With all of the miserable outlooks dominating our media reports for the New Year, I feel compelled to raise a cheer to 2009 and remind everyone that this is the perfect time to begin anew! When times are good, companies tend to pay less attention to the basics that truly are the competitive edge. Now is the time to take stock and assess the opportunities that you have at hand.
I happen to believe that companies live and die by the people they hire . . . and keep. In good times, organizations are more likely to avoid the tough emotional decisions of dealing with mediocre performance by just hiring additional people to get the job done, People are not interchangeable legos, and they truly come to us with different strengths and capabilities; also with differences in commitment and dedication. Smart organizations know they have to make every hire, or retained employee, count.
After the Depression of the 1930's, employers were asked what was the most important factor in deciding whom to keep and whom to terminate to keep their businesses going. In a study of 4000 men who were laid off, the employers said the deciding factor was their behavioral traits; not their degrees, seniority, or experience but how they behaved and interacted with others. Behaviors such as initiative, cooperation, attitude, accountability meant more to survival than what we typically see as hiring considerations from the traditional hiring process.
Observant leaders know these traits spell the difference between success and failure today. The good news is, we have exceptional and accessible methods of identifying those essential traits today, and who has them, none of which was available to the leaders during the Depression years. Today we have the HiringSmart process and a suite of assessment tools to assist you with your Strategic Workforce Planning. Any company that has not seriously considered profiling essential success traits, and matching them to candidates and existing employees for best performance, is seriously missing powerful opportunities. These immediate opportunities result in significant and immediate improvement in leadership and management, production, quality, sales and morale. I would challenge anyone to identify any decision or process that delivers more improvement and delivers it more quickly.
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