Why do people "job hop"?
It is a pretty intuitive question. It is because they do not like their job, the people they work with, and/or their boss, or they are under 30 years old.
Furthermore... People who do not like their job turn into people who do not like their boss and the people they work with.
Unfortunately, our universities are adept at pumping out graduates with degrees that students are not "wired" for. As the graduates enter the workforce, they often soon discover - sometimes through multiple positions - that the career they spent 4-5 years preparing for is not suited for them.
Then a HR "professional" who does not use a personality test with a Job Benchmark hires the graduate who has the degree but does not fit the job in terms of Behaviors, Values, and Attributes. The new graduate is now the new hire, and they have been "sentenced" to a few months to a few years of hell on earth doing something they really are not wired to do.
Bummer.
Much has been written about Generation Y and their "job hopping". "Job hopping" has become much more acceptable in the last several years.
Yet why do some HR "professionals" continue to screen candidates and throw perfectly good candidates out so quickly due to perceived "job hopping"?
There are four reasons that come to mind.
- Actually looking more deeply at a candidate with a "job hopping" history takes time and many HR professionals are pressed for time - too much to do - too little time.
- Some HR professionals are stuck in the "land of the lost" - stuck in time from when they went to college, became certified - where "job hopping" = bad candidate.
- Some HR professionals believe their "gut doesn't lie" and that their gut is somehow more accurate than a valid personality test.
- And yes, some HR professionals are just plain lazy.
Thanks to the antiquated logic of some HR professionals, there are high quality "job hopper" candidates being passed over who could make a real contribution.
There are babies being thrown out with the bathwater!
To those HR people who do not get it - that "job hoppers" are not necessarily all bad - I recommend looking past the "job hopping" on the resume' and look at the potential of the human being behind the piece of paper. Slow down. Take the time.
And while I am on my short rant... I realize that many in HR believe still believe they have the "secret sauce" - the magic wand - the ability to judge people without a valid personality test.
Poppycock!
There are multiple studies that strongly suggest that human beings are biased - even when they think they are not being biased - human beings are, in fact, biased.
Valid personality tests - when compared to a Job Benchmark are not biased.
A valid personality test can actually provide insights into why a "job hopper" changes jobs frequently. If you are interested in how, I would be happy to show you.
If you are not using a valid personality test with a Job Benchmark, you are guessing during the selection process - especially with "job hoppers". Hiring talent without a personality test is just plain not very intelligent (ie: stupid).
Happy Last Monday of November 2011!
Welcome to the new Monday Human Capital Strategies! Every Monday we will give you insight into the best blog articles of the week that will help improve your most important asset, your people. This weekly segment will provide insight into setting the vision, the power of "thank you", relationships, building trust, and "Holiday-itis".
Jesse Lyn Stoner, Jesse Lyn Stoner’s Blog: Manage the Mid-Space or Your Vision Will Fail- In this blog post, Jesse states, “One of the top reasons leaders fail to implement their vision is because they don’t manage the ‘mid-space’.” Jesse describes the critical role of middle management and how important it is in organizations. She also lists seven ways leaders at all levels connect to the mid-space.
Patty Azzarello, TLNT: Good Stuff Happens: When Your Organization Needs a Thank You Habit- Patty explains throughout this blog that the two simple words of thank you are very important in organizations. Patty helps to create a process for recognition. One of Patty’s major points is to make the thank you personal, do not just send out an e-mail to everyone in the office. Patty makes a great point with this blog post. When was the last time you received a genuine thank you in your workspace?
Wally Bock, Three Star Leadership Blog: Build Relationships-In this post, Wally explains the importance of relationships. One of the quotes that Wally provides is, “the top reason for a leader’s failure is the inability or unwillingness to build relationships and a team environment.” Wally explains that for some relationship building comes naturally, but for people such as Wally, some have to concentrate on building relationships. Wally then shares what he has learned from a lifetime of trying to build relationships.
