How Do You Know Who Will Rip You Off?
Keywords: Gareth Jekel, Performia
by Gareth Jekel, Managing Director Performia Australia

The answer to this question is like finding the Holy Grail for business and life in general.

Anyone who has employed more than five people has found someone that has cost them money or ripped them off. At Performia Australia we’ve found the following statistics to be true:

1. One in 40 staff in an organisation will be intentionally trying to stop or slow the organization down, cost it money, undermine others and the management.
2. One in 5 will cost you money due to making mistakes, damaging things or causing unnecessary confusion for clients, suppliers or work colleagues.

These statistics are rather sobering, but it is not all bad. There are simple and easy ways to know if someone will rip you off before you do business with or hire them. At Performia we have many different methods that we use (and that you can use too) to know beforehand who is trustworthy and who isn’t with 99% accuracy. The following is one method that you can put into action straightaway.

Every person you meet has a behaviour pattern they live by and it has to do with what they believe is right and wrong. Some people believe stealing a car is wrong and there are others who think it is ok. This is called ethics. On a day-to-day basis individuals are actually making an ethical decision probably every second.

Getting out of bed early enough to make it to work on time is an ethical decision, pressing the snooze button and rolling over for another quick nap when you know it will make you late is an ethical decision. Whether it is wrong or right depends on the person making the decision – some see nothing wrong with that, other thinks it’s very bad indeed.

The interesting thing to observe is that people form habits with regards to certain ethical decisions in life. These “habits” add up to the person’s overall “Ethics Level” and this is a wonderfully accurate yardstick you can use to determine how they will react in dealings with you. Are they likely to make more right decisions or more wrong decisions?

It is quite easy to see if someone has a good Ethics Level (meaning they have made more right decisions and less wrong decisions). In general they are able to achieve things despite obstacles put in their way. This can be seen by the results they have achieved in life.

So when assessing people you’re dealing with, be it a business transaction, your staff, or prospective employees, what you should be finding out about is their level of production in the workplace, family life, business etc, that has added value for themselves, their group, organisations and those connected to the person. A person who has achieved something has made enough right decisions to help themselves and others around them. And at Performia we have a process of finding this out by asking certain questions (which takes less than five – ten minutes) to know if the person is productive, which means they have a good level of ethics and will be unlikely to rip you off.

This process is very valuable not only for the workplace, but can also make it very easy to know who to take advice from, who is really your friend and who is best to associate with in life.

We will cover this topic and process in detail at our upcoming breakfast seminar (Knowledge Members save $140 per ticket) where you will leave with some valuable tools to ensure you drastically reduce the chances of being ripped off again.

I hope to see you there.

Gareth Jekel

Managing Director

Performia Australia

To book your seat at the next Performia Breakfast click here and save $140 per ticket.