President:
“I’ve fixed the employee turnover problem.”
CHRO:
Oh, great. Another wonderful idea from the person not screening all the applicants. Can’t wait to hear this one…
“Tell me all about it! I can’t wait.”
President:
“Lock the doors.”
CHRO:
This man better be giving me a huge raise for putting up with all these ridiculous jokes. I mean, really? Lock the doors?!?!
“OMG! So funny, Jack! Hahahahaha. Lock the doors! Don’t know how you came up with that one.”
I know, it’s funny and ridiculous but then again, it was only September 4th that the Federal Trade Commission banned non competes that locked people into crappy jobs, inhibited innovation, depressed wages and increased healthcare costs.
But other than that they were a great idea.
It’s a shame though, indentured servitude has always been great for the employee experience…..
Talking of innovation, here’s an idea, how about we hire people into jobs that they want, make an offer to them, get them to want the job even more and then keep them at that high level of engagement so that they are more productive (some studies say up to 26% more), take fewer sick days (37% fewer) and are just flat out happier?
The key to engagement is motivation and it’s sort of a circular thing so once you get in to that cycle of goodness you’re gold. But you need to understand what motivates behaviors and you do that objectively with a little bit of science.
HIRING WITH BEHAVIORAL PROFILING
We use Predictive index, I’m a Certified PI Practitioner and we never guess how to engage a candidate in a role, we know.
I can even show you inside 6 minutes how it’s done, all you need to do is answer the survey yourself. Drop me a note.
From a high level most us can make a pretty good guess. I know I’m extroverted and other people know I’m extroverted so that’s an easy one to grab onto. But how extroverted? 70th percentile as I compare to 10,000 other people.
But I’m perceived as collaborative. I’m not. 90th percentile for independence, I am likely one of the least collaborative people that you’ll meet. But I’m extroverted and that tends to mask it. This is key. If you’re managing me you can forget the “we” word track, just get me to own it “Gareth, it’s really important that YOU get this done”.
I’m also very outcome driven.
And what about some nuances?
This is where the fun starts. I delegate details. Seems good? But I joke that I don’t delegate, I abdicate. I over delegate. I’m also extremely trusting. And am awful with detail. And I love trying all kinds of new stuff.
I manage like a 4 year old.
But I know it so I manage it in order to not have my team quit every second week.
HIRING WITH BEHAVIORAL PROFILING
Various studies have shown that recruiters hire predominantly for culture fit, 84% do.
Stop it.
If you’re going to hire for culture then do it for “add” not ”fit”. But the other shortcoming is that it is overpowering the other key factor in the recruiting exercise, experience.
Go take a look at the resume and check to see how the candidate’s experience looks.
Back to the “add” vs fit” thing. Homogenous teams and companies make less money than diverse companies, they innovate less, they have lower employee engagement, higher turnover; should I go on?
All of this relates back to behavioral profiling, if you’re really lucky I’ll write an article that offers more detail on this issue.
So how do you attract and retain top talent?
It’s not rocket science. It is science though.
Let’s assume that we’ve got through the checklist of X years of this experience, Y years of that and Z years that. Check, check, check.
Don’t guess what motivates somebody or how you’d motivate and engage them. Use the science. Invest 6 minutes of their time in understanding.
This will give you both a behavioral road map as well as an opportunity to look under the covers and see where the cultural “fit” is and where the cultural “add” is.
If you’d like to understand more about how Predictive Index helps our clients in these areas, drop me a note.
Gareth Callaway
PRESIDENT
