Scheme for a dream team

Bob Coulter

Throughout my career, business owners and leaders have been searching for the most critical ingredients that will help them win in their business. I have had the pleasure of being a member of the JP Horizons Team for going on 13 years and work with great people all across North America. There have been some patterns that repeat themselves.
 

Recruitment. Many individuals have gotten locked into a belief window that there are not good people left to acquire.

They struggle with filling spots, get overwhelmed with work and continue to come up short in their performance. On the other hand, the most successful and healthiest organizations and teams continue to bring in great people. The most important lesson in recruiting revolves around having a strong culture that is winning. Great people want to be a contributor to a winning team and this is what we have to fix first.

The second key in acquiring talent is to realize that the game has changed and we have to do business differently when it comes to recruiting. The approach to placing ads in the paper, putting a sign in front of the building and crossing our fingers that people apply will not work. We have to take an all hands on deck approach just like we do when we are focused on marketing and sales for our organization.

By taking a targeted approach we identify the talent we need and then we go to the candidates in a creative way to connect them with our organization. Through social media, schools, churches, networking and career fairs, we need to let the up-and-coming stars and the employed people who are seeking better quality of lives know we are the place to be.

At JP Horizons, we have put in place Better Results Campaigns all across North America. I believe that a campaign is crucial to change your quality of candidates. Start with putting in writing the vision you have and the desired results. Ensure you frame clear goals that we will reach with timelines that need to be hit.

You will want to make clear assignments so that we have accountability. It is really crucial to put your action steps in writing so that the people have a roadmap to follow through the process. It will be important to bring the group together to review progress and make course corrections. Remember to celebrate the small wins along the way so that we can build energy and momentum.
 

Retention. Once we have brought in great people, it is now imperative that we retain them for a long time. We have to form a win-partnership with each member of the team. One key question that I ask owners and leaders all the time is “What is a win for this direct report?”

If we can’t answer this question accurately, then we have a very large problem. Our success is lining up with them how they can reach their goals and aspirations as being a member of our team. It is also important from day one that each individual knows what we expect from them in their role and how we have culture of accountability where each individual has to demonstrate the right behaviors and deliver the agreed upon results.

A couple of key steps in the process revolve around ensuring that we communicate clearly the rules of the game that we live by in our organization. No one can be successful if they lack the right level of clarity as it relates to their position or the company standards. By walking beside our people effectively, we can show them what a win is and help them to see how they will benefit when they really excel in their position.

Each leader, manager or supervisor has the responsibility to equip their people with the tools, resources and coaching so that we set them up to win. We can’t assume that anyone that we hire is going to just step in and perform. It is really crucial to provide the right training or skill development to prepare them to win.

In our role as coach we need to insure that we teach our people to hold themselves accountable. This will come from us asking great questions and holding up the mirror so that they can see their performance accurately.

As you work the process insure you are challenging your people to inspect their work product and grade their own performance. Great people want to earn an A and we need to help them to develop the right discipline to make this happen.

Our leadership consistency comes down to insuring that there are positive consequences for winning and negative consequences for losing. Your success will revolve around being timely in how you address situations and show the organization that excellence is the only option.

For each of us to be fulfilled in our work, we need to win. Winning comes as a result of our partnership with great people. Look at what you can do today to acquire and retain talented people that you can partner with so that you can help them become fulfilled and contribute directly to your fulfillment.
 

Hire Power is a monthly column designed to help you recruit, hire and retain the best talent for your company. We’ve got a rotating panel of columnists ready to give you practical, tactical advice on solving your labor problems. Email Chuck Bowen at cbowen@gie.net with topic ideas.