6 Atypical Ways to Get & Keep New Hires

There's always one. That person in your team who makes it difficult for everyone else. They are the ones that turn up late, have a bad attitude, are negative towards the rest of the team, and consistently look like they'd rather be at home in bed than at work.

Image source

You've tried everything. Weekly check-in meetings, the option to work from home once a week, and countless 'thank you, you did a great job' emails. Nothing works. Joe has been with the company for six months and, despite his glowing CV and track record in the field, you think you made a bad choice bringing him into the team.

So what went wrong? 

Unfortunately, when you get a new person into a role you barely know them from Adam. Going through the 'interview process', it's easy to forget that we are dealing with real people. Even the labels we use in recruitment evoke distance and detachment between the company hiring and the individual being hired.

How can we know who we're really hiring? 

Unfortunately, people often come to a new role to escape something; they: 

• were a bad fit for a team
• didn't feel challenged
• didn't get along with their boss
• had outgrown the role
• wanted a higher salary for their efforts
• or, they were in a bad place in life, and they thought a new job would be the answer.

With all of this going on, it becomes rare that a new role will meet all of the person's expectations. 

So what's the answer?

The hiring processes used in today's workplaces are designed to help us know as much as we can in a short period and a cost effective manner. This means making drastic changes to hiring to allow us to spend quality time with future employees before they join the organisations is, in most cases, not possible. 

"We can't ever truly know who we're hiring, but we can get a positive and honest culture in place right from the outset."

Here are six great ways to get and keep the right new hires:

1. Ask them to be completely honest with you in an interview. 

Sometimes people arrive at your organisation just because they need a job. When this is the case, they are keen to say anything, or claim they will do anything in a role, even if its not their strength. Be sure to ask people what they love most at work. You'll see their face light up when they are being really honest, and it will help you to know if they are really right for the role. 

2. Try the informal approach:

Take your new starter out of the office for a coffee. Being in an informal setting can help people to be more open and honest with you about how they are settling in, and they will be more likely to share what's working and what's not. 

Image source

3. Ask the questions you don't want to know the answers to:

Try not to ignore the situation when people are difficult, there's always a reason people are challenging. Work with them as much as you can and be sure to ask the tough questions; "you seem down, is there something going on at work or home that we can help with?"

4. Give people options:

Help them to feel that if this wasn't the right move for them, or you, that you will give them support to find what is. Perhaps help them to move to another part of the company if that's and option. 

5. Make sure they know the cooling off period is for them as well as you: 

Encourage people to consider that the first few months they are in a role is as much a time for reflection about whether it's what they want, as it is for you to decide if they are a good fit for the role. Giving people a sense of control - and allowing them to continue to go to interviews if either of you is unsure - is a good way to help people feel engaged and not trapped. 

6. Give people the opportunity to make a difference: Your new hire has fresh eyes into the business, and the freshness isn't there forever so use it wisely. Ask people to tell you what works well here and what doesn't, and listen to them! Listening to and acting on the views of your people is a great way to engage them. 

Learning to Fly

Last week while travelling on a BA flight from Venice to London I picked up a copy of the BA in-flight magazine 'business life, where next?'. I often pick up the in-flight magazines for something to entertain me while I fly, but I usually finish reading them before the engines start. The business life magazine offered a fresher, more upbeat read and I found some interesting work related titbits.

Many a time I've sat on a bus or tube and prayed that people wouldn't speak to me. I would know I had a mountain of work to do, or that I just felt like staring aimlessly out of the window and enjoying a few free minutes to myself. Then it comes, that fateful 'hello, how are you?' to which I answer 'fine thanks', being careful not to ask the same question back through fear of being held in conversation. It speaks again; 'so, where are you headed?' Damn, people are looking, expecting me to engage; the perpetrator is not going to give up. I'm hooked in. So the conversation continues. At first I resent my precious time being stolen, then, from somewhere, I find I'm beginning to enjoy the chat; hell, I'm even smiling!

Image source

It's my stop; it came around quickly. I get off the Tube, and bizarrely I feel some sense of fulfilment. I smiled and made someone else smile. It feels good.

BA's research showed that people in such situations, who had impromptu interactions with other, had more positive travel experiences than those that didn't. So, if interactions make us feel so good, why do we avoid them? Should we give ourselves that little push to be more social animals, even when we don't feel like it? And if we do, what could we gain from it?

As humans we often fear the unknown; it's part of human nature. We don't know if we will like the other person, or if they will like us! So it's easier to avoid at all costs. But are we missing out?

BA are currently testing a new kind of seat on their aircrafts; 'Priority seats - for people who want to talk business.' These seats allow passengers to opt to sit in seats next to other people who have requested communication between passengers. The idea behind it is that after a good chat, and potentially picking up a business contact or two, people will feel more positive about their journey.

What do you think?

business life is available to download free from the App store. I found it an interesting read, perhaps you will too.

