How to Have Influence

Each month, we email you tools and resources to help sharpen your leadership skills and grow your organization. We’re not perfect – we struggle with these things too! Today we take a look at how to influence others in order to produce substantial and sustainable change. 


The difference between effective and ineffective change-makers is that the effective ones don’t rely on a single source of influence. They marshal several sources at once to get superior results.

The authors of the book, Influencer: The Power to Change Anything, found that for successful behavior change, you must apply at least 4 out of the 6 sources of influence:
1. Personal Motivation
2.Personal Ability
3. Harness Peer Pressure
4. Find Strength in Numbers
5. Design Rewards & Demand Accountability
6. Change the Environment

In this short video, Kinzler’s Chief Operating Officer Brian Schwartze explains the six “sources of influence” a leader needs to tap if they want
to change a person’s behavior. 

How to Optimize Your Marketing Spend

by Jason Mortvedt
Kinzler Construction Services Marketing Director

 

Today we look at your choices for where to spend your marketing dollars. The options are more complex than ever.

Check out the chart below. There are a couple very interesting takeaways:

  • U.S. consumers spent the most time watching TV and using mobile devices, which is also where the lion’s share of advertising dollars went.
  • The one area which receives more ad dollars than it should is print, based on how much (or little for that matter) time people spend reading newspapers and magazines.

Optimizing your marketing and advertising spend for 2019 probably means more mobile. Better targeting makes mobile ads more accurate and more effective.

 

Hiring Great People Is More Than a Gut Feeling

Tips for hiring to avoid costly mistakes.

As a leader, there’s little that’s more important than hiring great people for your team. Consider this:

  • Finding people is HARD: U.S. unemployment rate is 3.7%, a nearly 50-year low.
  • Finding GOOD people is harder: $37 billion is spent annually to keep unproductive employees who don’t even understand their job.
  • KEEPING good people is hardest: With competition for talent high, the average construction turnover rate is 21.4% (for people age 24 and younger, the turnover rate is 64%).
  • Poor hiring is EXPENSIVE: Bad hires require additional supervision, create conflict and make the leader’s job harder. The average cost of a turnover is 16-20% of the person’s base salary.

Like so many of you, we’re continuously challenged to find and retain great team members.

Kinzler Construction Services Chief Talent Officer Brian Schwartze recently shared 12 hiring tips with our hiring managers. In the video below, hear three of those tips to give yourself the best chance of finding the right person.

 

Thankful. It’s the Best Way to Live.

Kevin and Yvonne Kinzler, Founders

What if all you had in your life today was what you were thankful for yesterday?

Circumstances occasionally cause us to pause, to appreciate and recognize the blessings in our lives- like the Thanksgiving holiday. But do we pay attention each day to the blessings in our lives?  Do we take time at some point every day to be grateful for the place we live, our relationships, our opportunities and the freedom to make choices?

What if I started, or ended, each day focusing on what’s good instead of what I’m missing, wanting or what isn’t just right. Would I have a different outlook and attitude on my day and the people and situations in my life? Can I be grumpy, short tempered and walk with a slouch when I’m grateful?

No. It’s impossible to be thankful and not feel happiness and joy. A thankful heart and spirit changes our perspective, our posture and our entire personality.

Let’s decide this Thanksgiving, to keep an attitude of gratitude throughout the coming year. Thankful- it’s the best way to live!

We give thanks to God for each of you.

Have a blessed Thanksgiving,
Kevin and Yvonne Kinzler
Founders

LEADERSHIP: Crucial Conversations

While the thought of having difficult conversations may fill most of us with dread, avoiding conflict is a big mistake. In fact, such conversations are absolutely crucial to an organization’s health and overall success. Sure, the tension may feel high—but ignoring incompetence or bad behavior only creates alienation and a culture of mistrust.

In this video, Kinzler Chief Talent Officer Brian Schwartze shares practical ways to defuse the situation and achieve a successful resolution.

DOWNLOAD OUR CRUCIAL CONVERSATIONS CHEAT SHEET

Learn more from the New York Times best selling book, Crucial Conversations.

VIDEO: The Sunset Rule

The Sunset Rule was a rule I imposed on myself many years ago after a call from a good customer. He called me out of frustration, agitated that he had not been called back by my salesman for a couple of days. The customer was a long-time relationship of mine and asked if he could work directly with me since his assigned salesman didn’t seem to care about him. I had a conversation with this salesman in our organization asking why he hadn’t called the customer back. The salesman had two or three reasons important to him for why he was too busy to make this call. The salesman’s first excuse was that he “didn’t have an answer for him yet,” so communication was suspended.

When a customer, co-worker, friend, or family member contacts you, make time by the end of each day to respond before the sun sets. You may need to prioritize your responses. Friends and family will understand that your response on a work day will need to be during a break or after work. Customers and co-workers deserve and expect a more immediate response by text, email or call, even if that response is simply to let them know you’re working on an answer. I have always done my best to stick to this rule and to advocate company-wide that we all adopt the Sunset Rule.

The Sunset Rule is an act of respect and diligence and is a key component to having great relationships. This simple discipline of getting back to people has truly been a key to success in my personal life and at Kinzler.

Kinzler Congratulations Second Class of Bell Leadership Graduates

18 Kinzler employees graduated from the most recent Bell Leadership training, pictured with certified in-house facilitator Brian Schwartze.

A class of 18 Kinzler Construction Services employees recently completed the Bell Leadership Institute’s Achievers program, led in-house by Certified Facilitator Brian Schwartze, Kinzler’s Chief Talent Officer. The leaders and aspiring leaders from Kinzler’s branch locations in Iowa, Minnesota and Texas participated in the three-day program at the company’s Training Center in Ankeny, IA.

Described by graduates as “life-changing,” Achievers is the cornerstone program of Bell Leadership Institute, designed to provide a unique framework to understand exceptional leadership in a personal context.

“I tell people all the time that Kinzler is a company where all people, programs, processes, and systems are focused on helping employees grow and advance their careers. The Bell Leadership Achievers program delivers on that promise,” said Angie Cramer, a Kinzler Recruiter and recent Bell Leadership graduate.

“This class of Kinzler employees were engaged and eager to grow their leadership skills,” said Schwartze. “Without a doubt, this training translates to industry-leading service to our customers!”

© 2022 Kinzler Construction Services

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