LEADERSHIP-THE BOTTOM LINE
Monthly Leadership Session Follow-up – October!
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Interviewing, Hiring & Retaining Your Best People!
Remember that people matter – especially now – even more than ever! I’m sure you know as well as I that nothing matters more than the people we hire; and that includes the way we develop them, the way we support them and how we reward them for their commitment to the success of our organization. No matter what your industry is or what your products and services might be, it’s important to remember that you are in a ‘people-driven’ business. Those business leaders who may think that the path to success does not go through a well-selected, well-trained, well-compensated, motivated and committed team are simply fooling themselves.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Wednesday,
October 28, 2009
Thanks again to all of our participants around the country who participated in our monthly leadership development sessions during the month of October. We had some very interesting and challenging discussions, and even experienced some important breakthroughs in some cases.
If you were in one of the sessions, you already know that we focused this month on two important topics. The first having to do with the need to be extremely clear in our thinking regarding ‘what good looks like’ with respect to the positions we are interviewing for and then having a ‘well-thought-out’ interviewing strategy designed specifically for each position we are wanting to fill. By clearly defining and knowing in specific terms what we are looking for and having a strategy in place designed to help us determine whether or not that’s who we are interviewing, we will end up hiring only the very best people for our team.
Our second session focused our attention on the other half of the equation, that being how to ‘keep’ the new people we hire and also how to keep the great people we already have. When we find ourselves going through tough times, or even in the best of times, we always want to remember that our people are our greatest asset, so we want to choose them wisely, make sure we develop them properly and then give them more reasons to stay than to leave once we have integrated them into our team. With that in mind, let’s take a few moments together to just touch on some of the most important points made in each of the two segments.
“How to Interview, Hire & Fast Start Winners!”
In our first segment we began by discussing the important part the ‘right’ people play in both the short-term and long-term success of our organization. We also reinforced the fact that ‘perspective’ is everything when it comes to interviewing and hiring the right people for our team. For example, we want to consider who we are as a company, our vision and mission statements, our values, our culture, our goals and also our overall strategic plan. As a leader and manager in my organization, I am also going to need to ask myself what my own personal vision is for the team I am developing in my own area of responsibility; and from that perspective, I can then go about the business of identifying, in specific terms, who the ‘right’ person will be for a particular position that I might be interviewing for.
We also included discussions regarding how many people, or groups of people, are actually depending on us as leaders to interview effectively and then make only the best possible hiring decision or decisions. The list included our company, the team members who will be working with the new hire, our customers, the applicant and of course, the manager who will be responsible for the integration, development and success of the new team member. Time will not permit me to go into detail regarding the vested interest each of these have in our ability to make smart hiring decisions, but suffice it to say that each person or group referenced here stands to gain or lose based on the quality of the hiring decisions we make.
Probably one of the most interesting exercises focused our attention on determining the real dollar costs associated with making a wrong hiring decision. The numbers that our various discussion teams came up with ranged from as little a few thousand dollars to as high as $750,000.00 in one case. The object of the exercise was to remind us that as leaders and managers our companies are placing a lot of confidence and trust in our ability to effectively manage the company’s money. Again, these are real people and real dollars and that means that we have a lot of responsibility riding on our shoulders when it comes to interviewing and hiring the right people for our company!
Obviously, we covered a great deal more in our first segment than we have time to review here, but let’s go ahead and summarize the overall process we need to move through when it comes to preparing for and then effectively interviewing candidates for a particular position in our company. We broke the process down into ten simple ‘chronological’ steps to make it easy to follow and easy to get good at. By the way, the interviewing model used as a part this process was developed by Dr. Paul Green, Ph.D, and is referred to as Behavioral Based Interviewing.
Here are the ten chronological steps we covered in our session:
1. Consider your vision, goals, and your company’s overall success strategy. It’s been suggested that wisdom is the ability to see the bigger picture. When it comes to making smart decisions, you always want to start with the broadest perspective possible and then work your way toward the details.
2. Consider the structure and personality of your team. Fitting into your company’s existing culture, and there being a good fit with respect to the folks they will be working with, is always important for any number of important reasons; many of which you will find listed in your printed materials.
