And MOST assessments aren’t useful or valid for the hiring process, either.   They don’t consider a candidate’s thinking styles or their actual ability to perform the job (job fit).  Just because someone has the personality of an accountant doesn’t mean they’re good at math or analyzing a P&L or balance sheet.   

So what to do?  Try ‘em before you buy ‘em.

Michael Schrage, a research fellow at MIT Sloan School’s Center for Digital Business and author of Serious Play recently wrote in a Harvard Business Review article entitled Projects Are The New Job Interviews that, “…projects are the real future of hiring, especially knowledge working hiring. No matter how wonderful your references or how well you do on those too-clever-by-half Microsoft/Google brainteasers, serious firms will increasingly ask serious candidates to do serious work in order to get a serious job offer.” 

There’s very solid reasoning behind this idea.  In this market for talent, where the best jobs are hard to get and the best candidates are at a premium, some job candidates will ‘stretch’ their credentials and ‘bend’ the truth in interviews.  We used to call that lying, but…  People REALLY want the job, need a job with some benefits and a paycheck – and so they’ll tell you ANYTHING you want to hear in order to get it.  Then you hire them and they become your employee.  And reality comes to the workplace.  Wow.  Have you ever hired someone who was a little less qualified for the position than you expected?  Remember that sinking feeling when you began to see that the person couldn’t perform the job for which they were hired?  Remember how hard it was to correct the situation, and the costs and time lost in replacing that bad hire? 

Do you want a team of high performing stars?  Hire only the best.  And make sure they’re the best – before you hire them.  NFL teams usually ask quarterbacks to run and throw a few footballs before the offer them the big contract, right?

Making an ‘audition’ part of your hiring process, where your candidate completes a project using real work with a real team of co-workers is a great way to determine – for sure – if your candidate is the real deal. 

Did you take the last car you bought for a test drive before you bought it?  High performing companies want to see if job candidates can really do the job before they hire them.  That seems fair and makes sense to me.  How about you?

Adding this step to the ‘How To Hire Right – Every Time’ process at your organization would be very simple.   Need some help with your hiring process?  Give me a call for a free consultation.

At least that was the theory.  And theories always work in a perfect world.  But the problem is that we don’t live in a perfect world.  Instead, life and all of the real possibilites happen.

Here’s a perfect example.  In April of 2004, the board of McDonald’s Corp. named Charlie Bell Chief Executive after Jim Cantalupo, the leader of the recent turnaround at the world’s biggest fast-food chain, died of an apparent heart attack the evening before the company’s annual convention in Orlando, FL.  Cantalupo had served as Chairman and Chief Executive of the No. 1 fast-food restaurant chain since Jan. 1, 2003.  He was widely credited with spearheading McDonald’s turnaround in service, quality and sales.  The company had posted double-digit percentage sales gains during Cantalupo’s tenure and McDonald’s stock had more than doubled in price since early 2003.  And then the unexpected happened.  A very effective and dynamic new leader who was leading the organization in an exciting direction was gone, leaving a big hole.  Fortunately for McDonald’s, a talented and capable person was available to step into Cantalupo’s position.  Fortunately for McDonald’s stockholders and employees, the company has continued its growth and dominance in the fast food industry.

This story is the exception, however, and not the rule.  Succession planning didn’t work: talent management did. 

• Succession planning assumes that things will go as planned.  Really? 
• Talent management assumes that things will probably change or go wrong, which is more often the case, yet the company will still be able to respond effectively and succeed. 

 Let’s face it.  Times have changed dramatically, making ‘old school succession planning’ difficult if not impossible.  The majority of succession plans fail.  Here’s why: 

