The greatest resource of any business lies in its human capital...

The greatest resource of any business lies in its human capital, the employees. Employees are central to the smooth running of a business and to the provision of a quality service. The value and importance of employees is often underestimated and unfortunately sometimes management neglect to see employees as the valuable assets they are. All too often employees are instead treated as liabilities. However, it happens to the best of us. We employ a new person who we think will be a star only to realize we’ve hired the wrong employee. So what does an employer do in such a scenario? The answer depends on the situation.

 

The Need for Proper Induction

Many organizations throw people into their jobs with little thought as to how these will perform. They expect new employees to show up and become a productive part of the team with little direction. Take a closer look at your induction process. Have you provided the newcomer with an employee orientation programme in order to be successful in their new role? If not, step back and offer more guidance. You may be able to turn this situation around. If you feel you have properly trained this new employee and things are still not working out, then you must move this employee out of the organization as soon as possible.

Knowing when “fit” doesn’t necessarily mean “right”

Perhaps it’s a matter of fit. The employee may have the skills to do the job, but appears to be the wrong fit for the organization. This is likely due to a mismatch with the corporate culture. You could invest in a coach for this employee and hope things will get better. In fact, changing behaviour is not an easy thing to do. In many cases, it’s next to impossible. Investing resources in a newly-hired employee who has yet to prove their worth may simply not be a sensible thing to do.

It is much better if at the screening stage you take a closer look at the characteristics of this person. Do their values align with the values of the organization? If the person isn’t the right fit, then termination is your best course of action. Using a special set of questions called “Meta-programmes”, you can figure out a person’s profile within seven minutes or less. You need special training for this but it pays off in the long run.

Deal immediately with performance issues

Too often employers are afraid to confront employees regarding performance issues. Instead, they pray this person will resign, which is rarely how things end. It is best to have an open and honest discussion with a new employee who appears to be the wrong choice than having to show him/her the door after a few months. Whatever you decide to do next, you should keep minutes of the conversation in writing just in case the matter comes up again in the future.

Learn from your mistakes

Hiring mistakes are costly and divert attention that is better spent moving the business forward. Examine your hiring process and make corrections where necessary to avoid making the same mistake twice

Common hiring mistakes and how to avoid them

Relying on an interview to evaluate a potential employee

The usefulness of the interview in accurately predicting later success on the job was analyzed by a research study group and the surprising finding is that the interview is considered as a very poor tool even though it is still the most commonly used selection technique. The reasons why an interview is not very useful include the following:

Most managers don’t structure an interview nor do they determine the best answers before the interview.

Candidates do a lot more interviewing than most managers and are more skilful at presenting a strong appearance

An interview does help evaluate “personal chemistry” and allow the manager to get a feel of how well they might get along and work together. This is an important issue even if it doesn’t predict the candidate’s future potential to succeed in the job.

Modelling Successful People

It would seem common sense to try to duplicate success. The problem is that the reasons people succeed are not clear from just observing the characteristics of top performers. The critical information you must know is how top performers are different from poor performers. You must “verify” the critical skills for success by comparing the differences between a large enough sample of top performers against weak performers to find the factors that consistently distinguish the winners from the “losers” otherwise, you may select energetic candidates who fail quickly but with style.

Evaluating personality instead of skills

Many consultants have offered psychological theories to support their belief that certain personality factors are critical to success in management, sales or other types of jobs. Reputable “personality” type test producers like the Myers Briggs readily admit their tools are useful for self-awareness and training but are not suited for hiring candidates. Only “skills-based tests” or job knowledge tests have consistently been proven to predict success on the job. So while it might be nice to know that a sales candidate has self-confidence and high energy, it is far more likely that it is critical to know whether he or she can retain existing customers or develop new ones.

Using yourself as an example

Some sales managers who got to be managers based on their “success” as salespeople believe that they can instinctively recognize a good candidate. Many of the top business managers, however, have learned through trial and error, and are more cautious. They look for an objective and independent source to confirm or reject their gut feeling. Otherwise, they would be unconsciously just using themselves as a template. Most importantly, when you use yourself as a model your own ego has to get in the way. It does for everybody, and that “bias” can interfere with your objectivity in judging others - a critical mistake when hiring.

Not using statistically validated testing 

Skills are the critical elements that consistently predict job success. Incentives can motivate a skilled person, but all the motivation and good intentions won’t improve an unskilled candidate. Experts suggest that we should rely on “reasoning” or “common sense” because it is easier to determine an individual’s attitude or personality than to measure their skills. Skills often can only be measured by carefully developed tests or real on-the-job trials.

Not examining carefully the reasons why people have failed in a previous job

Research consistently shows that people fail in a job due to factors different from the criteria used to select them. Most managers can list the two, three or four most common reasons people have failed. Surprisingly, however, this exercise is rarely part of the process used to choose the criteria when selecting new candidates. Identifying these “failure points” and building it into the selection process can reduce hiring mistakes.

Relying on general people’s skills

While everybody wants to hire “good people”, by just being a good person (i.e. good presentation skills, enthusiastic, hard working, humour, etc.) is not a predictor of success on the job. The primary reason is that skills have become so specialized that there is little advantage or application for very general skills unless we’re selecting for the most administrative type of entry level jobs.

Not conducting a careful background reference check

For whatever reason, various recruiting and placement agencies report that there is a fairly high percentage of false information presented in CVs and job applications i.e., 15%-20% of job applicants try to hide some dark chapter of their lives. For some positions it can be as high as one out of every three CVs. While it takes extra effort, not doing thorough homework to verify critical information almost always results in problems later. An individual who will twist the facts to get a job will probably twist the rules on the job. It is much better to be carefully safe than carelessly sorry.

Practical solutions to minimise recruitment surprises:

1. Evaluate a candidate only on the skills critical for success in your job:

Use questions that predict on-the-job skills and performance (not just personality)

Prioritize to select the skills that are most critical for your job

2. Get the best and most reliable feedback:

Delegate the task to an expert consultant in your firm or outsource the service

Provide multiple options to fit your needs (have a back up plan)

Assist your staff as much as possible in the entire selection process, including interviewing and other screening steps

3. If you have a human resource department, ensure that the person in charge relies mostly on logic and not on feelings. This will save you the trouble of keeping the wrong employees for emotional reasons rather than showing them the exit and getting fresh blood as soon as possible.

Final words

A company’s primary assets are its employees. The employee is the secret in the sauce and the glue that holds the corporation together. Without employees, other assets are valueless. They are expense items on the income statement. But, the real measure of the employee expense can be measured by the loyalty, commitment and love that the employees have for the company and their work. If management shift their focus to the careful selection of these intangibles, the profits will take care of themselves. An organization that has a mission beyond mere moneymaking, considers its employees its greatest resource, it’s X factor. Thus if it secures its reputation by doing what is right for its people, then it will definitely meet with success.