This week, in typical tragic Hollywood fashion, another young starlet was sent to prison for violating her probation. Lindsay Lohan was once known for her cute tween looks and Disney-inspired movie roles, but a series of poorly acted films and bad behavior has resulted in the young talent hitting rock bottom.

Have you ever experienced an employee who started out top of their game, but eventually became the weakest link?

Have you ever experienced an employee who started out top of their game, but eventually became the weakest link? It’s not impossible, and several factors can cause a decline in productivity, but implementing a talent development program enables managers to stay on track when coaching employees.

Talent Development Programs should start with a basic skills assessment. The ProfileXT is designed to measure how well an individual fits specific jobs in your organization. Once an employee has been hired, managers can create a talent development program based on the ProfileXT results and the “job modeling” feature.

The ProfileXT provides managers with information about an employee’s thinking and reasoning style, relevant behavioral traits and occupational interests. The scores on each of these objectives may be used by the manager to then project what areas the employee will need development. Once the scores have been reviewed and managers understand what areas require more development, a talent development program may be implemented.

Don’t let your talent fade. Plan for your employee’s success, and enable them to maximize their potential.

The majority of organizations use teams of employees to complete objectives. The idea behind the team construction is that different people with different strengths, weaknesses and viewpoints are more likely to successfully complete a task. If multiple elements contribute to an organizations success, why use that method only with teams of employees?

You know that one assessment tool can provide you with a great advantage when managing the talent within your company, but have you ever considered how multiple assessments can work together as a comprehensive talent assessment program?

The image below is the Solutions Matrix. This graph demonstrates which assessments can be used together to solve business objectives.

For instance, you may have encountered some trouble with improving sales performance. Naturally you would assume that the Profiles Sales Assessment would be a great tool to start with, but you might not have realized that the Profiles Performance Indicator and the CheckPoint 360 could align with the Profiles Sales Assessment to give you an all-inclusive talent assessment program.

The Profiles Sales Assessment will give you insight into how well a person fits specific sales jobs, while the Profiles Performance Indicator can show whose personality will impact their job fit. Adding the CheckPoint 360 to this program ensures that you will also be able to pinpoint any issues there may be with management.

Using multiple assessments to solve one problem ensures that you are looking at the issue from every possible angle, and that you will be able to easily identify where the problem originates. The objective of Talent Assessment Programs is to accomplish a particular business goal. Focus on one of your biggest business objectives, and then create a program based on what you want to accomplish.

Simply put, innovation is the creation of a new idea, process or thing. It is undeniable that innovation played a major role in the creation of the new iPhone 4. The previous iPhone has dominated the smart phone market since its creation, and is second now only to iPhone 4.

What makes the new iPhone 4 so innovative? Attention to detail. Everything from the number of pixels on the screen to the size of the camera lens has been altered so that its “better” than the last model. This newest version boasts longer battery life, and incredible hardware that does more in less time. Each aspect of the already hottest piece of technology on the market has been improved or tweaked to the current standard of perfection.

What if your company could reinvent some of its practices? What if you went from a 2.0 to a 4.0 version because of your employee’s innovation? Well, that’s impossible isn’t it? You don’t have innovative employees, just dedicated ones, right? Wrong.

Companies all over America are failing to realize the importance of encouraging innovation among employees to boost productivity and enhance outdated business practices. The excuse “but it’s the way we have been doing it for years,” won’t hold any weight in the current market. What can you do to ensure that you are capitalizing on employee’s innovation?

• Promote open communication
• Encourage innovative thinking
• Deny failure, but promote trying until it’s right

The most innovative employees know that they can communicate their ideas directly with a manager or business leader. This open communication ensures that the leaders at the top have an opportunity to understand every idea coming from those in non-managerial positions. Communication promotes a healthy system of checks and balances, and encourages employees to problem solve based on their own experiences.

Do not let employees fail. Simply tell them to try until they get it right. Defining an attempt as a failure will inhibit new ideas and solutions because it promotes the idea of “I can’t.” Don’t let employees sell themselves short. Encourage them to try until the idea or process is effective.