• The economy is impossible to predict.  Things happen fast, and we must roll with the punches – fast.  Long-term planning is next to impossible, especially if it involves people.
• People move for reasons only they can understand.  And they seldom warn us beforehand.
• Savvy competitors know that it’s often easier to recruit your best talent than to develop their own. 
• Entire new companies, technologies and industries spring up everyday, revolutionizing the way people work – and the opportunities that are available for top talent, including your top talent.
• Employee tenure and loyalty are at an all-time low.  The best, high performing employees who liked the other guy may not like the new guy and they’ll be gone – fast.
• We hope for the best, but bad things happen.  Japanese companies had plans and then something happened.  One word: tsunami.   Disasters and tragedies occur everyday.  ‘Plan B’ must be available at all times, for every critical position in your organization.  
• Many of the jobs that will be available and necessary 10 years from now haven’t even been created yet.  Think about the growth and development in biotechnology.  How many jobs were available at Google or Facebook 10 years ago? 
• Given all of the above, the job you’ve been training that ‘successor’ for will look substantially different when the person currently doing the job leaves.  In other words, you’re training a person for a job that will no longer exist – at least in its current form.
• And perhaps the most terrifying of all: your best people are often the best and most highly motivated people in y0ur organization.  That’s exactly why you put them in your ‘succession plan’, remember?  But sometimes they just won’t wait around for the boss to leave on his own sweet time.  So they leave to start their own company.  And you’ve trained them.  And they know almost everything.  And they won’t be back.  But believe me, you’ll be hearing about them a lot.  Probably from many of your former customers.   

If the above scenarios don’t keep you awake tonight, consider these facts.  The numbers vary, but studies show that 80-90% of small or family-owned businesses fail by the third generation, and 2 out of 3 succession plans are unsuccessful. 

So, what’s the solution?  Talent management.  You must know your people, their skills and abilities, their ambitions and potential – better than they do.  You must identify every one of your high potential people – and have them in the process of development for other roles, based on their potential and actual abilities.  This gives you the ‘bench strength’ you need to replace every key position in your organization in a short time, with the people you currently have in your organization.

The key is to accurately assess every high potential employee, and to have the information at your fingertips - before it is needed.   The truth – and one of the dirty little secrets – of voluntary turnover is that many of the best people, those with the highest potential, leave their jobs because they want an opportunity which was never presented to them.  Their employer or manager doesn’t know their potential to do other things, or to develop into other roles in the organization.   So the only way for them to develop in their career is to go somewhere else.  

In business language, this is called an ‘under-utilization of resources’ or ‘opportunity loss.’  Would you allow an expensive piece of machinery to run at a low rate of output if it had a much higher potential to produce products and profits for you?  So, why do you allow this to happen with your high potential people?

With talent management, whenever a key employee leaves, their role can be filled by one person in your organization who is a close match – or by a few people whose combined skills, talents and abilities add up to an even better total ‘recipe’ for performance.  Or the job may be done 80-90% satisfactorily by current employees, until a suitable, qualified replacement can be recruited from outside the organization and fully trained.  But the position will not remain vacant, causing lost productivity and other damage to the organization.   You anticipate that people will leave – and you’ll always be prepared.  Another great benefit, you’ll never have to ‘panic hire’, paying a premium to recruiters for candidates who can demand higher salaries and other benefits – because you waited until it was too late.  Proper talent management requires a fraction of the costs of working with recruiters, hiring committees, last minute interview processes, lost productivity and the various headaches and stress which occur when succession planning fails.   

There’s an old saying: ‘An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.’  It still applies today.  A bit of talent management can save your organization truckloads of money, problems and complications.   Let me show you how to solve some big problems before they ever happen.       

 LESSON ONE: People are the ‘black box’ in most organizations.  

 I deal primarily with the people, as opposed to the operations or the financials or the machinery or the technology of the organization.  And PEOPLE, not that other stuff that other advisors work with , are the key ingredient of any organization – small, mid-sized or gigantic; for profit or non-profit. 

When you get right down to it, the majority of business owners and managers don’t really understand what makes their best people tick.  They say they do, but they really don’t. 

Most organizations accept a certain level of dysfunction as ‘normal’, like “X% of turnover is just part of doing business!”  If you ask them to identify the specific differences between their top and bottom performers, most managers talk around it, but it always comes down to actual results.  So, let me see if I understand this correctly.  In order to tell if someone will be right in the job, we need to see if they will sink or swim, right?  So, failure is built right into the system.  Along with low performance, turnover cost and opportunity loss.  Hmmm.  Is it just me, or does this seem absurd?

Forgive my lack of diplomacy here, but I would describe the average Six-Step Hiring Process of these organizations as: 1) hire a bunch of people who we’ve interviewed and really think can do the job, 2) train ‘em, send ‘em out into the workplace and inflict them onto co-workers and customers, 3) after a certain period, tell your managers 4) to keep the ones who can do the job, or 5) to fire those who can’t do the job, and 6) repeat the process, over and over.

