ILIENT EMPLOYEES

Since you cannot ask non-work-related questions in a job interview, what can you do to hire applicants who – when they encounter work difficulties – readily pick themselves up, figure out how to do better next time, and move on.

In fact, in my HOW WINNERS DO IT book and speeches, I emphasize, “The main difference between a winner and a loser is a winner picks himself up exactly one more time than a loser!”

Question: So, how can you spot an applicant who will “pick himself up exactly one more time?”

Solution: On the BEHAVIOR FORECASTER™ Test, we have two scales that help you predict which applicants handle obstacles well – Subjective Reactions vs. Objective Reactio

I bet you have some employees, colleagues, family or friends who are crybabies.

Definition: In our SPONTANEOUS OPTIMISM® book, we define a pessimist as someone who loves to do three things:
1. Complain
2. Blame
3. Moan

They are “Loser Magnets” – because they magnetically attract other pessimists and crybabies who love to complain, blame, and moan.

In fact, they are “Emotional Vampires” who cherish every opportunity you give them to suck the good feelings right out of your skull.

ADULT TANTRUMS

If you think about it, an adult who wallows in complaining, blaming and moaning is, in reality, throwing the adult version of a child’s temper tantrum. An upset child will cry and kick and scream. Well, adults cannot do such “childish” actions. So, they do the more pseudo-intelligent thing: They
1. love to list anything that goes wrong (complain)
2. point fingers at how someone else goofed up (blame)
3. wallow in the emotional mud for as long as anyone listens (moan)

Recommendation: The next time you see an adult “bent out of shape,” pause for a moment. Realize you are witnessing the adult version of a child’s tantrum.

ARE YOU “PLAYING HOUSE”?

Remember: If you ever lapse into considering whether to tolerate an employee’s whining, complaining, blaming and moaning, you absolutely must remember these four points:
1. This is not a game.
2. You are not playing house.
3. You are not operating a counseling center.
4. You are running a business – and that requires you to focus on your mission to improve profits and productivity.

INTERESTING – BUT USELESS – RESEARCH

Interesting research: Salvidore Maddi, Ph.D., professor at U. of California – Irvine, studied 450 executives to find out how they handled various “stresses” on-the-job. About 2/3 handled stress poorly, and 1/3 handled it well. A large percentage of the people who handled work-related stress well had this in common: As children, they experienced extremely “disruptive stresses early in life,” typically in their family life.

Useless aspect of this research: It is illegal – and unprofessional – to ask job applicants about non-work activities. As such, you should not ask an applicant if s/he experienced “disruptive stresses early in life.” You are not even supposed to ask about an applicant’s family experiences. That would be a non-work-related question. (Note: Even if you did ask, it is doubtful the applicant would tell you about sticky childhood or family experiences, anyway!)

However, of course, you crave to hire people who handle well the roadblocks they encounter on- the-job. These roadblocks include failure, rejection, not making a sale, not achieving a goal, or someone giving the employee a hard time.

HOW TO HIRE HARDY, RESILIENT EMPLOYEES

Since you cannot ask non-work-related questions in a job interview, what can you do to hire applicants who – when they encounter work difficulties – readily pick themselves up, figure out how to do better next time, and move on.

In fact, in my HOW WINNERS DO IT book and speeches, I emphasize, “The main difference between a winner and a loser is a winner picks himself up exactly one more time than a loser!”

Question: So, how can you spot an applicant who will “pick himself up exactly one more time?”

Solution: On the BEHAVIOR FORECASTER™ Test, we have two scales that help you predict which applicants handle obstacles well – Subjective Reactions vs. Objective Reaction

d will cry and kick and scream. Well, adults cannot do such “childish” actions. So, they do the more pseudo-intelligent thing: They
1. love to list anything that goes wrong (complain)
2. point fingers at how someone else goofed up (blame)
3. wallow in the emotional mud for as long as anyone listens (moan)

Recommendation: The next time you see an adult “bent out of shape,” pause for a moment. Realize you are witnessing the adult version of a child’s tantrum.