The iPhone wasn’t built in a day. And several new versions have been created since the original prototype hit the market. Encourage your employees to keep an open mind, to seek new solutions to old problems, and to communicate their ideas openly with people in management positions so that their ideas can become realities.

Unless you are living under a rock, you are aware that the FIFA World Cup started last Friday, and has soccer fans worldwide on the edge of their seats. Thirty two teams are competing in South Africa this year for the title of World Cup Champions.

Last week, the USA tied with England for a score of 1-1. While, USA fans continue to praise their team for its success, England is a little less pleased with its goalie Robert Green.  Poor Green was a victim of pressure and butterfingers when he let the ball slip into his own team’s goal.

Has that ever happened to you? A star employee performs to the best of their abilities for an extended period of time, but just when their efforts become exceedingly crucial to the company’s success, they drop the ball. People are people, and eventually everyone will mess up from time to time, but as a manager, how do you handle situations where a once reliable employee does not perform to the best of their abilities?

Employee utilization seems to be one of those over-used business terms that poorly describes one of the most important elements in productivity. The most productive companies in America know that successful employee utilization is an active ingredient in their overall success. When human capital planning is at the top of a company’s priorities, they are sure to achieve their goals despite a potentially lean number of employees.

So, what do the most productive companies mean when they say they have impeccable employee utilization? To successfully utilize employees, organizations should consider three elements:

•    Each employee should have a detailed job description
•    Employee engagement should remain a top priority
•    Employees are assigned an amount of work that is manageable and based on their personal capabilities

Just because an employee holds a specific title does not always mean that the employee will understand what is expected of him.Despite the complexities that seem to be involved, human capital planning tools have made these processes easier to achieve than one would think.

Each employee’s job description should be detailed and thorough. Just because an employee holds a specific title does not always mean that the employee will understand what is expected of him. Setting clear boundaries for employees allows them to acknowledge their goals, and understand what they are expected to accomplish. Employees will be utilized based on their job descriptions, and will aim to be more productive if they know their limitations.

Employee engagement is another major facet when considering how to use an employee to the best of their abilities. Employees who are disengaged are less likely to achieve their goals, and more likely to avoid exceeding expectations. Employees who feel respected and valued will produce double the work that a disengaged employee produces. Personalized assessments are valuable tools that managers can use to better understand how to engage employees. Not each employee will respond to the same motivators, but a good manager recognizes these differences and works with them to create a productive work environment.

Personalized assessments are valuable tools that managers can use to better understand how to engage employees.
Finally, the amount of work employees are expected to produce is the quintessential element of employee utilization. Workload capabilities are just as diverse as an employee’s engagement level.  Organizations need to understand that an employee’s workload capabilities do not always directly correlate with their intelligence or activity levels. Each employee can handle a certain number of tasks at a time, but this number will vary greatly throughout all levels of the company.

Strategic human capital management tools can assist organizations with the complexities involved in the employee utilization process. The results from assessing employees can teach managers about an individual’s workload capabilities and engagement levels. Managers should also consider open communication when trying to encourage that employees work to their full potential. Weekly one-on-one meetings or an open-door policy will encourage employees to communicate when they are having trouble managing their projects or meeting their goals.

In order to successfully master productivity, companies should administer accurate job descriptions to each employee, keep employees engaged, and adjust each employee’s workload so that they never feel tired or burnt out. Using employees to their fullest potential will result in higher productivity and a happier workforce.

The word effective is defined as “producing a desired result, or ready for service or action.”

It is easy for us to complain about how our employees don’t live up to our expectations. Yet, how often do we ask ourselves if we are enabling our employees to be effective and productive? I would say, not often enough.

Effectiveness and productivity are important because an employee can effectively execute his job duties, but if his job description isn’t tightly aligned to our expectations, we may not consider him to be a productive employee. In the same way, a productive employee may crank out work and get things done quickly, but if his work isn’t being used then you may not consider him an effective employee. The word effective is defined as “producing a desired result, or ready for service or action.” If our employees produce work that is aligned with  expectations and strategy, and they do it in a timely and efficient manner, then we’ve hit a gold mine. Making employees both productive and effective is easier said than done, but there are six ways to marry the two.