The good news is there IS a better way.  But there is usually a cost, and it will require doing things differently.  And it will mean that certain people in key positions of leadership will need to admit that they could do some things better, that they don’t have all the answers and that change – even for them – is good.  After a decade or two of paying change management consultants without much of a positive change, perhaps it’s time to pay attention to your people – your most important asset. 

LESSON TWO: The “A-word’ and ‘D-word’ are critical to your organization’s success.

No, these are not curse words.  But to some who hold roles of responsibility and leadership in organizations, they are bitter in the mouth, and close to unspeakable.  The ‘A-word’ is ACCOUNTABILITY and the ‘D-word’ is DISCIPLINE.

I am consistently amazed at the vague and non-specific job descriptions that are used by organizations.  Even top national organizations.  They describe motivational, warm and fuzzy things, and identify ‘deliverables’ and other things, but they so often miss the mark.  This puts the unfortunate employee in the position of trying very hard to deliver what is undefined for a company or manager that is not capable of clearly defining what is expected from the employee.  At these organizations, things are ‘fine’ until they’re not ‘fine.’  Then we have a difficult performance review, and much unpleasantness.

Perhaps this is why ~50% of currently employed people are dis-satisfied in their current job, and would consider taking another job of equal pay and benefits.  How can I give you ‘just right’ if I don’t know exactly what that looks like?

So, the lesson here is to first define what every employee – from top to bottom – is supposed to do.  And then, to measure their performance against that definition on a regular basis.  And then to hold each individual accountable to perform to those standards.   And then – this is the hard part – to be willing to either reward success or punish failure.   That means that some of the people who work at your organization will either be getting raises…or finding employment elsewhere…based upon their performance.

But wait, didn’t I just say in Lesson One that you shouldn’t just hire and fire people if they don’t perform?  Yes.

Here is the difference, my friends.  The organizations in Lesson One lack the kind of hiring or placement process which uses the best methods and technology to put the right/best people in the right jobs for all the right reasons.  They haven’t clearly defined the jobs and the expectations for those who perform those jobs.   How can I reasonably expect most people to succeed in this hit-or-miss system?

The organizations in Lesson Two hire and place the right/best people in jobs for the right reasons, and exercise accountability and discipline in their culture and all of their processes.  As an employee, I know what is required for success; I am able to deliver it because I have been given the tools, training and opportunity; and I can do what is necessary to succeed.  I know that my performance - if it is better than someone else’s - will be rewarded at a higher level at that other person’s.   People expect to succeed in this type of system, and require little or no motivation or ‘management.’   Slacking is easily identified and is not tolerated.  People who don’t like the rules tend to go away, all by themselves.  It’s WAY more fun to work at an organization like this, too. 

LESSON THREE: You must have a plan and clearly defined goals.    

There are two old sayings which apply here: 1) ‘In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king’, and 2) ‘If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there.’

Most organizations expect high performance from their people.   Yet a significant percentage of them have no specific plan for their people to follow, and no goals or objectives against which their people can be measured.   Leaders of these organizations usually have plausible, well-reasoned excuses for why they don’t have a plan and clearly defined goals, such as:

• It’s too hard to predict the future in this challenging economy, so we just take things as they come
• Things change so rapidly in our industry that we haven’t been able to identify our goals, so we just take things as they come
• Our leadership team can’t agree on a plan or the organization’s goals, so we just take things as they come
• We’re just too busy around here to take the time to create our plan and clearly define our goals, so we just take things as they come 
• Our competitors have been attacking us unmercifully, taking our marketshare and our best employeees, and we don’t know how to respond, so we just take things as they come

This can be defined as the ‘We’re losing more and more every day, but we’re planning to make it up in volume’ school of management.  I try to avoid sports analogies whenever possible, but this one just begs for a football example. 

Imagine a football team.  They’re pretty good, lots of talented athletes, a good quarterback, big strong linemen, etc.   But they can’t figure out why they keep losing games.  And their coach tells them, “Guys, as long as we just show up at every game, play hard and have a strong defense, we’ll win the championship!”  Really?  I think a game plan, incorporating info about the competition’s tendencies, strengths and weaknesses; practiced prior to every game in the season; combined with proper training; with the goal of winning every game by scoring more points than the other team in every game - in addition to a strong defense - would drastically increase this team’s chances of success.  Wouldn’t you agree?