Randy Conley, Leading with Trust: The Indelible Mark of a Trusted Leader-Do You Have It? -Randy explains in this post that honesty and trust are crucial factors to being a leader. Randy states, “telling the truth is at the core of being honest, but it’s not the only behavior that people interpret as honesty.” Randy ends the post by explaining that honesty is like a behavioral tattoo, the mark of a leader. Do you have it?
Kevin Eikenberry, Leadership and Learning: As the Holidays Approach: How to Avoid Holiday-itis-Kevin shares in this post the dangers of Holiday-itis throughout organizations. Kevin provides a list of the symptoms of Holiday-itis. He also gives a list of cures, which do not provide physician’s care. Kevin guarantees that these cures will “erase the effects of Holiday-it is, and provide a significant opportunity to set your performance apart from the others who succumb to the perils of this predictable condition.”
Posted by
Joe Jones on Mon, Nov 21, 2011 @ 11:13 AM
The Monday morning sales meeting, a time-honored tradition among Fortune 100 companies to small local organizations, and everyone in between. These meetings are typically an attempt to add value by creating direction, focus and motivating the team for the upcoming week.
Notice I used the word “attempt”….
Although teams ritually converge on Mondays to help “jump start” their week, these meetings can easily become a huge time waster and actually negatively affect the upcoming week if not executed effectively.
C-Level Leaders and Managers alike, should be analyzing their current meeting structure and objectives, and ask themselves - Are these meetings really necessary? Do they add value to the team? Or are we just having them so that we can put a “check in the box” next to Conducted Team Meeting?
If executed correctly, meetings can provide a significant Return-on-Investment of a team’s time and energy. Effectively run meetings clearly set out the direction and objectives, while providing valuable resources and feedback to help drive individual team members and the entire team towards their stated goals.
If run poorly, they can be a complete waste of time, and actually have a negative impact on the team’s performance moving forward.
Have you ever been through an aimlessly led meeting with a “hodge podge” of topics with no clear direction? How did it effect your week?
4 Tips for a More Effective Meeting Strategy –
- Create an agenda and stick to it. Meetings that go off on tangents or are nothing more than rambling discussions can sap the energy of team members heading into the week.
- Set Expectations. Use this meeting with team members as a time to set specific expectations for each team member- What measurable actions will you take this week to achieve the desired outcome? Team members should come to the meetings with the week already mapped out.
- Attentive Follow-up. Use this time to create accountability through metrics tracking, performance management and updates. (Waiting until the end of the quarter, or even the end of the month may already be to late to address issues that crop up).
- Don’t forget to Celebrate Success. High performance among team members should be singled out and acknowledged.
Happy Monday! Welcome to the new Monday Human Capital Strategies! Every Monday we will give you insight into the best blog articles of the week that will help improve your most important asset, your people. This weekly segment will provide insight into leadership and management, employee turnover and retention, developing talent, coaching and training, hiring solutions, and much more. Have a safe and happy Thanksgiving!
Stacey Barr, The Project Management Hut: Why Do You Measure Performance? - In this post, Stacey gives seven reasons why we measure performance, but it is important to keep in mind that the list does not stop there. By measuring performance, we can consistently improve the performance of our employees.
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach: Profitable Leadership & Team Secrets of Personality Types -This post describes the different personality types. Kate explains the secrets of each personality type and also shares how each personality type will act during the time of organizational changes. It is very important to know the personality type of each employee so we can work with them each specifically to meet the company's goals.
Scott Williams, Scott William's Blog: 5 Ways Leaders Destroy Their Team -Scott Williams shows the other side of leadership stories in this post. Instead of talking about successful leaders, he focuses on the 5 ways that leaders can destroy their team. Everyone will come across a "Leadership Destroyer" at one point in their life. Scott's list makes it easy for you identify them.
