job content

Only one in four Belgians consider their paycheck to be the most crucial source of motivation for work. 48% consider the actual contents of their job the most important motivator, according to a recent study conducted by Partena Professional.

Salary, among other “advantages,” is easy to express, and the number speaks for itself. How it actually feels like to perform the job, on a daily basis, is much harder to define and subsequently communicate.

Close to one in two is on the lookout for a different job throughout the first year of employment. Reason why? Mismatch in job expectations. In other words, this is not what I’ve been sold. You told me, dear recruiter, that I could work in a particular way. A couple of weeks later, it turns out that it couldn’t be farther from the truth. You told me I would get a lot of autonomy and feedback. In reality, I’m being micro-managed without any feedback. The way I perform tasks daily is not at all as described—quite the contrary.

Imagine for a second that marketeers advertised products and services as poorly as some recruiters do. Actually, they can’t because there are regulations to prevent false advertising.

Focus on communicating job content correctly to your candidates.

Bonus: if you don’t know how, ask me. I’d love to help out.

old habits die hard

Mom, why do we cut off the sides of the meatloaf when we put it in the oven? She thinks for a second before she responds, that’s a good question. I actually don’t know. Your grandmother used to prepare it like that. I’ll call her and ask.

So she rings her mother asking, mom, why do we cut off the sides of the meatloaf when we bake it in the oven? After a short moment of silence, her mother replies, I actually don’t know. Your grandmother used to prepare it like that. I’ll call her and ask.

When she asks her mom, she starts laughing immediately. She says, child, when your father and I were young, the oven was too small, so we had to cut the ends to make it fit.

Old habits die hard.

Many companies today still don’t treat their employees the way they should, simply because that’s what they used to do back in the day. The times have changed. Apply a talent-centric approach, or your employee will find the next employer who will.

in reverse

There isn’t one particular place in human resources processes where companies should focus on employee engagement. That’s a long way of saying, focus on employee engagement in every single step of the way.

There is, however, a natural order. Reverse that is.

Suppose people are leaving faster than you can hire them. In that case, there really is no point in focusing heavily on employee engagement at the start of the funnel, is there? Only to see them pack up and go a couple of months later?

Start mapping employee engagement with the people who are already there. Map employee engagement efforts in a retention process, and work your way back to recruitment.

what’s in a name

How can we improve professional human behavior and interaction when we can’t decide on a term and clear definition of those skills?

Maybe we should forget about semantics and do it anyway? Improve on the above-mentioned skills and make the best of them. What’s in a name, after all… Then again, which other domains have made significant progress without an unambiguous definition? Without the ability to measure, there is no before and after.

We live in an interesting time where professional human behavior and interaction are still a bit of a black box.

Please join me on my journey this year, demystifying these principles.

hard

There is but one guarantee in entrepreneurship. It’s hard.

not personal

It’s not personal Sonny. It’s strictly business. One of Al Pacino’s perhaps most famous lines from The Godfather.

The statement is both true and false.

The goal of a business is to form a legal entity around a model that creates value and profits. Naturally, everything that occurs to the company doesn’t happen to you personally. Therefore, snarky comments made at your business should glide right off you.

On the other hand, what’s really at stake without any personal involvement whatsoever? A deep and thorough empathic understanding of your customer’s problem is needed.

Don’t take it personally, Sonny, but do get personally involved. That’s my take.

trailing

Basketball teams who are trailing by halftime with one point are more likely to win than teams who are leading with one point.

Never underestimate a hungry underdog.

sell evangelism

Either the person you are selling to has a need, can clearly vocalize that need, and actively seeks a solution. Or, doesn’t know she has a need, and needs to be convinced first.

In the first scenario, you can enter in sales-mode.

In the second scenario, you have to go in, in evangelism-mode. Meaning, a whole lot of convincing has to take place for the lead to convert into a paying customer.

When your lead isn’t ready to buy (at all), consider leaving it there. You can always reiterate in a year or so.

No is better than maybe.

face it

“Not everything that is faced can be changed. But nothing can be changed until it is faced,” wrote James Baldwin.

In startup entrepreneurship, you have to face everything all at once. Only to suffer from stress because it’s hard to do everything by yourself.

Prioritize what to face first. Better yet, have the market and your customers prioritize it for you. Whatever they feel the strongest about, that’s the challenge you’ll face first.

company as a byproduct

Successful companies are the result of amazing customer care.

Take Coolblue, for instance. They came up, very successfully, against all odds. In an era where the electronics retailer market was already very saturated.

You know how the edge of your lips curls up when you bring about a satisfied smile? That’s what they obsess over. Their motto; everything for a smile.

Companies are a byproduct of startups obsessing over customer satisfaction.