What?

Say Again?

Please? (for those of you in Cincinnati or from the midwest, that is a hoot!)

Huh?

OK, it’s another attention getting headline. An anagram for Late On Friday. I missed another whole day on Wednesday, just about blew off a meeting I had with a colleague yesterday morning, and got buried in my national benchmark results.

I know. It shouldn’t be this hard to write down some witty, sarcastic, snarky comments. It’s not like I don’t talk this way all the time. Well, let’s see what is in today’s goodie bag… It’s gotten a little moldy since Wednesday.

I Share Toe Jam

ICK. I know, gross and disgusting. It goes along with the title of today’s blog. And my 15 year old is cracking up! Anyways…

I’m an ISTJ. According to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI for you acronym loving readers), an ISTJ is Introversion, Sensing, Thinking and Judging. My friend and business colleague Dr. Carol Kallendorf with The Delta Associates had the pleasure of coaching me on my “type” and I think she took a little too much joy in helping me better understand my own results and their implications on how I do business and conduct myself with others.

Was I surprised by the results or Carol’s excellent interpretation? Not really, although there were a couple of items that made me think twice, sometimes three times.

The third “Letter” of the MBTI shows Thinking (T) vs. Feeling (F). Both Carol (and her husband Jack who I wrote about last week) sent my wife flowers and their condolences. To say that I was a little heavy on basing my conclusions on logical objective analysis and a little light on basing my conclusions on social values and harmony would be kind. Empathy, compassion, and tenderness are just three syllable words to me, at least in my decision making.

I know how I think, I’ve been stuck with it for over 45 years. However Carol tells me that although I won’t change my core beliefs, I can mitigate them in my dealings with other. Knowing how “heartless” I can be in my decision making process (my word, although my “coach” didn’t disagree) and knowing that 94% of the population doesn’t share my personality type, there are steps I can take to enhance my communication style, or in some cases, just shut the hell up and listen.

I’m excited to be using the MBTI and my friends at The Delta Associates in my work with clients. We currently have two Texas clients using our selection, retention, and coaching services and a few more giving increased scrutiny to their own needs.

The GI Bill

There is great discussion going on right now during the run up to the November presidential elections surrounding the GI Bill currently working its way through Congress. No matter which side of the fence you stand on the issue, the issue of golden handcuffs, or in this case “golden shoves” and employee retention has come to the forefront.

The bill working its way through Congress provides for four years of college after completing 36 months of military service. Some in the military voice concern that this level of education benefits (along with a housing stipend) would encourage current employees to leave. Sponsors argue the increased educational benefit would significantly improve recruiting while at the same time providing the same benefit afforded many of our fathers after they came back from war.

No matter which you believe, or even if you are apathetic on the topic, the issue gets down to the governments problem when it comes to employees. They pay you to stay. If the only reason an employee joins an organization is because of the wages and benefits they’ll receive as a result of their tenure, they’ll leave as soon as their commitment is up. If kids are joining the army to receive the benefit, they’ll take the benefit and run. If they are joining for other reasons (love of country, patriotism, desire for skills based education/career, family obligations), they may be willing to stay longer, pushing off their education into the future. Just like soldiers did after WWII and Korea.

You have to concentrate on having your employees want to stay instead of feeling obligated or trapped in staying. All of them give you retention, only one gives you engagement.

Look at that dad, I used my political science degree!!

Government Workers or Governments Rework?

Yes, another anagram. Sue me. or Sue Bee Honey.

Wow, my little world is scary…

According to a Washington Post story a week or so ago, the federal government is having some difficulty with their new executive pay for performance system, four years after it was put into place. Six in ten employees said they were not told how their own agency rated executives, nearly four in ten (still) haven’t been briefed on the program or how it affected their own pay or bonus.

Here’s a worry: The Defense Intelligence Agency is changing to a pay-for-performance system in September of this year. The DIA will be the first intelligence agency to switch to the new system. This should be fun to watch.

Remember, when what you sell is retention, other “unimportant” things like pay for performance and work-life balance tend to get pushed aside.