Showing posts with label hiring. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hiring. Show all posts

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Video: How To Avoid Embarrassing Onboarding Mistakes

How To Avoid Embarrassing Onboarding Mistakes from Kevin Burns on Vimeo.

Kevin Burns, Workplace Expert offers up advice to counter managers who systematically remove the incentive to perform well by giving away the farm to new hires by not tying it to performance. All your new hire has to do is the bare minimum - just enough to not get fired - and they will enjoy raises. Hiring a new employee is not simple. There is pressure involved to get it right and to start a new relationship on the right foot. So how do you do that?

Monday, December 06, 2010

How Managers End Up With Average Staff

Take stock of your employees right now. You are about to separate your people into three categories.

  1. Category 1: how many of your people could you consider to be the best in your industry - the high-performers?
  2. Category 2: how many of your people would you consider to be at least average (competent) and do decent work?
  3. Category 3: how many of your people would be considered below average?

I will bet that the largest number of your people end up in Category 2.

So why is that? Why are you hiring and managing only average people to turn out average work?

Most managers will make the excuse that 80% of workers are considered average - when in fact it is 1% of workers who are average (right on the mid-point) and 99% either above or below average. It is nothing more than an excuse because it lets managers off without having to try harder to coach their people to become higher-performers.

This is how managers end up with an average staff - they accept that this is the hand they have been dealt and then make excuses for not wanting to make it better - because it seems like a lot of work. But then those same managers complain that their staff members aren't engaged on the job. Huh. Imagine that.

It's not workers who have an attitude of "good enough," it's their managers who have it. Good enough lets you off the hook of having to coach better, communicate better and to take more of an active interest in their development.

Yes you do have the time. You just have poor priorities. You're not a paperworker or a meetinger. You're a manager. So manage - priority one. Make your people better and want to be better. You are the coach - they are the players. Are you going for an average season or are you going to attempt to win the championship.

The job is "people-work not paperwork." Re-prioritize.

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

When Managers Interview Over Their Heads

It really isn't a tough concept to wrap your head around - the chance that a manager is at some point going to interview a job candidate who is clearly superior to the manager in every way: charisma, performance, communication skills, relationship-building skills, leadership qualities, knowledge, experience, etc. So what does a manager do when interviewing someone like this?

The truth is, most managers would be afraid that hiring someone who clearly outperforms them would be simply hiring their own replacement. And so, sadly, many really great people get passed over as "overqualified" because of a manager's own insecurities.

The truth is, a high-achiever might be just exactly what your organization needs - but here is the caveat - only if the Culture fit is right.

Hiring shouldn't always be the best person - but should be the best person for the company Culture. Having a highly-focused, customer-focused, high-achiever on staff might be just the ticket to get the rest of your people to build a new customer-focused Culture of high-performance.

But most times this doesn't happen because if a manager hasn't been able to build that Culture already, then he or she obviously doesn't know how to do it. That makes it unlikely that they could recognize good talent and Culture potential if it came along.

But nowhere is it written in the management handbook that a manager can not learn from an employee. Real good managers, employee-focused managers will do what is best for their employees and won't act out of fear of looking poorly or inept. But the moment you pass over a great potential employee because of insecurity is the moment you look incredibly inept.

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

How Managers Poison New Hires

managers poison new employees while onboardingThe truth is, new hires will get sucked into the Culture of the workplace faster than formal training will stick.

Managers who welcome new employees on their first day then promptly hand them off to any employee because they have a meeting to run to, run the risk of doing two things:

  1. giving a very poor first impression that staff and their contributions don't matter - meetings do, and
  2. potentially poisoning your new hire by foolishly choosing some random employee and having them learn the real "attitude" of the place from someone disgruntled or actively disengaged.

You say you want to increase employee engagement and reduce employee turnover, yet you hand off a newbie to other staffers without a plan. What are you thinking?

Who is the employee with the best attitude, the best performance, the best engagement and the best intentions? That person is your new on-boarding mentor. Have a conversation with the potential mentor and tell them that because of their performance, you are placing new hires in their care to learn the correct way of doing things around here. Give your people positive responsibility and you will find that they rise to the occasion.

The first relationship that a new employee strikes up is usually the longest lasting relationship. Make sure your new hire gets mentored by the right attitude, the right work ethic, the right performance and the right engagement levels.

