by Janna | October 14th, 2011
What do you think would happen if the next time you’re about to sign on a new employee you inserted this paragraph in your Offer Letter:
I understand that during my first 90 days on the job the vast majority of my training will be of the “trial by fire” variety. Instead of a comprehensive, job-specific training program that gives me the tools to succeed in my job, I will accept minimal direction from my manager. I agree to figure things out on my own, learn from my mistakes, and gracefully accept lots of “after the fact” feedback on how I should have done things the first time around.
I acknowledge the company will most likely not be ready for me on my first day and may have to scramble to provide basic necessities such as office space, a telephone, business cards, and a computer. I also understand that any training manuals or materials I do receive will probably be outdated or incorrect as company policies and procedures are constantly changing.
I agree to willingly take on tasks I am ill prepared to perform correctly and accept full responsibility if I screw them up because I haven’t been trained to do them the right way. Ultimately, I absolve the company of all liability if I fail in my new role because of inadequate training.
Sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it? No potential employee in his or her right mind would agree to this set-up.
And yet, time after time I see managers expecting new hires to succeed in the face of this exact situation. Sure, I exaggerated, but this paragraph describes a lot of what I see new hires up against all the time. They come on board excited and energized, determined to get off to a great start, but too often from the minute they walk in the door they’re met with mediocre or even poor training. And those high hopes and expectations they had for this new opportunity diminish a little more each day they’re in the job.
If you wouldn’t expect a top performer to sign on for sub-par training, why would you think they’d willingly accept it after the fact?
Posted in: Development, Hiring, Training | Make A Comment »
by Janna | October 6th, 2011
Here’s a tricky truth about motivation: it’s an ever changing force.
Think about your own professional experiences. Is what motivated you when you were in your 20s the same as what motivated you in your 30s or 40s (or later if you’ve been at this for a while)? Most likely what you recognize is that as your needs, goals, and priorities changed over time, so did your motivators, especially as they relate to the workplace.
For example, let’s say you were highly motivated by money, challenge, and risk when you were looking for your first job out of college. Those factors may have driven you to bypass Read the rest of the article »
Posted in: Management, Motivation | 2 Comments »
by Kelly | September 27th, 2011
 Can a formula as simple as 1 Great Employee = 3 Good Employees really work? For The Container Store, the answer is a resounding YES. Their basic strategy is to bypass all the average and even better-than-average candidates and go straight for the ones they think will be superstars.
Their thought is that it’s not only more cost-effective to have fewer employees but that they ultimately come out ahead because their team members are more productive and provide a higher level of customer service. This, in turn, leads to increased sales and profitability. Here’s how they explain their philosophy on their website:
We hire only about 3% of all who apply. If you indeed believe that with one great employee, you get three times the productivity of a good employee, you can afford to extensively train them and communicate to them, empower them and pay them 50 to 100% more than what other retailers might pay them.
So let’s see….The Container Store is consistently on Fortune’s “Best Places To Work” list and they lead their industry in sales per square foot. They also pay twice the normal wage for retail employees ($20 per hour vs. $10 per hour), so if we do the math we can see how it’s a better deal to have one $20/hour, high performing team member as opposed to forking over a combined $30/hour for three mediocre people. With roughly 3,700 employees nation-wide, the savings are substantial.
In contrast, many companies I know are loaded with “good” employees. Interestingly, when managers complain that they would love to bring in higher-caliber people but just can’t, compensation is usually what they claim is their biggest roadblock. But The Container Store offers up a pretty compelling argument that not only is it doable, it makes a lot more sense from a business standpoint. I also like that, for them, it’s not just a matter of paying more but also creating an outstanding work environment and really treating their people well.
It’s definitely something to consider next time you’re about to settle for “good.”
Posted in: Development, Hiring | 2 Comments »
by Janna | September 22nd, 2011
 So, you’ve finally hired that new employee you need for a key position on your team. The interview process was in-depth and time consuming, but you believe you’ve found the perfect person. You’ve extended the offer, negotiated the details, and gotten your #1 choice to sign on. Whew—you’ve crossed the finish line! Now you can finally get back to work on the important stuff. Your work here is done. Right?
