The Sisyphus Comments

Why Aren’t We Hiring The Best Candidates

Cops must learn to “size people up” very quickly if they hope to survive on the street. Unfortunately, as officers move into administrative and management positions, they oftentimes attempt to transfer their street assessment skills to the office. This can be a formula for disaster in most personnel management situations. In a recent article, the HR Chally Group discusses “The Nine Most Common Hiring Mistakes” and a close analysis of their recommendations reveals several potential problem areas with standard police personnel practices.

For instance, Mistake 1 is “relying only on interviews to evaluate a candidate.” You may be surprised to find out that “the typical interview increases your chances of choosing the best candidate by less than two percent.” That right, the old practice of grilling a potential applicant to “see how he reacts” may not actually be very useful in your effort to identify the best candidate for the job.

As you read the nine mistakes, think about your agency’s hiring procedure. Are you continuing to use a process that may be causing you to miss the “best qualified” people simply because “that is the way it has always been done?” Check it out!

CLICK HERE:

The Nine Most Common Hiring Mistakes

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Communication – Saying You Are Sorry

There was a popular movie that came out in 1970 entitled “Love Story.” The film, which starred Ali MacGraw and Ryan O’Neal, was based on a best selling novel written by Erich Segal. If you have some gray in your hair, you probably remember it as the top grossing “chick flick” of that year. You probably had to take your girlfriend to see the movie so you will remember the classic quote from the movie, “Love means never having to say you’re sorry.” In fact, the quote was ranked #13 in the American Film Institute’s Top 100 Movie Quotes. As most of us later found out, that quote only worked in the movies. In real life, you oftentimes do “have to say you’re sorry”, especially when there is a miscommunication of some sort.

Why do you have to say you’re sorry? Because, as we discussed in the previous articles in this series, both the sender and the receiver are at fault when there is a breakdown in communication. Either the sender’s message wasn’t clear or the receiver misinterpreted the meaning, intent, and purpose of the message. Either way, both share some degree of culpability for the miscommunication so an apology should be forthcoming from both sides.

Don’t worry about who is “most at fault”, just suck it up, step back and try to rebuild your relationship. In most cases, a little humility will be worth it in the long run. Remember – effective communication is the key to success!

This is the last in this series of articles. If you found the information useful, take a minute to click on the “Comments” link below and give us your thoughts. If you didn’t find it useful, let me know why.

Other articles in this series:

Communication – Do You Habla Inglese

Communication – You Can’t Just Shout It Out

Communication – It Takes More Than Ginkgo or Ginseng

Communication – What You Don’t “Say”

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Communication – What You Don’t “Say”

Its not what he said, its how he said it. Almost any sergeant will tell you that he has spoken with more than one citizen who used these very words to describe an interaction with an officer. Of course, when questioned about the incident, the officer in question will normally respond, “Honest Sergeant, all I said was “Have a nice day.” So who is being untruthful? The chances are neither of them. Although we know plenty of officers who can say “Have a nice day” and it just cries for “asshole” to be added to the end of the comment.

Studies indicate that communication consists of three elements: spoken words; tone of voice and inflections; and body language. Although we normally think of communication as a verbal exchange, the spoken words only make up 7% of communication. The other 93% of the message that is communicated comes from your tone of voice and inflection (38%) and your body language (55%). So it is quite possible to “say” one thing and yet communicate an entirely different message depending upon your tone of voice and your body language. As a result, assuming that the sender was intentionally trying to convey a particular message, it is entirely possible for the receiver to misinterpret the message that was intended. This is where good supervision becomes important. When a pattern of complaints are received on a particular officer, an effective supervisor should begin his intervention by encouraging the officer to make sure that his words and his body language are congruent. In other words the messages conveyed should “match”.

If you are a supervisor, make sure you keep this in mind during your interactions with your subordinates and the public. For instance, although multi-tasking is great for productivity, it is not good for effective communication. If you want to communicate effectively with someone, stop multi-tasking, look into their eyes and give them your undivided attention. These simple gestures tell the person that you are talking with that you are truly interested in communicating with them.