If you want to ensure the future Culture of your workplace is headed in the right direction, don't just willy-nilly leave new hires with your staffers. The first few days are important learning times for new employees - especially for improving Culture. Make this a strategic move. You will have made your own job much easier down the road.

Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Corporate Culture Trumps Pay, Benefits and Perks

culture trumps everything - kevin burnsOn Monday, I addressed a group of senior and executive level managers about the realities of attempting to create a "tomorrow Culture" using ten year-old managerial practices and ideas. One of the points I made was that the Resume is dying quickly.

Since the new breed of worker is looking more for a Culture-fit than they are for a job, you are going to start seeing resumes that have fouteen jobs in a three year period. So how can you find a "keeper" if they have no longevity in their jobs? You start by tossing the resume because it is distracting. If you haven't figured out by now that the new Generation Y is looking for a Culture Fit instead of a job, you're missing all of the really good potential hires.

They're looking for Culture and you're not spending any time building yours. They're looking for Culture and you're still taking out ads featuring job descriptions. They're looking for Culture and you have no idea what it is. You're not speaking the same language so they don't understand what you want and you can't have any idea what they want.

Culture trumps everything: including senior management, pensions, benefits, pay and perks.

And to prove my point, read this article from Inc. Magazine.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

21 Management and Culture Contradictions

What organizations say they want and what they do is in complete opposition:

  1. you say you want your people to become leaders and independent thinkers but you send them to cookie-cutter leadership schools making them followers of someone else's doctrine.
  2. you say you want to attract people with strong skill-sets but advertise titles and job descriptions and base who gets an interview on looking simply at a resume.
  3. you say you want to attract, hire and retain the best but you take out mediocre ads just like everyone else and post the same "Now Hiring" signs as everyone else - attracting the available, not the best.
  4. you say you want to have a strong Culture of Excellence in your organizations but at the first sign of financial crisis, you cut, slash and burn budgets that would help build morale.
  5. you say you want to have strong managers capable of handling issues but you force them into pointless meetings and force them to fill out reports no one looks at.
  6. you say you want to have your front-line staff be more engaged in their work but you don't empower them to make decisions.
  7. you say you offer an innovative place to work but institute blanket policies and refuse to be flexible with work hours, job duties and telecommuting.
  8. you say every person is important but don't encourage senior executives to get out of their ivory towers and press-the-flesh with front-liners.
  9. you say you have open-door policies but won't say the hard things that need because your fear of offending or hurting is greater than your need to be honest.
  10. you say everyone in the company is equal yet senior management act like they're members of an exclusive club of perks and benefits.
  11. you say you encourage ideas and free flow of thoughts but rarely implement employee's ideas or even respond to many of them.
  12. you say every employee is important but you only give awards to and reward your salespeople.
  13. you say you offer superior customer service but when polled, only 8% of customers agree.
  14. you say you want more sales built on your value proposition but at the first sign of competition, you crumble on your value cut the price.
  15. you say you want fewer meetings but you keep on meeting to find ways to reduce the number of meetings.
  16. you say you have the best staff but you put hiring in the hands of old-school HR departments who, by their very results to date, have proven incapable of finding that staff.
  17. you say you want high-performers but don`t arm middle-managers with the skills to coach high-performers.
  18. you say you want to grow but aren't prepared to make a major investment in that growth without absolute certainty.
  19. you say that you want to be the best but compare yourselves to mediocre and low-performing competitors.
  20. you say that you really care about being better than you are but no one is prepared to take the risks and make the moves that elevate the organization for fear of personally looking foolish.
  21. you say that you want loyalty from your employees but slash their jobs when shareholder profits are in jeopardy.

You say a lot of things. But the measure of organizational success isn't in what you say - it's in what you do. So what will you do today?

Wednesday, October 06, 2010

How Motivational Speakers Can Ruin Culture

bad motivational speaker can ruin corporate cultureWhich do you think would be a better use of your time and resources: watching an episode of reality show Big Brother with backstabbing and in-fighting or hiring a professional speaker to speak to your staff? The answer may not be so simple.

What if it was a choice between a two-minute YouTube inspirational video on Gratitude or a bad motivational speaker spouting platitudes like "fake it 'til you make it" or "wear a smile until you feel happy" or him spewing outdated information from twenty years ago that doesn't work anymore?

The last one is a no-brainer isn't it? You'd choose the YouTube video for sure. So how do bad speakers get hired to spew bad information to good organizations and risk making the organization worse? It happens when the people who hire consultants, speakers and trainers don't do their due diligence.

