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How Motivators Matter – Case 1

HbD — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:16:31 +0000

What happens when an individual’s inherent motivators are not matched to the job they’ve been hired to perform? Not a lot. People find it difficult to excel in a job that doesn’t inspire them. Here is a case in point.

Because of downsizing, Doug lost a job he’d held for 6 years as a corporate training manager, and began looking for his next career step. Doug is naturally motivated by a thirst for knowledge. He reads avidly. He is passionately interested in adult learning theories, and leading edge technology for online course delivery. He is a devotee of lifelong learning, adult psychology, change theories, and all subjects concerning human development.

Finally, Doug was hired by a large organization as their new training manager. It appears from his resume and skillful interviewing responses that he has exactly the talent required, and Doug really needs this job.

But Doug ends up leaving his new job after only 8 months. Why? The selection process didn’t compare the job’s motivators to Doug’s motivators! The job is motivated to follow established guidelines and deliver standardized curriculum repeatedly. Doug is motivated by continually trying out new ideas, developing new courses, and experimenting with leading-edge training approaches. The job’s motivators did not match his own, and everyone lost.

At Hiring by Design, we believe the talent companies are seeking needs to be compared with MORE than a resume. Matching the job’s and the candidates’ motivators is essential for successful selection. We’ll take another look at how motivators matter in our next posting.

We encourage your participation and comments.

Motivators within a Job

HbD — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 19:12:50 +0000

Ever consider the inherent motivators inside a job? This is one important area often overlooked by experienced recruiters because it entails looking at the job in a new, fresh way.

People perform according to their personal motivators, of course, but so do jobs. Mismatching motivators between people and jobs is a common error that sooner or later leads to turnover and a higher cost of hiring.

Successful employee selection is maximized by beginning each hiring process with identifying the target job’s motivators, or why it succeeds. For example, does this job attain success through a strong motivation to lead others and act independently? Or is the more important motivator adhering to established rules and regulations? Once you are clear about a job’s inherent motivators, you can measure the right ones on the applicant side.

We believe the talent companies are seeking needs to be compared with more than a resume – for the success of the new hire, the job, and the whole organization. Accurately identifying motivators is one step that helps Hiring by Design establish a quantitative comparison of candidates’ talents to a job’s true requirements.

In our next posting, we’ll illustrate how motivators intertwine to strengthen or derail the success of people and jobs in our workplace.

We encourage your participation and comments.

More than a Resume

HbD — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 03:14:47 +0000

While resumes are one of the first things required to begin the selection process, I believe the talent companies are seeking is not necessarily revealed through excellent writing skills, work experience, and degrees. While all of these factors play a role in finding the right person for the job, sorting by resume and sorting by personal talent AND a resume may well give you different results.

In Hiring by Design’s 13 years in the talent selection business, we have consistently used very effective tools and techniques in addition to resumes to identify the right talent for our clients. This has resulted in successfully pinpointing the right talent to achieve job-specific results, as well as an excellent fit within the company’s culture and the existing employee pool. In order to achieve this, job candidates participate with us in a highly interactive process that measures priority talents for success on a specific job. The result is a QUANTITATIVE COMPARISON of the candidates’ individual talents to a job’s true requirements.

Using tools and techniques to clarify the components of talent, such as key motivators, behavioral style, and orientation to life’s challenges are invaluable additions to a thorough resume review. We find that going through this process assures a higher quality talent match to a specifically defined job.

In my next several postings, we will explore with you the tools and techniques I am referring to, and how they continue to provide Hiring by Design’s clients with invaluable selection criteria. I hope you contribute your viewpoints, too.

We encourage your participation and comments.

Decision Point – Train or Hire?

HbD — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 06:46:38 +0000

If you are planning to fill new jobs in the New Year, you may be contemplating whether to train a current employee or hire a new one. What’s the right move? The answer depends on many factors.

There is not a straightforward answer to “train or hire,” but there are many factors that are worthwhile considering beforehand. Here are some of them that will lead to an objective analysis:

What are the KEY RESULTS which must be achieved in the job? This is the first question I ask my clients when they are seeking to fill a position. Typically, every job has 3-4 essential key results it must achieve (different from a job description). When we understand what those are, we have aimed ourselves in the right direction to identify matching talent. I will write more on the subject of key results in future articles, but call me if you’d like a brief explanation of them now.

What are the MAIN TALENTS needed to achieve the job’s key results? Talents required can be identified in a number of categories including: experience, skills, personal attributes, motivators, behavior, attitudes, and achievements. I recommend separating talents into “trainable” and “non-trainable” categories. It helps further clarify the profile of the person you are seeking for the position.

