This is the second of four blogs on Overcoming Commoditization with Your People. Click here for the original post.
In the context of teaching your people to “out-behave” your competitors, I believe it is important to build an organization in which your people trust each other to do the right things for the customers and the company. Tthe first key culture factor is clearly communicated values and mission.
The second key culture factor is having the right people on your team, or in your organization. If you are not starting from scratch, then you have to begin building your team where you are. This means that when you communicate and reinforce by your own behavior the values and mission of your enterprise, then you must give your people the tools they need to demonstrate that they are the right folks to be on the team. (Here are some ideas about coaching people.) The Gallup Organization research shows that in most organizations, as much as 15% of employees are “actively disengaged.” This means that they are sabotaging your efforts to build loyal customers. These folks need to be given the opportunity to become “actively engaged,” or invited to succeed elsewhere — and quickly. Our experience shows that a well-designed learning or training process to focus attention on the internal and external customer should enable disengaged employees to reengage within 5 to 7 weeks. (The key is the way the training process presents the material and positively reinforces the learning.)
If you are just building your team, or adding to an existing organization, then add people with care. The old adage, “Haste makes waste,” certainly applies here. Properly designed assessments can help you choose the best people. Other than basic abilities to perform the functions of the job, the most important attribute for success in selling and serving are beliefs, attitudes and skills, in that order. In addition to looking at the skill sets of people, look for instruments that enable you to evaluate the attitudes and beliefs of your applicants. One of our assessment tools, for example, help companies design “behavioral interviews” around the success factors for people in that job. They way they have behaved in the past is an excellent indicator of how they will behave when working with you.
One more thought: if you are agonizing over dismissing an employee, who is obviously not the right person for your team, you may need to go ahead and kindly dismiss the person. My experience is that they will be relieved, the rest of your people will be relieved, and you will be relieved. At best they are unproductive. At worst, they are sabotaging your business.
Tags: behavioral interviews, best places to work, customer service, hiring the right people, right people on the bus, selling, serving, Trusting Workplace
