Soft Dollars Verses Hard Dollars
When I worked in the mining industry I heard the term Soft Dollar verses Hard Dollars on many occasions. Managerâ ™s that constantly mentioned this term were of the belief that unless it is already recorded in the production figures, it was a soft dollar issue, and not worth addressing.
Here is just one of hundreds of examples of soft dollar issues that were not worth addressing, according to the mine site. Frequently managers and supervisors would be rude and aggressive to the digger and shovel operators. These operators told me they then made sure they belted the teeth on the front of the bucket, against hard and difficult rock, in a deliberate attempt to brake them. Broken bucket teeth cost many thousands of dollars to replace, and yet the managerâ ™s never realised there was a significant hard dollar cost due to their lack of understanding the soft dollar skills.
Tom Peters and Nancy Austin suggest in their book in search of excellence, that there is one common misconception that stands out above all others, and that is hard data and spread sheets are the keys to a successful business. Peters and Austin advocate a change from tough-mindedness to tenderness, from a concern with hard data and balance sheets to a concern for the soft stuff - values, vision and integrity. We have found when it comes to achieving long term success, soft is hard.
The best bosses in school, hospital, and industry are neither exclusively tough nor exclusively tender. They speak constantly of vision, of values, of integrity; they harbour the most soaring, lofty and abstract notions, but all the time they pay obsessive attention to detail.
There are other forms of pay back that employees can dish out to employers who believe they have a right to be rude, blunt, bullying and blind to needs of their employees, and thatâ ™s stealing.
33% of employees admit to stealing a product or money from jobs in the last three years. Business loose on average 1%-2% of gross sales, which in turn leads to companies suffering, lay offs and the loss of jobs. It is estimated that 30% of business failures are directly related to employee theft.
I will pay more for the ability to deal with people than for any other ability under the sun.
John D. Rockefeller
Rockefeller was an industrialist who over a forty-year period built Standard oil into the largest company in the world, and believed you should emphasis in your recruitment campaigns, the need to find and hire candidates with soft skills and hard skill credentials. Rockefeller was for a time the richest man in the world. So here is a key to wealth, understand for long term success, soft is hard.
David Osborne is a recruitment and performance management expert.
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