How to Unleash Your Creative Dragon

Yesterday I was chatting with a colleague about the conditions we need for our creativity to flow. In a time when I feel under constant pressure to achieve in life, this enlightened me and challenged me to shift focus.

Back in my undergraduate years I studied the concept of psychological flow theory. Flow theory states that to experience flow its vital to have, and believe in one's, ability to achieve, but also to feel challenged enough by a task that it stretches you. Even now, ten years later, I remember the conditions required to feel the desirable state, and I often notice myself falling into a flow state as I work. The problem is, as soon as I notice I am 'flowing' I lose the flow and revert to normal functioning.

When I am in a flow is when I feel I am being my best creative self. Over the years, I've learned that for flow to occur within me I need uninterrupted space, without external noise, self-acceptance and confidence in my abilities (or a lack of internal noise).

I was saying to my colleague that the time I often feel most creative is when I am laying in bed at night just before I go to sleep. This is the time when my mind is most quiet. I spend a lot of my waking day surrounded by external noise from everyday life. This includes the internet, email, social media, phone calls, people talking, all of which in turn creates noise in my head, or my internal voices so to speak. These are the voices of self-doubt, criticism and fear that often make me question my abilities. The noise is what disrupts my flow.

Image source 

So how can we ensure we leave space for creativity. Well, the other thing we discussed is that making a specific space to allow yourself to be creative can be disruptive to creativity because it forces the mind to do something it is potentially not ready to do.

What we need to do is give ourselves the freedom to think and be ourselves as we work. As soon as we forgive ourselves for being less than perfect and for not always meeting expectations placed on us by others or ourselves, suddenly the creativity flows. It may take time and hard to accept that a structured plan of 'must achieve' is not always the most productive way to create output. But if we do what we feel, and what we believe in, the rest will come. For creativity to flow we need to hush not only the external noise but the internal noise too.

Image source 

"When we stop thinking about what we should be doing and start doing what feels right, suddenly we find ourselves in the place we always wanted to be."

My friend used a great analogy, which may seem somewhat crude but is a very useful thing to consider when we look at the conditions required to be creative.

Do you ever make yourself need the toilet? If you say to yourself, right, I haven't been to the toilet today I must go, can you go? No! Of course not, your body will tell you when it's time to go. It's much to the same with what we create. Making the body do something does not mean it will oblige. Sometimes we just have to let nature take its course.

Listen to Your People and Save Your Business

This morning, to get a little light relief from ironing out the finer details of wedding planning, I decided to watch one of my favourite work-related shows, Undercover Boss. 

I've watched this show many times and each time I am amazed at how surprised the big boss is by their findings. So much so that it reminds me of why I started out in business on my own in the first place; my goal has always been and always will be:

'Give everyone in your organisation a voice. Only then will you get the best from your people.'

This week the focus of the show was Tower Hamlets Council and it saw the Chief Executive (CE) going undercover to work as one of the frontline workers. As the CE quoted: 

"Working undercover on the frontline you see it as it is rather than how they want you to see it. People put on a show when they know you are a more senior person."

Image source

Council workers perform many essential services for the residents in a borough; from pest control and waste management to child protection services, from libraries and doctors surgeries to meals on wheels. However, many of these services have suffered in recent years due to budget cuts and massive strains on resources. 

Budget cuts are no new thing to local councils in the UK, and they are always fraught with dispute and despair whenever they arise. Unfortunately, they are often necessary; the real problems arise when the wrong cuts are made. 

One of the stops for the CE this week was accompanying a female care worker who'd been delivering meals on wheels to elderly patients for 33 years. She was an inspiration, showing the utmost care, respect and genuine concern for each and every patient she visited. Unfortunately, due to budget cuts, the time she spent with her elderly clients was cut dramatically to meet demand for services. 

The CE recognised that the situation visibly pained the long-standing worker, and he noted that she did her best to arrange her deliveries to spend the longest time possible with the people who needed her most. His revelation was: 

“’Meals on Wheels’ is more than just delivering a meal and walking away.” 

To address the issue, the CE asked the care worker to join a new committee he had designed to ensure the care of clients was of top priority. He told the care worker that her insight was vital to making the project a success. 

We always need budget cuts; change occurs in organisations and money is frequently required elsewhere to meet the current internal or external needs of the company - it's a fact of life. However, by making blind choices about changes required in organisations without speaking to the frontline workers first, senior leaders are bound to make incorrect decisions. 

The most important thing to recognise in any organisation is the need to understand the consequences of our actions. Yes, we are running businesses, but in many cases, we are also providing services to those who need it most. 

There are too many companies that operate without talking to the people on the shop floor. In some ways, this is helpful because it takes the emotion out of business and allows us to make strong financial decisions, but is that what business should really be about? Are we saying, as a race, we value financial gain more than the needs of our own? 

Business is more than making money; business is about people. 

