Employer Supplemental Guide

Employer Options for Use of

30 Ways to
Shine
as a New Employee

30 Ways to Shine as a New Employee is a work-based skill development program designed for new employees with the purpose of increasing job retention by promoting adaptive and effective workplace habits, attitudes and choices. The ultimate goal of this program is not merely to encourage job maintenance, but to foster in the new employee a feeling of personal power, desire and responsibility leading towards job satisfaction and ongoing career development.

Topics on this page:

Benefits of the program

Premises for the program

Four options for implementation

Planning Matrix

If you are an Employment & Training organization, be sure to view:

Agency Supplemental Guide

30 Skills for Employee Success

1. Calming New Employee Jitters

2. Dealing With Change

3. Understanding Workplace Culture

4. Meeting New People

5. Satisfying Employer Expectations

6. Learning To Relate In The Company Style

7. Clarifying Performance Goals

8. Paying Attention To Your Surrroundings

9. Learning From Mistakes

10. Not Letting Worry Cramp Your Style

11. Reflecting The Company Image

12. Exceeding Employer Expectations

13. Shining In The Eyes Of The customer

14. Being A Team Player

15. Surviving Office Policitics

16. Choosing To Think Positive

17. Facing Your Fear and Finding Courage

18. Breaking Bad Habits Of The Mind

19. Coping With Everday Life

20. Taking Small Steps To Change

21. Controlling Your Anger

22. Making Yourself Understood

23. Benefiting From Praise And Criticism

24. Developing The Ability To Really Listen

25. Dealing With Difficult People

26. Making a Difference

27. Making Work Meaningful

28. Living Each Day Gratefully

29. Learning From A Mentor

30. Balancing Life And Work

Six Benefits of Using
30 Ways to Shine as a New Employee

1. Business Success is Tied to Employee Success

It has been said that a corporation is not an "it", but an "us." The success of any business is largely dependent on the success of its individual employees. Most businesses in any industry agree that the single most vital, adaptable and creative ingredient in any corporation is the human being. Unfortunately, there is a flip side. To the same degree that each employee has the potential to bring growth, prosperity and good to an organization, individuals also have the capacity to throw a monkey wrench into an otherwise smooth operation. For good or bad, your business is profoundly affected by the individual performance, productivity and personality of each employee.

This is especially true in service industries in which the customer’s experience (and evaluation) of the business is based on their interaction with the employee. It is impossible to account for the number of customers earned or lost due to the quality of service provided by employees – we can only surmise that the number on both sides of the equation is significantly high. Obviously, it is to the benefit of any business to develop in their employees the skills, qualities and habits conducive to positive customer relations.

Investing in Employee Retention Pays Off in Reduced Turnover

Which do you think is a better investment of time and money - teaching people how to prevent a fire or teaching people how to use a fire extinguisher once a fire is started? It costs a lot more to recruit, hire and train a new employee than it does to invest a little extra time in developing the employees you already have. The investment of time and energy required in this program will more than pay off in both reduced employee turnover and the potential employee development that may result from the use of this program.

3. Responding to the Diversity of Today’s Workforce

The challenge of managing and capitalizing upon the diversity of today’s workforce has never been greater or more critical for business success. Today’s entry level workforce is extremely diverse in terms of age, ethnicity, socio-economic background, disability, educational level, and work history. Many individuals entering the work world today have little or no work experience and bring less education and training than in previous generations. These differences among employees do not simply decorate statistical charts. Much to the consternation of managers and supervisors, they appear as a challenging mix of cultural backgrounds, communication styles, modes of thinking and, last but not least, perspectives and expectations about work.

30 Ways to Shine as a New Employee succinctly identifies and clarifies for employees across all lines of diversity, the essential skills and habits valued in today’s work world. These skills are just as timely and relevant to the 18 year old as they are to the 60 year old; just as relevant to the single mother gaining independence from the welfare system as to the person trying his hand in a new industry. Touching on skills as basic as listening, controlling anger and handling stress on the job, this guide is pertinent not only to employees from any of the hundreds of cultural heritages making up North American business, but also to the rich diversity of cultural differences among players in the global marketplace.

4. Equipping Employees for the Constantly Changing Workplace

Changes in today’s work world call for new relationships between employees and their work, between the employee and the employer, and between the employee and him/herself. This guide helps to advance these new relationships by promoting the kind of thinking that will put the employee in a position of personal power and choice. Rather than see the employer as a caretaker, the employee is encouraged to view the employer as a customer; rather than see him/herself as a pawn on a company gameboard, employees are encouraged to view themselves as providers of a valued service to the business. The mindset of a typical new employee is set on coping, adapting and surviving the new environment. The mindset we want to induce is one of purpose, adventure, optimism and faith. Aside from the obvious benefits your business will enjoy by having employees with this mindset, it will also help to prepare the employee for future changes that may befall the company later on down the road.

