Next Time, Will You Hire the “Right” Top Performers?

Often, the number one question I receive from CEO’s and executive leaders is this:

“How do I attract, select and retain the right people… those who will perform, stay and FIT our company?”

This is a big priority and area of focus and concern in all types of businesses today.

As the marketplace has forced businesses to change how they operate…. to do more with less, be more efficient, and be more strategic… attracting and hiring the “right” people in sales, leadership, service and other key roles is critical to ongoing company success.

Discussions occurring across your industry reflect a growing realization that employee talent is not a commodity and that we can no longer hire just anyone or let any employee just “try” … the wrong people DO affect customers, employee morale and your business’ future. It’s real.
Those in leadership roles must lead the charge to assure your company hires the “right” people. The right people must FIT the role, your company, the customer and your culture. Research shows that the right employees learn faster, perform better and stay longer.

What to do first… Define Top Performance in the Role

The most important aspect for effective employee selection is to establish a “benchmark” or picture of top performance in the role. The benchmark, or top performance standard for a role provides the foundation to build targeted programs to recruit, interview, select, lead and retain the right people.

If you do not define the role effectively in advance…you will attract average employees who will bring average performance and success. An accurately developed “benchmark” will define the attributes, skills, role focus, performance metrics, motivation, and experience required for success.
Moreover, once a role is clearly defined, it’s easier to recruit and attract the right talent… making it easier to select the best-of-the-best.

Using an Assessment Tool…What’s Right?

Once you have a benchmark or top performance standard for the role, an assessment tool can help you validate a person’s FIT for the role requirements. Research studies have proven that the right type of pre-employment assessments can improve employee selection accuracy by over 40%.

Assessment Types – Predictive Assessments

Research shows assessments that “predict” employee success are becoming less accurate or effective because today’s roles and employer scenario
s are diverse, dynamic, and no longer based on standard metrics. These types of assessments (IE: Kurlan, Chally, Caliper, PI, etc.) attempt to predict success in a role by comparing a candidate’s results against industry standards or criteria when there is more to role success than the assessment.
As today’s ever-changing business environment has become more dynamic, the “standards” utilized are often less and less accurate or valid because success in one company versus success in another is no longer universal. Each company has its unique leadership, culture and requirements, calling for different behavioral traits, attributes, skills, experience and FIT.

Also, because these assessments are primarily used for pre-selection of candidates, leadership is unable to share the results easily with the employee to support on-boarding, training and development.

Assessment Types – Pre-Selection & Developmental Assessments

The most effective selection assessment tools (or “tests” as some companies call them) are developed to be BOTH a pre-selection and a post-hire developmental tool to help a manager select, lead, manage and develop a new employee. In addition, the most effective assessments assess 4 primary areas:

1. Skill,
2. Motivation,
3. Cognitive attributes (thinking and focus), and
4. Behavioral characteristics.

An assessment that is both pre-selection and developmental provides an employee and their manager with information to determine strengths and areas of challenges to support performance improvement and retention after the hire.

Selection Success

The assessment tool should provide the hiring manager with information about the candidate’s strengths, capabilities, motivation and skills and validate what has been learned in the interview process. The assessment results can help the hiring manager identify targeted areas that can be further explored in follow up interviews.
Hiring managers who utilize a validated assessment tool during the hiring process agree it gives them greater confidence and “insurance” in making the decision to hire or not to hire.

Commit to hiring the best…

Effective employee selection is no longer a human resources issue… it is a strategic leadership challenge that impacts the bottom-line. Poor hires impact a company’s sales, profitability, shareholder value, and customer retention. As company’s today struggle to compete in an ever-changing and competitive marketplace, knowing you have a team of people who exhibit the rights skills, characteristics and abilities is crucial for success.
At Growth Dynamics, our research has proven that employees who “fit” the role, who “fit” your company and “fit” the customer, will stay longer, be more effective and offer a sustained competitive advantage to your company and your customers.

Ty Swain is CEO of Growth Dynamics. GDI offers world-class sales solutions for the selection, performance and retention in today’s leading organizations. He can be reached at tswain@gdicorp.com or 877.434.2677