You can NOT afford to be taking these kinds of risks with your people. Do NOT let regurgitations of old, worn-out, passed-due-date ideas infiltrate your organization. You would never let ten year-old refurbished vehicles be the choice of a company car. You would never purchase ten-year old computers and software to give to your people to improve their performance. Why then would you allow old, tired "motivational" speakers get in front of your people without checking them out first? Think people. Think!

Start following blogs of experts, consultants and speakers and follow and read them religiously. If you like their ideas after a few months, hire them. If it's the same old tired crap that you know doesn't work anymore, stay away from them. Simply "unsubscribe" from their blogs and newsletters but do NOT hire them just because they are "speakers." You have no idea of the damage you could do to your people and your Culture.

Just like your industry, there are a handful of high-quality speakers and then there is a majority of terrible speakers. Make sure you know who you're hiring. Oh, and just because someone might be a member of a professional organization, shouldn't make them an easy pick. No speaker is "perfect" fit for every organization regardless of what their website might say. Don't ever hire from a web site, a brochure or even a referral. Find out for yourself. Do the work. This is important.

Tuesday, October 05, 2010

Who Would Want To Steal Your Crappy Managers?

managers create their own islands of worthWhat would you do if 25% of your managers, salespeople and IT people handed in their notice within the next six months? Are you prepared to roll over that many of your key people? Do you have a plan?

Well you had better get one. Survey results today show that's exactly what is happening: 27% of Canadian workers are looking to change companies within the next 6 months. But if your organization has a wage-freeze on right now, that number jumps to 34%.

“Organizations caught in a tight race for survival can ill-afford wide-spread desertions, especially if the people who are lured away are their best performers,” notes Greg Leach, Senior Vice President and study author. “While the sudden departure of any single group would derail any organization, it appears that the greatest threat may be the potential loss of managerial talent. This could lead to a domino effect that could bring the organization to its knees”.

Asking your people to keep on doing more work for the same or less money is creating a Culture crash. Your people have had enough of same pay, lousy work-life balance and you asking them to show loyalty to you while you show a disregard for them.

Worse yet? 31% of managers are looking. Sorry, but that's going to collapse your Culture if you lose 3 in every ten managers. It is true that an employee doesn't quit the company - they quit their manager. But the converse is true as well: good managers keep good employees. You will likely only lose your good managers. Hey, who wants your crappy managers? Your competitors don't want your lousy managers. They want the good ones so you will just lose the good ones others want. When that happens you will suffer the domino effect of employees leaving right after their managers do.

What's your plan now?

Monday, October 04, 2010

How To Pay Your People Less Money

Workforce attitudes are changing. A recent survey from HSBC Bank Canada found that four out of five respondents agree that being financially secure is important to their tomorrow, but not to the detriment of leading a balanced life and pursuing personal passions.

According to the survey, "practically all Canadians (97 per cent) want to lead a balanced life and particular priorities include: ensuring that their family is well cared for (91 per cent); wishing to travel (89 per cent); contributing something meaningful to society (87 per cent); and living a greener lifestyle (84 per cent)."

In the survey, Canadians overwhelmingly indicated a desire to spend more time with their families (87 per cent). What that means is that if given the choice between getting a high-paying job with high-demand of hours worked or a more moderate-paying job with much more time to spend with family, most would likely opt for the "family" choice.

Workforce Attitudes are changing. You can't expect to own your employees' lives like in past. The new generation of workers won't stand for it. The collective mindset of the workforce is changing: they want to work less, spend more time with their families, travel more, contribute to society (preferrably through their work) and have a more balanced lifestyle they can feel good about.

You can pay people a little less if you don't work them so hard. Separate your people from their families and you will end up looking for a replacement. That costs you money in on-boarding and your Culture will suffer by being known as a tough place to work.

But then, if you as a boss don't have a decent life-work balance (as opposed to work-life balance), how in the world can you relate to what will attract good employees?

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Why Divorcees Make Lousy Managers

why divorcees make lousy managers"How you do one thing is how you do everything."

That's the same principle you hire people by: their past performance being the prime indicator of their future performance. You ask people the stupidest questions during interviews that have nothing to do with their ability to do the job and base their candidacy on the answers to meaningless questions like:

  • Tell me about yourself.
  • Tell me about a situation when your work was criticized.
  • What makes you angry?
  • Tell me about the most boring job you’ve ever had.
  • What changes would you make if you come on board?
  • How could you have improved your career progress?
  • Where could you see some improvement in you?
  • What do you worry about?