Terry Starbucker, Terry Starbucker's Blog: Peter Drucker and the Five Deadly Business Sins -Terry got the inspiration for this post from a Wall Street Journal article from October 21st, 1993, written by the one and only Peter Drucker. The article was called, "The Five Deadly Business Sins." Terry states the 5 sins, according to Drucker, and examines them. He finishes up by thanking Peter Drucker for "re-appearing with these great lessons" just when he needed them. This is true for everyone, a great reminder for all!
Dan Rockwell, Leadership Freak: Five Techniques That Make You Matter Most -Dan explains in this post that the people who have the need to tell others that they are important are actually the ones that don't feel important themselves. Dan goes on to explain that a person must believe that they matter. He also shows how to matter the most, and 5 ways to matter most by making others matter.
Years ago, I heard about the "law of improvisation".
My understanding of the "law of improvisation" when it comes to comedy or "improv" is that as people banter back and forth - they each carry the story forward - never backward - never negative.
An example would be... "I saw a gorilla the other day and the gorilla said to me, "I'm a talking gorilla..."
Obviously gorillas do not speak. My understanding of the "law of improvisation" would be that another party in the group would then say, "And the gorilla said, "You have a funny accent..."
The wrong response would be something like, "Hey buddy... You and I both know gorillas do not talk..."
Hold that thought for a moment.
Recently, I was speaking with a Client who recently hired a powerful addition to the team - someone who is going to create powerful Customer Experiences for them. The new hire's personality is a 'high job fit" - they are "gentler" - more "people" than "task-oriented". The new team member has not yet been "domesticated" to the norms and informal hierarchy of the team.
As is often the case, this particular new team member is already having challenges with another team member who has been with the team for a decade. The decade-long team member is very dominant - very "task-oriented" and they are potentially feeling threatened and are naturally "marking their territory". You can imagine what is happening...
The new hire is at a critical "fork in the road". This is the point where they either continue to bring the essence of who they are - the reasont they were hired or they become "domesticated" to the norms and whims of those with informal power.
In this case, the new team member is having significant issues with the ten year employed "alpha team member". The new team member recently asked, "What if we try..." And no sooner did she say that when the long-term (alpha) team member said, "That will never work... We tried it before and it didn't work then and certainly will not work today."
Ouch.
I have to wonder how many good ideas and how many future good ideas are destroyed when this is allowed to happen. Quite frankly, I have been guilty of this in the past. I have destroyed potential with my "alpha personality".
When new team members come onboard, it is a critical time for two important reasons.
- The new team member may have new insights that when shared could create new ways of thinking - new products - new services - new value for Customers and Shareholders.
- If the new team member is taught to keep their mouth shut, they will and an important voice possibly filled with great ideas will potentially be shut out permanently.
As a general rule... When brainstorming, I recommend what I call the "law of improvisation" - where ideas are shared and none are shot down.
For new team members... I particularly recommend "the law of improvisation" during the first 90 days of employment for a new team member.
When you create a safe environment for ideas to be heard and allow them to "marinate" - great things happen including...
- The best ideas become reality. No one of us is as smart as all of us.
- Employee engagement and morale improves because team members see their ideas come to life.
- Buy-in is achieved. When team member buy-in - they own it - they make it happen.
The reason why your employees are emotionally starving to death is because you do not provide clear, specific praise.
You are the "spiritual captain" of your ship. All problems start at the head - and you are the head...
How do I know that your employees are emotionally starving to death? Because over the years in assessing thousands of people with our powerful personality assessment instruments, we see from the assessment results that employees are not getting the positive reinforcement when they should.
All human beings need love. And if you are the boss - your employees look up to you to not only lead, but also inspire. Well... Hopefully they look up to you... Although hope is not a strategy.
Are you inspiring or uninspiring your subordinates? Don't answer this question for yourself. Ask your subordinates. Your personal brand is not what you say it is... Your personal brand is what others say it is.
There is no better way to inspire the soul than to encourage when team members need encouragement and provide redirection when necessary.
Keep it real.
Over the years, after assessing thousands, I still ask every human being - every soul - "What needs to happen for you to feel that you are adding value - making a contribution?"
