Two Ways To Find Them and Retain Them

When leaders hire, place and retain the wrong people, time is lost, opportunities are lost and good staff members leave.

This results in workplace conflict, decreased productivity, silo-building, and increased management burden.

When I’m called and invited to address a long-running workplace conflict, almost always, some aspect of the conflict relates to someone who doesn’t fit the needs of the position or team. This can be due to skill, aptitude, training, attitude or character.

Most people sense this truth.

Jim Collins, in his book Good to Great, popularized the concept of “getting the right people on the bus.” However, instead of trying to find the right people, most organizations are geared toward avoiding the “wrong people.”

The result usually means that, instead of pulling together a stellar team, organizations feel successful if they’ve achieved “adequate” results. And, “adequate” results rarely are.

In fact, outstanding performers are often very selective about their working environments. They are often motivated by, and prefer to work with, other outstanding performers.

Most people will blame poor hiring or placement decisions on the lack of options; however, this is rarely the case. Often times, they just don’t know what good options look like.

Recognize The “Right People.”

According to Richard Boyatzis, of Case Western Reserve University, most people hire for what is called “Threshold Competencies.” These are job description contents; a basic level definition of what adequate looks like. Threshold Competencies include:

• Having sufficient skills or expertise
• Having relevant experience
• Demonstrating sufficient knowledge of the profession and work environment
• Demonstrating the ability to critically think, relate well to people, and organize

High performance, however, comes from a different set of competencies. “Performance Competencies” include the above, but add:

• Demonstrating the ability to see and engage systems & patterns
• Displaying emotional Intelligence: The ability to recognize a deeper level of emotions and motivations behind a person’s moods and behavior; the ability to manage one’s emotions and the ability to manage one’s responses and behavior
• Displaying social Intelligence: An awareness of, and insight into, how people are relating and responding in an environment; the ability to build new relationships, grow older ones, work through conflicts, recognize and respond meaningfully to other’s emotions and experiences, and work on a team

Become Attractive To The “Right People.”

I’ve worked in the non-profit sector most of my career. I can assure you, with absolute confidence, that pay, benefits and working conditions alone are not what motivates the best staff. Highly motivated people, with much to offer, are looking primarily to:

• Enjoy, and feel inspired by, the people they work with
• Feel like they are contributing towards something meaningful and valuable
• Grow through solving challenging problems

Once you bring all three ingredients together in your workplace and learn to communicate them, you’ll have more than enough good hiring and placement options.

Finding and placing the right people in your workplace may feel like a difficult task in the beginning. Creating lasting, valuable change often is. You may be very busy. There may be systemic situations that make change difficult. However, my best clients work within very broad circumstances. They set an intentional path and simply begin building workplaces that recognize and attract the best performers. It doesn’t take as long as you might think; because, your team strengthens as it grows.

Self Evaluation:

1. On a scale of 1 – 10 how well have you defined what the “right people” look like for your team?
2. On a scale of 1 – 10 how attractive is your workplace to the “right people”?
3. What is one thing you can do in both of the above areas to move up 1-2 points on the scale?