People, Value, Results

Some of you who read my blog regularly know that I often get very passionate about values within the organisations that I work, and struggle when I see a conflict. It has been known for me to withdraw from a client when I hit a value conflict that I can't see a way around or that could potentially damage the relationship going forward.

As hard as it is to say no to new business when you need the revenue stream, my philosophy on values cannot change and therefore I end up with 5 or 6 great clients and a great value match in our relationship. Relationships are vital to a business like mine and I take great care to maintain and enhance those bonds whenever I can.

I am sure there are businesses out there in the same industry as we are, who turnover millions of pounds and given the chance would tell me I am mad to have such an approach, but money can't buy you love!! only tough love!!

On that note I read a great article by a guy called Stever Robbins who focuses on helping successful professionals build career and life excellence....he also writes a lot about leadership and one of his books "It takes a lot more than attitude to lead a stellar organisation" is worth a read

Here are some notes from his article .....feed back is always welcome!!

To get results people value

When good results are the exception rather than the rule, there are only two possible causes: check your people and check your systems. I've found most of us naturally care about one or the other, but not both. We love people, but never have time for the systems. Or we're great with systems, but ... people? Who cares about _them_?

You should care. They do all the work and set the quality standards. Do you know you're hiring for competence? Most people hire for skill. They look for resumes with keywords or for experience doing exactly what the open job needs today. Earnest folk develop assessments, tests, and competency models, rating each candidate along a dozen painstaking scales.

Shallow, shallow, shallow. Those are skills, and you can train skills. But you can't train people to care deeply about doing a good job. You want people who are proud of their work and devoted to getting better. Who cares if they're good at a skill before you hire them? Trust me. In six months, you'll care far, far more about whether they'll move heaven and earth to master and grow in their job once they're on board.

Look for the right attitude. Southwest Airlines is famous for group interviews, in which they actually watch each candidate in a group setting and notice who cares about pleasing others. That's who they hire. Go talk to your candidates and employees. Listen carefully to find out who looks proud when talking about doing a good job. Dig. Ask questions like, 'What was your favourite work experience and why?' If there's no evidence they care about the quality of the job, they're likely not your dream employee. If people are just showing up for the paycheck, they won't put in the effort it takes to produce results. And that includes you!

In fact, if they have no work ethic, they might deliberately sabotage you. The owner of my local Subway sandwich shop hires kids with a strong work ethic. He once heard a new hire tell the others they could get more hours by making sandwiches more slowly. He fired her on the spot. That kind of attitude doesn't change, and will poison a business unless it's nipped in the bud.

Hiring the right people is only half the battle. You have to back them with the systems to do good jobs. Yes, you need to give them computers, machinery, cash registers, and the other tools of the job. You also need to give them policies and procedures that let them do a good job. We've all called customer service people who are super friendly and helpful, and spend the entire call confiding that 'management just won't let me do that.' How long do you think a quality-committed person will stay at a job that only allows mediocre results? Not long.

The system underlying everything is your system of Money. Moola. Cash. Scratch. Pay. People do what you pay them for. They take pay as a signal for how to behave. If you pay and promote mediocre-performers the same as high-performers (an astonishingly common practise), your high-performers are more likely to start imitating your mediocre-performers than vice-versa. And when you promote people just because they're politically savvy, you get a political organisation that only incidentally does any work. Think about it: politicians are hired solely for political reasons. Which member of Congress do you want running your business's cash register?

Also pay attention to how flexible your policies let people be at their job. The Customer Service world is filled with stories of overnight packages being delivered by helicopter by daring deliverymen during a storm. Or department store clerks letting customers return merchandise they didn't even buy there. By giving those front-line people flexibility, companies created a culture where the job got done and customers became evangelists for life................... I think he covered a few areas here for us all to think about but worth sticking under the hiring managers nose or HR for that matter

Bye for now

Emma

Comments

[liz Alder]

Dear Emma,
What a treat to receive the inspiring weblog!
I love a flow of information that challenges the way people think and do business!
keep them coming
Thank you very much!