An organization with a plan and clearly defined objectives, which is communicated and understood by every person in the organization from top to bottom – will win almost every time, despite the economic conditions, marketplace, competition or industry trends.  Simply put, expecting your employees to perform at a high level or to succeed at their work without a plan and clear objectives is unrealistic, or worse, a failure of leadership.   Most situations where underperformance is the issue can be traced to this cause.  

LESSON FOUR: Your People ARE Your Brand.

There are lots of companies out there doing ‘brand development.’  They charge big bucks to make pretty pictures and generate copy, develop websites, print collateral, produce commercials and purchase marketshare for companies.  But in the end, it’s THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE BRAND that either makes or breaks the brand.  Think not?  I’ve got 3 words for you: Netflix, Google and Chipotle.  

Netflix.  Last year, in a moment of hubris at the demise of their main competitor Blockbuster Video, the CEO of Netflix decided to change the pricing structure and brand identity before checking in with his customers first.   In only one year, their stock has fallen from $176 to $69/share and they are losing customer like rats from a sinking ship.  Blockbuster, once all but dead, is considering re-entry into the video business.  One person in leadership who didn’t listen – made a decision that cost this organization billions of dollars and its reputation.

Next Google.  The myth is that they are THE hot company.  The reality is that their reputation is suffering because of how they treat people.  Google is the subject of Congressional investigations because of their marketing practices; is disliked by programmers and web developers world-wide; and is becoming one of the most hated brands in technology - gaining on Microsoft.  They operate with a secretive, ivory tower mentality, ignoring their customers and those who have helped them become a technology superpower.  And while they treat employees very well, it has been reported that 1500-2000 open positions remain unfilled at Google at any given moment.  In other words, the best and brightest are not going to work for them anymore.  To slightly mangle a saying from the Clinton administration, ‘It’s the people, stupid.’   People, like customers, current and former employees, vendors and the surrounding community talk to each other.  And they create your brand perception. 

Last, I submit Chipotle.  In this challenging US economy with high unemployment, lack of capital and businesses dropping like flies all around us..Chipotle stock rose from $221 to $341/share in the last 12 months.  This fast-food chain which started in Boulder, CO serves up tasty, healthy Mexican food at value pricing in funky surroundings.  What are they doing right?  Their people – wherever I go in the US – are the best.  They greet you when you enter, they smile, they look you in the eye, they talk to you, they say ’thank you’, they make your food just like you want it.   The food is always good and so is the service.   

Mexican fast food is not hard to find.  Haven’t been to one of their competitors for about a year now.  I don’t like the surly, disengaged people who toss the food at me and generally don’t even say ‘thanks’ when I pay them.  Don’t plan to go, either.   

The food is good, but the staff at Chipotle IS the Chipotle brand.   And I’m not a customer, I’m a raving fan, an evangelist.  Do your customers feel the same way about your brand because of how they are treated by your people?  If not, it’s time to fix that. 

LESSON FIVE: When you learn something, put it into action – NOW!

Knowledge is not necessarily power.  Having knowledge and being able to do something with it is power.  Chances are pretty good that one of your competitors has learned at least four of these lessons in the last year, too.   He who implements best, wins.  Remember, a wise man once said, ‘Get moving.  The light at the end of the tunnel might just be an oncoming train.’  

Here’s to a successful 2012!  Oh, and if you need some help, please give me a call. 

We’re in the midst of a difficult economy, full of uncertainty.  Our government (and others around the world) seems to be run by clowns bent on engaging in fistfights with one another, rather than helping us little people make a living and simply enjoy our freedoms.  One of my financial advisor friends tells me that there are potential investment strategies for both boom and bust cycles, but the one thing that the market can’t deal with is uncertainty. 

There are very few things in this world you can choose.  You can’t choose the world economy; your health (we all know the person who ate right and exercised like crazy - but dropped dead one day); how long you’ll live; your racial, cultural or intellectual status, your mother, father and siblings; the time in history at which you were born, etc.  Not a single one of  these things is within your control.  Yet sadly, many suffer angst about these things and live life ‘through the rear-view mirror.’ 

