You can’t build a great business and have great results without great people! But it’s so hard to get great people. What’s the secret?
Strategic Imperative
One of the most important responsibilities of a great leader is to attract, position, develop, reward, and retain great people. This is also one of the hardest things to do as a leader.
Luck plays a part, but it’s not all luck. We can improve the odds by studying other companies. After studying other companies and reflecting on my own experiences, I’ve identified 3 strategic principles all the winners use. Whether you’re a trucking company looking for drivers, a hospital looking for nurses, or an IT company looking for programmers, these same principles apply.
Lesson #1 – Specifically Define Your Company and the Position
Too many companies use generic descriptions that are difficult for employees and applicants to connect to. When a company says, “We’re the best company in this industry! Everyone wants to work for us!” – they’re not saying anything meaningful.
Imagine driving cross country with your family and seeing a billboard proclaiming, “Come eat at the best restaurant in America!” Are you going to eat there? Are they a fast food restaurant or a white-tablecloth restaurant? Do they serve Mexican food, pasta, pizza, burgers, steaks, seafood, salads??? Are they open for lunch? Where are they located? Is it expensive?
Imagine you stop at a gas station, get directions to the restaurant, and drive there. After parking and getting your kids out of the car, you go inside and discover it’s a fancy seafood restaurant. The kids don’t like seafood, and it’s more expensive and takes longer than you wanted, but at this point you don’t want to waste any more time, so you go ahead and eat there but nobody’s happy about it. You definitely won’t be stopping there again on the drive home.
Now, imagine a billboard that says, “Take the next exit for the best pizza in town! Try our $19.99 extra-large pepperoni pizza!” If your family’s in the mood for pizza, you’ll take the exit and everyone will be happy. You’ll get what you expected and be likely to stop again on the way home.
Like these restaurants, we need to provide clear descriptions of our companies and the positions we are hiring for. We worry about defining our companies and positions too narrowly, but vague generic descriptions are unlikely to get the attention of the candidates who would be the best fit. Likewise, we also might be inclined to describe our company based on what we aspire to be rather than what we actually are. Be careful with this. “False advertising” may attract more candidates, but now you’re recruiters will have to waste time interviewing and hiring candidates who aren’t a good fit.
Your advertisements and recruiters need to accurately reflect the reality of the company and the position. If you expect employees to frequently work nights and weekends, then say so. Don’t emphasize 6-weeks of PTO if your company culture frowns upon people taking time off. When new employees go into a company with a clear understanding of the position and culture, they’re much more likely to be a good fit and to stay with the company for a long time.
Lesson #2 – Improve Alignment to Increase Success
Once you specifically define your company and the position, you need to make sure all the different elements of the position and organization are aligned accordingly.
Have you ever driven a car that’s out of alignment? It’s so frustrating! It pulls you away from where you want to go, wears out your tires, reduces your fuel economy, and increases your stress!
“We’re perfectly aligned to get the results we’re getting”
We’re perfectly aligned to get the results we’re getting. If we don’t like the results, we need to change the alignment.
As an analogy, look at all the factors that go into a restaurant – location, menu, employees, prices, promotions, etc. To succeed, everything needs to be aligned. Notice how well those factors are aligned at a McDonalds and how they differ from an Olive Garden. Or, looking at restaurants in a very similar space, look at the differences between Chick-fil-A and KFC.
Similarly, there are a lot of factors that go into a position – pay, responsibilities, benefits, PTO, stability, training, promotion opportunities, schedule, etc. Cultures also have a lot of factors – structured vs flexible, starting early vs working late, consistent pay vs differentiated pay, “flat” organizations with large teams vs organizations with small teams and several layers, etc. None of these factors are inherently better or worse than others, just like Olive Garden’s free breadsticks and salads aren’t inherently better than McDonald’s decision not to offer free breadsticks and salads. The problem is when we mix these factors together in a way that isn’t aligned with each other. You can’t scope a position to have lots of responsibilities and work lots of hours and then not pay very well. A company is unlikely to succeed if it has a super flexible culture but pays everyone the exact same amount.
If you’re struggling to attract and retain employees, look at the alignment of all the factors that make up the position and the culture of your company. Is one factor at odds with another?
Lesson #3 – Happiness and Unhappiness Are Two Different Things
We’re inclined to think our employees (and customers…) can be placed on a single scale of zero to ten with zero being unhappy and ten being happy. But that’s not how it works. Experiences of happiness are independent from experiences of unhappiness. We need to measure happiness separately from unhappiness.
Imagine going to your favorite restaurant and seeing the chef come out of the bathroom stall and go back to work without washing his hands. You’re still really happy with the location, service, taste, and prices of the restaurant, but now you don’t ever want to come back. The restaurant can lower their prices and add new menu items and offer free delivery, but you still won’t want to eat there as long as the employees don’t wash their hands after going to the bathroom.
If you have “hygiene” problems in your business – fix them first and fix them fast! Pay increases, standing desks, and free lunches won’t overcome the negative impact of something that really irritates and upsets your employees (like a rude boss or a toxic culture). Stephen R. Covey says, “You can’t talk your way out of a problem you behaved yourself into.” If there’s an element of your company you’re not proud of (like employees having to work 80 hour weeks), you can’t talk your way out of that problem. You need to behave your way out of that problem.
You Can Do It!
How can you better attract and retain great employees? First, make sure you and everyone on your team has a clear understanding of your company’s culture and the positions you are hiring for. Next, make sure everything within your organization and that position are aligned and pointing in the same direction. Finally, fix the “hygiene” problems that are undermining all the good things you have to offer. I guarantee that if you do this you will find it much easier to attract and retain the right people.
