Employee Development - Power vs. Force by Margaret Graziano
As a manager, have you ever had the experience of
trying to ‘make’ an employee change, forcing an
outcome from an employee to improve their
performance or, even worse, have you ever
attempted to have them work differently by
encouraging them to alter their natural work style, so
they would perform better in their role, or for the
betterment of the company? As Managers, we often
have to deal with ourselves to overcome the
Superman syndrome of “I can accomplish anything.”
After years of management training, organizational
development programs, personal development
courses, and executive coaching, I have been
successful in exploring the possibility of allowing
people to play to their strengths, hiring in a way that
fosters that plan of action, and managing individuals’
performance through establishing objectives that not
only benefit the organization, but that bring out the
best in the individual as well.
This theory is called ‘Playing to Strengths.’ There
have been many books, articles, lectures and even
case studies written on this subject. The new game
in the business of HR and talent management goes
beyond the norm. Everyone is buzzing about the need
to find ‘those’ critical key players in a talent-deprived
climate and, frankly, there is much more corporate
time, effort and money spent on being on the hunt
for the ‘virtually impossible’ to find the top 1%, than
on much more impactful and strategic initiatives...
. This year we grew to over 300
staffing
agencies participating in our Recruiting & Candidate
Exchange, introduced a new Corporate Recruiter
program,
built a Virtual Recruiter
network
and continued along the path as the staffing
industry's fastest growing
Recruiting Network.
Together with our partners including Lou Adler, Danny
Cahill's Accordingtodanny.com, LinkedIn, HotJobs,
Infogist, SkillSurvey, Absolutely Healthcare, Shally
Steckerl's JobMachine, and Broadlook we have set
the stage for big things in 2007.
Enjoy this issue of Recruiter News which is
now read by over 35,000 staffing professionals and
have a
wonderful holiday season!
Part
8: Influencing Hiring Managers – The Hiring
Decision
You can’t afford to do searches over again. After
you’ve presented 3-5 solid, maybe even superior
candidates, the worst thing a manager can say
is, “Do you have any more candidates?” Preventing
this is one of the reasons why you must be able to
influence hiring managers at every step in the hiring
process.
There are three parts to this. It begins when you
take the job assignment. The key to this is to get the
hiring managers to tell you what the person needs to
do to be successful, not what the person must have.
If you rely on traditional job descriptions, you’ll
always come up short, since they’re not
representative of the real job. Your objective is to
change the decision-making criteria up-front to
something that measures performance more
accurately, like deliverables, rather than skills. Your
next chance to influence hiring managers is when you
present candidates. This needs to be as professional
as possible. I suggest a well-written resume, a formal
assessment by the recruiter with examples of
accomplishments, and a summary of two major
accomplishments, written by the candidate. All of this
minimizes superficial assessments by the hiring
manager and other members of the interviewing
team.
I made a cold call to a candidate that was referred to
me by another candidate and he was bothered by the
fact that I was calling him and he did not know me.
When asked where I got his number I gave him the
standard “research team” response but he was not
satisfied and related my call to a telemarketing type
call. What should I have said?
Response
This requires the non standard rebuttal, used when
I'm cranky (namely, waking hours): I'm sorry I blew
your cover, I didn't realize you were a covert agent.
Surely you'll be relocated soon and given a new alias.
Have a nice day.
Here is a factoid for your next dinner party, 84% of
all jobs in America are gotten by word of mouth with
people we know in our network (and no doubt 95% of
the restaurant reservations and nearly all the doctor
referrals). In America we tend to do business with
people we know. I would have pointed out to this
clown that alienating a quality recruiter who is
connected to his market space and at any given time
is one phone call away from the career opportunity of
a lifetime, is plain old foolhardy. It is his/her loss.
Click on Miss J's photo to email your
recruitment questions and problems to her!
2006 - Holiday Edition
Snow is falling, lights are tinkling and Miss J is stuck
in the departure lounge of her nearest metropolitan
airport waiting for Mr Branson to fly her back to the
Olde Country to the bosom of her highly eccentric
family.
While Miss J jostles for position in the duty free line,
Xmas arrangements are well under way back in
Blighty. At the family seat, a large country mansion
just North of Upper Boyleonthabum deep in the
Cotswolds England Soames the butler is putting the
finishing touches to the family recipe egg nog. After
numerous tastings and adjustments to the mixture
the egg nog is perfect and the butler is legless. Sir
Humphrey and Lady Lavina have just arrived from
Muchrustlinginthehedgerow (a hamlet just south of
Lower Boyleonthabum) and are decorating the tree
with Percy, Hugo and Hermione (Lady J’s nephews
and niece). Later that evening the villagers will
congregate in the Great Room for mulled wine and off
key singing of carols.
Year after year the traditions at Upper
Boyleonthabum remain the same. Clutching her duty
free magnum of ...(continued)