1.    Create a clearly defined strategy that is easily communicated and understood.
A strategy must originate from upper management, and then cascade into a properly designed organization. Encourage this process by investing in information and tools to help front-line managers better understand their people,  so that they can form and maintain cohesive, stellar teams.

2.    Design your departments in such a way that the positions within each department can easily execute the strategy.
Clearly define the attributes of people who fit the culture. Then, you can use that standard to support your hiring decisions. Proactively identify and develop effective front-line managers. View requests to add headcount with healthy skepticism, only after exhausting good alternatives. Ensure employees have the right “fit” for their jobs, as well as proper experience, skills and equipment to perform at full capacity.

3.   Ensure that each job not only has a job description, but distinct and measurable goals.
For example, make sure that three people are never doing the work of two. Productive companies closely monitor and benchmark individual contribution.  They assess and reassess priorities to determine what work is most important and what activities can be streamlined because they don’t add sufficient value. Clearly align roles and responsibilities with the goals of the organization so that your employees can help execute the strategy. Clear goals help employees focus on the outcomes that matter most to the organization.

4.    Create a system that can monitor how each employee contributes to the overarching strategy.
One-on-one meetings and open communication will encourage employees to stay focused and accomplish their goals. Performance-driven cultures – where actions and results speak louder than words – are often most effective. Executives should be in constant contact with front-line managers so that the people under them are always on track and focused. It is always helpful when the department manager sets goals and benchmarks for each employee, but then allows the employee to formulate the strategy for accomplishing the assigned goals.

5.   Allow employees to take ownership of their duties and goals.
When you allow employees to take ownership, you provide with them with a valuable opportunity to learn how to manage their own success. Open communication and team work are essential. When the team knows how they fit into the overall purpose, and they also know how their peers contribute to the purpose, then they are more connected and committed to the company’s success. Failure should not be discouraged because risk taking helps drive innovation leaps. When employees are encouraged to try new things without the fear of being reprimanded for failing, they are more likely to push themselves and exceed expectations.

6.    Be flexible and open-minded to necessary adaptations and alterations.
Just as clarity of purpose drives productivity, so does flexibility drive efficiency. Productive companies are more flexible than their peers in handling special circumstances such as special projects, peak demand periods and unplanned employee absences. Full-time employees are cross-trained to cover for one another in times of short-term need. The most productive companies cultivate good sources of contract and temporary labor and have good practices to ensure they deliver what is expected. Innovation results from incremental improvements to, and the fine tuning of, existing strategies and processes.

When these six best practices are executed in a company from the top down, you will create a culture that attracts and sustains people who will make the company more efficient, and subsequently more productive.

“More than 40 percent of currently employed respondents plan to start their search for better jobs within the next 12 months”

Despite the encouraging fact that the unemployment rate has recently dropped to 9.9 percent, it still seems that a large percentage of the workforce is taking on more work than one person was intended to accomplish.

According to Yahoo! HotJobs, “More than 40 percent of currently employed respondents plan to start their search for better jobs at some point within the next 12 months… 21 percent said they were already actively looking for new jobs.”

The “overworked and underpaid” syndrome begins when employees are under appreciated, overworked and constantly stressed. It then progresses to an overwhelming sense of negativity within the organization, and only ends when the affected employees find new employment elsewhere.

The same HotJobs study suggests that, “Approximately 44 percent of employees said they felt there was no ‘potential for career growth’ in their current positions. Around 25 percent wanted to change jobs because they felt that they were not valued employees.”

As a manager, how do you handle the “overworked and underpaid” syndrome? Employee utilization (or using your employees to their potential) is crucial if organizations are to remain truly productive. What is your solution for utilizing employees so that they feel essential and necessary?

Baseball, the American past time, has a way of turning men into legends. Thousands of fans watched Sunday as Dallas Braden of the Oakland Athletics pitched a perfect game against the Tampa Bay Rays. Braden is the 19th pitcher in major league history to hold a claim to pitching a perfect game.  When asked about his accomplishment, Braden said, “I don’t know what to think about it just yet… I’d like to have a career more than today.”

Dallas Braden’s response to his victory also demonstrates what a member of a performance-driven culture believes. Personal gain is always exciting, but working toward a greater goal is the key.

