Peace of mind comes from working with professionals.
Bill Catlette and Richard Hadden have delivered hundreds of high-impact keynote presentations in more than 20 years of professional speaking. When you ask us to keynote your conference or convention, you can relax – at least when it comes to our part of your meeting – knowing that you’ve hired a professional to speak to your group.

To us, being professional means, among other things, doing your homework… each time, every time. We invest the time and energy to learn enough about your group or audience to make our presentation truly relevant to them. Most people seem to appreciate that. While you may be able to hire speakers with bigger names (and bigger fees), it’s doubtful you’ll hire anybody who is better prepared.

Our keynote presentations are:

Contented Cows Give Better Milk – Your People…Your Profits
Leadership, and the Bottom Line Value of Creating a Great Place to Work, based on the principles in Bill’s and Richard’s popular book, Contented Cows Give Better Milk.

Work is Contractual…Effort is Personal
Based on our 2007 book, Contented Cows MOOve Faster, this is all about Discretionary Effort, Employee Engagement, and what good leaders do to get people to put more OOMPH! into their work.

Leading Through the Storm
An inspirational, yet practical message for leaders in a tough economy. Learn at least six ways to keep your workforce focused and fired up in uncertain economic times, and prepare your workforce for the recovery to come.

The Journey Thus Far: Foundations for a Fabulous Future!
Delivered by Richard Hadden only. Highly entertaining, motivational keynote celebrating your people, your organization, and your successes.

Keynote presentations are up to 90 minutes in length.

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Signed copies of our books may be purchased for your entire group at a substantial discount, or may be made available for individual sale at your event.

In addition to sitting on the footlocker, just observing, free from any specific agenda, being available, and visible, there are times when you want to sit down, face-to-face, one-on-one, and have a meaningful conversation with each person you lead. Doing this once a year, during the annual performance evaluation, is a little like going to church only on that one Sunday when all the women wear fancy hats, like some did just a few weeks ago.

No, we think more frequent is better. How often? As with so many things, it depends. But two or three times a year probably represents an improvement, and so we’d say that’s a good goal to shoot for.

Call it a coaching session, a midcourse checkup, or whatever you like. If you’re like most of us, you sometimes have trouble knowing where to start, and what to say. Here are seven questions that you – and your followers – will find helpful to move the conversation along:

1. How do you think you’re doing in your job?

2. What one thing do you think you could do better?

3. What help do you need to do that?

4. What one thing could others you work with do better?

5. What one thing do you like most about working here?

6. What one thing do you like least about working here?

7. If you were me, what one thing would you do differently?

The list starts with the sublimely simple, and progresses through questions that take a little more courage for others to answer. And perhaps for you to hear.

Before we sign off, some tips on making this conversation as productive as possible:

o Be prepared to be nowhere else but right there, with the person you’re talking with. Shut off the cell phone, don’t answer the landline, close your email client. Clear the decks. Clear your head.

o Learn the meaning of the number one. You’ll notice that five of the seven questions say “What one thing”. Stick to that limit. Otherwise, you’ll likely be there all day. If there are other issues that need attention, schedule a time to explore them. For this discussion, enforce the limit of one thing.

o Listen, listen, listen. You’re in input mode here, not output. Chapter 2 in Rebooting Leadership, and Chapter 7 in Contented Cows Moove Faster can help you here. If you don’t have these books, we can solve that problem for you. (Click here).

o Underpromise, and overdeliver. Make it clear that this conversation is to get your input, not to promise immediate changes. Question 7, in particular, could lead others to think that you’ll implement all of their specific recommendations. Be honest. Unless that’s your intention, sincerely thank them for their input, and then weigh it up with the other feedback you get. But – and this is a big but – if you’re seen to ignore everything you hear, you’ll shut down the flow, and quickly. When your followers see positive changes, based on their input, your credibility, and effectiveness as a real leader, will take off.

Finally, have fun with this. This conversation should be seen as a good one. Anything but a chewing out. They’ll be taking some risks if they’re completely honest with you. Play with that a little. Thank them for it. And then, act.

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Richard Hadden is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and Contented Cows MOOve Faster, and the brand new book Rebooting Leadership. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

Unfortunately, during the 2011 Super Bowl, she failed to deliver her best performance, butchering the tune, and forgetting words she has known since childhood. Everyone has an off day now and then. It’s better when it doesn’t happen in front of 100 million people, but hey, it happens.