The answer is simple... "Tell me how I am doing - Tell me I am doing a good job - Tell me that I need to improve in this area... Just tell me something."
If you truly want to improve employee engagement and employee morale... Give specific praise - positive feedback... Give credit where credit is due.
Why is praise so important?
- Because people are seeking positive affirmation that they matter - that they are doing good. Some more than others.
- Praise inspires employees to do things because they want to - not because they have to.
- Discretionary effort is born from inspiration.
One would think employees are mushrooms... Keep them in the dark and feed them bull$@#! and they will do what they need to do.
Wrong.
Employee team members need to have a voice in their future and they need to feel like what they do matters... Really matters.
Here are five things you can do to improve employee morale and employee engagement through praise.
- Shape your mindset - Imagine you are 85 and looking back at your life - your actions - your words... Ask yourself what your life will really mean when you kick the bucket. Will you have made the greatest positive impact possible? Or did you miss out on opportunities left and right? Did you inspire too little and motivate too much? And if that does not work for you, ask yourself, "Do inspired people get more done than those living in anxiety or fear?" Enough said.
- Get some professional help. Start by picking up a powerful little book called, "How Full Is Your Bucket" by...
- Get a calendar. Quite frankly - if you really need a calendar... You may have bigger issues... But seriously. Get a calendar and remind yourself if you are not able to do so on your own.
- Ask your employee team members how they like their praise and then start giving it.
- Don't go overboard with praise. Do not give praise for the sake of giving praise. People will smell it. And it smells rotten. Catch people doing things well - and let them know the impact.
- Remember praise is not about democracy. Don't give praise to those who do not deserve it.
Are you interested in other blog posts about employee engagement and employee morale? Check out...
Happy Monday! I am very grateful to those of you who support the human capital strategies post every week. Each week I share my top five favorite blog posts in the leadership development, talent management, and human resources blogosphere. This week I am going to switch things up a bit by only sharing four of my favorites and allowing you to share a favorite of your own. Continue reading to find out more!
Mike Figliuolo, Thought Leader's Blog: How to Build Your Team by Getting Rid of Your People- When looking at the title of this post, you probably think "how can you build a team with less people?" Mike is speaking of quality, not quantity, when he speaks of building your team. This post is all about developing talent in your team members that is so effective that other employers are begging to have them.
Tanveer Naseer, Tanveer Naseer's Blog: Are You Following These 3 Rules For Giving Effective Feedback? - One of the most important things a leader can do is to effectively communicate with their employees, especially when recognition is due. In this post, Tanveer shares three rules to follow to provide effective feedback.
Shawn Murphy, Achieved Strategies: The Team Is More Important Than You - Compared to other cultures, Americans have a very high emphasis on individualism. Individualism can even be seen at young ages. For example, a child is given a good grade for excellent performance on a test promoting individualism. This carries out into adult life when we enter the workplace. An employee will work with others to complete a project, but they do so with their individual well-being in mind (i.e. if I perform well, I may receive a promotion) rather than the team's well-being. The individualistic approach to life builds barriers in the workplace that cannot be crossed unless Americans begin to put the "we" before "I".
Mark Sanborn, Leadership Blog: Leadership = Influence: Guest Blog by Joel Garfinkle - A leader is not a leader if they do not influence others. Leaders must influence others, but they must do it positively. Joel Garfinkle shares 5 key questions to ask yourself to help determine how influential you are.
The 5th Fab Five Pick is up to you! Share your favorite blog post of the week from the leadership development, human resources, and talent management blogosphere in the comments. Please make sure to include the title, author, link, and comment on anything you would like to highlight.
Pundits love to talk about employee engagement and how bad it is. I agree... Employee engagement is bad... But not for the reasons pundits would like to believe.
The general employee engagement message is... "Make employees happy and they will work hard for the company and profits will be maximized."
Wrong! - Mess with the bull (Traditional View On Employee Engagement) and get the horns. GET BULL@#!%!
