1. Make sure you have met the person you want to hire face to face, for over an hour

It’s surprisingly easy to not quite hit the mark with this one.

In traditional recruitment, a one hour job interview is fairly standard.

However our modern way of “hiring” can be somewhat less traditional, we may have been referred someone, we may be exploring the services of a subcontractor who has approached us, we may be talking to a ‘consultant’ who wants to work on a retainer for outsourced support or to a virtual assistant we’ve found on upwork.

Sometimes these people are ‘presented’ to us, either via a website (such as upwork) or a service proposition (their website outlining their services) or via a referral (“I use so and so, she is great!”).

All these methods are perfectly fine (in fact they are often fantastic!) however you still need to ensure that you spend sufficient time with the person, to asses if they can deliver on what YOU want them to do – in the way YOU want them to do it, rather than just reviewing whatever they are presenting to you.

Yes, you also need to absolutely listen to what ‘they’ want, how ‘they’ want to work and how much ‘they’ will charge, but you also need to pause, take stop, pull out your ‘must have’ hiring list (which will have both skills and behaviours on it) and chat for as long as you need, to get comfortable they definitely have what you need and to decide if they will fit in with your current structure, team, or your current preferred way of working.

2. Make sure you have TESTED or received PROOF that this person has the KEY SKILL(s) you need them to bring into your business

You might be hiring a personal assistant to help you with EVERYTHING. Or perhaps you are hiring someone to help you with customer service and enquiries.

Regardless of the who you are hiring, you need to be clear on the number one thing you are hiring them FOR.  

Is it their amazing friendly customer service skills? Is it their ability to diffuse a hairy situation with a customer complaint and turn them into a raving fan? Is it their ability to knock together a mail chimp based sales campaign on limited information from you?  Is it so that you don’t ever have to upload that podcast into lipsyn or fiddle around with the editing ever-ever-again!??

Whatever it is, you need to be absolutely sure they actually can do those one or two “must have” skills that you need.

How do you get absolute sure? How will you ever know?

You ask them to show you.  “Give me an example of this please so that I can make sure we are singing from the same hymn sheet….” “Let me give you a situation and can you explain to me the steps you would take to complete this” “Let’s share my screen so I can show you xyz. Tell me how you would do xyz..?

3. Make sure you have run the numbers on the new cost to your business, and decided where the link to revenue is, considered what return you will get from this investment and the likely timeframe.

Eeeek – say what!?

Ok, so you know that every new person you are adding to your team is a cost, which in turn will have the effect of reducing your profit…..

Well, unless you want to get really stressed really quickly (and maybe panic is 3 months time and have to get rid of the person) you need to think NOW about how your profit is going to reduce in the short term and in turn how you are going to turn that investment of $$$ into a return. So how is this persons presence in your business going to link to more future revenue, or a reduction in cost elsewhere and what is the reasonable amount of time before you expect that might happen?

So before you hire anyone and before they start in your business, you should be clear on these levers:

• What do I need them to PRODUCE for the business to get real benefit and value? (and how fast)
• Where will the new revenue come from? (For example are they helping put a new product to market? Freeing up yours or someone else’s time to work on something revenue generating?
• Or at they just giving you your sanity back and if so how will YOU measure when that’s happening and how valuable that is to you and your business? (Note: Don’t underestimate this one, as you being able to breathe and think is HUGE!)

4. Make sure you have considered the various hiring options and the different impacts:

• Employee versus Subcontractor
• Subcontractor versus Consultant
• Retainer versus hourly or daily rate>
• BPO (Business Process Outsourcing Business) versus Direct Engagement with an outsourced team member?
• In-House / In-House versus Remote
• Their equipment or yours?
• Payment terms, invoicing, time sheets, pay cycle?

And most importantly – what suits YOU and your capacity for the different administration each one brings versus what they’d prefer and are asking for/pitching to you?

We touched on a few of these in point 1 above.  In our modern world of technology driven teams, we have so many options! Which is brilliant! Sometimes we are naturally heading in one direction because it’s been recommended to us or a friend or mentor did it a certain way, or we’ve been approached by someone.

This is all great – but it’s still important to take stock and check if it’s right for you. The short term appeal and time saving of moving forward with the existing person is only exciting IF it’s right. The time cost of reversing and starting again in 3 months time is painful and 1000% harder, so spend some time here now.