There are thousands of singers in America, who, in terms of raw talent, could have outsung Ms. Aguilera, but let’s face it, talent was probably not the only, or even the primary, consideration in her selection. And that’s fine. The NFL, who does usually place a premium on talent, to the exclusion of less relevant factors, can hire whomever they like. In this case, it didn’t turn out so well, but it didn’t seem to detract much from the enjoyment of the game, especially for Packers fans.

All indications are that hiring in the US is slowly waking from a long hibernation. As employers get back into the hiring game, those who can’t afford a lot of missteps would do well to focus more on factors that predict job success, and less on criteria that miss the point.

Examples of the former:

• Talent. Pure native talent. Are they naturally good at the job they’re expected to do?
• Fit. Do they “fit” the organization’s culture, by virtue of temperament, nature, values, and character?
• Behaviors. Do they tend to exhibit behaviors needed for the job under consideration.
• In some cases, and I emphasize in some cases, experience doing the kind of work, industry and environment notwithstanding, they’ll need to do.

There are valid and defensible ways to screen for all of the above. Find them, and use them.

Examples of the latter:

• Looks, height, weight, age, race, gender, politics, connections, and who they sleep with.
• Credit score, unless it’s pertinent to the job, which in most cases, it isn’t.
• Experience in your specific industry, again, unless it really matters. Hint: it often doesn’t. Employers in some fields in particular labor under the arrogant and often mistaken notion that unless the candidate has experience in their specific industry, they’ll never make it.  Banking and healthcare are good examples, but they’re not the only ones. If you’re looking for lenders and anesthesiologists, industry experience would be a must-have. Accountants and project managers, not so much. Talent, skill, and “fit” transcend industry.

Talent matters. It matters a lot. Look for it, know how to recognize it, hire it, develop it, and reward it.

Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and Contented Cows MOOve Faster, and the brand new book Rebooting Leadership. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

Since the middle of 2007, corporate and other organizational training budgets have been in the deep freeze, along with new hire requisitions and your last three merit increases. During that period, four classes of grads have found their way into the workplace. Many of them have since moved into their first management positions as their predecessors and even a few baby boomers have ascended a rung, or moved along. Most of these moves have occurred with virtually no formal preparation or training to enhance the likelihood of success. Moreover, during this same period, the workspace has become a faster paced, less trusting, less forgiving, meaner place.

Learning about little things, like how to select/deselect teammates, how to coach for better performance, how to acquire and use influence, how to manage time/priorities, and how to recover from a failed project or other career spill has largely been declared DIY territory.

Against this backdrop, and armed with the belief that a recession is a terrible thing to waste, in 2009 we embarked on a new book project. The “we” in this case took on a new dimension by virtue of two important new partnerships.

First, on the writing front, we teamed up with Reston, Virginia based management consultant and coach, Meredith Kimbell. Meredith added fresh perspective, tons of great examples from her consulting practice, a pithy writing style, and a woman’s touch. And, she’s just plain fun to work with.

Second, in order to accentuate B2B sales, we signed on with the king of leadership book publishing and B2B distribution, David Cottrell of Cornerstone Leadership Institute. A strong reader’s advocate, David pushes authors, his staff, and himself to do their very best work, and do it in less than 118 pages. There is no doubt that he pushed and cajoled us into doing a better book. And, true to his word, David consistently does exactly what he says he will do. How refreshing is that?

For those who speak, train, coach, and consult for a living, as we do, doing a new book is akin to printing new business cards – expensive business cards. It is also a lever that forces us to think long and hard about new realities, and prepare fresh advice and content for client presentations; content that is worthy of the time it takes to read or listen to. Forgive the lack of modesty, but we’re confident that we’ve succeeded.

Rebooting Leadership, our newest work, was written expressly for the above-referenced 1st and 2nd level managers, who daily attend to the myriad thankless tasks associated with getting the wash out, and those who coach and lead them. It’s a high protein, fad-free guidebook that is chock full of prescriptive advice for surviving and succeeding in the new world in which we find ourselves. Think of it as a semester’s worth of leadership education for much less than the price of a textbook or seminar.

Rebooting Leadership is an easy, 2 hour read, equipped with immediately actionable insight and prescriptions. Available both in print and digital versions for the Kindle reader, it is our best stuff to date, and we want you to have it.

The book even has its own website, at RebootingLeadership.com.

The print edition is available for $15.95 from Cornerstone Leadership Institute (volume discounts apply).

The Kindle version is available for $9.99 from Amazon.

