Regardless of what business you are in, you and your business are only as good as the people that work for you. This sentiment has been shared with me consistently over the past seventeen years regardless of where I have traveled in the United States or the type of family business I have been engaged with at any given time. Recently I attended a local Association for Corporate Growth (ACG) event in Orlando titled “2012 Smart Awards” which recognizes companies in Central Florida that have distinguished themselves culturally, creatively and through the economic impact they have made in the community. Without exception, each of the CEOs that were recognized expressed gratitude and appreciation to their employees who in large part are responsible for the daily success of the company. Having the right people on your team and in the right position can be the difference between success and failure.
So, what does it mean to hire the right people? To some it means hiring the most knowledgeable person for the available position. For others it means hiring the warmest body available to fill a vacant position under the pretense that somebody is better than nobody. And for others it means seeking out the most successful or productive person available such as a top performing salesperson who can drive top line revenue regardless of how he or she obtains results. These are reasonable and logical answers. However, my experience working with successful companies has been that they are rich with employees who possess the BASKE package. BASKE is an acronym for behavior, attitude, skills, knowledge and experience. Individuals who possess and embody the BASKE package are typically top performers in their position and are culturally compatible with the company’s values. Granted these individuals are harder to find and are typically already employed which means that these folks need to be actively recruited.
One of the tools successful companies use to assist in recruiting and hiring the right people is technology: specifically, industrial science. There are a number of companies that provide this type of technology and some are more versatile than others. Professional DynamMetric Programs (known as PDP or ProScan) is the technology I am most familiar with and it allows business owners the opportunity to assess an individual’s capability and cultural compatibility to the organization. In addition, this technology enables an employer to match an individual against a job model that can be created for a specific position. While there is no such thing as a 100% guarantee, utilizing industrial science as a tool in the hiring process can increase the odds you are hiring the right person for the job and for your organization versus the one you think you are getting by conducting interviews alone.
Hiring the right people is only one of the ingredients required to achieve business success especially since each business owner and each employee has a different definition of what success means. Companies who have invested the time, energy and money to define their vision, mission and values and intentionally recruit, hire and train individuals who are culturally compatible tend to have a competitive advantage. As Harvey Massey, Founder and Chairman of Massey Services stated during his acceptance speech at the ACG Smart Awards ceremony, “When you get the heart and head of your people connected, you get a sense of ownership that every business in the world tries to accomplish.” It is my contention that Harvey was conveying the message that when you have the right people working for you who are bright, committed and whose values are in alignment with the organization, there is no limit to what can be accomplished. I couldn’t agree with Harvey more! Remember, regardless of what business you are in, you are only as good as your people.
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