5. Developing Employee Qualities to Complement Skills

It is said that businesses hire for qualities and train for skill. That is a fine practice as long as there is a ready labor pool of applicants who possess the qualities valued by your business. But what happens when they don’t? Furthermore, hiring for qualities is tricky because they are subjective in both definition and identification. What one person deems as "assertive", another might characterize as "aggressive"; "confidence" to one person might be seen as "arrogance" to another. Even if there were some objective, agreed upon and reliable assessment of the valued employee qualities, it is naive to assume that any employee either comes with or without those qualities. This program assumes that everyone has the potential to exhibit those qualities in a context and environment in which they are enabled and inspired to do so.

30 Ways to Shine as a New Employee is a tool for assisting the new employee to co-create a context and an environment in which those qualities are a natural outgrowth. The ideas and challenges set forth in the guide were designed to cultivate and inspire the following qualities which are most highly valued in today’s fast-changing work environment:

Resourcefulness	Critical Thinking
Creativity	Great Team Player
Initiative	Assertiveness
Independence	Confidence

6. Employees’ Sense of Ownership Pays off in Excellence

It is no secret to savvy business owners that if you want employees to do their best, then they must feel and experience ownership in the organization. Effective managers make every employee feel like a colleague or a business partner, because when people feel ownership in something, they look out for it!

This perspective is often celebrated in the profits reported from companies like Hewlett Packard, Southwest Airlines, Nordstrom, Intel, Starbucks, Intel, Wal-Mart, Microsoft and hundreds of smaller companies, where employees who are treated like business partners rather than as hired help have dramatically affected the bottom line.

Here are some of the ways in which the guide assists the new employee to increase the sense of ownership on the job and to encourage an entrepreneurial mindset:

It asks the new employees to look at the organization as a whole and understand the role they play in the bigger picture;

It encourages them to define their jobs more broadly, leaving room for creativity and autonomy;

It fosters the idea of adding their own personal style or signature to whatever task they are involved in;

It develops a greater sense of belonging on the team; and,

It prompts them to view the customer as "their customer" not just the company’s.

Nine Premises of 30 Ways to Shine as a New Employee

30 Ways to Shine as a New Employee was developed to address the challenges and realities listed above as well as reflect the following underlying principles and premises:

For good or for bad, the fate of a new employee in a job is largely in his/her hands. The more awareness and conscious decision-making the new employee brings to the process the better.

Because we cannot be assured of the quality or quantity of workplace coaching and supervision, we should equip the individual with the skills, attitudes and habits which will ease the transition for the employee to become quickly productive for the employer. This program does not usurp or negate the need for good supervision of any employee – it is simply intended as an aid that can augment good supervision or assist the employee who is without it.

While every workplace presents its unique set of requirements and challenges, the 30 skills presented in the guide were written to be relevant and applicable to any workplace. The Challenge of the Day for each skill was designed so that it would become relevant to the employee’s particular work environment and specific position.

Psychologists talk about intrinsic motivation (being driven by internal needs and desires) and extrinsic motivation (being driven by rewards or circumstances from the outside.) Because none of us have much control over outside circumstances, people who are internally motivated have a greater degree of satisfaction and success because they have a higher degree of influence over their own happiness. This program works to build in the new employee more internal motivation and less focus on outside rewards. Employees who are encouraged to be responsible for their own motivation take more responsibility and become accountable to themselves for job satisfaction.

General life maintenance and job retention do not have a casual relationship – they are inextricably tied to one another. 30 Ways to Shine as a New Employee prompts the individual to pay attention to his/her whole life, not just his/her work life. As persons become healthier, happier and more fulfilled in their larger life, their work life will take on a similar glow.

During a time of transition and change, new employees need to keep their energy and focus in areas where they have control. This program helps to tame worry and harness hope by presenting challenges in small, incremental steps. It is through everyday experiences of success and progress that confidence and self esteem grow and strengthen.

It is said "what gets measured is what gets done." This guide helps to measure those things that are often considered intangible but are critical to employee development, like making daily progress on the job, learning the corporate culture, benefiting from feedback and making mistakes, building confidence on the team, etc. Each of the 30 skills in the new employee guide provides a "Challenge of the Day," laying out a series of small, achievable tasks or assignments related to that skill area. These tasks are specific, measurable and made relevant to the employee’s work environment. This program, in essence, is more about building a springboard of personal power and self-confidence in the workplace from which all else is possible.