For those who like to try before they buy, a free sample chapter is available by clicking this link.

OR – if you want to have one of the authors come to your organization and teach your leaders what it means to reboot their leadership, click here.

Whichever path you choose, we’re confident that you will find Rebooting Leadership a valuable addition to your management library.

If the momentum of a slow recovery pans out, with the attendant moderate uptick in hiring whose prediction was reported last week in USA Today, then a lot of employers will need to put on their shirts and straighten up the front room, because for the first time in years, company is sure enough comin’ through the HR office, the metaphorical “front room” of most organizations.

A December 1, 2010 article by Andrea Davis, in Employee Benefit News, reports that with hopes of at least a modest recovery, up to 60% of high-performing employees are eyeing plans to leave their organizations in 2011. That remains to be seen, of course, but what’s certain is that there’s lots of pent-up desire to seek greener pastures, and a more robust hiring picture will certainly open the gates for those who may feel abused and taken for granted during hard times.

If you’re planning to ramp up your hiring after a hiatus, it may be wise to do a checkup on your intake process, remembering that your reputation as an employer has everything to do with the caliber of your applicants. Some (no, lots of) organizations have become sloppy, cocky, and arrogant in how they treat potential new hires, reasoning that the labor supply/demand imbalance gives them the upper hand. They’ve apparently forgotten that every applicant represents a window, with a mouth, into the character of their organization.

If you know an organization like that (wink, wink, nod, nod), here’s a checklist you might want to send them anonymously:

• Do we have enough HR staff to handle an increased workload without botching the job or burning themselves out?
• Is the HR staff sufficiently trained in all aspects of their jobs, especially those who will be conducting interviews?
• Does the professionalism and consideration with which we treat job applicants accurately reflect the way we treat our employees?
• Do we treat every interviewee as we would a guest in our home?
• Who – or what – is making decisions to take applicants to the next step? Do real humans have input at every point? Or are we letting software determine who gets to play on the team?
• How well do we communicate with applicants? Do we let them know, in a timely and professional way, that they’re out of the running? Or do we assume they’ll figure it out by our inaction?
• Are we looking for the right qualities? Things that really matter? Or are we stuck on irrelevant “qualifiers” that leave the best talent to the competition?
• Do those we don’t hire feel at least about 80% as good about us as those we do?

Richard Hadden (twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows) is a leadership speaker, author, and consultant who helps organizations improve their business results by creating a great place to work. He and Bill are the authors of the acclaimed business classic Contented Cows Give Better Milk, and Contented Cows MOOve Faster, and the brand new book Rebooting Leadership. Learn more about them and their work at ContentedCows.com.

Today’s economic environment leaves no room for risk-taking in the talent-acquisition process.  Employers simply cannot afford the costs of re-hiring (estimated to be 2 to 3 times the annual salary of the position).  Conducting limited, perfunctory background checks (e.g., criminal records) is insufficient due diligence for employers, because even in cases of embezzlement, many cases are never pursued through the legal system.  The losses that result from hiring employees without the benefit of checking their references are realized at every level of the organization—from outright employee theft to lost productivity and damaged employee morale and engagement.   Checking references must no longer be limited to senior level positions.

Because employee loyalty is at an all-time low, employers must hire people who stand a greater chance of fully engaging with the organization’s values, style, and strategies.  Will that frontline supervisor be able to effectively deal with the pressures of his/her job?  Will s/he be able to interact with the entry-level staff as well as his/her superiors?  Does s/he have the courage that your organization and the position requires?  History and past performance are still considered strong indicators of future performance, and it is only through a thorough and robust reference-checking process than an employer can gain insight into the critical aspects of what a candidate will bring to their organization.

The thought that references won’t talk is a myth.  When the right reference is contacted, and credibility is quickly established, references will participate in a conversation.  Interviewing references effectively is an art that is supported by clear processes.

Tips to Effective Reference Checks:

1. Maintain control over the references that are called.  YOU—the employer, not the candidate—determines who will be called.  Ask each candidate to provide information for his/her last supervisor or manager at each prior position, as well as their current contact information.  Today’s research tools make it possible for candidates who really want to work for you to locate these individuals.
2. Request email addresses for the references so the conversation can be scheduled in advance and the reference can allow ample time.  (At RefCheck^® it’s not uncommon to spend 20 to 45 minutes with a reference.)
3. Assign the reference-checking process to professional-level staff, so the reference can be engaged in a true conversation.  Particularly at the senior levels, references want to speak with their equals.
4. Do not adhere to a rigid Q&A format, which leads to limited responses.
5. Thoroughly document the conversation. Take notes as the conversation takes place and review the notes for completion at the conclusion.