By the way, these questions were taken from an HR LinkedIn group discussing the "best" questions to ask in interviews. Judge for yourself but if these are the "best" questions to ask in interviews, I think HR is in trouble.

Applying the same logic as used in job interviews, if a potential manager were divorced, it could be argued they can't communicate well or work towards solutions or negotiate settlements. That logic would say that divorcees make lousy managers. But stupid HR questions are overlooked when it comes time to being considered for manager aren't they? Of course, because the best indicator of an employees capabilities are hands-on experience - not their past personal lives.

So, in order to overcome the ridiculousness of inane questions that are meant to take up time in an interview, why not change your Culture to consider "test-driving" employees for a few days - even up to a week. Pay them for their time to job-shadow, integrate with other employees, study their on-the-job abilities and base their suitability on what they do present-day instead of asking them what they worry about.

Who cares if they're good at rehearsing smart answers for dumb questions and instead consider the "training camp" philosophy of sports teams. They show up to camp and their on-the-job abilities are judged for suitability. I'll bet you find a better crop of good future-managers this way. And it won't matter what their past looks like will it?

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Culture of The Future Workplace

Bishop Carroll High School in Calgary is going paperless and bookless. In other words, everyone is getting a laptop and all of the text books will be digitized and on their computers. This single move alone threatens the book publishing industry. I was speaking with a small book publisher last week who was lamenting the growth of e-books and decline of hard books. I suggested then that the moment high schools and post-secondary institutions embrace the e-book to replace the text book, publishing as we know would change drastically and e-book sales would soar.

Knowing now that how we educate our workforce of tomorrow is changing, have you given any thought at all to what your workplace will look like in the future? Asking Gen Y's to step into a Baby Boomer designed workspace is not going to keep the bright minds of tomorrow engaged. In fact, asking a Gen Y to work from a cubicle is not going to work for you ... and neither are they.

Your workplace needs to be ahead of the curve if you want to attract and retain the best talent. Waiting until the new workers voice their dislike of their work environment (and they will tell you as they head for the doors) is going to hurt your Culture initiatives overall.

I've been saying this for a year now: think open-concept workplaces with no cubicles but randomly placed tables, chairs, sofas and a barrista working the coffee bar in the corner and you're starting to get it. No more hard-wired desktop PC's but Wi-Fi laptops and iPads connecting wirelessly to 42-inch LCD television monitors. No more hard-wired phones but each employee being given a Smartphone.

The office of the future will look more like a lounge (think Starbucks here) with open collaboration and ideas being thrown around which will raise innovation greatly.

This is exactly how the new generation of worker works best. Why wouldn't you encourage their best instead of forcing them to fit into an old-school mold of cubicles and quiet that they can't stand? Think about it.

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Study: 75% of Tomorrow's Workforce Cheat


I found a copy of an article I had written on a web site in the Netherlands, with the web site owner's name replacing mine as author. I called him on it. He explained that he didn't put the article together but had used a student in the Philippines to research and write articles. That's plagiarism.

I found another one today, with my name removed and "Admin" listed as the author. I am tracking it down now. The picture of "Admin" shows a young girl, perhaps late teens or early twenties. That too, is plagiarism.

I read in the newspaper recently, a report from the Canadian Council on Learning that shows three quarters (75%) of first-year university and college students cheated at least once in high-school.

Students, apparently don't see plagiarism the same as their professors. High-school teachers are turning a blind eye to it - or not bothering to check it at all. That, unfortunately, gives students the impression that plagiarism is acceptable. I mean, really, what's the difference between downloading someone else's work and calling it your own and downloading music from peer-to-peer sites and not paying for it. Theft is theft - but the message is that it's acceptable in high-school if teachers won't address the behavior. This is creating a Culture of cheating in high-schools.

According to the newspaper article, "David Johnston, the associate vice provost of enrollment and the registrar at the University of Calgary, said students who are accused of plagiarism in their first year often do so out of ignorance. 'What we find is that students coming out of high school don't have a clear idea of what plagiarism is,' he said. 'The Internet has made it easy for students to do what they think is research. They cut and paste without citing the source.'"

Here's the management challenge of tomorrow: managing workers who feel stealing someone else's work is OK. If that is the rule, is stealing credit for an idea OK? Is stealing clients from co-workers OK? How about stealing someone's lunch from the lunchroom or coins on a desk or tech gadgets?