Why is there never any mention of the importance of Job Fit in making an employee happy? If employees do not enjoy what they do why would they be happy in any work environment?
The Facts On Employee Engagement
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Low Job Fit employees are inherently unhappy. Why? Because they are forced to do something they do not enjoy. Therefore... Improve employee Job Fit and Employee Engagement will naturally improve.
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Low Job Fit managers are inherently unhappy and therefore make the lives of their subordinates hell. Poor Job Fit managers dislike their jobs and are emotional, play favorites, and manager poorly. Subordinates suffer the consequences of low Job Fit managers.
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Employee Engagement is a by-product - not a destination. When you love what you do, you enjoy what you do - job happiness is the result. Managers who love what they do treat their subordinates better - the result is more job happiness.
I am always fascinated with the misguided notion that if all we do is treat employees better - they will do their best work. "Happiness at work" does not come from the boss whispering "sweet nothings" in an employee's ear, allowing three hour paid lunches, or giving everyone a corner office.
The free soda, bring your dog to work, flexible hours... That is a nice touch. But if you really care... Hire the right people in the first place.
If you really want to improve employee engagement then commit to the following.
When you fail to set performance expectations and hold employee team members accountable, poor results follow...
Steve Jobs, the co-founder of Apple Computer, eloquently stated...
"The only thing that works is management by values. Find people who are competent and really bright, but more importantly, people who care exactly about the same things you care about."
What gets measured gets improved.
You cannot...
- Effectively progress if you do not know where you are now and where you are going.
- Maximize profitability unless you know exactly what actions and strategies cause profitability.
Unfortunately, many companies and many employee team members have lost touch with reality.
One day - long ago - perhaps your company made so much money, it did not know what to do with it all. So money was spent on talent that used to add value but over the years became drunk with "entitlement thinking".
These employees were there first and longevity, after all, is seniority.
The company hit a "sweet spot" - an opportunity the market didn't know they needed - but now want it. Profits are came raining in... Shareholders rewarded employees and that compensation package became permanent. Life was good indeed.
At this point, most companies then start to really blow the profits they make by hiring others to do what the original team should have been doing - but they were and still are entitled... The original or longest working employees put in the hours - came in on weekends and "saved" the company from imminent doom.
And because entitlement thinking is a disease - the new employees become entitled and others must be brought in to do what they should have been doing.
And now, few employees really understand where their paycheck comes from and what really, really matters to the Customer. There is a disconnect between what matters and what is getting done.
You get the picture.
Then the competition comes... Competitors are always looking for signs of profitability and perhaps they have the leadership - the vision to not allow entitlement thinking to infect the place.
And then the tailspin begins...
Is this your company?
Punchline... Your job is to add value continuously.
What each of us does day-to-day had better create value and that value must be more than what my paycheck is. If it is not - then it is a matter of time until someone else comes in and eats my lunch. That is competition.
Employee performance matters - big time.
Guess what? Walk into most organizations and not only is employee performance not measured - most team members have little to no clue regarding how they are actually adding value.
An example... Last year we were brought in by a long-term Client to assist in turning an inside sales team around. Long story short... It was like being in a candy store where it is all good - (all chocolate with caramel) - all free - and I am 8 years old. There was so much opportunity. Poor Job Fit... No accountability for results... No accountability for how time was spent... You get the picture.
The first thing we did was identify what really mattered... We identified the Key Performance Indicators that moved the ball forward - what creates value for the Customer and shareholders.
Once we found it, we began measuring it.
Then we put that information into a spreadsheet and posted it on the wall.
Employee team members noticed immediately and performance improved IMMEDIATELY. I am talking about a 30 plus percent improvement - within two to three weeks.
One employee who noticed their performance was literally 30 percent of the average actually apologized to their manager.
It was a moving moment to see a human being realize they had been underperforming. And no... The fault was not their's alone. A manager allowed it. A company allowed it. A CEO allowed mediocrity to set in.