So, here is my advice.  Stop the whining and worrying.  The most important thing you can do right now is this: choose your attitude and be an optimist.   

One of my heroes was the late Jim Sirbasku, co-founder of Profiles International.  He once said, ‘The world begins at my front door, and ends at my back door.’   This is a truly profound statement, at least to me.  It means that we can control certain things, and that we shouldn’t worry about all the other stuff.  We should set goals and get about achieving them right now.  We should love those we care about, spend time doing the things we want to do, and live a life that we’ll be truly proud of – every day.

Think positive, and keep smiling.  It confounds your enemies and makes your face feel better. 

Tim Tebow of the Denver Broncos was criticized for his awkward style of throwing and not-ready-for-prime-time quarterback skills.  The guy just went out on the field, did whatever he could with the skills he had, played his heart out – and won football games.  The wins were ugly, true, but they were wins.  His teammates started to believe.  He didn’t listen to the critics.  He played his game, stayed humble and kept his eyes on the prize.  His teammates are playing their hearts out, too.  This is how optimists do it.      

Optimists don’t always win.  But I’ll bet on ‘em every time. 

Your people are the only real differentiator in this hyper-competitive marketplace. 

In this challenging economy, it’s tough to win market share.  And once you have it, it can be even tougher to keep it.  So, it’s always important to keep the right people ‘in front of the customer.‘   It’s critical in a competitive marketplace to make the best first impression possible, and then to deliver the best service possible – every time to every customer.  Most often, the person who is ‘in front of the customer’ is your salesperson or customer service rep. 

Now comes the real challenge.  Some of our people are really good at this customer stuff and some are…not so good.  And as most experienced managers know, some of your people should not be allowed anywhere near a customer. 

Suppose that you could hire only people who looked just like your best employees?  Suppose you didn’t need to make those costly hiring or employee placement mistakes anymore?    The ideal situation could be described as having employees who are all ‘assets’ instead of ‘average.’

Eventually all of your employees can look like your best employees.  Imagine the impact that would have on your organization: 

• What would your annual sales, growth and profitability look like if every salesperson sold like your best salesperson?
• What would your teams and productivity levels look like if every manager and supervisor was as effective as your most effective manager or supervisor?
• What would your organization’s employee engagement level be if every employee was as happy and motivated as your most engaged and motivated employee? 
• What would happen to your customer satisfaction rating if every one of your customer service reps was as effective as your best customer service rep?

You may be thinking, ‘We’ve tried everything and the law of averages always applies.  A certain percent of people we hire just don’t work out.  It’s part of doing business.’   The reality is that if you keep doing the same things, you’ll keep getting the same results.  So, how about trying something different?

The real problem for most organizations occurs and can be solved in two areas: hiring and employee placement.  We must first question the ‘traditional process’ of hiring and employee placement that leads to several problems.

We recruit and hire people with the best of intentions, but some employees just don’t perform to expectations.  Some don’t work out at all, and they either leave voluntarily or they must be terminated.  No one hires people thinking that they won’t succeed on the job, right?  Hiring and turnover costs can be the biggest costs in some organizations.

When placing employees in jobs, hiring managers have good intentions and do their best to interview, select and make the right decisions.  But we have all made bad mistakes.  When that happens, we’ve taken a productive person out of a job, promoted them or put them in another job where they didn’t perform to expectations.  And we’ve all seen the disastrous results.  The person became bitter, de-motivated, negative and probably left the organization.  In this situation, no one wins and the costs are high.      

What you don’t know, the information you’re not getting with your current hiring or employee placement process is costing you money.  It eats away at your profits.  Accepting the status quo of the ‘traditional process’ is like a hole in the bottom a bucket.  You can 1) continue to work hard as you leak more and more water – or 2) you can plug the hole and become far more efficient.  . 

By using Profiles International’s highly advanced, valid and reliable assessment technology, we can perform a concurrent study of any group of your employees (sales, customer service, managers, supervisors, etc.) to assess the specific traits and characteristics of the best, most productive, high-performers (as well as the average and under-performers in the group).   Then, we’ll identify the specific differences between these 3 sub-groups.  Based upon that critical information, we’ll create a ‘performance model’ for you that can be used to identify people – before they are hired or placed in a position – who look just like your best people.