If 75% of your new workers have plagiarized or cheated in recent years, how are you going to manage a group of workers who believe that plagiarism and cheating are acceptable?

Be firm and clear that there is a zero tolerance on cheating if you don't want this group of new workers to infiltrate and poison the Culture of Accountability in your workplace.

Monday, July 12, 2010

How To Stop Workplace Pettiness

If you ran a retail business in a shopping mall, you would notice a huge difference in the amount of staff required during the month of December versus the month of January.

Now take a look at your own organization, and ask yourself where there are peaks and valleys of performance required. January might be slow in retail but it is an extremely busy time with, say, snow removal. Snow removal business is dead from April through November but pretty good for golf courses.

Every organization has busy times and slow times. So what's happening in your workplace right now? Are there a few empty spaces from bodies who are on vacation? Is the work still getting done? So what then, is a full staff and how many do you actually need?

Perhaps you've convinced yourself that you need a certain number of staff for a full 12 months of the year, when in fact, you might be able to suffice with skeleton staff for six months and add staff during peak times.

Now don't get me wrong, I'm not advocating mass layoffs. There's a reason that I bring up the discussion of potential over-staffing: when employees are not challenged in their work, they get bored. When they get bored, they disengage from their work. Employees are also much quicker to find fault with their workplace, have internal conflicts with each other about petty things and will contribute to reducing the quality of Corporate Culture in your organization.

If you want to stop pettiness, finger-pointing and boredom, keep your people busy - but not to the point where you're burning them out. If you want to ensure your Culture remains one of high-performance, don't give your people opportunity to just sit around waiting for something to do. Nothing will contribute to lower morale more than unproductive time to be bored. Your organization will pay the price.

Don't simply assume that the way you've always staffed has been the right way. Study every part of your business because each part of your business contributes to your Culture.

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

60% Of Workers On The Hunt

According to CareerBuilder Canada's mid-year job forecast, 60% of Canadian workers, who have jobs now, are going to chuck their jobs and go in search of something new.

Why? Well, according to the report, "When asked why they wanted to leave their current jobs, one-quarter of workers said they felt over-worked, their work environment changed during the recession and they had resentment about other workers being laid off. One-third of workers said they felt overqualified for their current jobs, while 43 per cent said that a lack of interesting work was the main motivator for changing employers." (Source: Calgary Herald)

31% of Canadian workers are actively looking now and expect to jump to a new job within the next 12 months while an additional 29% will do so once the economy improves again.

Meanwhile, 58 per cent of Canadian employers said they plan to hire in the second half of the year focusing on IT, customer service, sales, administrative, business development and accounting/ finance.

According to the survey, forty-six per cent of hiring managers said they fear their top talent will leave their organizations as the labor market improves. Top talent doesn't leave a job when they're happy. They leave when they are unhappy with the job, the company, and more specifically, their immediate manager.

I've been harping on this a while but NOW is the time to get to work on transforming your Corporate Culture. Because once the high-performers go, there's not much left to attract new high-performers. Get to work. Clock's ticking.

Tuesday, July 06, 2010

8 Reasons To Understaff

A 2:30 in the afternoon, after most of the restaurant staff had been dismissed until supper hour, one cook, one waitress, the assistant manager and the owner's wife were able to seat, serve and feed 45 senior citizens whose bus tour stopped at the restaurant without warning. What you may not know is that the cook LOVED his job, the waitress made it her mission to serve her best, the assistant manager had cooking experience and the owner's wife wasn't going to let excuses get in the way of a big payday.

The waitress and the owner's wife served the customers. The cook and the assistant manager worked as a team, split the duties and didn't miss on a single meal. There was not a single complaint. Everyone was served their meal in under twenty-five minutes. Compliments abounded. Deservedly, the skeleton staff gave each other a high-five at the end of the hour.

Later that night, with a full complement of staff available and not more than twenty patrons in the restaurant, food quality was inconsistent, waitresses argued over tables, customers complained and kitchen and wait staff blamed each other.