Other articles in this series:

Communication – Do You Habla Inglese

Communication – You Can’t Just Shout It Out

Communication – It Takes More Than Ginkgo or Ginseng

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Website: National Sex Offender Public Registry

I am sure by now that most folks are aware that information about convicted sex offenders are available on the internet. The Virginia State Police maintain Virginia’s on-line sex offender registry. However, you may not know that the Department of Justice coordinated the Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Registry, a cooperative effort between the state agencies hosting public sexual offender registries and the federal government. The National Sex Offender Registry is named for Dru Kathrina Sjodin, a 22 year old student of the University of North Dakota, who was a victim of kidnapping, rape, and murder in 2003.

Unlike many websites that are maintained by the federal government, this site is nicely designed and very easy to navigate. Simply enter your ZIP code and hit the search button to get a list of convicted sex offenders in your area. You can also click on a name link to get personal information on the offender like a picture, home and work addresses and a risk level. Keep in mind that if there is a confinement facility in your area, all the incarcerated offenders will also show up when you do a search. I didn’t realize this at first and I was surprised by the number of offenders living in my ZIP code until I checked their addresses and found out many of them were residing in the county jail. Check it out!

CLICK HERE:

Dru Sjodin National Sex Offender Public Registry

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Communication – It Takes More Than Ginkgo or Ginseng

In the previous article in this series, we dumped a lot of the responsibility for effective communication on the sender of the message. It is very important for the sender to make sure that the message is heard and understood. However, the receiver is also an equally important factor in the communications equation.

Learning to be an good listener is tougher than you might think. Unfortunately, just dropping a few capsules of ginkgo or ginseng may increase your concentration but it won’t help you become a better listener. They say that the only reason most people are willing to listen to someone else speak is because they are waiting for their own turn to speak.

The problem is that our brain can think and process information faster than a speaker can talk. This wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing but our brain does not like to be idle so sometimes it kicks into analysis mode and starts formulating a response before the speaker finishes presenting the information. At other times, the brain simply chooses to entertain itself by taking a mental trip down some rabbit trail or just “zoning out.” Either way, the listener risks missing key components of the message.

In order to stay “dialed in” to a conversation, you have to practice concentrating and adjust your attitude about your role in communication. Start by telling yourself that you will not judge the message until the speaker finishes speaking. In fact, you should concentrate all of your energy toward understanding the message. Ask questions to clarification the sender’s message. Use common active listening skills like repeating the key elements of the message back to the sender in your words. Remember, repeating the message does not necessary mean that your agree with the message. However, it does help insure that you understood the message that the sender was trying to convey.

Remember, as the receiver, you are at least equally responsible for insuring that effective communication takes place.

Other articles in this series:

Communication – Do You Habla Inglese

Communication – You Can’t Just Shout It Out

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Communication – You Can’t Just Shout It Out

In the first article of this series, I suggested that sometimes the receiver doesn’t receive your message because he simply chooses not to. In other words, although you may have crafted your message as clearly as possible, the breakdown in communication may have been an intentional act on the part of the receiver. I guess that makes you feel better. I mean its not your fault if your message is intentionally ignored by the receiver, right? Wrong!

If your responsibility as the sender of a message was limited to insuring that you were heard, all you would need to do is shout at people all day long and you would be a successful communicator. Unfortunately, if you want to be an effective communicator, you need to make sure that you are both heard and understood.

Actually, making sure that the receiver understands your message is the hard part of communication. Are you sure that your message is being clearly received or do you sound like this?:

“I think I know that you know what you think I meant when I said what I said but I really didn’t mean what you thought I was thinking when I said what you heard so now you have really messed things up.”

In the book, BusinessThink, the authors present a useful concept that they call “complex equivalents.” Basically, they say that we may be creating communications problems by presenting our ideas using words or phrases that have multiple meanings. The words we use may appear to have a clear meaning, yet buried beneath the words are multiple meanings and interpretations that require further understanding if we are truly going to communicate effectively.

If you want to be an effective communicator and remove all doubt about your message, all you have to do is ask a few questions. Try some of these:

1. Do you understand what I what I just told you?
2. Do you have any questions that I can answer about what I’m asking you to do?
3. Can I rephrase my instructor to make them easier for you to understand?
4. Can you tell me what I want you to do?

Although it takes a little more time and effort on the part of the sender to ask these simple questions (or similar questions), they will virtually eliminate communications problems. Remember, it is not enough to simply “send” the message, you also have an obligation to insure that the message was received in the manner that you intended.