3. Consider the role and contribution of the position. When you consider overall work-flow and how each position on the team is dependent upon and contributes to the productivity of the other positions on the team, you will see even more factors that will need to be taken under consideration in your evaluation and decision making process.
4. Identify the attitudes, performance and technical skills needed to really succeed in the position. Among other things, these three categories need to be considered in detail and also listed on paper. You will be able to find much of this information included in the job description for the position assuming you have one. If you don’t, obviously, one needs to be created before you move any further.
5. Create the related ‘open-ended’ questions you will need. You will need at least two to three behavioral based, open-ended questions for each of the attitudes, performance and technical skills you have on your list. Remember, your goal is to focus on ‘past performance’ oriented questions as opposed to hypothetical “what would you do if . . .” type questions about the future.
6. Develop the structured interview process you will use. Create a track to run on with respect to the actual interview you are going to conduct with each of your candidates for the position. It needs to include your introduction, your rapport building stage, your general explanation of the position you will be interviewing them for, an explanation of what to expect during the interview, a few general open-ended questions to get them comfortable talking about themselves and then the specific behavioral based questions you are going to want to ask, in the order they will need to be asked, and then how you are going to wrap up your interview.
7. Include at the appropriate place in your interview process, the presentation you will use to present your company and the opportunity you are making available. Remember, the best people out there are probably interviewing you while you are interviewing them, and they are most probably going to be interviewing with other companies as well, and will probably get more than just one offer so, if they are someone you are really going to be interested in, how you present your company and the benefits of building a successful career with your organization will be important to their decision making process.
8. Review and become comfortable with your process. It’s been suggested that practice makes perfect. It’s always a good idea to review your interview process a few times before you begin using it, that way you will be much more comfortable during your actual interviews and you will be able to focus more completely on your applicant and less on your process.
9. Begin using your pre-designed process consistently with each of your applicants. This will be important to you for a number of reasons, two of which include the fact that it will help you get ‘better’ at conducting your interviews and it will also go a long way toward insuring that you maintain a level playing field for all of your applicants. This will lead to better hiring decisions.
10. Create ‘win-win’ opportunities by internalizing all of your strategically designed interview processes. The more you internalize your interview processes, the better you get at interviewing. This then leads to a much higher percentage of successful hires. Then everybody wins!
You can refer to your student manual for the specifics associated with each of the ten steps listed above; but essentially, what we want to remember when it comes to interviewing effectively and selecting only the best people for your team is that proper prior preparation prevents pitiful poor performance – and – practice makes perfect! Be sure and take a look at the extra input I have included for you toward the end of this month’s session follow-up about a few important things you will want to remain on the look-out for during your interviews. It’s a short article entitled “Are they really ‘right’ for your team?” I think you’ll find it helpful. Let’s move on now to our second segment.
“How to Develop and Retain Your Very Best Employees!”
In our second segment this month, we began by reminding ourselves that good people are often times hard to find – and that they are even more important to keep. We discussed the fact that hanging on to your most valuable employees is critical to the long term health, success and ultimate growth of your organization. As a matter of fact, it’s been proven that retaining your best employees will typically lead to greater customer satisfaction, increased sales of your products and services, satisfied co-workers, effective succession planning and deeply imbedded, valuable organizational knowledge and experience, all of which secures a successful future for everyone who is a part of the organization.
One of the things we looked at in our second segment was why people typically leave their companies. We learned that the number one reason (statistically) why people leave their jobs is because of the difficult or bad relationship they have with their boss or with their immediate supervisor. The study, conducted by the Gallup organization, determined that people typically leave their ‘managers’ and not necessarily their companies. So essentially, turnover is mostly a ‘manager’ related issue; not in all cases but in more cases than you might think. We took the time to look at the top twelve reasons why people leave companies and by far, the management relationship issue was (statistically) the greatest cause. In reviewing all twelve of the main reasons, our goal was to determine which of those we could directly impact (as leaders and managers) and then challenge ourselves to come up with strategies that, when applied, would begin to lower our existing turnover rates. It made for some eye-opening and very interesting discussions to say the least!
