“Every time I hire someone new I have this pit in my stomach. I’m waiting to find out if it actually pans out. Did I make another mistake?”
“The worst thing about it? He dragged down two of my best employees for a few months before I accepted the loss. What a mess that was.”
“I kept hiring to fill a void, but I had no idea what that void actually was. We just kept doing more stuff so I hired people to do it. I never have a real idea of what the gap on the team is.”
“My employee turnover rate is nearly twice the industry standard. What the hell?! Someone please help me.”
It isn’t uncommon to have these and many other feelings about adding to your team. If we are really being transparent many of us talk about throwing up, avoidance, pushing our current teams past their capacity, or just farming out the hiring to a temp agency or recruiting service (and that isn’t successful either). Some of us know though, that we need to invest in learning how to hire for ourselves. You know who you are. You are an “enlightened leader” like Jeffery.
Client Experience
Jeffery had taken over his business from his dad close to 15 years ago. It was a business of passion for both of them. They are a small business camped out in the thumb of Michigan for over 50 years. They are active in their small town and recently had launched into connecting with customers worldwide through the web. Their hand crafted furniture is sold before it’s made. Customers, up until about three years ago, were either repeat customers or people who had found them through past customers. Jefferey’s vision for the future is to triple business and become an anchor employer in their small town easing the economic hardship most face there. This requires he teach new talent to design and make the furniture AND attract the technology and communication savvy professionals to market and sell online. When Jeffery finally came to us he was ready to give up on his dream because growing and finding talent was seemingly a 90-foot smooth wall that couldn’t be scaled.
Now, with two very clear plans, one for making talent and the other for finding and recruiting it, he’s on a trajectory that will easily get him to his growth goals.
The truth is there is no silver bullet for building a high performing team through hiring, especially when the talent market is tight … at least not a bullet that is forged overnight. Okay, so forging something that will pay off in the long run involves being intentional about your business culture. Attracting people to match your business ethos requires that you know what it is, live it and hold it like the gem it is.
People are attracted to a clear vision, one they can see themselves in, one that they can contribute to. Intentionality about your culture requires you know what it is now and what you want for the future; what does your culture need to be like to achieve your vision? The story about what you have now and where you are going with your culture needs to be an ever present part of your talent attraction, recruiting and retention.
A Clearly Defined Culture
Now the question is, how do you clearly define your business culture? Business culture is a combination of the deeply held principles of your company (your values) and the manner in which work is done (your mood). So what is your culture? This exercise (one that is part of The Hire Effect Virtual Membership curriculum) starts you on your way to really understanding the complexity of your company and defining the mood of your company. We challenge you to complete this exercise. The difficulty will lie in truly staying in what the mood is now not what you want it to be. Be honest with one another, be clear on how you do the work and you’ll start to see the assets and pitfalls in your business ethos presenting opportunities and hurdles in trying to achieve your vision.
Enjoy!
####
M. Miche Rayment is the Founder and Chief Facilitator for The Hire Effect™. The Hire Effect’s clients learn how to hire for themselves by tailoring The Hire Effect tools and organizing their own UnConventional Hiring Team.