Other articles in this series:

Communication – Do You Habla Inglese

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Website: Get Prepared – Get Ready America

Whether you are taking on a new home improvement project or starting a new career, preparation is the key to success. Preparation is also critical to homeland security and, during a crisis, your personal security. Now the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, in partnership with The Advertising Council, has created a series of instructional videos to help educate and prepare us for all kinds of emergencies. The videos include emergency preparation recommendations for pet owners, older Americans and individuals with disabilities and other special needs. This is a great new resource. Check it out!

CLICK HERE:

Ready America Instructional Videos

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Communication – Do You Habla Inglese?

Over the next few days, we will be taking a closer look at a subject that probably has more of an impact on productivity than any other factor – communication. On the most basic level, communication is the exchange of information; the conveying or sharing of ideas and feelings.

Speaking of “feelings”, do you ever get the “feeling” that you are speaking English but the people with whom you are trying to communicate don’t habla Inglese? You know the feeling – you speak in perfectly clear, properly structured sentences when you give your instructions but it appears that your audience is hearing impaired. Why can’t you get your message across? You normally don’t have problems communicating effectively with the other people in your life, so what’s up these folks?

Could it be that they are trying to sabotage you or your project? Probably not. There is an old saying that goes something like, “If you knew how little people thought of you, you wouldn’t worry about it.” . . . Stop! Please reread the previous sentence and ponder it for a minute . . . At the risk of damaging your self esteem, for the most part, you are probably not real important to other people. In fact, they are much more interested in doing things to benefit themselves than doing things for or to you. Remember, deep down, we are all a little self-centered and most of people don’t have enough the time or energy to waste abusing other people. It is much more probable that they are simply pursuing some self-serving goal and you just happen to be an obstacle that needs to be avoided or sidestepped.Basically, you may have to consider the possibility that your “lack of communication” has nothing to do with whether or not you clearly communicate your message. Instead, it may simply be the content of your message that caused your communications breakdown. I realize that this concept is heresy for the communications gurus but sometimes the receiver doesn’t receive your message because he simply chooses not to.In the next article, I will give you some tools to help overcome this type of communications block.

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Website: Reading Truly is Fundamental

When I look back on my formal education, including K-12, college and a variety of professional development courses, I can easily identify the one skill that has had the greatest impact on my professional and personal development – reading. I was fortunate to attend school in a consolidated school district that had an excellent reading skills development program. I must confess that during the early part of my adult life, my reading was limited to sports magazines and newspapers (oh yea . . . and a bunch of beer bottle labels). However, at some point “my job” became “my career” and professional development became much more important to me. I also realized that most employers were more interested in the skills I brought to the job than where acquired the skills.

This is where my self-directed studies took root, first through books and publications and later through the use of the internet. I am thoroughly convinced the internet is the great equalizer for professional development. Regardless of your interest or your skill level, there is a resource on the internet that will take you to the next level. The internet has come under criticism as a result of the many dangers that confront unsupervised children. However, I believe that positive aspects of the net definitely outweigh the negatives for both adults and kids.

For starters, there are a variety of on-line programs being developed that encourage kids to put down their video game controllers and get back to reading. One of these programs is the Rosetta Project’s Children’s Books On-line. The website, made possible by a donation from the John and Frances Beck Foundation, has been scanning children’s books into an electronic format since 1996. They are constantly adding new books, all of the books are all arranged by reading level and some are even narrated. Just click on the little kid in the red pajamas to visit the library.

Start your kids reading now so they learn to experience the joy of self-directed learning. By the way, when was the last time you read a book? Big boys and girls may want to check out Project Gutenberg or the University of Virginia’s Electronic Text Center for some free electronic books that are more suitable for adults. Of course, if you are just breaking into the on-line world of self-directed learning, check out Wikipedia, the free on-line encyclopedia.

CLICK HERE:

Children’s Books On-line

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Get It Together With Google Browser Sync

Why won’t you listen to me on this? Just quit using Internet Explorer – download Firefox and start getting the most out of your internet experience with add-ons. I told you about Foxmarks in yesterday’s article but if being able to synchronize your bookmarks didn’t convince you to make the switch, I have an even better add-on to tell you about today.