If you are unsure or haven’t heard of any of these words above… do a quick bit of research or head to my article “different types of team members” {future link} and you’ll be able to eliminate what doesn’t feel right, really quickly.

5. Make sure you doubled check your hiring checklist, ticked off what they do and don’t bring, decided at a ‘big picture’ level if they have enough value AND discussed any skill/knowledge gaps and how you/they are going to fix this.

What’s a hiring criteria you ask? Well, in my world, it’s a simple list of

a) Must Have’s and
b) Nice to Have

It has two sections, covering WHAT the person needs to do (their skills or previous experience) and HOW you’d like them to do it (their preferred behaviours)

It looks a bit like this

No one is going to be perfect and you may not find someone who ticks everything. No worries. Then it’s the discussion around ‘we need someone to do this, which you don’t know how to do so YOU are going to learn this yourself or I AM going to teach you” clarifying bit that will take the confusion down the track.

Hiring great team members into your business requires you to stop and take stock of your business and where it’s heading. This is actually an exciting time and an exciting opportunity for you to design and correct your business path!

It doesn’t have to be a lengthy or difficult process.

Keep it simple. Move through the steps. Get CLARITY on who you need and how to feel CONFIDENT they can do it. Then you can COMMIT to them (and them to you!) and off you go!

Need more help and information? Download our free Hiring Criteria Template below or Book in a Discovery Call with me to see how I can help.

The post Five hiring mistakes to avoid! appeared first on Paula Maidens.

The timeframes are usually tight, the budget is tight and everyone often finds themselves ‘doing what it takes’ to get the job done.  

Sound familiar?

Is it a good thing? Definitely!

Should it stay like that? Absolutely not.

Sometimes, no let’s just say often – in small growing businesses, you find yourself in an environment where everyone has to just ‘muck in’ and get it done. Perhaps it’s a start up, launch or maybe it’s just because a team member has left and someone else has to pick up the work load to keep the business going.

So while this is a good thing (yay for having a great team to share the load!) it is also a slippery slope to one of those ‘thanks but no thanks’ resignation letters you don’t want to get.

Let’s break it down and talk about what can happen.

If you have an engaged, energetic ‘can do’ employee, they’ll typically throw everything they can at it. They’ll work longer, harder, problem solve, up skill and do what it takes to get at least the bare minimum done.  Because they are committed, eager and bought into the business. And typically, as the leader, you’ll be extremely grateful!

However, at some point, the person will reach a stage where they will start to contemplate whether this new role, these additional tasks,responsibilities or activity is something they are or can be passionate about AND whether it’s likely they’ll be able to find their zone of genius. Their flow. Their rhythm.

They’ll start to assess whether they will ever actually enjoy doing their role again and if they’ll ever be able to do it efficiently.  And it’s at that point, based on the answers to those 2 questions, that things will go one of 2 ways:

1. They’ll feel engaged, positive, see it as a new career, an opportunity of a life time gratefulness OR

2. They’ll disengage, get uninspired and consciously or unconsciously consider their options and their path out the door.

The first one will be obvious to you.  It’s likely to be verbal – they’ll thank you for the opportunity, tell you they are enjoying it and you’ll see the sparkle in their eyes.

The second one – maybe not so obvious, especially if this is one of those really great, helpful positive attitude type of team members…. (yep the ones you always want on your team).

This is why it’s so important that you are having regular open conversations with everyone, asking them directly what they are and aren’t enjoying, listening and taking on board the answer and starting to make a plan to ensure you don’t loose that valuable team member.

The signs you are likely to see when their energy is turning:
Snippet of frustration

Venting about situations (albeit in a positive upbeat way)

Increased discussions about inefficiencies

Slower production of work across the board

More discussions about workload and prioritization (in an attempt to make you understand)

The same can really easily happen when you are hiring a new person into your team.  It’s natural (and usually correct!) to assume that everyone will not like a portion of their role, or there will be an element that is new or a bit frustrating for them.  You may even discuss it with the new employee, in their interview.

But it’s sometimes really easy for us, as leaders, to dismiss or underestimate how easy or frustrating some tasks can be.  Because how easy or not easy they are to us, is totally irrelevant when we are assessing if a new team member can, will or wants to do them.  