Now ask yourself two more questions:

• What would your turnover and retention rate be if every employee was good at their job and loved what they do?
• How much easier would your life be if you never hired – or had to terminate – another unproductive salesperson, employee or manager?

This is not rocket science, nor is it impossible or too expensive.  We’ve helped over 50,000 organizations, large and small, in 122 countries around the world.  We’d love the opportunity to help your organization, too.   Let’s talk!   

For the last 10-20 years, many law firms have made a handsome living suing employers, large and small, for both real and perceived discrimination.  When a job candidate feels they were passed over in a hiring situation due to a diversity issue, or when an employee feels they have been wronged over a diversity issue – a lawyer is always available to save the day!  And the employer must pay, even to avoid a lawsuit.  Litigation is costly and bad for the reputation.  So, in most cases, the law firm will happily negotiate an out of court settlement.

But let the record show, your honor, that the very people who are busy litigating against American employers for discrimination are guilty of the same thing. 

The majority of law associates and attorneys “of counsel” who make partner at U.S.-based law firms are white men, despite the growing presence of women and minorities within the law firm population, according to Vault/Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA) Law Firm diversity data released Sept. 27, 2011.  White men continue to dominate the partnership ranks, representing more than 76 percent of partners and 79 percent of equity partners, according to Vault.

But don’t think your company is off the hook, just because the the legal industry is having a few issues.  They’ll still be looking for new and better ways to make your life difficult.  It’s what they do. 

But seriously, knowing how costly diversity and discrimination issues can be to your business, have you considered how your hiring and HR policies can be improved to avoid costly problems like this?  Do you really want to spend more time with lawyers discussing how to extricate yourself from employee problems?   

Consider: it is far easier to hire the right person for the job than it is to get rid of a problem employee who never should have been hired in the first place.  Many problems can be avoided in the hiring process – before they ever happen.  And it’s also easier to promote the right person into an open position, than it is to remove a person later for bad attitude, underperformance, incompetence – or your own failure to make a good decision about that employee’s future with your company.  No one wins in that situation.      

There is a better way.  Check out my resource ‘How To Hire Right – Every Time’ http://www.onpurpose-ent.com/pdfs/Hire_Right_Every_Time.pdf  and call me for a free consultation if you need help finding and hiring great people who are just right – for your job, your team, your corporate culture and your customers.   

http://www.workforce.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111001/NEWS02/110939997&template=printarticle 

In the article, executives cite compelling reasons why one-fifth of 1400 CFO’s surveyed are taking on more HR responsibilities, such as: they are process- and detail-oriented; they think strategically; they understand metrics and the bottom line; and they handle compliance and administrative issues well. 

An executive says in the article that after having his CFO handle a personnel dispute, “I thought, ‘That just saved me at least two hours.’ That was kind of an aha! moment for me—having someone as that buffer between senior management and the day-to-day.”   As a business advisor, one of the most common complaints that I hear from CEO’s and company presidents is that they waste valuable time handling people issues that could easily be handled by someone else. 

But let’s not forget the ‘human’ in human resources.  Another executive says in the article, “At the end of the day, HR is people. You have to have a CFO who has a little of a ‘touchy-feely’ side. You’ve got to have a unique CFO who can be someone people are comfortable talking to, but still be a process-oriented person.”

You read this right.  Both touchy-feely and process-oriented.  In one person. 

For my skeptical readers, YES, you can have it both ways.  You can help your numbers-oriented, analytical CFO do a better job with people.   And, YES, you can hire a CFO or COO who is good at both the numbers and the people side of things.  This will require doing a few things differently, however.    

If you choose this option, the 2 keys to success here are 1) having a CFO who understands people, and 2) giving them the right tools, information, resources and appropriate support to work effectively with those people. 

The optimum solution to the problem, however, is a closer collaboration between the CFO and the HR professionals.  Then, by providing each side of this equation with superior people intelligence – both the ‘hard’ numbers and the ‘soft’ people processes – can create huge improvements in your organization’s effectiveness and profits.  You can gain better control over turnover, increase retention and employee engagement, reduce recruiting and hiring costs and manage risks.

One last note.  This may be the best option for your organization’s HR challenges.  But you’ll want to be certain that your CFO or COO has the capability and support to handle this task – before – you make this move.  I can help you make the right decisions using assessments, organizational analysis and other tools.