From the land of the all powerful and all knowing comes the Google Browser Sync add-on. The Browser Sync for Firefox is an extension that continuously synchronizes all of your browser settings – not just bookmarks. With this great tool you can also sync your browser history, persistent cookies, and saved passwords across your computers. Better yet, you can also restore open tabs and windows across different machines and browser sessions. This means you can visit a web page at work, save it and open it back up at the same point on your home computer. Isn’t this a great country? Check it out!

CLICK HERE:

Download Firefox
Download Google Browser Sync

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No Sex For Kids But Violence Is OK

Politicians or public servants? Are our elected officials working for themselves or working for the voters? The answers to these questions depend on the character and values of your representative. However, make no mistake – the degree of enthusiasm with which an elected official pursues an issue is impacted by his perception of public opinion. Of course, there are certain issues that are a pretty safe bet regardless of the area of county you live or the political affiliation of your elected representative. If a representative would like to keep his job, it would be a good idea to appear tough on crime and to jump on any issue that helps safeguard our children. Maybe that is why representative from so many states are willing to line up to introduce legislation to regulate violence in video games.

Even though the courts in nine states have ruled that this type of legislation violates the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution, the state of New York will probably be the next state to roll the dice on this controversial issue since their State Assembly has already passed a video game bill and the governor has expressed his support of the legislation. Even the “Govenator”, Arnold Schwarzenegger can’t seem to let the issue drop although California’s efforts to regulate the video game industry have been tossed out by the federal courts. Schwarzenegger has indicated that he will appeal the latest decision.

The attorneys representing the State of California argued that, when it comes to minors, states should have the authority to regulate violent video game content in the same manner that it regulated sexually explicit material. Although, it was an interesting argument, the courts refused to apply the legal rules for pornography to violent media. I think I agree with the courts on this one. However, if you don’t, just click on the “Comments” link below and share your views.

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Do You Have A Good Image?

People ask me for computer buying advice all the time. Things like “Where should I buy a computer?” or “How much RAM do I really need?.” Regardless of the initial question they ask, I always try to work in my number one computer-related recommendation – back up, back up and back up. You have to understand that it is not a question of if your hard drive will fail, it is a question of when it will fail.

If you type “computer backup strategies” into Google, you will get more information than you could possibly absorb including instructions for setting up a RAID (redundant array of independent disks) configuration, backup software/hardware and backup scheduling strategies. However, most home users are only interested in protecting their music collection, family photos, address books and personal files. Of course, if you have ever bought a new computer and attempted to move your data over from your old computer, you know that you restoring your data is a huge task. Picture how you would feel if you lost everything on you current computer due to a hard drive failure and didn’t have any data to restore.

The first question you have decide is what type of media are you going to use to store your backup. If you only want to backup a few personal files, you may be able to get away with using a CD or DVD. I don’t care for this strategy since they can get scratched or simply fail. I use a Seagate 500 gb external hard drive that I have partitioned into two separate drives. The reason I split it in two is I have a two-tiered backup strategy.

I use backup software to do a daily incremental backup of my data and I also do a disk image. I do a weekly disk image to make it easy rebuild my system if my hard drive fails. Since I’a a MacBook user, I chose the free Carbon Copy Cloner software to make my disk image. However, there are several programs available for Windows users that will image hard drives. The most popular are Norton Ghost ($70) and Acronis True Image ($80) but there are also some shareware options available.

The benefit of having a disk image is it provides you with a complete copy of your hard drive at the time the image was taken including all your programs, files and settings. So if you have to replace a hard drive, you simply copy the image to the new drive and you are back up and running. Never forget that the image is just a snap shot of your computer at the time it was taken so it doesn’t replace a backup strategy that includes daily incremental backups.

If you don’t have an regular backup program, go out today and buy an external hard drive (they usually come with free backup software) and an imaging software program. If you backup today, it will save you a lot of heart ache if your hard drive decided it is time to give up the ghost.

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Keep The Pressure Up On Your Vacation

With the approach of the Labor Day weekend, the kids will be heading back to school and the summer vacation season is nearing an end. Unfortunately, the roller-coaster gasoline prices this year have forced us to factor gas prices into our vacation plans like never before. Families are constantly seeking ways to increase fuel economy and squeeze out more miles per tank. However, instead of focusing purely on the fuel gauge, experts suggest paying more attention to your tires.

