In the past month I have had two separate situations where I interacted with employees from two different companies. Let me tell you – I was not impressed. What led me to write about this is that you and your company hire people several times a month and most likely several times a year. The types of people I interacted with are the same people you are hiring. You need to stop.
In the first situation the individual I encountered told me she worked for a small marketing firm. This individual although I am sure is a nice person was boring and unenthusiastic about her employer. Our conversation was more like an afterthought. Stop sending your boring employees to networking events – it makes your company look bad. Based on my experience with this individual I would never work with this company nor refer them to any of my contacts.
The second situation is a business I am currently doing work with. I am about to pull the plug on my business with them because I think the owner is asleep at the wheel and too busy to realize that the people that he has hired are not instilling confidence in their customers. This company charges a premium for their services but is not producing premium work.
Four key steps to hire the right people:
1. Hire the right person for the right role – You can do this easily by implementing a job benchmark for the position you are trying to fill. Set up the right hiring process from the start.
2. Assess your candidates – You will get a better match for the role if you use pre-hire assessments that have been validated for hiring.
3. On-board your new employee – To have a successful employee you must provide them with the lay of the land of the organization. Share with them the company story and how they fit into the continuation of that story. Have them spend time with their team and get to know people in other departments they will be working with. In other words. Set them up for success!
4. Provide feedback – People want to know how they are doing. If they need to improve in an area they want to know. If they ask for feedback, give it. If they don’t ask for feedback set up a weekly meeting so you can find out how they are doing, what else they want to learn and how can you help them.
As a business owner, executive in the company or team manager it is your responsibility to ensure you employees have everything they need to be successful. Follow the suggestions listed above and you will be on your way to having a successful employee.