So although you may have touched on it in the interview, you need to still keep that conversation going and look out for any signs of frustration, as your newbie will go through that same cycle as an existing employee who has picked up and run with a new workload.

They’ll ….. Try > Decide … then > Opt In or Out.  

And if they are one of those great team players who live and breathe your business and embed your culture in everything they do, you need to avoid the “Opting Out” at all costs, through open conversations and some quick maneuvering to make an alternative plan.

Regular. Open. Conversations

Regular = At least monthly, structured + organised in advance

Open Conversations =  Encouraging feedback. Talking about what’s not great as well as what is. Making it OK to talk about the not-so-fun stuff.

So what’s the point of this blog?

People can and will only perform outside their passion and skill set for a certain amount of time.  

Ultimately, you need to get people into their zone of genius, operating at their most productive level. This usually means consciously enjoying their role and being able to openly share it’s challenges and discuss the future.

This, is what will keep those A Players in your business for the long term.

The post What Happens When Team Members Work Outside Their Passion appeared first on Paula Maidens.

Unfortunately, most businesses have dis-engaged employees.

According to Gallop “85% of employees are not engaged or actively disengaged at work. The economic effect of this global “norm” is approximately $7 trillion in lost productivity. Eighteen percent are actively disengaged in their work and workplace, while 67% are “not engaged.” 

OK but what does this mean in plain English?

It means that the majority of people working in businesses (that 67%) are indifferent. They are turning up to work, ‘doing their time’ but not giving their best effort or their best ideas.

This is a global problem, which is essentially saying to us that most businesses don’t know how to really lead and manage their employees.

And let’s face it. If you are a BIG business (thousands of staff, million of profit $$$) you can probably get away with it.

But if you are one of the small ones, where profit counts and productivity is key – this problem will hit you hard. It will hurt your bottom line (which means your back pocket) and it will probably lead to sleepless nights, stress and possibly burnout for you, the leader.

All is not lost! There are so many ways to improve your leadership and management of your team and lots of litte things you can start right now to make sure everyone is ENGAGED!

Try these 7 steps and watch your business thrive with a happy, engaged and enthusiastic team!

1. Ensure your team know what is expected of them – Provide them with solid and clear goals (describe success to them) and hold regular performance discussions and goal-setting meetings. If you are thinking that ‘performance meetings’ are horrible scary meetings that happen once a year, stop it. They should be enjoyable, energising and easy for both sides.

2. Make sure your team has the systems & environment resources they need to do the job right. (Always maxing out on memory and having to delete files? Get them a new hard drive. Using free software and busy with workarounds? Pay for the upgrade. Struggling to get their system to work? Buy them a laptop. Struggling to upload files? Upgrade their internet)

3. Spend time understanding your team members individual Job Preferences and make a development plan for them to either a) use their strengths every day or b) be able to use them in in the near future.

4. Recognise, Reward & Celebrate. Public recognition, personal praise, stop and smell the roses. Too often we spend more time talking about the ‘improvements required’ and don’t dwell long enough on the good stuff. Write a personal email (better still write a letter!) to say thank you to a team member for a great job. Acknowledge stand out performance on a team call or meeting. Have team bonding catchups and celebrate the success of a launch or similar high pressure business event.

5. Structure extra time into a team gathering/meeting for team members to voice their opinions, give constructive feedback and talk about what they want to see improved. Resist the urge to cut this meeting short and let them discuss, solve and conclude and get it out.

6. Communicate your  business mission and purpose and make sure every team member knows how their role fits into achieving this. Everyone is important in getting you from here to there.

7. Ensure your work environment has time and space for fun, a bit of socialising, banter as well as hard work, results and profit.  Everything is about balance.

Interested in learning more? Think these ideas are good but unsure how to implement them into your unique business environment? Or need to tweak what you are currently doing? Book in for a free discovery call with me and let’s see what we can do together.

Credit to Gallup for their ongoing great research they provide us about workplaces! If you’d like to read more in their articles you can click here:

Gallup Article or here for Gallups Workplace report 2017

The post How to Turn your Team into a GREAT team and Keep them! appeared first on Paula Maidens.