Our second segment this month reminded me of what we covered in our September session on creating a productive work environment. It that session, we learned that one of the most important questions we need to ask ourselves everyday is “what are my people going to need from me to succeed today?” In addition, we also emphasized the fact that we as leaders and managers only succeed when our people succeed. In much the same way, we need to ask ourselves what our people are going to need from us in order to not just be productive, but to become loyal to us as their leader, and also loyal to our organization, and genuinely committed to the ultimate success of the company.
You know, when you think about it, people are just people. They’re not really that complicated. When you boil it down, what do most people really want from their jobs? Our goal as leaders in the people business is to identify and understand what those basic things are that our best people want and need, and then find ways to make sure we consistently give it to them. In the final analysis, your most important goal as a leader and manager is to give them more reasons to stay than reasons to leave!
To remain loyal to both you and your organization, here are some of the most basic things employees want and need:
1. Clearly communicate your performance expectations and set measurable performance standards. You need to make it as easy as possible for people to determine whether or not they truly are succeeding in their position. By providing your people with clearly defined expectations, you are essentially empowering them with the ability to manage themselves. I have learned over the years that most people really do want to do a good job, and it becomes a whole lot easier for them when they are clear with regard to what ‘good’ really looks like. And by the way, when people make mistakes along the way – and they will – you want to make sure that you remember to separate the value of the person from the mistake that was made. You accomplish this by reinforcing their value to you and the organization, acknowledging their positive intentions and/or efforts and then by giving them the opportunity to analyze what took place and where their mistakes were made. Once that has been determined, you then want to give them the opportunity to come up with their own solution and how they are going to keep from making the same mistake/s in the future. You want to guide them through the process of learning from their mistakes. Being a good coach is about remembering to never ‘tell’ anyone anything you can ‘ask’ them. You need to allow people the opportunity to ‘enjoy’ the process of learning and growing as the result of their mistakes. They will become more loyal to you and their company in the process.
2. Take time to really listen and to give and receive employee feedback. Connect with each of your people on a regular basis. Let each of them know (from your perspective) how they are doing. Let them tell you how they feel they are doing. Let them share with you any needs they might have and be open to their input regarding how you might be able to lead or manage them more effectively. And probably one of the most important things you can do for your people is to maintain, and even encourage, an ‘open door’ policy when it comes to their input regarding ways to improve on your processes and how you approach succeeding together as a team on a regular basis.
3. Recognize and reward good work in ways that are specific to the individual and their accomplishments. Everyone wants and really needs to be acknowledged on a regular basis. In our August session we learned that a genuine, heart felt ‘Thank You’ is one of the strongest motivators you can employ with your people. When it comes to thanking and acknowledging your people for a job well done, remember to express your appreciation in ways that will be meaningful to the particular employee. For example, tickets to a ball game if my favorite sports team has a big game coming up would be particularly meaningful to me and it would say you know who I am as a person and that you really care. Not only do you want to make sure your expression of appreciation is specific to the employee but that it’s also specific to the accomplishment as well.
4. Create opportunities and new challenges for valued employees. This will not only keep employees fully engaged and involved in the process of continual improvement, but it can also be seen as a source of recognition when it’s perceived as having been earned as the result of having achieved something in particular. People like to remain a part of an organization that will acknowledge their accomplishments and provide them with continual opportunities for growth.
5. Demonstrate that retaining good employees is a top priority. It needs to become common knowledge throughout your organization that you are a company that puts its ‘people’ first! Typically, what goes around comes around. When your people are of the impression that you really care about them, they will, in like manner, really care about you. You need to focus on building meaningful relationships with your people. Get into the habit of conducting ‘10 Minute Check-ins’ throughout your organization on a regular basis. “Hey John, how’s it going?” “What’s the latest in your department?” “How’s the ‘such and such’ project coming along?” “You have anything you need my help with?” You will be surprised at the difference taking this kind of interest will make when it comes to the development of the kinds of working relationships that motivate people to want to remain an important part of your organization over the long haul!
