Higher hire

With unemployment being what it is in this country -- high, improving only gradually and with many more job seekers than available jobs, you'd think that employers would have the pick of the litter.

It ain't necessarily so. Or so it seems.

Business owners with whom I meet or work who have jobs to fill are decrying the lack of qualified applicants for those positions.   The constant refrain that I hear is, "No one wants to work anymore," or some variation on that theme.  There is certainly some be truth to that, but as the saying goes: "If you say you can't, then you won't."

There is always talent out there.  Lots of talent. Gobs of it.  It may seem counter-intuitive, but in this employment economy, you have to compete for talent if you want to hire more than mediocrity. 

Go Team!

In last week's post, I noted that the phrase "An Army of One" is an oxymoron for small business owners. As it turns out, the Army also apparently felt that it was antithetical to the ethos of teamwork, and phased the phrase out.

Ah, teamwork...who doesn't want a "team player?"  Businesses spend millions, if not billions, of dollars in pursuit of talented teammates.

• We advertise for them in our recruitment ads (who wants to hire a boat-rocker?)
• We read books about building good teams (millions of them)
• We listen to motivational speeches by successful sports team coaches.

We spend much time and energy thinking about teams.  But it also seems that a similar amount of time is spent moaning about our recruits' lack of individual initiative and how to motivate them.  How do we square this circle?

Punish the monkey

You may not have noticed, but this week our government became more accountable.  Is that a good thing?

The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines accountability thusly:

...the quality or state of being accountable, liable or answerable; especially : an obligation or willingness to accept responsibility or to account for one's actions <public officials lacking accountability>...

Not bad objectives for public institutions, but if you are a human being, specifically an employee, these are not terribly positive, empowering or motivating definitions.  All of the responsibility devolves to them.

Perhaps that's why the "A" word has employees rolling their eyes, running for cover, or heading for the exit:  many view accountability as just another modern, Newspeak business term for blaming, finger-pointing and butt-covering.  Punishment, in other words.

Empowering thoughts

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People start their own business for a number of reasons -- some to follow a passion, some always dreamed of being their own boss, while others were in search of flexibility that they didn’t find in larger organizations. Those who grow beyond solo entrepreneurship will quickly find out that getting the right people on the bus is even more important when you’re driving a small scale version. When on-boarding a new employee, consider this:

“If you hire people just because they can do a job, they’ll work for your money. But if you hire people who believe what you believe, they’ll work for you with blood and sweat and tears.” (Simon Sinek, author of Start with Why.)

Ensuring that you find people who believe what you believe requires that you have a clearly defined vision [see this earlier post]. You also need to choose those who are able to multi-task and not worry so much about staying in the confines of their role, and to “jump out of their seat” when needed. To see what a fully-engaged employee looks like, check out Jeff Haden's 8 Qualities of Remarkable Employees.

Ready, Fire...

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I played a lot of sports when I was growing up.  Baseball, hockey, football, lacrosse.  I was a decent enough baseball player, but at 5-foot-6, I harbored no illusions of playing at any high level of competition.   (Especially after watching "failed" major league pitchers up close and personal during one trip to Spring Training.)  In lacrosse, I was good enough to play at the Division I collegiate level, but not as a starter.  

I loved these sports, practiced diligently and consistently, and worked with my coaches to get better.  But at a certain point, I did not get any better:  I reached the peak of my abilities.  My potential was exhausted.  So, I focused my abilities and competitive drive in other, more productive areas.  I fired myself, so to speak.  So, it goes.

Several of my TAB members have been struggling with "people issues" of late.   Hiring is one of the three challenges (the others being sales and marketing) that form the "trinity" of core issues for most small business owners. 

Making the wrong hire is incredibly costly, for businesses small and large.  We're talking tens of thousands of dollars.  I won't list the studies and commentary here, but type "cost of a bad hire" into Google and you'll get 116 million results.

Why is hiring people thing so hard?  For one, it's "because we hire people for what they know, but fire them for who they are," according to one TAB member.