How to Find and Keep Good People in a Bad Economy – Lesson 1: Quit Hiring and Start Recruiting

As a manager in business today, you may never get a tickertape parade for our efforts or have statues erected in our honor. But you absolutely can build a winning team by taking the same approach used by top sports coaches like the University of Alabama's legendary Paul "Bear" Bryant.  Coach Bryant recruited only the very best people to work for him, in good times and bad, and played to win with them over the long haul. Applying his lessons to your utility can yield huge wins for your team as well.  Let’s look at some of them and how we can apply these to our businesses today. 

Lesson #1: Quit Hiring and Start Recruiting.

You’ll never see a “Help Wanted” sign posted for a winning sports team. These teams have recruiters out scouting for new talent constantly. They understand that, at any time, a key player could be recruited to another team, get injured, or just retire. Smart coaches don’t wait until they have an opening to start looking, either.  They go looking for great players, even when there are no open positions on the team. It's called “developing your bench.”

Business managers should do the same thing so that we constantly have a list of good people we could recruit in short order, should openings become available. To develop the bench of your business’ staff:

·         Always be looking. Keep your eyes open, and keep notes on great workers you run across day to day no matter where they may be now.

·         Advertise even when you don’t have an opening. Let your community know you are always looking to identify great people for that “call back” file. Accept applications even when you don’t have an opening.

·         Talk to your employees. Your employees can be some of the best recruiters. Let them know the importance of attracting great workers in good times and bad.

·         Have a great reputation. Recruiting means getting someone to quit what they’re doing to come work for you instead. Does your company have such a great reputation that people would be willing to leave their current employer to work for you? If not, you need to be working to make this a reality.

A good coach never rushes the wrong person onto the team just to fill a gap.  The only thing worse than an unfilled job opening is filling it with just a warm body to get through a short-term workload crunch. Don’t allow your supervisors to hire any old Bozo who lacks the necessary skills to be successful for you in the long term. To guard against this happening, management must meet with supervisors and managers regularly and remind them to hire only the best workers, even if it takes longer than hiring the next not-so-objectionable person who walks in off the street. Insist on holding out for only the very best.

Build Momentum

Running a great company is a lot like paddling a canoe upstream: when you stop paddling, you don’t just stay right where you are.  You are quickly washed back downstream where you were.  The best way to keep from losing ground is to constantly paddle hard and fast against the currents of mediocrity.

Remarkable companies never stop improving. They never stop pushing forward. Regardless of what achievement or milestone they just obtained, they never consider themselves “there” or rest on their laurels.  Keep the momentum going by constantly raising standards. As you achieve your goals, set new, even higher ones.

Remember that the challenge only means something if it is a tough one.  No one would be impressed if the top NFL football team beat a high school junior varsity squad.  When you are lining up challenges for your people, look for ones that you are not sure you can attain.  The best challenges seem to be just out of reach of our fingertips.  You want ones that make you stretch and reach and strive.  This stretching is where your staff gains strength and confidence. 

As you gain victories, take the time to celebrate them with your people.  This is an important step because winning is extremely fun and will motivate your people to work even harder at the next challenge set before them.  Winning against tough odds is rewarding even in the most difficult of times.   It’s hard to get tired of winning.  That is, it’s hard to get tired of winning as long as the challenge was tough!  Finding the challenge that will keep people motivated is the key challenge for managers today. 

Row, row, row your company to a GREAT future!   

Eliminate the Competition

One of the hardest problems to tackle in business is what to do when you sell products you can’t change in any way. It’s a difficult problem, yes…but it has a simple, highly effective and low cost solution.

You see this all the time.  You prefer eating at one certain Burger King over others even though the Whopper must be served identically at every franchise.  There are two different pharmacies across the street from one another yet you find you shop only at one of them…even though your insurance coverage makes the price the same at either one.  You stop at the same gas station every week even though the other three stations on the corner sell gas at the same price.

Why?   Most likely, it’s because the managers of these stores have changed the one part of their product that they absolutely can affect:  the customer’s service.

We all have competition, even in public sector agencies such as city  government or utility companies. Rising prices in typical household expenses (insurance, food, fuel, etc.) compete with us for each dollar we charge our customers for our services.  To maintain your fiscal health, every company must eventually raise their prices in response to various pressures such as inflation, regulatory requirements, etc.   We must constantly communicate our value to the customer to prove that we have earned this additional funding.   

Regardless of your business, you can “eliminate the competition” by making every interaction with your customer a remarkable one!  In this light, outstanding customer service is the best investment you can possibly make.  Think about it this way, a water utility company could spend a million dollars improving water quality and there is a very good chance that not a single customer would even notice.  Teaching your employees to smile at customers and treat them with personal care and concern doesn’t have to cost you a dime! 

Remember:  The product you sell is more than just the product.  It’s also interaction between your staff and the customer.  Create bright lines of distinction between yourselves and your competition by delivering superior customer service every day!  It’s highly effective and the price (free) is right for the times!

Compete In Order To Win

If any team, even the reigning NFL champs New Orleans Saints, practiced seven days a week but played no real games against opponents, they would inevitably grow weak and slow.  Without regular games against tough opponents, they would have no way to improve and sharpen their individual and team skills.  They could not identify if their game plan was effective, which specific plays worked or which players were truly great.   Even constant practicing in the absence of regular competition would lead a great team to a failure. 

