ECI’s Foundation Study v. Google’s Project Oxygen to Identify High Performers

One of our associates passed along this New York Times article about Google’s Project Oxygen to me earlier this week.  Google wanted to identify the factors associated with high performing managers.   Being the experts they are with data analysis, they sliced and diced all of their performance review ratings and other anecdotal information to identify [...]

Are Pharmaceutical Reps Exempt or Non-Exempt?

A recent article in the news described the court case at Novartis where sales representatives were pressing for overtime, given the structure of their accountabilities.  This has been a topic we have reviewed a number of times for our clients and which rarely lands on the same recommendation.  Pharma companies generally pay on business results [...]

The Stay Survey

I just saw a great presentation the other day on how to increase employee engagement and productivity.  One points that I took away from this presentation was the idea of a “Stay Interview”.  Most companies have an exit interview process that tries to understand why an employee is leaving the company.  I know many companies [...]

The Economy Is Recovering…but things are different

The economy looks as if it is beginning to pick up.  We are noting a difference in the marketplace these days, with customers beginning to investigate purchasing new initiatives, asking great questions on how to adjust deployment of sales staff to maximize outcomes in this turbulent marketplace, and seeing more interest in working with us [...]

Why did I get passed over for the promotion?

With all the restructuring, lay offs, asking people to do more with less, and working harder every day for less, it really can be debilitating when an opportunity comes along and you don’t get promoted. It makes you wonder.  What is wrong with me?  Aren’t I doing a good job?  Can I do something different [...]

Who’s Hiring?

The short answer, lots of companies.  The more complete answer, however, is companies where there is expected turn over and companies who provide services to people.  The companies who are hiring are often the larger organizations who always have openings because of people moving up, people moving on and people retiring.  To apply and get [...]

How Culture Impacts Merger and Acquisition

ECI has helped companies make a smooth transition after merger and acquision.  Our studies have shown that the number one reason merger or acquisions fail is because the culture is never fully integrated.  Company leaders often think that because they have introduced the cultural expectations to the new company members, that is sufficient for a [...]

Prudent Risk Taking and Other Such Terms

Consultants usually have their own jargon that they consistently use to describe various behaviors their clients demonstrate.  Over the years, ECI has devised or adopted several of these terms.  The interesting thing to me is that as we work with clients for the long term, many of them begin to speak in the same terminology. [...]

Handling Problem Workers

My sister was an executive vice president in banking.  She decided to retire when she saw the sub-prime market starting to go crazy and realized that the way she believed a book of mortgages should be developed and managed differed substantially from others in the industry.  Too bad she didn’t stick it out.   While my sister [...]