Who in your organization has demonstrated the MAIN TALENTS identified for this job? What proof do you have of this? Proof may be a combination of performance evaluations, awards and recognition, management feedback, mentor and coach recommendations, talent assessment results, and the person’s own motivation for goal achievement.

If you have no internal candidates who are qualified and available for this position, then at this point you have achieved the beginning of a template for hiring!

I hope this is a helpful beginning process for you in reaching the decision to “train or hire.”

We encourage your participation and comments

Author: Hiring by Design™– copyright protected worldwide. All rights

What Are Your 2011 Talent Priorities

HbD — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 06:44:06 +0000

What ranks highest on your talent priority list for the coming year?

No matter what played out within the talent ranks in your organization in 2010, it is almost at an end. This is the belief we all prefer regarding the YEAR THAT WAS, both in good times and in bad, because it clears the way for a new future. Perhaps it is especially healthy to believe it now, as we are shaking ourselves free of a particularly difficult year for almost everyone.

So what are you going to focus on as you move into 2011? Most of you are probably having that conversation within your management team now, or have had it already. The exercise in this article may help add to your clarity.

Here are some relevant priorities for talent management. I invite you to fill in the list below by distributing 100% of your intended focus among the items as they apply to your goals.

My 2011 Talent Management Priorities:

1. ____% Rebuild, de-stress, and reenergize the workforce

2. ____% Identify and develop new leadership candidates

3. ____% Hire new employees

4. ____% Procure specific talent for launching new products and services

5. ____% Eliminate jobs and put a cap on hiring

6. ____% Focus on performance evaluation systems to identify top vs. low-performing talent

7. ____% Reassess and redefine the talent suite needed in moving our organization forward

8. ____% Review and establish a leadership succession plan

9. ____% Create new incentive programs to retain our top talent

10. ____% Add new online social networking tools for attracting prospective employees

11. ____% Refocus the leadership team on NEW goals and objectives

12. ____% Expand job responsibilities and ask people to produce MORE with the same resources

13. ____% Another priority

14. ____% Another priority

As always, we greatly value your individual participation and comments.

Wishing you a successful 2011.

Author: Hiring by Design™– copyright protected worldwide.

Hiring Priority – Build a Talent Template.

HbD — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 00:35:03 +0000

The job market is slowly opening up. Focus is the byword, however, as you receive tons of replies and resumes to sort through each time you advertise a job opening. Focus where? On the specific talents the job requires, and a talent template to support you in making the right hire the first time.

It’s been challenging for organizations over the past several months as they have tried to balance sustainability with the minimal number of human resources needed. While an economic upturn is greatly welcomed, there is a lot of caution when it comes to hiring on more employees. On the other side, people need work desperately and many are at the point where any job will do. For organizations that assess how costly it is to hire the wrong person, more focus on the right talent for the job has become crucial.

Before hiring take an in-depth look at the jobs in your organization. How have they changed during the recession? How do you want them to change for the future? How will you be certain that you and everyone responsible for hiring are focused on the same priorities in selecting the right talents for the job?

For years I have supported my clients in creating talent templates for their jobs. The end result has been more focus and success in selecting the right hire, the first time. It’s a process that, when you understand how it works, becomes a priority to complete before beginning the hiring process. In short, it includes:

Defining 3-5 key results that they job must achieve for the organization (this is NOT a job description).
Uncovering what underlying talents will be most important in achieving these key results.
Designing a talent template, based on the above, for use throughout the hiring process – including behavioral interview questions to quantify talent matches.

It’s surprising how much you learn about a job by completing this process, and how easy it is to redesign the job to suit today’s needs before you hire.

Are you getting ready to hire? What process do you use in defining the talents your jobs require? I’d like to hear about your own process for hiring success.

We encourage your participation and comments.

To Hire or Not to Hire?

HbD — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 23:37:14 +0000

How long can you wait to add the needed talent to position your organization for growth in place of mere survival? Are you concerned about incurring the costs of a wrong hiring decision? Increase your odds for hiring success by targeting crucial job talents. Current reports from the US Economic Policy Institute show a deficit of 11.5 million jobs. Now, that is a huge gap in the labor market! The 9.6% unemployment rate (which may truly be higher than that) is evidence that there are a lot of people looking for any one of those jobs.

If your organization has job openings now, why aren’t they being filled? Pick one:

Waiting for proof of an economic upturn
Reluctant to commit to additional staff for the near future
Planning to rehire former staff
Can’t find a suitable candidate (or we’d hire)
Not clear on the right talents needed for the job
Organization is rethinking its structure and staffing for the future

Which one is most true for your organization right now? I’m interested in your answer and your feedback.

