Getting the Right People in the Right Seats
As an employer, you know the immense value of a good hire versus a bad hire. A bad hire will suck your energy, deflate team morale, and decrease productivity. Stuck with a bad hire, an employer has to choose between finding a way to make the hire work or let the person go. Whatever the case, the end result is that bad hire has already cost the business in countless ways, including the lost opportunity of a better hire and in wasting YOUR time.
A good hire, on the other hand, brings a fresh perspective to the business, boosts morale, and can help drive your business to levels of success you never imagined. As a business owner, a good hire allows you to focus on the higher-priority projects on your plate.
There’s nothing more important for your business’s profitability and success than the people you hire. At GRITT Business Coaching, you will often hear us talk about the importance of getting the right people in the right seats on the bus. This is a concept from Jim Collins’ book Good to Great. So how do you do that? How do you ensure that the people you hire are the right people and that they are in the right roles?
One answer is using assessments for both recruitment and continued workforce development to take away the guess-work of hiring and to make sure your team’s talents and strengths are fully optimized for the success of your company. However, the benefits of certain assessments extend even beyond that! There are several out there (Kolbe, Strength Finders…etc.) that you can gain insight on yourself as a leader and provide your employees with the resources they need to understand their own core work traits and communication styles.
Benefits of Assessments
Recruitment
Assessments take the guess-work and gut-feelings out of the hiring process. Utilize a work-trait assessment to make sure you get the right people in the right roles from day one. Results will help you evaluate how job candidates match up to the strengths needed for a specific role.
Leader Self-Awareness
Use assessments to understand your own core traits and strengths and how those relate to the people you manage. We are all wired uniquely and when we understand that wiring we can optimize our strengths and identify ways to adjust to respond to the needs of those we manage. YOU understanding YOU is invaluable. Once you get YOU, you’ll quickly become a proponent of self-awareness for ALL of your employees.
Communication and Motivation
Not everyone thinks and communicates the same way. Assessments like the Kolbe help your employees better understand one another so all of you can work better together. It isn’t just about managers having an understanding of employees and new hires. For workplaces to be fully optimized and productive, co-workers must understand one another and understand management. When teams get one another, they know what strengths each person can contribute to a project, how to communicate effectively with one another, and how to motivate action.
How does it work?
Let’s use the Clifton Strength Finder assessment as an example:
This simple, clean-cut display let’s you know exactly how you or your employee operates! Where is their wheel house? Are they wired to be more about “Executing” or “Influencing”? Gallup does a great job explaining what each of these mean and how they can work well with others!
PFSbrands, a national foodservice company, has seen the success of assessments in their business:
[Assessments] have been a game changer for our organization. It gives us the competitive advantage to hire the right people for the right seats. We can better align people towards the positions that let them naturally excel. Not only do we use them for hiring but we also use it for self and team awareness. This tool has brought a wealth of understanding in ways to motivate and work with others.
– Alexa Lott, Director of People Success
This can be YOUR story, too. Contact GRITT Business Coaching for help incorporating several recommended assessments into your company culture. There’s no investment more important than the PEOPLE of your company.