ARE YOU “PLAYING HOUSE”?

Remember: If you ever lapse into considering whether to tolerate an employee’s whining, complaining, blaming and moaning, you absolutely must remember these four points:
1. This is not a game.
2. You are not playing house.
3. You are not operating a counseling center.
4. You are running a business – and that requires you to focus on your mission to improve profits and productivity.

INTERESTING – BUT USELESS – RESEARCH

Interesting research: Salvidore Maddi, Ph.D., professor at U. of California – Irvine, studied 450 executives to find out how they handled various “stresses” on-the-job. About 2/3 handled stress poorly, and 1/3 handled it well. A large percentage of the people who handled work-related stress well had this in common: As children, they experienced extremely “disruptive stresses early in life,” typically in their family life.

Useless aspect of this research: It is illegal – and unprofessional – to ask job applicants about non-work activities. As such, you should not ask an applicant if s/he experienced “disruptive stresses early in life.” You are not even supposed to ask about an applicant’s family experiences. That would be a non-work-related question. (Note: Even if you did ask, it is doubtful the applicant would tell you about sticky childhood or family experiences, anyway!)

However, of course, you crave to hire people who handle well the roadblocks they encounter on- the-job. These roadblocks include failure, rejection, not making a sale, not achieving a goal, or someone giving the employee a hard time.

HOW TO HIRE HARDY, RESILIENT EMPLOYEES

Since you cannot ask non-work-related questions in a job interview, what can you do to hire applicants who – when they encounter work difficulties – readily pick themselves up, figure out how to do better next time, and move on.

In fact, in my HOW WINNERS DO IT book and speeches, I emphasize, “The main difference between a winner and a loser is a winner picks himself up exactly one more time than a loser!”

Question: So, how can you spot an applicant who will “pick himself up exactly one more time?”

Solution: On the BEHAVIOR FORECASTER™ Test, we have two scales that help you predict which applicants handle obstacles well – Subjective Reactions vs. Objective Reactio

a game.
2. You are not playing house.
3. You are not operating a counseling center.
4. You are running a business – and that requires you to focus on your mission to improve profits and productivity.

INTERESTING – BUT USELESS – RESEARCH

Interesting research: Salvidore Maddi, Ph.D., professor at U. of California – Irvine, studied 450 executives to find out how they handled various “stresses” on-the-job. About 2/3 handled stress poorly, and 1/3 handled it well. A large percentage of the people who handled work-related stress well had this in common: As children, they experienced extremely “disruptive stresses early in life,” typically in their family life.

Useless aspect of this research: It is illegal – and unprofessional – to ask job applicants about non-work activities. As such, you should not ask an applicant if s/he experienced “disruptive stresses early in life.” You are not even supposed to ask about an applicant’s family experiences. That would be a non-work-related question. (Note: Even if you did ask, it is doubtful the applicant would tell you about sticky childhood or family experiences, anyway!)

However, of course, you crave to hire people who handle well the roadblocks they encounter on- the-job. These roadblocks include failure, rejection, not making a sale, not achieving a goal, or someone giving the employee a hard time.

HOW TO HIRE HARDY, RESILIENT EMPLOYEES

Since you cannot ask non-work-related questions in a job interview, what can you do to hire applicants who – when they encounter work difficulties – readily pick themselves up, figure out how to do better next time, and move on.

In fact, in my HOW WINNERS DO IT book and speeches, I emphasize, “The main difference between a winner and a loser is a winner picks himself up exactly one more time than a loser!”

Question: So, how can you spot an applicant who will “pick himself up exactly one more time?”

Solution: On the BEHAVIOR FORECASTER™ Test, we have two scales that help you predict which applicants handle obstacles well – Subjective Reactions vs. Objective Reactio

f this research: It is illegal – and unprofessional – to ask job applicants about non-work activities. As such, you should not ask an applicant if s/he experienced “disruptive stresses early in life.” You are not even supposed to ask about an applicant’s family experiences. That would be a non-work-related question. (Note: Even if you did ask, it is doubtful the applicant would tell you about sticky childhood or family experiences, anyway!)