It all comes down to you remembering the kind of business you are really in – the ‘people business’! Enjoy!!
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Additional Opportunity!
We would be pleased to schedule a convenient time to meet again with you on an individual basis, or as a group, to answer any additional questions you might have about creating effective interview processes or any of the specifics we discussed in our second segment about what team members really want and need from their company. You may have a few specific applications you’d like to discuss. We would certainly welcome the opportunity to be of additional help in any way we can.
Please email or contact us at the number listed below to schedule a convenient time for us to get together – or you can reach us through our main website by clicking on ‘contact us’. There are no additional costs involved other than the costs associated with you taking no action!
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
“Are they really ‘right’ for your team?”
In a discussion that took place in one of the sessions this month, there was an executive who said that he had learned through his own experience that the most important part of hiring correctly is to not hire the wrong person; and that the second most important part of hiring correctly is to hire the right person. I responded by saying that what that must mean then is that it is better to not hire anyone at all if you can’t find the right person for the job.
So the obvious next questions were “who are the right people and who are the wrong people?” To get the discussion started, I responded by saying that when you get right down to it, it’s not really that hard to tell the difference. You develop a feel for it after a while.
The right people are the ones that really, really want to go to work with you. You can tell they’re really excited about the possibility of becoming a part of your team. There’s an ‘energy’ about them; they’ve done their homework, they know about your organization and in many cases they have even done their homework with regard to the person they will be interviewing with.
In visiting with them you get a sense that they are achievers; that they are the type of person that actively looks for problems to solve and for creative ways to achieve more. These are people that are ‘winners’ by nature. This is a personality type that is very easy to spot once you know what to look for – they’re full of life; they have fire in their eyes. They’re warriors!
I’ll take the enthusiastic, fired up ‘warrior’ any day over the more experienced but otherwise meek alternative. Skills can be learned quickly on the job but if you aren’t already the kind of person who’ll just jump in there and get the job done no matter what, you’ll likely never be.
Some of the warning signs to look out for during an interview are people who care about status symbols like titles, people who resent the success of others, people who act like they’re doing you a favor by just talking to you; and people who want to negotiate salary endlessly but couldn’t care less about the long-term opportunities associated with the position.
If you hire badly, it isn’t just going to be that particular employee who’s not performing. They end up negatively influencing the entire organization. For example, if everyone is pushing hard to get a finished product out the door, but one sulking individual is passive aggressive about working late, morale drops across the board. It spreads like a cancer. I can’t really say enough about the importance of making sure your candidates are wired up correctly and that they really can bring the right set of characteristics to the game. When that is the case, your odds for success grows exponentially! (Thanks for a great discussion!)
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Application Projects!!!!
“How to Interview, Hire & Fast Start Winners!”
Turn in your manual to page 10-20.
Review the information we covered in our first segment this month regarding how to create powerful behavioral based interviews for each of the positions that you interview for. Consider the next interview you have coming up and following the guidelines listed for you on page 10-20, go ahead and begin making preparation for a successful interview process. The steps are easy to follow and will lead you into being prepared to not only conduct a successful interview, but to you being able to hire the best possible candidate for your organization.
As we stated in the session, one of our participants gave us permission to provide you with a copy of their completed application project for you to use as a template or guideline to follow. You will see it there in your student manual. It will come in handy as you begin to go to work on the development of your own interviewing process. They did an exceptional job as I know you will!
Complete the simple exercise on Page 10-20, and be prepared to turn in a photocopy of your completed project as you check in at the beginning of the November session!
“How to Develop and Retain Your Very Best Employees!”
Turn in your manual to page 10-31.
Leadership means really understanding your employee’s needs; all your employees, even the ones you may not think would be considered your ‘keepers’. You might be surprised to learn after getting to know them that they really do have the potential to become one of the ‘best’ you have ever had on your team. It is all about really getting to know your people and then developing an understanding of what they really want and need from their job – and then being consistent when it comes to finding unique ways to provide them along the way.
