You may have heard this common quote in business before: “If you can’t change the people, change the people.”
As a business coach, I’m accustomed to helping leaders and executives work through all sorts of issues. And the ones dealing with specific, problematic team members are the most common. Often, I find that even though a person may be causing specific challenges, managers want to avoid looking at the responsible party directly. But it’s important to understand that changing the people is a necessary act for any successful organization. After all, while training can improve performance, it’s difficult to change attitudes.
Below are three tips to improve the talent management and procurement process to train fruitful, challenge-free team members who will grow into leaders.
1. Avoid Stray Dogs
If you’ve ever hired any team members who turned into poorly performing, problematic players (and who hasn’t?), your first step should be to rethink your criteria.
“Stray dogs” are those hires who don’t fit much of an organization’s criteria but end up getting picked anyway. To set up your talent management processes the right way, develop a process of ensuring candidates meet your criteria and steer clear of those stray dogs.
2. Trust Your Gut
Leaders are often too focused on the details in a resume and let that override their gut feelings. It might seem like a smart decision to rely on facts and figures that a candidate presents, but you can’t fully know the circumstances surrounding those victories. Sometimes, it’s best to rely on your sense of how a potential hire will perform. If there’s any doubt, move on until one feels right.
3. Triple Your Time
Finding the right people becomes more difficult when there’s a time crunch. To thoroughly vet potential hires, leaders need to start early by devoting a sufficient amount of time to the hiring process. Before getting started, identify efficiencies you can make during the hiring process. Vet candidates before you need them, not after.
About Andy Bailey
As the founder of Petra Coach, Andy Bailey cuts through organizational B.S. faster than a hot knife through butter. He shows organizations the logjams thwarting their success, and coaches them past the excuses we all use to avoid doing what needs to be done. Andy learned how to build great organizations by building a great business, which he started in college. It then grew into an Inc. 500 multimillion-dollar national company that he successfully sold and left the company.