What gets measured does improve.
Rainmaker Employee Performance Principal -
When employee team members do not know what they are supposed to be doing and are not accountable for their time and results - profitability disappears.
Measure what matters and expect performance.
How do you respond to those who curse in the workplace?
Cursing in the workplace destroys morale - reduces positive energy - reduces the potential of the team and organization - and ruins the Customer Experience.
So why do we allow cursing in the workplace?
Oh... Let me be clear... I am not talking about the traditional "curse words"... We all know what they are.
The curse words I am most concerned about are a much bigger problem than the "f-word" - much, much bigger.
The future of your company is shaped by the words you use. If you are destroying the potential of your company by using "curse words" - you have a powerful opportunity to shape the Culture of your company. Change your Culture by changing how employee team members talk about what needs to be accomplished.
What are the inappropriate "curse words" used in the workplace that I am talking about?
Perhaps a "curse word litmus test" would be helpful... Put any word in the same sentence as your paycheck. If it causes anxiety, it is a curse word. Stop cursing at work. Immediately.
An example...
"We will try to get you your paycheck on time."
What does "try" suggest? A best effort? That is a given. Give your best effort, but do not try. Your employer does not "try" to get you your paycheck. Your check arrives when it is supposed to or there are consequences. Give your best effort all of the time.
"Do or do not - there is no try." - Yoda
Another example...
"I hope to get you your paycheck on time."
If you or a loved one is ill, hope is a wonderful strategy. Otherwise - hope is not a strategy.
"There are those that hope for things to happen and there are those who make it happen." - my own quote.
The words you use shape the future you create. Choose them carefully.
Interested in learning more about "real" cursing in the workplace? Check out Bob Sutton's Strategic Use of Swearing in the Workplace.
Happy Monday! I like to start out each week by sharing my five favorite blog picks that deal with human resources, talent management, and leadership development. Here are my picks for the week of October 31st to November 4th. Enjoy and feel free to post your comments!
Kate Nasser, The People-Skills Coach: What Do Workplace Pit Bulls Do to Accountability - Does your office have a pit bull? What is a pit bull? Kate tells us of a client who had the responsibility of being the one to push to the team, the pit bull, which the boss thought would make the team more accountable. In reality, a pit bull will not create long-term accountability.
Daniel Pink, Daniel Pink's Blog: Jim Collins on 3 Ways to Avoid Demotivating People at Work - I often feature articles on the best ways to motivate employees in the workplace. This 3-minute video discusses just the opposite. Jim Collins talks about 3 ways you could be demotivating employees, which we know leads to less production.
Paul Castain, Sales Playbook: Selling A Second Chance . . . Please Read! - This time of year as the holidays approach often remind people of what they should be thankful for, and hopefully they keep in mind those less fortunate. I thought I should share this fun idea for giving known as a "canned meeting." Read more to get creative ideas on ways your office can get in the giving spirit.
Tim Sackett, Fistful of Talent: BFFs! (Best Frenemies Forever) - Remember the saying keep your friends close keep your enemies closer? Turns out, keeping the competition (enemy) closer can actually be beneficial in the human resource world. Tim shares insight into the strategy behind befriending other HRs.
Kevin Eikenberr
y, Leadership & Learning: When Are You At Your Best? - Being disengaged at work is not only harmful to a career and productivity for the company, but it also has an effect on the happiness of an individual. Kevin lays out some questions and steps to take into consideration to help you be more engaged and happier.
Posted by
Joe Jones on Fri, Nov 04, 2011 @ 04:45 PM
What does your current process for selecting high potential sales candidates entail?
A simple question, which typically garners an array of different responses:
- Others utilize behavioral interview questions.
- Many focus on past sales experience and recommendations.
(You will notice that we left the “Fog the Mirror” test off the list!)
Do any of these examples describe your current process?
While any of the above strategies may have brought some degree of success for you over the years, how many times has an “imposter” or poor performer found there way onto your team?