In this Application Project, your goal will be to determine which team member you want to start with and then to develop a strategy that will allow you to begin to understand them better and a strategy for applying the five important steps we learned in our session while keeping in mind the fact that you really can get everything in life you want if you will simply help enough other people get what they want! (Thanks Zig Ziglar!)
Complete the simple exercise on Page 10-31, and be prepared to turn in a photocopy of your completed project as you check in at the beginning of the November session!
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Application Projects . . .
When it comes to any of our application projects, the idea is to see them as the first formal step in terms of getting the content out of the classroom and out there into the real world where it belongs and where it will do you and your people some good. Your goal is to take the information we covered, the material we discussed in our session together, and find as many opportunities as possible to apply it out there in your real world. Remember, adults learn by doing and they grow as the result of being given the opportunity to succeed on a repetitive basis. That’s the meaning behind our madness with regard to all of our application projects.
Their design is always simple; just read the directions at the top of the pages, follow the prompts, answer the questions, fill in the blanks, take the appropriate steps, then be prepared to share your results with us at the beginning of the next month’s session. You’ll do great!! You always do!!!
Call us if you need any assistance with any of your application projects.
We want to make sure you receive the maximum benefit possible from not only the application projects referenced above but from everything you’re learning as you progress through the complete leadership development process with us!!
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Great Idea!!
Why don’t you go ahead and follow through and get started on your application projects now while the content and all the concepts are still fresh in your mind?
As a matter of fact, once you get started, you’ll really enjoy thinking through the processes and succeeding! Your people will enjoy you applying the processes too!
Remember:
Please feel free to email or you can give us a call if you would like any personal assistance and/or coaching when it comes to completing your application projects this month.
You can call or email – or reach us through our website! (See Below!)
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Coaching!
Let me remind you once again to plan to take full advantage of your opportunity for individual ‘on-site’ coaching in any of the areas that pertain to the application of the concepts, principles and processes we cover in our monthly sessions. In addition, we are always happy to assist you in any areas pertaining to everyday ‘people’ issues.
We can assist you by phone or at your location. Just email or give us a call and we will go to work on scheduling a convenient time for us to get together.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Next Month . . . November!
Our first segment in the November session will focus our attention on developing a much better understanding of ourselves and the people we work with on a daily basis. For example, have you ever wondered why some people seem to be easier to work with than others? Have you ever wondered why one person will remain open to constructive input while another person will seem to resist you every step of the way? Why one person seems to brighten up a room when they walk in while another person seems to brighten up the room when they leave? If you haveever been ’stumped’ in your attempt to answer these types of questions, you will really enjoy and appreciate next month’s first segment.
In our second segment next month, we are going to look at how to create that all important ‘buy-in’ from the members of your team when it comes to coming up with new and creative ways to solve problems and/or improve the ways things are done in your organization. As a matter of fact, as you begin to understand both the concept and the process we will provide you in the second segment next month, you will find yourself better utilizing the most expensive and valuable resource you’ve been given to work with which is your people!
You’re going to really enjoy and genuinely benefit from both segments next month! I’ll tell you more about what to expect in the November newsletter & monthly reminder.
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
One Last Thing . . .
Would you take a minute to provide us with some feedback regarding the October session by leaving a comment for us at the end of this follow-up article. You can just click on ‘leave a comment’ below. We always appreciate and enjoy hearing back from you.
Have a great month and remember . . . .
“The will to win is worth nothing unless you have the will to prepare.”
Sincerely,
Jim
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Leadership works best when people are equipped to manage themselves. When that happens, everyone on your team is working proactively. Everyone is participating in leadership. You create this type of environment through win-win agreements which stem from quality relationships built primarily on respect and trust instead of on authority alone.
— Jim Abbondante
________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________
Contact Information . . .
Jim Abbondante
President, Director of Training
Direct Line: (817) 304-2225
Leadership Institute
Main Number: (817) 405-0012
Student Services Number: 1-800-955-0109
(Personal and/or Executive Coaching, Misc. Needs, etc.)
E-Mail: Leadership.Team@LeadershipInstituteUSA.com
Web-Site: www.LeadershipInstituteUSA.com