The more choice employees have, the greater the sense of control and self-responsibility that they feel. The more control they have, the greater the confidence they feel. As confidence builds, so does productivity and effectiveness. This guide is all about choices. Each of the 30 Skills present a myriad of choices presented as suggestions, tips, recommendations and challenges. Here are just a few of the choices a new employee is empowered to make through the use of this guide:

I have a choice to make a difference in this organization.

I have a choice as to how to respond to conflict or difficult situations.

I have a choice as to how I present myself to my co-workers.

I have a choice as to how I treat the customers.

I have a choice every day about how I act and react to other people on the team.

I have a choice about the information I gather about this company and how I use it to add value to this company.

I have a choice to bring energy and enthusiasm to the job or any other of a variety of attitudes and behaviors.

I have a choice as to how I use this job to better my future.

It is important for the new employee to approach the new job from the perspective of taking one more step towards true livelihood and career development. In that spirit, here are the premises in the introduction of 30 Ways to Shine as a New Employee. (Refer to pages 3 - 7 of the guide for the detailed version of these premises.)

Livelihood is a journey, not a destination. You plan to use this job so that it works on your behalf in the present and for your future.

Any job you do is worth doing well.

You’ll get as much from your job as you are willing to put into it.

Attitude matters!

It is the small, daily choices you make that determine and shape your destiny.

Successful employees treat their employers as customers, not caretakers.

Success on the job is related to skills and behaviors that are learnable.

You want more from work than a paycheck.

Four Options for Implementation

Independent Use

Employees use the guide independently, practicing the skills and progressing through the guide at their own pace.

Independent Use
with support as needed

Employees use the guide independently with occasional support from an assigned mentor or coach on an as-needed basis.

New Employee Mentoring Program

Employee is coached through the 30 skills with regular, ongoing mentorship. The guide is used as the basis for new employee mentoring.

New Employee Training/Orientation

Guide is used as basis for an intensive 1-3 day new employee training program.

This option can be coupled with similar Internal Training for current employees!

Considerations for Implementation

Options	Advantages	Disadvantages
Independent Use Employees use the guide independently, practicing the skills and progressing through the guide at their own pace.	Requires no time or effort on the part of the employer. Sends a vote of confidence to employees that they can get what they need from the guide on their own. Employees progress through the 30 skills at their own pace. Employees can pick and choose to practice the skills that are most important to them.	Employees may feel little buy-in from employer on the 30 skills and, as a result, take it less seriously. Employees may lose interest if they receive no feedback on what they are learning. Employees may not know what they need. Employees would not know which skills are of highest priority to the employer. Employer loses the opportunity to take advantage of the guide as a way to keep in touch with employee progress, problems and potential.
Independent Use with support as needed Employee uses guide independently with occasional support from an assigned mentor or coach on an as-needed basis.	Requires limited participation from employer. Employees see employer’s investment in the process that may increase their own motivation. Mentor or coach is able to monitor new employee’s progress using the guide as a tool.	Time required on part of the mentor or coach. More on-going support may be needed for some employees.

Options	Advantages	Disadvantages
New Employee Mentoring Program Employee is coached through the 30 skills with regular, ongoing mentorship. The guide is used as the basis for new employee mentorship.	Employees benefit from on-going individual support and guidance and employer will be better able to support employees with the guide due to enhanced knowledge of the skills. Problems can be spotted immediately. Employee confidence and productivity grow quickly and the transition to work is eased. Employer has a basis for monitoring employee progress and viewing employee potential.	Requires more time on the part of mentor or coach. Some employees may not need this much support.
New Employee Training/Orientation Guide is used as basis for an intensive 1-3 day new employee training program. This option can be coupled with similar Internal Training for current employees!	The 30 skills are viewed as part of the company culture. Through the training, the 30 skills can be tailored completely to the company. Great team-building experience. Everyone is working on the same page resulting in a common language and mind-set as a result. Employees are oriented to the variety of challenges and opportunities awaiting them. The employee’s first experience with the company is extremely positive and confidence building. There is a basis for follow-up with mentor or coach once the employee begins to put the skills into practice.	Investment of time on the part of the company. Less individualized approach. Less effective use of guide if not put into further use once the employee is on the job. Much of the value of the guide is in its daily use and for using when issues arise. Without active mentors involved, it is difficult to benefit from long term use of guide.