However, of course, you crave to hire people who handle well the roadblocks they encounter on- the-job. These roadblocks include failure, rejection, not making a sale, not achieving a goal, or someone giving the employee a hard time.

HOW TO HIRE HARDY, RESILIENT EMPLOYEES

Since you cannot ask non-work-related questions in a job interview, what can you do to hire applicants who – when they encounter work difficulties – readily pick themselves up, figure out how to do better next time, and move on.

In fact, in my HOW WINNERS DO IT book and speeches, I emphasize, “The main difference between a winner and a loser is a winner picks himself up exactly one more time than a loser!”

Question: So, how can you spot an applicant who will “pick himself up exactly one more time?”

Solution: On the BEHAVIOR FORECASTER™ Test, we have two scales that help you predict which applicants handle obstacles well – Subjective Reactions vs. Objective Reactio

ILIENT EMPLOYEES

Since you cannot ask non-work-related questions in a job interview, what can you do to hire applicants who – when they encounter work difficulties – readily pick themselves up, figure out how to do better next time, and move on.

In fact, in my HOW WINNERS DO IT book and speeches, I emphasize, “The main difference between a winner and a loser is a winner picks himself up exactly one more time than a loser!”

Question: So, how can you spot an applicant who will “pick himself up exactly one more time?”

Solution: On the BEHAVIOR FORECASTER™ Test, we have two scales that help you predict which applicants handle obstacles well – Subjective Reactions vs. Objective Reactions Pessimism vs. Optimism

On the Subjective Reactions vs. Objective Reactions scale, someone who scores low (i.e., Subjective Reactions) tends to be a person who gets upset, “bent out of shape,” acts like a crybaby, or throws the adult version of a tantrum when things do not go their way they like. In contrast, someone who scores high on this scale (i.e., Objective Reactions) tends to take difficulties in stride, figure out solutions, and move ahead in a mature, adult-like manner.

On the Optimism scale, people who score low (i.e., Pessimistic) love to complain, blame, and moan. In contrast, applicants who score high on this scale (i.e., Optimistic) prove to be confident, self-responsibly, “can-do” people who thrive on figuring out solutions to problems they encounter.

In fact, if you hire an applicant who scores high on Objective Reactions and also high on Optimism, you will have hired a mature, adult-like employee who exhibits resiliency and hardiness despite roadblocks.

Interestingly, when we conduct “benchmarking studies” to identify the FORECASTER™ Test scores of superstar employees, we quite often find superstars in many jobs in many companies score high on both Objective Reactions and Optimism.

HOW CAN YOU IMPROVE YOUR RESILIENCY & HARDINESS?

If you feel upset or “bent out of shape” when you encounter roadblocks – or when someone gives you a hard time – here is what you can do to handle it successfully.

First, focus on the facts. One BEHAVIOR FORECASTER™ Test scale is Feeling-Focused vs. Fact-Focused. It tells managers whether an applicant likes to focus on feelings, emotions and personal topics (i.e., like a social worker) or focus on facts and nitty-gritty details (i.e., like an accountant or engineer).

Problem: Imagine the last time you got upset and threw an “adult tantrum.” Most likely, you let yourself flounder in a Feeling-Focused mode.

Solution: To handle a crisis or difficulty in a mature, down-to-earth, pragmatic manner, you need to switch your brain into a Fact-Focused mode. After you listing the facts, you need to conjure up solutions. By focusing on facts of the bothersome situation, you can succeed in figuring out how to handle the problem, pick yourself up, and implement your solution.

Tip: “Focus on what you want – not on what you do not want”

-- Dr. Michael Mercer & Dr. Mary Troiani in

SPONTANEOUS OPTIMISM® book

Second, don’t play victim. Remember: People only can step on you if you keep lying under their feet! So, if you allowed someone to play the monster role while you play the victim role, do what an optimistic person does: Take personal responsibility for solving your predicament, rather than just complaining, blaming and moaning about the monster. And – most importantly – stand up for yourself.

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