We encourage your participation and comments.

Author: Hiring by Design™– copyright protected worldwide. All rights

Gray Talent Matters

HbD — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 21:14:50 +0000

In a previous article, the subject was “Nexters” – the workplace generation born between 1977-1990. In this article, let’s take a look at Boomers – the generation born between 1946-1964. Are you maximizing Boomer talents in your organization?

Literature you read today on the subject of Boomer retirement probably goes like this: they’re not planning to retire. Why not? There are several reasons they want to keep working.

The foremost reason is likely that they cannot afford retirement in the traditional sense of how we used to perceive it: extended travel, continuous recreation, non-profit volunteering, family vacations with grandchildren, non-paying hobbies, etc. Retirement funds have been ravaged by the recession, as well as hundreds of thousands of Boomer jobs. Reports are that over 60% of Boomers do not plan to retire at age 65+.

A second reason is that Boomers believe they have value to offer in the workplace. In many instances, Boomers have honed their talents through years of application, and are confidently in position to offer you their best work going forward. Those who are self-aware likely have developed clarity around what they can do well –and what they cannot. Doing what they do well gives them a rewarding sense of accomplishment and self worth, and can give you great value, if it contributes to moving your organization forward.

Considering only these two factors, Boomers can be a source of highly motivated talent.

Where does “gray” matter most? What roles for experienced workers like Boomers do you find are the most beneficial for your organization? Rank the following from 1 (most beneficial) to 9 (least beneficial) as you see them:

Senior Management
Mid-Management
Administrative
Operational
Customer Service
Sales
Marketing
Technical
Mentoring/Coaching/Training

I’m interested in your opinion. Send me your rankings and comments.

We encourage your participation and comments.

Octopus Jobs?

HbD — Thu, 21 Oct 2010 21:29:41 +0000

Do you have a job opening, but can’t find candidates with enough talent to fill it? If so, then you might have created an octopus job…

My colleagues in recruiting and talent acquisition confirm that there are actually a good number of job openings these days. That’s good news – so, you might ask: how many are being filled? The bad news is that today it’s taking increasingly longer and longer to fill them. Why? Many job descriptions keep growing longer and more complex, and that makes it more difficult for recruiters to find one person with the variety of talents to do it all.

More people are agreeing that jobs have been oversized through absorbing responsibilities left behind from downsizing. For example, a sales job today may also require the salesperson to handle administrative, marketing and customer service tasks as well.

If you take into account that all jobs have specific requirements for the right talent, then an octopus job is looking for (figuratively) eight specific talents – something like that sales job above. Is it too much to expect someone to star in all eight categories? Or is it the way of the future?

I’m interested in your opinion. Tell me what you think.

We encourage your participation and comments.

Is Your Top Talent Playing Hide and Seek?

HbD — Mon, 04 Oct 2010 23:07:40 +0000

Finding top talent for your business may be a matter of looking more closely at who’s working for you now. Why do so many companies fail to do this?

Routines and established habits of working together can lock in anyone’s perceptions, can’t they? But moving forward into tomorrow is all about questioning current perceptions, taking things apart and putting them together again in new ways. Why not try this with your employee talent pool as well?

For example, Anita is your talented IT project manager. She’s an ace at keeping projects on track and meeting deadlines. That’s what you see and know about her talents. Maybe what you don’t see is that she’s burning out on the project management front, and feeling like she’s overdue for a career change. A little in-depth exploration may reveal that much of her success is due to the fact she has great talents in persuading, developing, and reading people – skills that may be just what you are seeking for that new HR/Recruiting position you are thinking about creating.

Organizations often miss the opportunity in front of them to reevaluate their own employees’ talents on a regular basis, and discover talents already within their ranks. Performance reviews are usually based on today’s job performance, not necessarily on what the employee is capable of performing in the future.

By reassessing your current employees’ talents, you may find you also create new energy throughout your organization. Who wouldn’t want that?

For example, you may find out that Mark doesn’t really have any inherent talent for one of the major tasks in his (overloaded) marketing job description: writing company blog entries. He hates that part of his job, but he’s not complaining because it’s a tight job market these days! However, you discover that Lauren’s talent assesses high in creativity, and she loves to write. So you move that task out of Mark’s job (for which he’s delighted and more productive in his other tasks) and offer it to Lauren (which reignites her, too). Now they’re both reenergized through engaging more of their individual strengths at work.

EXECUTIVE TIP: Consider that you may already have the talents you seek. Consider assessing your employees’ talents and viewing them in a new light for further opportunities and possibilities.

We encourage your participation and comments.