When thousands of America’s Most Productive Companies were polled and analyzed, researchers discovered that they had ten particular attributes in common. Of these qualities, five can be classified as “people attributes.” The people attributes include: performance-driven culture, effective managers, high employee utilization, high employee effectiveness, and encouragement of innovation.

Business leaders of the most productive companies, tend to promote individual initiative and high levels of teamwork.

Performance-driven culture is one where the entire workforce focuses its efforts on achieving the results most important to the organization. When Dallas Braden pitched the perfect game, he was exhibiting the results of playing for a team with a performance-driven culture.

Baseball is a team sport, and although some positions get more play time than others, each person must effectively work toward the goal of winning the game in order for the entire team to succeed. Business leaders of the most productive companies, tend to promote individual initiative and high levels of teamwork, which, as in sports, are essential ingredients for achieving results.

A performance-driven culture is the perfect pitch for your organization.

The name Tiger Woods has evoked many emotions throughout his golfing career, but recently the name has induced nausea in the masses that were sick of hearing about his less-than-spotless personal life. Luckily for the golf legend, the focus this week isn’t so much on his personal rendezvous as it is his golfing capabilities. Gossip columns and tabloids are still searching for scandal in every bunker and tee box they can find, but for the most part the media is interested in how Tiger will play. After five not-so-long months of rumors and speculation, the golfer may actually be recognized for his athletic talent once again, but only as it applies to his “recovery.”

No matter the talent, at the end of the day people are just people. As humans we can be expected to mess up from time to time because perfection is unattainable. Tiger’s personal life impacted his professional career, so how do “real” people deal with these scenarios?

What happens when your top performer finds himself in a personal predicament? Stressors such as divorce, financial troubles, family death, etc. can severely impact an individual’s professional performance. Imagine this scenario: Your all-star employee exceeds his performance goals for months. Suddenly, his results slowly begin to diminish. Over the course of a few months his productivity is lower than anyone else’s and his attitude and engagement seem to be floundering. You find out he has been suffering from a very personal crisis. What do you do?

Tiger Woods’ professional career was abruptly interrupted by his personal crisis, but with time and patience the media and fans have slowly let him crawl back into the inner circle of the golf greats. Employees suffering from personal crises should not be immediately dismissed because of their poor performance. Instead, give those employees coaching and development opportunities to help them balance out during their difficult time.

If the employee was a top performer when his personal life was in line, then he should eventually return to that capacity of achievement. Keep his personal goals and skills in mind when coaching him through his personal issues, and encourage him to perform despite his troubles.

If first quarter goals were not met, do not expect to make them up all in the second quarter.

Spring has officially sprung and the first quarter is coming to a close. The shift in the seasons and the business year often requires a need for a fresh start, and new growth. As colors get brighter and the sun shines longer, businesses should consider their own spring cleaning.

Have you met your goals thus far?

If your organization is struggling with meeting goals, it may be time to rejuvenate the way goals are set and the way the organization is conducted. Assessments can help organizations better understand the mess they are dealing with before they begin their “cleaning”. This is not to say that employees need to be fired in order to run more effectively.

How are your employees performing?

Coaching is also an effective way to develop employees into high-performers. If after the second or third quarter an employee is not performing as desired, then it is time to consider relocating them or dismissing them, but give employees a chance and a means to improve before any permanent decisions are made.

Employee motivation is often questionable this time of year, and managers need to educate themselves with what their employees need to remain engaged. Each employee’s preferences for engagement will vary, so not each method of motivation will work for each employee. Managers should strive to offer a few methods of motivation to ensure that each employee feels stimulated and encouraged.

What can be done to accomplish your goals more effectively?

If first quarter goals were not met, do not expect to make them up all in the second quarter. Goals take time to accomplish, and the work that is required to accomplish those goals needs to be done right, not tomorrow. Make sure that quality is still part of your equation when considering how to accomplish what your organization needs in order to be successful.

With spring in the air, get motivated to rejuvenate the way your organization is managed and maintained. The first quarter may not have turned out as planned, so recharge and reconfigure for a great rest of the year.