Wrong.
That raw potential is going to need training, guidance, and support. He’s going to need help getting acclimated to your company’s culture and understanding the “unwritten” rules of the road. You’re going to have to provide the tools to help him get up and running: the skills, the knowledge, and the techniques that he’ll need to do the job the way you want it done. You’ve got to advise him on how to build strong relationships with key people, navigate the existing company structure and systems, and understand the habits and customs that are crucial for fitting in.
And once that stuff is in place, you’re going to have to provide clear, ongoing direction and feedback to keep him on track. You’ll have to praise him when he gets it right and hold him accountable when he doesn’t. You’ll need to challenge him, set goals with him, and figure out what you need to do to keep him from being lured away by a better offer. Most importantly, you’ll need to invest time in building a relationship with him and being the kind of manager he feels lucky to work for.
I’ve seen so many managers become frustrated because their great hires don’t always transition into great performers. How could this happen, they wonder, when they put so much time and energy into getting the right person in place? I think it’s often because they forget a crucial fact:
Hiring isn’t a finish line—it’s a starting point. And your work is just beginning.
How does your company ensure great hires transition into great employees? Or is this an area where you struggle? Please share your thoughts here.
Posted in: Development, Hiring | 1 Comment »
by Janna | September 13th, 2011
The one piece of advice I always give managers who are facing the tough task of terminating a team member is this: “Don’t make it harder on the employee than it already is.”
Certainly losing a job is usually painful on many levels. Loss of face, loss of income, loss of relationships—all those things really hurt and can’t be avoided no matter how gracefully a manager exits someone. But sometimes companies make things worse than they need to be and, as a result, the terminated team member often gets angry and tries to fight back. And this is where things can get ugly.
Sometimes managers deliver the news poorly by choosing the wrong method or words. When this happens, fired employees often feel blindsided or stung or humiliated, and they lash out in response.
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Posted in: Leadership, Termination | 2 Comments »
by Janna | September 9th, 2011
 Please don’t tell me reference checking is a waste of time and that no one will give you any useful information on your candidates. That’s a cop-out. I know managers who learn all kinds of helpful things about potential hires by calling the right people and asking the right questions. And I personally give candid feedback on a regular basis to managers who are thinking about bringing someone on board I’ve worked with in the past.
If you’re not getting useful responses from reference checking, my guess is you might not be doing it right.
So here are five questions to try next time you’re considering hiring someone and really want some objective input. They’re best used if you’re talking to someone your candidate has worked for in the past. Managers who use them tell me very often they generate interesting, insightful answers from references that help them learn something they didn’t know and might not have found out otherwise.
Question 1: If you could create the ideal job for Cheryl, what are the primary things you’d have her doing?
Question 2: If you could have done one thing differently with Cheryl while she was working for you, what would it have been?
Question 3: How did Cheryl’s job performance differ from what you thought you’d be getting when you hired her?
Question 4: What management style did you find got the best results from Cheryl?
Question 5: What one piece of advice would you give me if I do end up working with Cheryl?
What I think works about these questions is that they give references the opportunity to provide either positive or negative feedback in a diplomatic way without asking for the standard “strengths and weaknesses.” Even better, they sound less like you’re reading from a page out of “Reference Checking 101” and more like you’re having a conversation with someone who’s professional opinion you really want to hear.
Before you write off reference checking, think about how asking better questions might yield better results. Now, what questions do you typically ask references? Please share them in the comments section.
Posted in: Hiring, Interviewing | Make A Comment »
by Janna | September 6th, 2011
 Managers frequently talk about good or bad hiring choices in terms of luck. If they happen upon a great employee, they were “lucky.” If they make a bad choice, they were “unlucky.” But what I usually discover is the lucky managers are almost always doing things the unlucky ones aren’t.