Go with me for a second and think back to your last sales hire that did not work out…
Looking back, did you find yourself relying too heavily on a few of shining recommendations, or the fact that the candidate had been in sales for 10 years prior to applying at your company?
The big question that many hiring managers must face is - Are recommendations and past experience an adequate predictor of potential success that the candidate will have on your team, as part of your distinct culture, selling your products?
Or are they just smokescreens that take the focus off of the specific style, skills and ability of the candidate?
The traditional interview process by itself has a way of allowing human bias to creep into the equation, which can cloud even the most pragmatic person’s judgment.
With unemployment levels remaining high, many people are clamoring for any available job. Quite frankly, many candidates do not come close to fitting attributes that the job requires, but are simply looking for a paycheck.
The strategic organizations that are able to more effectively filter and select strong sales talent, will create a distinct advantage over those who view the hiring process as an event to “fill a seat” with the hope that he or she will work out.
4 Simple Sales Interview Tips to help add value to your current selection process:
1.) Actively involve other key stakeholders (i.e. Sales Manager/Supervisors) in the process, and ask for their unfiltered opinions. This helps guard against candidate infatuation, and also creates stronger buy-in.
2.) Allow the candidate to shadow a current team member for an afternoon, to get better aquatinted with some of the specifics of the job and the overall work environment.
3.) Ask better questions. Engage candidates with questions that enable them to feel more comfortable, which will help create more free-flowing dialogue. Often times, candidates will stick to short “talking points” that rarely give you insight into their true style.
Taking a more strategic approach to your questioning will help give you insight into how they formulate thoughts and ultimately communicate with others.
4.) Create a multi-interview approachyoutube. Mindset is a power thing, and by setting the tone early that the organization is taking a very strategic and intensive approach to properly identify the best candidate, it will help shape the candidate’s mindset of the organization as well.
How "cheap" are the pre-employment personality assessments you are using? Less than $25 per candidate? Or perhaps you have a site license where you can run unlimited personality profiles for $3500...
The real cost you "pay" for pre-employment personality assessments is not your initial cash outlay. The real cost is what hiring the wrong people costs the bottom line of your company. Few positions are as costly as hiring the wrong sales person.
A cheap pre-employment personality profile may cost your company hundreds of thousands of dollars or even perhaps millions by allowing a low performer onboard.
It is an interesting thing to watch people try to "save" money.
I have watched people drive miles out of their way to save a few pennies a gallon of gas. The time and fuel it takes to drive to a "cheaper" gas station often eats up the savings yet less strategic people focus on the price of gas first.
The same is true with pre-employment personality profiles. I see companies trying to "save money" by narrowing down the field of candidates to two or three. I often ask, "Where are the rest of the candidates?"
HR usually says, "Oh, we narrowed it down to these two final candidates."
"Why only two?" I always ask.
"That is all we want to spend on pre-employment personality assessments," is the typical response.
I then picture in my mind the studies about human bias in general as well as human bias in the interview process. Human beings are biased. Most HR people are human beings. Let me clear. I have never met an unbiased human being. I have never met a HR professional who can consistently beat a scientifically sound pre-employment personality profile using their gut. Human bias in the employee selection process destroys shareholder value.
It gets worse... I then picture in my mind the cost of a bad management hire - a manager who destroys morale and/or fails to execute and the resulting loss of income and/or productivity.
I then picture in my mind the cost of a bad sales or customer service hire...
The problem is that hiring managers and human resources think wrongly about two things.
- Human beings can accurately (without bias) interview a candidate and identify Job Fit. They cannot. Multiple studies show that human beings are inherently biased - including HR.
- Money can be saved during the employee selection process by narrowing down the field to two or three candidates and assessing only them rather than the entire candidate field.
The real cost of the pre-employment personality assessment is not what one pays for the assessment itself. The real cost of a personality profile is the cost of the wrong talent getting onboard due to human bias. Unfortunately, most HR professionals do not understand this concept.
