is now here." Which phrase describes your mindset as 2010 approaches-the first or the second? Let us all focus on the second phrase!HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-28849107456248132022009-12-07T18:49:00.003-05:002009-12-07T19:09:38.603-05:00Human Resources-Employee RelationsLets say that you have an employee that works for you and quits after (8) months with your company. Many experts state that the cost of replacing that employee will be equal to his annual salary.....sound too high? I don't think so-when you add up all of the training costs that go out the door with the former employee and the costs associated with finding and training his replacement-then add the administrative costs. The $ add up quickly. If Mike starts his new employees at $10.00 an hour-that is about $20,000 a year. Think for a minute about the significant amount of money that Mike's Carwash saved when they reduced turnover by 25%.<br /><br />By the way, what is your annual turnover %? When an employee leaves your company, how much $ does it cost your company to replace him?HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-29308759327797627762009-12-03T17:53:00.002-05:002009-12-03T18:04:11.876-05:00Human Resources-Employee RelationsAfter full implementation of this intensive management training, turnover at Mike's Carwash decreased by 25%. Next time let's see how this turnover reduction translated into more $ for Mike's. This is a textbook example of how treating employees with respect by developing their potential is not only the right thing to do-it also makes money for the employer.HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-10235728226508447562009-11-30T14:02:00.002-05:002009-11-30T14:21:02.253-05:00Human Resources-Employee RelationsMike's Carwash pulls it off through better management of employees that in turn makes these employees more productive and less likely to leave. And where did this process start? It started with management training. Exit interviews and other resources showed that their managers needed help in the areas of applicant screening, interviewing, and hiring practices. And so Mike's Carwash started to provide intensive management training that includes follow-up training at the workplace.<br /><br />And the results? Stay tuned.HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5804654722493141668.post-2742880844539663742009-11-23T08:34:00.003-05:002009-11-30T14:23:32.244-05:00Human Resources-Employee Relations"And one of the worst of those has always been car washes, jobs where, as Bruce Springsteen put it, all it ever does is rain, where workers quit as soon as they find something better."<br /><br />But hold on a minute-what about Mike's Carwash, headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana? This company has more than 200 full time employees, 37 locations, and generates more than $50 million dollars in annual revenue. Annual turnover at Mike's is about 10 percent and average tenure is 8 years Half of the vacancies are filled from within. Hourly employees are provided with healthcare benefits, tuition reimbursement, paid vacation, a profit sharing plan, and a 401(k) retirement plan.<br /><br />Entry level employees receive up to 90 hours of training and individualized employee-development plans to prepare them for promotion opportunities. They also receive financial education so that they can understand the company's financial statements, which are open to all employees.<br /><br />So how does Mike's pull this off?! Stay tuned.....the answers may surprise you.HR Water Coolerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11987990928943876084noreply@blogger.com0