As we have mentioned before, Talent Management always continues to find its way to the top challenges list every single year. And while it is impossible to single out a particular reason for that, one logical conclusion is to examine the “input” process – meaning that if the selection process itself is flawed then no amount of Next Practices in Talent Management is going to fix that? So, when we ask a few questions of leadership teams about how they select people, we typically get embarrassing admissions of ignorance. Hardly any of them have ever spent a whole lot of time thinking about that at all but are quick to admit the logical fallacy of attaching the symptoms and not looking at one of the root causes – the selection process.
Start by thinking about some of these key questions:
- Are we hiring the right people?
- How do we define the “right people”?
- What skills/competencies drive performance in our organization?
- What criteria are we using to hire people?
- Where do the right people come from?
- Why would they want to come work for our company?
- Is my organization the place to be?
- Is my group a talent factory for others by attracting the best all the time?
These questions will challenge you and your leadership team to think about some of these issues, perhaps for the first time, and will force you to examine your hiring practices. And don’t be surprised if you hear some of the following because we have, many times :
- “We don’t focus on competencies, so we just use the job description to bring on new hires”
- Interviews are conducted based on “what you know – or think you know” vs. “what you’ve done”
- Speed causes process to breakdown – “We need somebody now”
- Short-term “need” causes selection to be narrowed – “We need a buyer” instead of “we need a future manager”
I share these with you to prepare you, so you are not surprised but getting these responses in front of the entire leadership team is great to build momentum for change. And when you dig into the process, we typically will find these types of facts:
- Job Requirements
- Based on job descriptions
- Summary of responsibilities, experience requirements, and tactical skills needed to perform daily tasks of current position
- Standard Interview Questions
- Undefined selection criteria and evaluation criteria
- Utilizes Temp to Hire perform Job Evaluations / Cultural Fit
So now you begin to unravel the problem and perhaps understand the need for those key questions above. It should not be a surprise that if your input/selection process is flawed or weak, you will end up with subpar candidates and then spend an inordinate amount of time and effort to try and fix a problem that cannot be fixed.
And the way to fix it is to first start with understanding what you need to succeed and that understanding is in the form of a Competency Model. It forces the Leadership Team to identify what competencies are needed today and what are need to Future Proof the organization.
- Identifies the Competencies required for a job/role – providing YOUR team with the “right” talent
- Provides behaviors to test for during the interview making YOUR interviews more efficient
- Highlights future competency requirements to make YOUR teams more successful in the short and long term
- Drives internal recruitment and promotion allowing YOUR teams flexibility and enabling career growth across and within functional groups
I am forced by the need to be brief to cut this complex discussion short but feel free to reach out for more details. There are significant benefits to spending some time and effort on your recruiting process and here are a few to convince you further:
- You spend less time recruiting as you develop effective pipelines(internally AND externally) to attract “A” Level talent
- You see a consistent and higher level of skills and competencies from new hires
- You have less “hand holding” as new hires are more successful and able to “hit the ground running”
- New hires are more engaged as they arrive with a better understanding of their role and the competencies required to be successful
- Your group is a Talent Factory
