Posted on Sun, Jan 17, 2010 @ 10:09 AM
Every day we get up, look at the newspaper, turn on the TV, and what do we see? Negativity everywhere...that quite possibly the world is crashing in because of the economy. I can only hope that's not happening everywhere, because many of my clients are doing well, working hard and not accepting defeat - mostly because they refuse to, and that they have high potential (HIPO) people who are driving them forward. Do you have high potential people in the right spots to drive your business? Here's a few tips to help you gain better insight to your people and how to get those high potential people in your organization and making a difference:
1. Have a plan. HIPO people want to know the leader has direction, goals and insight to where the organization is going. It doesn't have to be long or complicated, but it should deliver the mission, goals and where you are "sailing the ship".
2. Know your people. Do you really know if you have the right people in the right spot? Sometimes I find that really great people are put into the wrong jobs - and then they cannot perform. If you haven't assessed your talent to know this, now is the time to do it. You can have the most positive employee working in an area where the fit isn't great, and you'll just get fewer and fewer returns on your investments. Keeping great employees will help build bench strength and reap rewards back to your organization and its customers.
3. Replacing employees. Ok, this is really important. When you replace a position, consider what it is you really need - do you know what skills, knowledge and abilities are going to be necessary? If you don't you could be hiring based on gut feelings, emotions, or non-quantitative basis. Conduct a job analysis, determine what is needed, then find out about your candidate.
4. Find out about your candidate. Many employers are in a hurry and shouldn't be - taking the time to follow an in depth process is critical to getting HIPO's for your organization. Start with the interview, application process, 2nd interview, assessment of capabilities, job fit analysis, background checks and THEN you may be ready to make an offer. Why go to these lengths? Well, for a $20,000+ investment, doing due diligence only makes sense.
5. Reward and recognize HIPO's. Once you get your high performing employees, you need to think about how you can best keep them motivated to provide utmost productivity and performance. How can this be done??? Ask them! Take time to create goals, plans and determine what is most critically important to your HIPO. Then see how they fit with the team and focus on building relationships and finding ways to develop the HIPO to help keep them productive and engaged.....
There is a method to getting HIPO's throughout your organization - and that is to follow this same methodology with other employees. If you want to commit to having a great organization, then great people will be your greatest asset!
Amy Newbanks Letke
Founder & CEO
Integrity HR, Inc.--
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Posted on Mon, Dec 07, 2009 @ 10:16 AM
Human Resources professionals are not heartless. Most that I know don’t enjoy firing people. On the contrary, it’s a painful and difficult thing to do many lose sleep over it, but through it all maintain the understanding that it is a necessary thing to do. So why do so many companies avoid firing problem employees? If you see a fire, the logical thing to do is put it out. Why do so many managers seem to take a wide walk around it and just watch it burn, hoping that not too much is damaged in the process but willing to take the chance of some damage as long as they personally do not have to get too close.
Every organization has dealt with an employee whose behavior and attitude was so poor that it damaged the atmosphere of the organization, or at least of the department he or she was in. If the environment in your workplace is dramatically improved and people are happier and more productive when a certain person is on vacation, that might be a good clue as to who your toxic individual is. Or if you find yourself spending an excessive amount of time discussing how to improve a certain individual’s attitude and how to get them to be a team player, you might know who your troublemaker is.
There are many reasons why managers don’t deal with problem employees. The most common is simply the desire to avoid confrontation. It's hard to provide negative feedback. No one wants to be the “bad guy”. So, the bad behavior is ignored, tolerated, or, even worse, justified. Other managers are ill-equipped to deal with the behavior. They may make valid attempts to address it, but can easily become sidetracked when the problem employee diverts their attention from their bad traits to something positive they've done, how much they really need their job, or to someone else who’s doing a worse job.
Some bad employees have been around for so long that their behavior has become company legend, and therefore, acceptable. Typically, these employees have lasted so long because they get passed from one manager to another because no one wants to deal with them once and for all. By the time they do get to someone ready to deal with the issues, they’ve become a company icon. “ What? Fire Joe because he sneaks out every Friday afternoon for a round of golf instead of going to the staff meeting? Why, he’s been doing that for twenty years now! I can’t believe you’d come in here and do that to him now . . . .”
Other bad employees are actually good performers. They may be toxic to the morale in the company or have behavior that puts the company at risk for a harassment lawsuit, but the work they produce is such an asset that managers are unwilling to take the chance of losing it by confronting the behavior.
On the flip side, some managers are so afraid of litigation that they keep problem employees to avoid a potential lawsuit. They understandthat the problem employee could be an even bigger problem ex-employee. They fear that if they fire them they will be sued for discrimination or harassment or any other reason an attorney will represent.
One of the easiest ways to avoid firing bad employees is to avoid hiring them in the first place. Hire for skill and experience and job match, but also hire for values and character and integrity. There are several assessment tools that can help you determine this. You can always teach people what you need them to know about the job, but you can’t always teach them how to get along with others or how to have a good work ethic.
The bottom line is that managers have to overcome their reluctance to deal with problem employees. With the presence of even one problem employee in a group, employees will be less willing to work together as a team, handle their own problems when they come up, and will eventually quit communicating with one another and with management. One negative attitude will affect your entire work environment and drive away your best assets. And if all of your good people leave because you refused to deal with the problems, you know who you’ll be left with.
Submitted by: Paula Agee, SPHR; Senior Consultant with IntegrityHR, Inc.
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Posted on Tue, Sep 22, 2009 @ 02:55 PM
It goes without saying that hiring the right candidate for the right position is a key component of recruiting. However, if it is really that simple, why do organizations continue to lose countless hours and thousands of dollars in turnover costs? Perhaps the reason is they are missing a piece of the recruiting "puzzle."
In order to attract the best candidates, many organizations focus on salaries, reward plans and other company sponsored benefits. The department of human resources then reviews work history, relevant experience and reference information supplied by the candidate in hopes of making the proper hiring decision.
I say it's not enough.
Research shows that the best hiring decisions are made when the organization uses additional information gathered about a candidate. The type of information I'm referring to is that which is generated by using pre-employment assessments.
Think about it. How many times have candidates offered you a true insight to what makes them motivated, their energy level, how easy they are to get along with and their propensity to steal and use drugs? What about their real interest level and mental capacity to perform in the job? How have you really been able to validate that information in an unemotional manner?
The fact is a company can significantly increase its chances of making an appropriate hire, as well as reducing costs, just by simply using pre-employment testing. For more information on assessments or profile testing services, contact one of our certified human resources consultants.
Submitted by Dawn Karrer, PHR; Human Resources Consultant, IntegrityHR, Inc.
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Use our blog as a resource - http://integrityhr.com/blog
Stay on top of of your organization by subscribing to our blog via email or RSS to the left. If you would like to Contact Us about any of the concepts in the above blog posting please call 502.753.0970.
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