IAS in the Jewelry Industry

In Partnership with Janice Mack and Associates

By Hannah Connorton

Miami--Cori Moschberger, a licensed clinical social worker and chief operating officer and consultant at Integrated Advising Services, presented “Building a Highly Productive Organization” at AGS Conclave here Thursday, covering strategies and the importance of jewelers building a strong workforce.

Moschberger first addressed common hiring mistakes: hiring because someone is nice, because the store needs a “token” employee, because someone is good looking, or because of relation--a sister, nephew, son, etc. What these mistakes cost employers, Moschberger said, is lost sales, overpaid wages, lost or undersold customers, turnover and more.

“People may be good, but they may not be right for jewelers or right for the job,” she said. “You can start with a really good person, but put them in the wrong role. When you’re hiring, you’re not just hiring a body. You need to know specifically, ‘What do I need this person to do?’”

Moschberger identified four behavioral traits every person has that can help jewelers determine if they are the right for a job: dominance, the take charge/control trait; extroversion, the people/fluency trait, or communication component; patience, the pace/rate of motion trait; and conformity, the systems/details trait.

“People are either high or low for each trait,” Moschberger said. "And understanding the way people are helps to indentify what they need to function at their highest level.”

This understanding can come from a ProScan survey, an online survey that asks potential employees a series of questions about how people view themselves and how they think people expect them to behave. It can also create a job model by defining the behavior of successful people in specific positions and providing benchmarks for behaviors needed in certain positions.

“It shows where people might be a good fit,” Moschberger said. “Sales people, for example, should be high extroversion and dominance and also have patience.”

After hiring the right person, retention is next, she said. According to the Gallup Organization, this requires providing employees with the following:
- A written job description, to know what is expected of them at work
- Responsibility, authority and motivation
- The right equipment and materials to perform their job correctly
- Recognition or praise for good work
- To feel cared about as a person

She also offered communication tips for jewelers working with people who are high in the four behavioral traits: people who are high dominance need a direct, concise message, while high extroverts need opportunities to promote ideas and their personal skills. High patience people need time and opportunity to process a need for change, and high conformity employees need proven procedures and systems and up-to-date guidelines.

Additionally, Moschberger said it’s important to encourage development in employees. “People want to grow, so you have to give them spots for that to happen,” she said.