If you’d like to review a client case study showing how some of the top organizations in various industries across the U.S. have solved their people problems and gained dramatic bottom line results, please give me a call.     

Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/slideshow/personal-finance/2011/09/08/ten-most-popular-jobs-and-what-pay/#ixzz1XP9W2Gxa

Both employees and managers dislike the process and find it uncomfortable at best, and counter-productive at worst.  Let’s examine the dynamics of the ‘normal’ performance review at the ‘average’ organization. 

For the average employee, the annual review is a tense meeting once a year with a manager who tells them how they’re doing in vague terms, points out their flaws and some ‘opportunities for growth’ and then tells them whether or not they’re going to 1) get a raise and/or promotion; or 2) get demoted, re-trained, disciplined, criticized or fired.  Here’s your copy.  Please sign it.

For the average manager or supervisor, the annual review is having to write up an evaluation - on top of all the other things they’re doing - to be presented in a tense meeting once a year with all of their employees in order to tell them how they’re doing in vague terms, point out their flaws and some ‘opportunities for growth’ and then tell them whether or not they’re going to 1) get a raise and/or promotion; or 2) get demoted, re-trained, disciplined, criticized or fired.  Here’s your copy, please sign it.

That’s just full of opportunities for positive interactions, isn’t it?  We start with vague expectations and fear, and then boldly proceed into areas rich with resentment, miscommunication and contentious debate .  Are we all feeling motivated and engaged now?  Can you see why both employees and managers are somewhat less than enthusiastic about this process?

You can improve your performance review process.  By focusing on core job competencies and desired behaviors, and on outcome rather than input, you can quickly make positive changes.  In a Q&A blog in Workforce Management Online (July 2011), Dana Jarvis of Duquesne University-Pittsburgh described the following 7 steps to putting a system in place to determine and provide objective feedback on who is doing well and who is doing poorly.   

1. Examine core competencies. Each job has specific core competencies that make it unique and different from other jobs. By looking at core competencies, you can determine which behaviors best match the position.
2. Review jobs. By taking a fresh look at the job, the behaviors that compose the job will come into focus. Meet with people who do the job and others who are affected by the job to gain insights.
3. Emphasize outcomes. Performance outcomes can play a significant role in developing your system. For each job, think about the key outcomes that need to be accomplished.
4. Make it measurable. Behaviors need to be observable and defined within the context of the work and culture.
5. Make sure you have strategic alignment. Take time to review your strategic plan and think about how specific jobs play a role in achieving the strategy.
6. Take a strengths-based approach. Determine areas where people excel. Examine ways in which people naturally do good work.
7. Champion role modeling. Take a look at the organization’s high performers. These are the folks who get things done, are viewed as role models and can be helpful in determining specific behaviors for success.

Add two more items to this list, and your performance reviews will become a positive process, rather than a dreaded annual experience.  

First, every person in your organization should should have a clear job description, and the organization should have the right person in every job, based on their ability to perform the job.  The Profile XT  is an excellent tool for determining whether a person has the right ‘job-fit’ for a specific position.   If a person is in a job that’s right for their thinking styles, behavior traits, interests, skills and abilities – and the expectations for their performance are clear, it’s easy to tell if they’re doing a poor, good or terrific job. 

Second, instead waiting for that tense once-per-year performance review, meet frequently and informally with your employees.  Discuss expectations, performance to the requirements of their job description, achievement of their goals and career development objectives, etc.  Ask them how they think they’re doing, where they’d like some help – and listen to them.  Based on those conversations, coach them individually and give them the feedback they want and need, in smaller more frequent doses.  (The Profile XT also provides an excellent Coaching Report).  Two-way communication is far more valuable to both employee and manager, and your team will function more effectively.  You might get to know each other, too.

If you dread annual performance reviews, why keep doing what doesn’t really work?  Change things! 

Like my earlier comparison to golf, you may need to hack around with this new process it until you get it right.  You’ll make a few mistakes here and there, but you’ll find that it’s fun and productive if you stick with it.  You may even start to enjoy it.  Except that there’s less beer, and people aren’t laughing and wearing funny shirts and pants and driving around in golf carts.  But I guess that depends upon what Casual Friday looks like at your organization.       

If you don’t know what ‘s___’ stood for, it is a smelly substance found in pastures where cows live.   It’s a crude word that should not be used in polite company.  So from this point forward, we’ll refer to this substance as ‘stink.’ 