In business, we see the same thing happen.  Showing up every day and doing the same old thing day in / day out will not help us improve.  We must regularly put our company up against tough competition in order for us to learn where we are strong and where we need to improve.  The opponent we select cannot be “internal standards” either since we may likely set a goal that is too low.  (If the Saints played the staff at St. Mary’s Nursing Home, it might technically be called “competition” and the Saints would surely win, but setting themselves up for an easy win would in no way help them improve as a team.) We must look for other great companies to compete against or a set of outrageously high business standards to reach for the competition to show us where we are both strong and weak.   

Competition is vital for any team (or business) trying to get faster, leaner, more efficient, more agile and in this economy, we cannot afford to be anything less than the great in these areas.  Winning motivates people to stretch a little more each time and trophies are important reminders of this feeling.  Find ways for your people to compete and win.  Look especially for hard-to-get awards and trophies. Never underestimate the ability for ordinary people to achieve extraordinary results when challenged effectively.  What this competition will do for you is incredible!  It will show you and everyone on your staff the path to success and greatness.  You can afford to be no less!

Let Them Do Their Job

If you’re 25 year old son was taking his girlfriend out on a date this weekend, would there be anything odd about you driving the two of them around on their date?  Sure, your son has his driver’s license, but you have much more experience driving than he does.  Plus, you know the best route to take to avoid traffic.  On top of it all, you really are comfortable driving and don’t mind doing it.  Would this still seem odd to you?

Of course it would!  Your son will never learn how to drive on his own if he does not have the opportunity to do it.  He may make a mistake…but that’s how we all learn.  It’s scary to let go but we, as parents, must do it for our children to grow, mature and gain the experience they need to carry them through life.  What’s more, if a parent cannot let go, the child grows to resent it because it is very embarrassing to have your parents drive you around on a date in front of your friends.

The same is true of your workers and the jobs they hold at your company.  As young supervisors or managers, they do not have the level of experience you may have.  You may be able to avoid common pitfalls and steer their work to a more successful conclusion.  You may even like making decisions at all levels.  However, if you step in and make decisions and do their job for them, they will never learn to stand on their own.  They will never mature, grow and develop their skills if you never allow them to walk on their own.  They will grow to resent it because your interference into their job makes them look impotent in front of their peers and subordinates.   

Resist the natural urge to “help” too much. This is called micromanaging. Employees take ownership of a company when they are allowed to think through problems, make decisions, learn from their mistakes and grow from the process. Don’t rob them of their chance to grow.

Get Them What They Need to Succeed

In many organizations, workers may want to do a top quality job but simply don’t have what they needed to accomplish the task. 

If you job is to build a house, you must have a hammer and nails, a saw and most likely some training on how to build certain critical elements.  If your manager does not provide these needed items and just sends you out to “get the job done”, the reaction of most workers is frustration.  They cannot help but feel that they are being set up for ultimate failure (which will result at some point in their firing).  To avoid this as long as possible, they fall back on “looking like they are working hard” but not actually accomplishing much to bring success to the company as a whole. The one party that absolutely notices this is the Customer (who’s home is not being efficiently built which increases the cost of the work). 

This benefits no one…not the worker, not the manager, not the company and not the customer.  Seldom does depriving your workers of the tools they need to do their job right lead to satisfied customers or repeat business. Management simply must get employees what they need in order for them to have a fair chance at performing their job successfully.

I’m not suggesting that management should fund every worker’s wish list of “wants”, but rather that we will get you whatever you need for you to do you job properly and be a success at our company.  “What you need” doesn’t have to be a piece of equipment and it need not cost a cent.  What you “need” may be the proper tool or piece of equipment to do the job…or it may be adequate support from other departments, training and development, manpower help from other departments or from temps, or just support from upper management when standards need to be enforced.  The power of this statement is that it shows workers that you are not setting them up for failure, but instead outfitting them for success and are willing to invest time and money if necessary to bring their success to life.  This step alone does much to build powerful relationships between workers and management and will yield you great returns over the long haul.

Build a Winning Team

The greatest vision or business plan in the world will do you no good without an effective Team to carry it out.  Building an effective Team is a great responsibility and is a fundamental cornerstone of running an effective and successful company, division, department or even group.  The success of the company depends on how well the people you select for key positions do their job and work well with others so that no one fails.   Without a Team attitude, it’s “every man for himself” and this never leads to success for a company (or any sports team either!)  You can either win together or you’ll lose together… but, as a Leader, YOU get to decide which one!  Winners do not allow parts of their team to lose for any reason. They run to back each other up…both on and off the field.  They rise quickly to defend one another.  They encourage one another.  They never brag about their personal accomplishments at the expense of their teammates.

As a Leader (whether you are CEO, Director, VP, Manager, Supervisor, etc) you must assemble the best possible Team and constantly monitor the players to insure they are working well together.  Remember, the Customer always notices whether your people work well together and support one another.  Teams that do not work well together do not operate as efficiently as they could.  This leads to increased costs…and telling your Customer that your costs are higher than they need to be is NOT a way to demonstrate value!  Building a great Team is absolutely critical to business success in any economy!