Ms. Corkerton can be reached at:

P: 614-777-8844, ext. 12

E: zcorkerton@refcheck.com

1. Workers have a diminished sense of meaningfulness in their jobs.
2. One word: micromanagement.

Here are 4 more reasons (with some suggested solutions), and a concluding thought:

Undifferentiated rewards: As companies have shrunk their merit budgets and bonuses, AND as the stock market is down for an entire DECADE (thus reducing the value of option grants), we have experienced tremendous reward destruction and compression in which the distinction between “stars” and “slugs” (Bill’s terms) has become negligible. Thus, we’ve experienced a drop in satisfaction that touches all, including our best performing people.

What to do: When you see good performance, reward it. Then and there. Start with “Thank You.” Then, find a way, and a big enough way to get the person’s attention. Rather than adding to fixed payroll expense, consider gifting an award trip, extra time off, or some other gift that really means something to the individual. Worry less about being consistent than sending a message that excellence is meaningfully rewarded.

Pocket pain: Specifically, health care. Concurrent with less-than-exciting (or nonexistent) pay increases, U.S. workers are paying more for health care, owing to a non-system that has seen costs more than double over the last decade. Employers who offer health care benefits have no choice but share the increasing cost. While currently proposed legislation solves some of the problems, it does little for the biggest problem – controlling costs. Take that, plus the increasing number of workers who have no health care benefits at work, and you’ve got a workforce paying higher premiums, higher out of pocket costs, no realistic solutions on the horizon, AND the increased worry that accompanies having no safety net. Yikes.

What to do: Turn off the TV! Get the facts. Read, starting with Regina Herzlinger’s Who Killed Healthcare?. Discuss the matter with your own physician. Consider establishing, along with like-minded neighboring employers, a private or co-op clinic, as organizations like SAS and the Pebble Beach Company have done. Heavily incent workers, using both positive and negative consequences, to better manage their health. Advocate forcefully for better public policy.

Diminished employment options: The recession, paired with the continued unbundling (and offshoring) of work have drastically reduced the number and scope of available jobs. Moreover, any stigmas or pangs of guilt on the part of management associated with reducing “heads” in the workplace have disappeared. Witness simultaneous announcements by United Parcel Service last month that the company was, 1) increasing earnings guidance due to favorable business conditions, and 2) Doing a restructuring that would eliminate nearly 2,000 jobs. People who once were assured that, even if they didn’t like their current job, could quickly find another now aren’t as comforted by their options.

What to do: Tune in. Let your people know where they stand and how the business is doing – truthfully and regularly. If you’re through making cuts, say so. Monitor and nurture your employment brand as carefully as you do your cash. That may also mean managing people out of the organization (with consideration and decency) who have unplugged and are merely hanging on because they don’t see any options.

The dumbing down of the workplace: The first shoe to drop whenever earnings take a hit, or the economy contracts, falls on the organization’s training budget. We are now in the 3rd year of greatly diminished funding, to include training for managers. To wit, people now find themselves in the unenviable position of working for (and with) less skilled managers. Not a happy thought.

What to do: Take this opportunity to get the jump on your competition. Begin selectively restarting your development activities, with a careful eye for the real priorities. If you can’t yet afford systemic efforts, fund development initiatives (i.e., executive coaching) for worthy staff. Incent workers (using time off or a skill acquisition bonus) to invest in their own development plans, rather than just “taking whatever comes from corporate”.

One last thought – and pardon what sounds like a negative tone here: Dissatisfaction isn’t confined to the workplace. The decade of the 00’s is one that most people in the U.S., if not elsewhere, were glad to put in the rear view mirror. We think it’s safe to say that many (if not most) of us feel less well off, less secure, and yes, less satisfied than at any time in our lives. To think that these feelings don’t make their way into the workplace is delusional.

That said, maybe it’s time to “reboot” this whole idea of leadership and motivation in the workplace. Not to throw it out, but to “reload the program”, under a new set of conditions, a new reality, for a new and better future. It is for that reason that together with our friend and colleague, Meredith Kimbell, we have been working for the better part of a year on a new book, Rebooting Leadership, due for publication in May of this year. Watch this space for more.

Meanwhile, buck up, and Godspeed!