The problem with this view of sales hiring and motivation is that everyone is treated like ’stink.’  

In the end, it’s really not about people, who want to be treated with dignity and respect, who should be carefully selected for their ability to do the job for which they are hired.   At this kind of company, there is a subtle attitude that the salesforce is a thing, expendable, to be used and used up.  Every one of them becomes stink when they miss a sales goal, or are no longer useful or productive.  Many companies treat their salespeople like this.  Sink or swim.  Hack it or pack it.  It’s Darwinian evolution at its best, where many play but only the strong survive.  You stumble and you’re done.   

I used to believe this myself.  I have learned otherwise and have repented of my foolish ways.  There’s a better, smarter, less painful and less costly way to build and maintain a top-performing salesforce. 

But first, leadership attitudes must change.   And we’ll need to understand what makes good salespeople tick.   

All really good salespeople – your top performers - have some traits in common.  They have a natural ‘people sense’, an ability to read other people, to listen and observe in order to quickly assess the prospect’s emotions, needs and motivators.  They like people, and have the ability to communicate and establish relationships with them.  They know whether someone is genuine or not, whether it’s worth pursuing a business relationship with someone.  They make productive use of their time and available resources.  They like to compete, to win, to close the deal, to get the check, to get the contract signed, to bring the bacon home.  And perhaps more than most, they like to be genuinely appreciated for their hard work and the value the provide for the organization.

Think about a person who’s wired in this way, someone with lots of ‘people sense.’  They can tell when they’re really perceived as stink by their boss or employer, right?   They’ve seen what happens to people when they can’t cut it, or when they need some coaching. 

Of course, sales pros will do the job, hit the goals and perform well because they’re professional, because that is what makes them tick.  But when a competitor comes along and recruits them, making promises to treat them well, provide professional development opportunities, pay them more and give them what they really want (to be treated with respect) – they go away fast - leaving a giant hole in your salesforce. 

Here’s the sad truth: salespeople don’t usually leave companies.  They leave bosses who view them as expendable assets and treat them like stink.  When they go, they take company secrets, customers and irreplaceable experience with them.  There is a real hard cost to losing good salespeople.  Lost sales volume can never be replaced, and finding another good salesperson takes time and money.  And someone who could be producing sales (Sales Management) is now spending time recruiting and interviewing sales candidates instead. 

But it doesn’t have to be this way.  Positive motivation works WAY better than negative motivation with salespeople.  Treat ‘em right and they produce results and love you forever.  Creating a top performing sales force is not rocket science (and I know, because my son is a rocket scientist).

A high-performing salesforce is a valuable team of people who work hard – and love your company, its customers and their fellow employees.  They are your goodwill ambassadors to the world.   They are highly engaged and go the ‘extra mile’ without being asked.   They are your eyes and ears in the marketplace, and the point of delivery for your brand.  You must hire, develop and keep good salespeople for the long run.  They are gold.

If this has you thinking, and you’re tired of the headaches from turnover, missed sales opportunity, unsuccessful recruiting efforts, management issues, etc., here are some questions to consider that can help you create radical, positive change in your sales organization. 

• What is the real attitude among the leadership in your organization towards your salespeople?  Should it change?
• Do you know exactly what traits are common (and critical to success) among your organization’s top sales performers?
• Do you know exactly what traits are different between your organizations’s top and bottom performers, and which of those differences are critical when selecting and coaching top salespeople? 
• Do you know what makes your top performers tick, and how to motivate, coach and inspire each of them individually? 
• Do your Sales Managers have the information they need to properly manage and coach their salespeople?
• Do you have professional training and development plans in place for all of your Sales Managers and salespeople to help them achieve their goals and improve in their sales career with your organization? 

When your organization can answer these questions, you’re on the road to top sales performance.  You’ll have the best salespeople performing consistently ’above and beyond’, and they’ll stick with you for the long run.   

If you need some help solving a tough problem in your sales organization, give me a call for a free consultation.  With advanced tools like the Profiles Sales Assessment, you’ll identify top sales performers during the hiring process, and you’ll get the information you need to coach your current salespeople to higher levels of success and engagement.

Your life will be a lot easier.  And you’ll never have to handle ‘stink’ again.