THE PLANNING MATRIX

Attached is a summary and description of the 30 skills covered in the guide identifying areas of competence that each skill strengthens in the new employee. This matrix is designed to be a quick reference tool for the planning and implementation of the guide for various purposes including:

Situational problem-solving;

A workshop tool;

A mentoring workbook; or,

A self-study program

CATEGORIES ON THE PLANNING MATRIX

1. Communication

Regardless of the position, every new employee’s experience in the workplace will be enhanced with the ability to communicate confidently and effectively with supervisors, co-workers and customers. This category identifies employee communication skills such as listening attentively, choosing words carefully, expressing themselves clearly, and paying attention to how they are communicating non-verbally.
2. Assertiveness

Learning to respond to work situations assertively rather than passively or aggressively is critical to job retention. This category identifies those skills which cultivate and reinforce new employees’ ability to assert themselves professionally and appropriately in the workplace, including the ability to speak up when there is a problem, to ask relevant questions and to request assistance when needed.
3. Performance

All employees could benefit from clarifying their specific goals and objectives, learning to use their time wisely, utilizing feedback in order to improve, and aspiring to some form of progress every day on the job. This category identifies those skills that will enhance new employees’ ability to meet performance standards and to measure their daily and weekly progress.
4. Attitude

While a positive attitude cannot be manufactured, bought or sold, every supervisor attests to the power it wields in the workplace. This category identifies those skills that cultivate and reinforce new employees’ ability to maintain a positive attitude on the job. Such as the ability to be aware of choices in their thinking about any situation, to see the big picture in a situation rather than react to the emotions of the moment, or to give other people the benefit of the doubt.
5. Work Habits

In the same way that common sense is not always common, basic work habits are not always basic. Habits that used to be required as "entrance at the gate" are becoming harder and harder to come by in today’s entry-level labor force. This category identifies basic work habits without which the new employee may quickly become "unemployed", for example, getting to work on time, maintaining good hygiene, calling in when sick, and expressing emotions appropriately.
6. Problem-Solving

For most new employees, the first six weeks seem like a landmine of surprises and problems. While challenges are unavoidable, it is possible to foster new employees’ ability to cope with them. This category identifies those skills that cultivate and reinforce the new employee’s ability to resolve conflict and solve problems as they arise on the job. These skills include controlling anger, dealing with negative feedback, working with difficult people, and seeking mentorship for ongoing advice as problems arise.
7. Team Building

Growing the employee’s feeling of belonging and contribution to the team is a powerful way to build commitment and confidence in the new employee. This category identifies those skills which foster simple behaviors that enhance teamwork, such as learning to introduce oneself, remembering people’s names, learning about other team members’ jobs, volunteering to help out team members when needed and giving positive feedback to fellow team members.
8. Informational

It has been said that information is power. For a new employee, some information represents the power to survive and adapt to the new environment, at least in the first six weeks of employment. This category identifies those skills which enable employees to become informed about the company they work for and the industry they have entered, including the company culture, policies and procedures, company expectations, performance standards and career development opportunities.
9. Diversity Skill

Successful businesses in today’s global market work to foster an inclusive environment valuing diversity, not only in their products and clientele, but in their workforce as well. This category identifies those skills that encourage the new employee to contribute to an inclusive workforce. These skills include becoming aware of similarities and differences among team members, valuing one’s own contribution to the workplace, learning to listen and being cognizant of non-verbal communication, and paying attention to the part that perspective plays in one’s perceptions of others.
10. Stress-Reduction

It is a challenge for all employees to handle the stress of a new job and juggle the pressures of work and family life. This challenge can be faced more effectively, however, when new employees practice stress-reducing behaviors from the beginning. This category identifies those skills which build that capacity, for example, coping with difficulties and showing flexibility, redefining wealth and practicing daily gratitude, and participating in ongoing activities that enrich their social, family and/or spiritual lives.
11. Initiative

The success of any thriving business is largely attributed to the ingenuity, enthusiasm and ambition of its owners. Cultivating the qualities of enterprise and initiative in new employees will benefit not only the employer, but also the business of their own careers. This category identifies skills and behaviors that reinforce initiative on the part of new employees, such as asking good questions, going the extra mile in customer service, looking for ways to improve their own effectiveness, and taking responsibility for the quality of the relationships they are forming with co-workers. (These skills are bound to give pause to current employees lacking in initiative!)

Select Planning Matrix for viewing.

Select Supplemental Guide for Agency Use to obtain more information on how to use this guide with Job Seekers.

Select Pre-Employment to obtain more information on how to use this guide in a Pre-Employment Workshop. (Information includes: priority rating, estimated timeframes in class, outside of class and follow-up time in class for each of the 30 Skills).

Contact Milt Wright & Associates, Inc. to obtain a preview copy of the book by
e-mail ljgroh@miltwright.com or phone (800) 626-3939. $10.00 Shipping and Handling charges.