Know and Trust Your Process
I spent some time with a close professional contact recently and his story struck a real chord. Let me share…….
Recruitment as a whole is renowned for high staff turnover, I know that from personal experience. As individuals most of us are still learning, every day, what to do and how to ensure we have a happy, productive team. When an outside Consultants advice to my friend was 'get rid' he realised he had always tried to give benefit of doubt and probably procrastinated along the path to a formal disciplinary as yes, he accepted a degree of responsibility. Recently he was made aware of a group gathering that showed a collection of happy faces and what appeared to be good friends. This group seemed to have come together after some lack of success in areas of their careers and the identification of a common enemy. Each and every one of them had periods where they had failed in their job. Some of them under-performed for many months. Interestingly though, each and every one of them had been supported be it emotionally or financially or via personal time off during their difficult periods. He and I wondered how many (if any) of this group stopped to think for one minute how much that had been a cost the business and ultimately a personal cost to the business owner. When no revenue came in month on month, when mental health or physical health caused poor productivity, when team relationships or heaven forbid criminal issues reared their heads did any of them even consider the knock-on effect? We honestly believe that none of them have given any of this a minute. It would seem it was much easier to point the finger and blame everyone else for their failings than actually be honest with themselves.
One thing that my contact was hugely positive about was that post his staff changes, business had boomed and not one client had batted an eyelid about the people who had departed - no matter how strong a relationship that employee had professed to have.
The upshot of this story is; be confident in your recruitment process, set out your expectations very clearly from the start, don't be a friend - be a manager/leader, be fair, be firm, be consistent and hire people who genuinely give a damn. It is these employees who will grow with you, will find solutions to problems not just moan about hurdles and who will really 'get it' because so many people do not.
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