The Rottman Group, Inc.       

       Redefining an Industry One Relationship at a Time.

           

              The Human System  Vol. 1, No. 2

The “Everyone is above average phenomenon”

I appreciate the positive response to receiving “The Human System”.  Welcome back.  By design, this e-letter will build on principles somewhat sequentially. 

Aside from other thoughts, today I will give you a great way to sell your CEO on your next idea or program.  So see this through to the end.

Remember our Foundational Theory:  There is a competitive advantage that you are responsible for:  it is the Maximization of your Human System.

 I have seen pieces of HR done with the wrong emphasis or in the wrong order.  I’m not saying that wrong things were being done; just that maximizing was not accomplished.  That’s what we are about here. One of my goals is that you question your success and reevaluate it continually.  Re-invention is the essence of innovation and excellence.  I will challenge you.

Steven Covey puts it this way, "The enemy of the 'best' is the 'good'."  

"Good is good enough until you know what better is; then good enough just isn’t good enough anymore.”---Don Rottman, 6/6/01 (That will twist your tongue and bend your mind. I call it mental yoga.)

  Do you think there are people that don’t want to know what better is?   Seems silly doesn’t it?   Ever seen this behavior though? 

           “Don’t make me change, my comfort zone has been pretty comfortable for the last 10 years, why isn’t it good enough today?”  

           “We’ve always done it this way.”

  From your experiences, I’m sure you could share dozens of examples with me. 

  Here is the jugular question:  Are you one of “those” people?

  The “Everyone is above average phenomenon”

Below is a standard distribution curve.  (I know, a flashback to a statistics course and your reaching for the Rolaids/Aspirin as we speak.)  I’ll warn you now; it is a model that we will use for many different applications over time.  However, this will be a mild dose, I’ll slowly build your tolerance.

As a quick refresher, remember that zero represents the 50th percentile, or average; 70% fall between  -1 and +1 standard deviation (a unit of measure in stats), 84% are below +1 standard deviation.  Do you feel the migraine coming? I bet you didn’t know I was bi-lingual, fluent in “Confusionese”. I’ll start talking English again. 

Stop and take a moment.  I want you to or score yourself in terms of screen!) percentile.  Where, relative to your peers in the industry and your competition, do you fall on this “map”?  (Don’t mark on the screen.)

                            

Where did you score yourself? 60th, 70th, 80th percentile?  How many people do you think just scored themselves below average?  Guess what, by definition, ½ ARE below average.  BOOM: big gap in reality!  But that’s them, not you, right?  Can you articulate the tangible, identifiable things you do that are more-better-different than your peers and competitors that validate whatever margin above average you scored? 

Consider that first curve a composite.  Now lets separate some of the components of human resources.  We will use two categories; mechanical to represent things with relatively high standardization; variable to represent those things that have more flexibility/changeability.  (I know there are gray areas, you can change my list any way you like.)

  Mechanical                                                                  Variable

Joint Commission                                                                      Training & development

State & federal regulations                                 Culture cultivation

Compensation                                                                           Motivation

Benefit plans                                                                               Recruitment

Labor relations/contract compliance                    Selection

Policy & procedures                                                                           Retention

Recruitment                                                                                Employee relations

Selection

 

Below are two more curves:

                  

Curve #1 has high kurtosis. (I threw that in for those that didn’t think I knew the technical term for it.  No, you can’t get a vaccination against kurtosis.)  Basically, what this means is that there is much less that distinguishes someone who is at the 40th percentile from those at the 60th percentile.  (Sneak preview:   valuing this variance is another e-letter to come; neat stuff.)

With Curve #2, low kurtosis, there is a wider variance between those at the 40th vs. 60th percentile.

Curve #1 represents the mechanical things, standardized things.  I put compensation and benefits in here because you are forced to be very similar to your competitors.  Most variation here is in inter, not intra-market.

  Curve #2 therefore represents the variable things.

  Back to English.  Here’s the application:

When you look for ways to set yourself apart, to gain an advantage and value, spend time on those things that have a higher opportunity for differentiation.  Don’t put your creativity into meeting state regulations or meeting OSHA guidelines, you won’t see much of a difference. Spend it on retention strategies, developing your culture, developing your people.  Not that the mechanical things don’t require your time, but understand the value of the variable things.  Many people spend all their time on the things in that “mechanical” column and don’t get time do work on the “variable” things.

  With the things that are standardized, you can only loose, not gain ground.   Competitively, if you are not in compliance, you fall down the curve.  Compliance scores an “average” on the curve.

  The variable things give you the greatest opportunities to excel and create organizational value and competitive advantage: recruitment, selection, training and development, culture development, and retention.  These are the things that are people oriented too.   (Aside: Don’t play with this fire called human nature if you haven’t seen the instructional video, you could get burned.)   It is by developing the variable things that when you go back to the first curve (a combination of #1 and #2), you will be able to have confidence in setting yourself apart and you will understand why you are better.

I told you I would give you a way to sell your CEO or other decision makers on your ideas.  Walk them through the first curve the way we did.  Have him/her tell you why they are above average.  Use the other two curves to explain the impact and value of variation.   Use the logic to sell for you, especially in their income statement driven world.   Though turnover cost doesn’t have a line item on the balance sheet, it is real.  This may be the only way to sell “theoretical” spending: things that build morale, culture, retention, development, etc.  

Did you notice that recruitment and selection were in both columns?  Several things could possibly go in both.   You may have a traditional, standardized function or you may have a more progressive one.  Recruitment and selection are handled mechanically in some organizations, strategically in others (be careful about which one you put yours in and remember this thought for later).

  Sneak Preview: “The wise man built his house upon the rock; how’s the foundation of your human system?”

  Choose to make it a great day!

  Don Rottman

HR Evangelist  

 

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