- Smart:
- Thoughts
- Partners
- Opportunities
in retail management, life insurance sales, professional development, executive development, sales training, management training, organizational development, Human Resources management and finally, a partner in a talent management consulting firm.
This last one, honestly, was the first one I’ve gone into with a clear understanding of what I do well and who I can do it for. But still, I had to trust somebody else to give me the feedback or the affirmation that I could be successful. (Note- key word- “affirmation”.)
The common theme throughout all of my professional careers has been that I looked to others to “affirm” me and what I was doing or who I was doing it with or for. (Note to my earlier bosses and managers: “Thanks for the memories. Sorry for the heartburn.”)
I know you can’t imagine that, but it’s true! I’ve now got statistical science that has calculated that and compared me to millions of others. My assessment profile shows it, mathematically. I need affirmation and somebody else’s structure and processes and to tell me when. (Note to my current boss: “Thanks for teaching me this.”)
How many others of us are out there? I mean, how many professionals are in their profession because somebody else told them....”you know, you’d be good at …” like me?
Well, our statistical science technology suggests there are roughly 40% of workers who are inherently “wired” to be responders, to look for stability in structure and affirmation from others. Another 20% to 30% are somewhat “balanced” in their initiative, service motivation and independence. In other words they may or may not have ended up where they are because of someone else’s suggestion but if their job doesn’t match up to their natural likes, they won’t be there long. This would suggest that roughly 60% to 70% of employees are in their jobs because somebody else suggested it to them and they agreed with them.
Come to think of it, look back at all of the different jobs I had. And, these were all with different companies and different bosses. Even different sectors like manufacturing, financial services, government, petro-chemicals and retail. Think about the costs associated with my tenure in all of those companies (or lack of), the turnover, all the process upsets, on-boarding and out-placement expense. Not to mention incentive costs to motivate me, like the boss face- to- face time, the vacation time, the sick leave, the medical premiums, the FICA (Employer payments).
I’m not kidding. I cost my employers several hundred thousand dollars just to “house me” and, sure, I probably did some good things along the way, but did I provide more value than my cost to each of those employers? To be honest, I don’t think so. I cannot identify any direct returns and very little indirect returns for my tenure at all of the companies before this last one.
If 60% of people are working in jobs because somebody else suggested they would be good in them, AND (from a recent study) 74% of current employees would be glad to ‘jump ship’ if given the opportunity (Ie. somebody suggested a better place for them), what’s wrong with this picture?
I believe we can no longer afford to hire people because hiring managers and/or recruiters think they fit. And, from the other side, we can’t assume the candidate is making an accurate assessment of their potential success in a job and company that, at most, they’ve spent 40 hours researching (less than 4 hours, in most cases). My experience suggests that more candidates assume that the hiring manager truly knows who they are making the offer to and the hiring manager must know what they are doing. WRONG!
No, it’s time for American industry, whether ‘For Profit’, ‘Not for Profit’ or Government (who talks like one and really is the other) start statistically predicting and selecting successful people based on their inherent fit for the company, the hiring manager and the career! Not keywords on a resume and a firm handshake.
Back in the 80’s a man named Philip Crosby wrote and sold a book entitled Quality Is Free. In essence he suggested that if everybody produced exactly what the customer wanted, the first time, there was no cost associated or waste with the transaction. So, in effect, it was “free”.
This lead to the belief that people should be striving for “Zero Defects” and other concepts that drove a number of different efforts like Quality Management, Total Quality Management, Lean, Six Sigma and others. Many used applied statistical process control (SPC). All of these ‘programs’ drove home the message that people should be attempting to measure more and drive out waste, rejects and scrap in materials, energy, finished goods and labor. In a perfect system there would be no “waste” in anything. Measurement would highlight the areas for improvement and track positive results, encouraging continued improvement.
So, I’m taking the cue from Crosby, Deming, Juran, Toyota Manufacturing, Covey and the other process improvement champions to drive improvements and “lean” to the corporate selection or recruiting processes of human resources/talent.
We now have predictive analytics applied to human resources. We have technology to prevent faulty hires. We have methods to drive down unnecessary turnover, dramatically. We have 30 years of experience that illustrate the return on improved performance and retention by using statistical hiring and succession planning tools.
So, when you tell somebody “You know, you’d be good at ….” use statistics and comparative data to back up your recommendation. Odds are, you will more accurately select talent, people who can double your organization’s output and reduce bad hires by 50% in short order.
The best part will be the candidate who says “You were right. This job is a dream come true!”
Employees are Free