When companies try to "save money" on employment assessments, they typically lose and lose big time.
Recently, we had a Client who had a candidate re-apply for the same position for the 5th time. This was the first time the candidate was allowed to complete our pre-employment sales personality profile. The sales candidate was a potential significant high sales performer - a top 20 percentile or "Primary Job Fit". The sales hiring manager was flabbergasted. He could not believe the candidate came back with such a high score but because he had learned from experience the accuracy of the assessment tools, he believed the data and hired the candidate.
I asked the hiring manager, "What if this candidate had given up and went to the competition?"
His response was an immediate, "I am grateful that did not happen."
It is time to rethink the entire cost "spectrum" of pre-employment personality profiles.
Price is what you pay and value is what you get with validated pre-employment personality profiles.
Are you missing the opportunity to select the best possible sales people because you are trying to "save" money?
Interested in learning more about the incredible power of human bias? Check out the following Scientific American Frontier - The Hidden Prejudice. I recommend "fast-forwarding" the video 32 seconds to get past the Matt Lauer interview with Don Imus.
A resource you really need to review is "Project Implicit" - a web site the shares a test you can take to assess "your conscious and unconscious preferences for over 90 different topics ranging from pets to political issues, ethnic groups to sports teams, and entertainers to styles of music.
Project Implicit is a collaborative research effort between researchers at Harvard University, the University of Virginia, and the University of Washington.
All problems start at the head and all problems walk on two feet...
The Culture of a company is set by the CEO as well as lived through the day-to-day actions of employee team members. One has the ability to hire and fire - the other does not. Therefore the CEO is the "Chief Culture Officer".
What happens at the top eventually happens on the front lines. The vision is set by the CEO... The code of conduct for "how things are really done around here" is set at the top by the CEO.
Over the years I have worked with a wide variety of CEO personality types in a wide range of industries. I have found that if the CEO allows mediocrity to creep in, then so does the rest of the management.
If the CEO allows conflict avoidance to set in - then so does the management.
If the CEO allows low performers to stay and destroy Customer and Shareholder value, then so does management. If the CEO allows favoritism and nepotism to set in - then so does management.
If one really wants to change the Culture of the company, then take a good look at what the CEO is allowing or not allowing to happen. Ultimately the only way the Culture of a company is going to be changed is if the mindset of the CEO changes or the CEO is replaced.
We get a lot of inquiries from those seeking assistance to maximize their profitability though Talent Selection, Culture Change, and Strategic Intervention...
Most who call us are executive level or human resources.
What do they have in common? Most people are interested in creating results that maximize their profitability. Very few are committed to making the changes necessary to do so.
Notice my word choice...
Interested... Committed...
The problem? There is a significant difference between being interested and committed.
- Interested people do what is convenient.
- Committed people do whatever it takes.
Most executives are unfortunately committed to their people and interested in results / profits when it should be the other way around.
Most are committed to allowing the status quo to continue (they say they love their people) while making a few tweaks here and there to improve productivity.
Guess what? I have bad news... What got you here - will not get you there.
Employee engagement is the "rage" these days. Everyone is talking about it. Few people actually understand how employee engagement really works.
Kissing the hind ends of people who do not fit the job will not make them more effective. It will just put off the inevitable. The inevitable is that a competitor with the right people on the "bus" will come and eat your lunch one day soon.
Employee engagement does not happen without a commitment to maximizing results and profitability. Profitability, after all, is a "symptom" of the extent the right people are doing the right things.
- The wrong talent on the "bus" destroys employee morale and Customer goodwill because they do not do what they should be doing.
- The wrong talent destroys shareholder value because it takes more people to do the same job - a competitive disadvantage AND profit reducer.
Therefore when you call us, you will understand the questions we ask of you. We need to know if you are committed to the status quo - the way things currently are - or if you are committed to doing whatever it takes to make your company more profitable, a better place to work, and the "trusted advisor" to your Customers.