So which would you rather manage:
  1. a seriously understaffed group of highly engaged employees with a heavy workload risking burnout, or
  2. a full complement of staff including a mixture of engaged, disengaged and actively-disengaged employees with a light workload
Give me the understaffed, highly-engaged group any time. Here's why:
  • the risk of burnout is low when people love their work and engage highly into it
  • there is no time for excuses when it's busy
  • people only become territorial and disruptive when they think they are better than others (entitlement)
  • actively-disengaged is like a cancer in an organization that needs to be removed before it spreads
  • other engaged people are attracted to exciting and vibrant workplaces of high-productivity
  • people complain when they are bored so the point is to keep fewer people busier and make the work mean something
  • waiting for the "right" employee is smarter than settling for the "right now" employee
  • it's far easier to build a strong Culture when there are no actively-disengaged employees fighting you
Look around your department right now and figure out whether this is the team that will win you a championship when you need to or is it a team that is likely to miss the playoffs? Then make your decisions from there.

Wednesday, June 16, 2010

Study: Top Managers Are Nice Guys

A recent study by Green Peak Partners in collaboration with a research team at Cornell University's School of Industrial and Labor Relations showed some amazing findings about who makes the best manager.

Overall, people who are nice people tend to lead a higher-performing department that those who are harsh, hard-driving, "results at all costs" managers. Hard-drivers actually diminish the bottom-line. It turns out, the managers who get the best results and make more money for the company are the self-aware managers who are exceptional at communicating one-on-one with their people. This is exactly what I have been saying: managers need to be more like personal coaches than policemen.

Here are some other findings of note:
  • Bullies, often seen as part of a business-building culture, were typically signs of incompetence and lack of strategic intellect.  
  • Poor interpersonal skills lead to under-performance in most executive functions.
  • "Self-awareness," should actually be a top criterion in choosing managers.
  • Executives who change jobs frequently are often trying to outrun a problem, and that problem often has to do with how they 'fit' in the workplace.
  • People with multiple siblings tend to be better managers.
The future of management is NOT time-wasteful courses like Time Management, Conflict Resolution or Personality Profiling. The future of successful management is in developing your managers to be better "people." Make them be better coaches, mentors and people with feelings and you will attract and retain great people who can learn from and be valued by their bosses.

The market is changing. Old style thinking and old-style courses haven't been able to solve the problems because the problems still exist. But the philosophy of "make people feel like they mean something" improves engagement, loyalty and recruiting for top talent.

But only do this if you WANT to be better than mediocre. Otherwise, ignore my words and do nothing differently.
--
Kevin Burns - Management Attitude/Culture Strategist
http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™


Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Finding Your Excellence In A Wasteland of Mediocrity

Subscribe to Kevin's Managing with Attitude Blog by Email

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Managing A Great Culture Starts With Hiring

The simple truth is that if you don't have a steady stream of the industry's best knocking down your door to come work for you, it could be argued that you don't have an outstanding culture - at least not the best in your industry.  Because, if you did have the best culture, hired only the best, had the best opportunities for advancement, the best perks and pay, the best managers and the best environment, you would have the best of the best wanting to come work there. So, by simple default, if you have to place ads to get new workers, your culture is NOT the best it could be.

Who responds to "Now Hiring" signs and ads anyway? The talentless? The unhappy? The low-performers? The available? Maybe, on occasion, you might get a gem but you have to sift through all of the other resumes to find them.

You see, high-performers, if they were unhappy with the company they currently worked for, would simply do something about it. High-performers would start to knock on doors before the jobs became available. They would be making contact with HR managers or other contacts in your organization and would let it be known that they were looking. They would show initiative.

That's why "Now Hiring" signs and ads are a big mistake: they attract those who don't have any initiative which forces your HR department to sift through the trash resumes to see if there's anything worth keeping. 

But it's not just the HR manager's job to find good people and recruit them. Every manager, every supervisor, every senior executive and every employee should be on the lookout for good people. When you build a Culture of Excellence, the attitudes of your people change. They stop being competitive and territorial with each other and they commit to work together better. That means, recruiting and building a strong culture becomes everyone's responsibility - a responsibility that every high-performer would welcome given the chance.

So ask yourself, do you have a Human Resource/Talent Management department that attracts, recruits and manages high-performers? Or do you have a "now hiring" department that lazily does what every other mediocre organization does and only attracts the mediocre and available?
--
Kevin Burns - Management Attitude/Culture Strategist
http://www.kevburns.com

Creator of Filter-Free Fridays™
Creator of the 90-Day System To A Greatness Culture™


Coming Soon Kevin's 8th Book - "Your Attitude Sucks - Finding Your Excellence In A Wasteland of Mediocrity

Subscribe to Kevin's Managing with Attitude Blog by Email