Maximizing Human Capital

At one time or another, nearly all managers have wished for the secret formula for staff motivation. 

The answer is not an overly complex one, but can take practice to internalize. The answer is that we are all motivated and gain work satisfaction from different needs and drives. 

Think this over, and I believe you will recognize its truth:  Some of us love taking chances, thrive in chaotic environments and are motivated by competition. Others are more productive in familiar, calm surroundings performing compliance tasks to a nearly perfect degree and are de-motivated by competition. Still others are most productive somewhere in the middle of the continuum of these two extreme scenarios.

Some of us adore the spotlight, think best by “talking out” our ideas and are motivated by recognition among our peers. Others prefer time to absorb and ruminate over data and ideas before being asked to offer an opinion and are less concerned with showy awards.  

Providing for these different motivating needs isn’t necessarily difficult if you have the right tools and knowledge.  And the result? Measurable productivity gains in the workplace. 

But if these needs and drives are not obvious, how does a manager learn what they are?  When asked in a one-on-one setting with their boss, many employees give answers that are well-meaning, or politically correct, but inaccurate. Some people don’t honestly know what drives them because they have never seriously considered the question. Others are not comfortable admitting to their needs.

So what is a manager to do? One way to “look under the hood” and add hard data to your people-management tool kit is by using a personality assessment. If the assessment is a solid, statistically-valid instrument based on behavioral science principles, there’s no need for guesswork. Consider making one part of your employee development program. 

Of course, we think our personality assessment – the Predictive Index® is the best of such tools. Ask for a demonstration today. We’d be happy to show you how to strengthen your leadership and achieve measurable business results.

In his newsletter, recruiting and HR expert Peter Weddle urges employers to consider the importance of “ordinary instants” and their effect on big life decisions - like whether to pursue a particular job. This phrase refers to the thousand of hum-drum, banal instants that make up the typical hiring process – those we don’t even normally think about because they are so ordinary. They are the tiny intersections we have with job candidates from beginning to end like: 

• the tone of the job advertisement
• the hoops we require them to jump through to apply
• our acknowledgement of their application (or lack of acknowledgement)
• the greeting we use when we begin a phone interview
• the communication we use to schedule a face-to-face interview
• the kind of reception we give candidates when they visit.

These ordinary instants exert a far greater impact than their name would suggest, Peter says, for three reasons:

1. The sheer volume of ordinary instants make it likely that they will influence the course of what we do
2. They often lull us into a kind of carelessness that can permit them to fester into their own version of a really BIG problem.
3. The ordinary for one person can be a tipping-point for another.

Here at ADVISA Hiring we agree with Peter’s point and remind our clients to consider "ordinary instants" in their hiring process.  You'll hear us refer to this as the employer's "brand."  It consists of the manner in which employers interact with their job candidates (as well as with with their customers).

What is your employer brand? What does your hiring process say about you? Does it reflect HR best practices? Does it reflect professional courtesy and respect for candidates' time? 

“That most basic of human rituals – the conversation with a stranger – is a minefield.”   - Malcolm Gladwell, The New-boy Network: What Do Interviews Really Tell Us?

Most of us make quick, intuitive judgments about people we have just met. When interviewing a job candidate, this is one of the most significant tendencies we should all fight against.

In his May, 29, 2000, New Yorker column, best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell illuminates this common tendency - to fixate on supposedly stable character traits in people we meet and overlook the influence of context. Psychologists call this the Fundamental Attribution Error.

In a nutshell, this is the tendency we all have to assume that the way someone behaves in one context (say, in the context of a job interview) is indicative of the way they will always behave. 

How someone acts in an interview may or may not allow us to predict how they behave in other contexts or be relevant to how good a hire they would be for any given position.   Some very excellent workers get nervous during interviews. Some people who are tremendous presenters, and truly shine in interviews, might have little to offer within the context of a difficult team leadership position or during the everyday grind of a high-pressure decision-making position.

There are some very specific ways to avoid errors of attribution and improve the outcome of candidate interviews:

1.       Be clear about what behaviors the position for which you are hiring requires. This is best done via a three-way conversation with someone who is doing the job well already, someone who supervises the job and someone who interacts regularly with the position. 

2.       Use structured interviews that keep to a fairly rigid format. Script the questions and treat applicants in the same manner. Create questions that illuminate the behaviors identified in question #1 above.

3.       If the job requires an excellent phone manner or outstanding one-on-one presentation skills, these skills will be easy to ascertain via a phone interview or in-person interview.   But if these are not the primary performance requirements for the position, it may make sense to include other exercises or problems to solve as part of the interview.

Putting in the extra thought and effort to include these best HR practices will be well worth it to your business. And if you need help along the way, we’re ready at ADVISA Hiring to step in with candidate assessment data tools, applicant screening expertise - and staff to even do the work for you if that’s the level of help that you want.

“It is a truism of the new economy that the ultimate success of any enterprise lies with the quality of the people it hires.” - Malcolm Gladwell
 

There are several reasons that businesses will settle for “good enough” when hiring. 

Sometimes it is because the workload has increased so quickly and dramatically that they are caught unaware until they have reached a critical point where customer satisfaction is at stake and overworked employees are near mutiny.

Sometimes it is because, for a certain level of employee, they are under the misguided perception that being “picky” is a waste of time and resources.

Sometimes businesses will settle for “good enough” because, even though they spend a great deal of time on personnel selection, they are not spending that time doing the right things. They may think their candidate screening process is adequate; that they know what skills, personality traits and experience the position needs; and they know how to predict the performance of a candidate; and that they are good interviewers. 

The truth is that great hires can make all the difference.  Hiring affects the bottom line. Engaged and energized employees deliver so much more each day - day after day.  And equally as important, engagement and excellence will often drive others to raise their game in the workplace as well.

I've seen this on a personal scale during the past year. I've had the enviable position of working with terrific, talented, energized people during my five years at ADVISA.  During this past year, we made two more excellent additions to our workforce: my direct boss, Dana Harrison, who is Manager of ADVISA Hiring; and Brian J. (BJ) McKay, our new Client Service & Sales Consultant.

Dana and BJ have re-energized our workplace with their enthusiasm and many talents.   Along the way, I have witnessed some of their good habits rubbing off on the rest of us. 

I find myself thinking even harder and more often than usual about how to do my work better because that's what I see Dana and BJ doing every day at ADVISA. Their daily striving for excellence and achievement creates an environment that entices all of us to raise our game.

Give some thought comparing your own hiring process to best practices in recruiting with the help of an expert at ADVISA Hiring.  We'll ask you:

• to define the "personality" of the job and share an excellent tool for doing so
• to determine the performance objectives that define success for the position and the metrics you intend to use to measure those objectives
• to consider your "employer brand" and ways to promote it
• to define the value proposition for potential candidates
   

• Know the job:  Define the personality traits and decision-making style required for the position 
• Assessment and screening: Use a personality assessment and a cognitive abilities assessment combined with written job-specific questions
• Interviewing: Use behavoiral interviewing to further uncover a candidates' talents, abilities and accomplishments.
• Wrap it up: Complete a thorough fit-gap analysis