Lucky hires are usually the result of having a sound process and the patience to stick with it. This happens most often when managers take the time up front to understand what they need in the person they hire to do a job. When they follow a proven, structured plan for interviewing, testing, and reference checking. When they refuse to make a hasty decision in order to fill a position quickly. When they ask for input from people who make great hires themselves and really listen to what these folks have to say about the candidates they’re considering.
On the other hand, those who blame a bad hire on being unlucky have often done at least a few things to shoot themselves in the foot. Maybe they started out with an “I’ll know what I want when I see it” strategy instead of an accurate Hiring Profile. Or they talk more than they listen in their interviews. It could be that they settle too quickly just to get someone on board, or they fail to consider whether the person will fit with the company culture or the existing team. Perhaps they were too busy to check references or too cheap to use an outside assessment tool.
Either way, I’ve seen very few instances where managers consistently hire great people simply because of luck. The most effective ones I know somewhere along the way got themselves some training, developed a solid method, and made a commitment to stick with it. They don’t skip steps and they don’t settle.
So you can leave it up to luck or you can choose to stack the odds in your own favor. Which option sounds most appealing? Share your thoughts in the comments.
Posted in: Hiring, Interviewing | Make A Comment »
by Janna | August 25th, 2011
 If you’re a manager, here’s an interesting and potentially enlightening exercise. Think back over the last three people on your team who quit their jobs. These need to be individuals who left voluntarily, not ones you fired or laid off. Then answer this simple question:
“Did you see it coming?”
Because in most cases, you should have. People rarely make hasty decisions when it comes to resigning, and they almost always start showing signs that they aren’t satisfied well before they make a move. Yet I routinely talk with managers who claim to have been blindsided by the departure of an employee they thought was perfectly happy and now find themselves scrambling to find a replacement for a job they aren’t prepared to fill.
But you know what I usually find when I take a closer look at these situations? The manager wasn’t paying attention at all. He or she was too busy with other activities and, as a result, failed to do some key things that might have raised a red flag indicating a retention problem was brewing.
If you take the time to really get to know your team members, you should understand what they need to get out of their work in order to stay motivated and happy. You should know if their compensation is satisfactory to meet their needs or if they’re struggling to get by on what they’re making. You should know if they find their primary job duties interesting and challenging or boring and annoying. You should know if they enjoy working with the other people on the team or view them as a necessary evil. You should know if they feel appreciated and valued or if they leave work each day already dreading coming back the next morning.
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Posted in: Development, Management | Make A Comment »
by Janna | August 23rd, 2011
Here’s a different sort of question to try next time you find yourself in a second interview with a candidate of interest. It’s most effective if you use it about mid-way through the meeting, after you’ve covered some of the more “traditional” topics related to experience, background, and skills.
Lead into it by telling the individual that you’ve enjoyed learning about the jobs and people and events that have had an impact on how she got to where she is today professionally. But now you’d like to switch gears and hear a little about the things that have happened to her outside of work that she feels have influenced the person she is today. Then simply ask,
“What were you like when you were a kid?”
Now, I know this may sound a little off-the-wall, and some of you may even be wondering, “What does this have to do with the job I’m hiring for?” But you can learn a lot about candidates based upon their answers, especially if you can get them to open up a little and share some personal stories.
Since most candidates aren’t expecting this question, they haven’t prepared a response ahead of time. So I find they tend to answer it pretty candidly and without trying to frame what they say around what they think you want to hear.
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Posted in: Hiring, Interviewing | Make A Comment »
by Janna | August 19th, 2011
 When it comes to the challenges of managing people, there’s one hurdle pretty much everyone has to overcome. It often trips up new managers early on, but even experienced ones sometimes struggle with it. And if you don’t learn to deal with this issue effectively, it can really derail your ability to build, develop, and retain a great team.
What is this challenge? Accepting that your people aren’t like you.
I know you may think you get this concept, but my experience is most individuals “get it” intellectually but fight it anyway.
They keep insisting on managing their employees they way they’d like to be managed. They keep trying to get their team members to do things the way they’d do them. And they keep overlooking the fact that what motivates them won’t necessarily drive others at all.
What’s the solution?
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Posted in: Management, Motivation, Performance Management | Make A Comment »
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