According to Fred Koplin of Yokohama Tire Corporation, “Tires that are under-inflated by just 6 to 7 psi (pounds per square inch) can reduce fuel economy by 2 percent or more … and tread wear life by as much as 10 percent.

He goes on to explain, “When a tire is under-inflated, the car’s weight rests more on the tire’s shoulders than its center, causing poor fuel economy, uneven wear and a less-than-firm ride, which can significantly reduce driver control.”

I can remember a time in the not too distant past when drivers were frequently reminded about tires because changing a flat tire was an all too common experience. Today, tires boast advanced tread designs, sidewalls, belts and compounds, and they work so well, they’ve practically become an afterthought for most drivers. When was the last time that you had a flat? Some tires are even designed to allow you to continue driving when the tire goes flat.

The Auto Club reports that as many as 86 percent of drivers don’t check their tire inflation properly. Hopefully, as gas prices continue to rise, this percentage is likely to start dropping as former tire novices learn how to maintain proper pressure levels.

So let’s take a look at some tire inflation basics. First, the tire’s proper inflation level can be found on a placard in the glove box or on the car door or in the owner’s manual. In addition, the proper inflation range is also imprinted in the sidewall of the tire. Some simple tire maintenance rules include:

• Once a month, when the tires are cold, or at least 3 to 4 hours after the vehicle has been driven, check tire pressure with a reliable tire gauge. (Normal driving causes tires to heat, raising air pressure. Releasing air when tires are hot may dangerously under-inflate the tires.) And be sure that the valve stems have a plastic or metal cap to keep out dirt and seal against leakage.
• Tires should be rotated at least every 5,000 to 8,000 miles and the alignment should be checked once a year. Misaligned tires can cause the car to drag, which lowers mileage and causes unnecessary tire wear.
• An over-inflated tire puts less tread on the road and increases wear on the center of the tread. A tire is designed to run with the vehicle’s weight spread evenly across the tire’s width.
• Visit Yokohamatire.com or the Rubber Manufacturers Association’s website for additional tire care and safety tips.

Life is short so don’t let high gas prices cause miss out on those great summer vacation memories. Put some fresh air back into your summer vacation travels – check your tire pressure.

Portions of this article are courtesy of ARAcontent

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As Simple As Black And White

The word miscegenation is derived from the Latin words miscere “to mix” and genus “kind”. Don’t get excited – it isn’t your “vocabulary word of the day”, you won’t have to use it three times in a sentence and there won’t be a quiz. However, it is a very important word to Virginians since it was used in our anti-miscegenation law that prohibited interracial marrying, cohabiting or sexual relations. The fact that any southern state had a law that prohibited the “mixing of the races” probably doesn’t come as too much of a surprise to most people but, if you are like me, there is one bit of trivia concerning this law that is shocking. It took a ruling by the United State Supreme Court to end the use of anti-miscegenation laws and that ruling didn’t occur until 1967.

The landmark civil rights case was Loving v. Virginia (388 U.S. 1, 1967) and the Supreme Court used the case to declare Virginia’s anti-miscegenation statute, the “Racial Integrity Act of 1924“, unconstitutional, effectively ending all race-based legal restrictions on marriage in the United States. As important as this case was to civil rights in the United States, I had never heard of it. I don’t remember any mention of the case in school, although I would have been in about fourth grade when it was decided. I did a little research and I discovered that the story of the Lovings was turned into a movie in 1996 titled Mr. & Mrs. Loving but I had never seen it either. It wasn’t until my recent trip to Europe that I happened upon a documentary about the Lovings on a BBC television news station. The BBC had put together the documentary to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the ruling.

Overall, when one examines the condition of our society today, it makes you proud to be an American. However, I find it a little unsettling that we are only celebrating the 40th anniversary of the end of anti-miscegenation laws in the state that I call home. In fact, despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, several other states that had similar laws allowed them to remained on the books. in 2000, Alabama became the last state to remove its law prohibiting mixed-race marriage. You can read a good overview of the Lovings’ struggle on Wikipedia. Check it out!

CLICK HERE:

Loving v. Virginia

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