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No matter the industry or health of the economy, the most common complaint I hear from organizational leaders is, “I’m having trouble finding good people”. Even today, with unemployment at multiple-decade highs, I still hear it. Perhaps the problem is not the availability of good people, but something much broader in scope.

In this month’s issue, we’re going to take an overall look at this challenge.

For many employers, finding employees and then motivating them and getting them to do what the employer wants is a constant battle. Yet I know a handful of very successful business owners and entrepreneurs who appear quite relaxed in the overall employee hiring and relations sphere.

The answer isn’t quite as simple as hiring competent people and letting them execute their jobs. In working with successful organizations, I’ve found that there exists a multi-step process they use in “finding the right people”.

Step 1 - Create a sense of urgency. There is no employee problem unless a business identifies that there is one. Company leaders must objectively evaluate their current hiring practices and the types of employees, both good and bad, that they employ. Leadership must see its role as critical in formulating an ongoing plan to target good employees. Without this critical first step, consistently finding the right employee is largely a matter of chance.

Step 2 - Develop leadership skills. In order to hire and retain the right people, the leadership team must demonstrate competence in motivating and leading people. While the right leadership style varies by person and situation, there are benchmarks in excellence in leadership. Leaders have to be able to put themselves in the shoes of their employees and honestly ask, “Why should they care?” Most leaders in emerging companies miss this crucial step, and then wonder why they can’t get employees to perform their jobs in the desired manner.

Step 3 - Mold your culture/principles. Actively develop and hone the organization’s corporate culture and organizational principles. The good news is that every company already possesses a culture and set of principles. The bad news: most organizations never actively developed them or modified them over time as the business emerged. The resulting implied culture and principles can lead to employee confusion about actual expectations regarding their job performance and can contribute to ongoing “employee problems”.

Step 4 - Tirelessly bird dog and recruit the right people who share your principles according to “the right formula”. The search for good employees goes on 24/7. You never know where the right person might appear. Keep business cards on you all the time and talk openly of your culture and principles to any person who might make a good fit in your organization. Your next great employee might be standing across from you at the checkout line.

Step 5 - Educate employees to think like owners. Even if you don’t set up an Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP), the key to getting employees to think and act like owners is to educate them about the business side of your organization. The more employees know about key aspects of your business and how the success of the company will benefit them, the more likely they’ll act like owners on a day-by-day basis.

Step 6 - Continually educate. People forget. In the day-to-day operational battles, it is relatively easy to let organizational principles and expectations slip.  Find informal opportunities to re-educate everyone of your core principles and expectations. A simple five-minute exercise or story during a company meeting can do wonders.

Step 7 - Provide incentives and hold accountable. Develop programs to reward exceptional performance or effort. Hold yourself and employees accountable to your company principles. If a key organizational principle is to “continually educate ourselves”, then provide incentives for employees to do just that.

Step 8 - Make adjustments. Principles and culture, once set in place, shouldn’t change weekly, but can shift over time as the organization grows and/or faces new challenges within the industry they serve. If the methodology of operating the business changes, identify any applicable shift in your principles or culture and clearly communicate those changes to your employees. If the leadership team is struggling to follow consistently a certain principle, then either educate the team or get rid of the principle. There is nothing more ineffective than an organizational principle that is violated consistently by its leadership team.

Conclusion
Recruiting the right employee requires the identification and development of a formulaic process for recruiting the right individuals for your organization, consistently following that process, and duly modifying that process as any additional information is garnered as to what constitutes the right type of employee for your business.

In the next newsletter, we will further discuss organizational principles and how to create them.