 Image source

Calling a Spade a Spade... Mistrust in Organisations

We all know the phrase 'honesty is the best policy' and I'm sure most of us have quoted said phrase when preaching to our loved ones or when raving about the latest promises from political parties. So why is it that when it comes to how we treat our people in business the phrase is all but forgotten and often blatantly ignored?

I've come across this many times in my work over the last few years and each time the topic of whether employees should be told the truth or spun a web of believable nonsense is treated as non important. "We'll just say it's a development centre but really we're looking to performance manage people out." Aside from the ethical and moral issues that come up around these sorts of actions, what impact does this have on the business and its bottom line?

By spinning a web of deceit for your people, you can create the following:

• Mistrust amongst your people; both those that are performance managed out and those that keep their jobs. 

• A feeling of worthlessness amongst employees; if people get the message that you feel it's ok to lie to them this will result in them feeling a sense being unworthy of the truth. 

These factors could result in employees having a lack of confidence to speak out at other mistruths they witness, and could encourage them to lie on other matters. Before you know it, you have created a culture based on lies and wrongdoings.

Being honest about the purpose of testing your people - if it's not there and we can't teach it, we need to find someone who can do what we need - will ensure they know where they stand. They will believe that telling the truth on other matters is what is expected of them and be working towards creating an open and honest feedback culture at the benefit of your organisational growth. 

Initially, this may seem completely unachievable, but it is possible. If you have a culture whereby people are working together towards the good of the organisation, generally people will understand if their skills do not contribute towards the end goal. Of course, this may not always be the case and people may respond badly to such honesty at first, but if you create a culture of trust and open feedback, people will always know where they are and what to expect. 

The Purpose of Purpose

The pieces of your employee engagement jigsaw puzzle can seem too edgy, have too many holes, or like bits of undistinguishable sky. If this is you, you're not alone.

Image source

Many organisations realise they need to 'do HR differently' but often aren't sure what this means or exactly what is required to take them to a new reality.

Employee engagement - in theory - is really quite simple:

1. Performance Management (or 'Feedback and Reward' as I like to call it)
It's exactly what is says on my aptly named tin. Do your people receive enough feedback about their work - and by this I don't mean annual or by-annual reviews, I mean ongoing daily conversations about what is going well and what could be done differently. Do they receive the appropriate reward for the work they do? That's not just an annual salary and a bonus, that's recognition for good work in the form of non-monetary and/or monetary reward.

2. Leadership & Management 
Two very different things - naturally with some overlap - but both equally important. Do you people receive appropriate leadership and management?

Leadership is about inspiring your people to join you on an organisation journey. Building an empire around you that helps you to achieve the broader organisational goals while you continue to energise and support your people to deliver.

Image source

Management is distinct from leadership in that it requires a more hands on role. Managers get into deeper detail about what to do and how to do it, in purpose of the broader organisational goals.

3. Trusted to take risks
To grow any organisation people need to take risks. Sometimes they pay off sometimes they don't. It's the chance we have to take to develop new products, services and ways of working. It's how we grow. Unfortunately, many people in organisations don't feel they can take those risks without reprimand if they go wrong.

It is important to develop a culture where people feel they can have a voice to say what they think. Whether that be about new ideas and processes or about the way the organisation is currently run; there is little room for growth if people can't speak out.

Image source

4. Belief in the organisation
Would you fight for something you didn't believe in? I wouldn't. In fact, I'd probably fight for the opposite. If your people don't believe in what your organisation does, they will not have its best interests at heart. People need to believe in what the organisation stands for and feel that they can work each day towards achieving those goals.

This leads nicely to my last but most definitely not least point. In fact, without this all of your efforts will fall over:

5. A sense of purpose
Answer the simple question, why do you go to work every day?
If the answer is anything other than 'because you care about the work you do for the organisation you do it for', your sense of purpose is not aligned to the organisation and they are not getting the best from you.

Think about it. Most of the people who answer this question would say they work to make money; to feed their family, to pay for their weekly night out on the tiles, to pay the rent. And rightly so, that is one of the main reasons we work, but what if the people in your organisation actually wanted to be there because they cared about what happened to the company. Do you think you would get different behaviours from your people? Would they be more likely to put in that extra effort for no overtime payment? Would they be likely to take better care of your equipment and offices? Would they be keen to grow and develop personally to assist in the growth of the business? Probably. Of course, we don't want to exhaust people, people can only give so much so there has to be give and take, but getting that relationship right can take your business from good to great.

Image source 

Creating a sense of purpose that everyone in your organisation can buy into isn't easy. You need to dig deep to find the real, heartfelt reason you exist. All organisations exist to make money; that's a given. What you need to find is what is really at the heart of what you are trying to achieve. That's purpose. If you can get your people to join you on that journey - supported by the four other pieces of the engagement jigsaw - you'll be on your way to happy people, happy business and organisational growth.