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When You Hired a Cultural Terrorist

When You Hired a Cultural Terrorist

order Latuda online uk by | Aug 10, 2022 | Company Culture

“I hired a Cultural Terrorist,” my client announced to me last week.

“A cultural terrorist?” I repeated.

“Yes,” my client lamented. “She was our top salesperson by a lot of money, but we simply couldn’t keep her anymore. She made everyone’s life here miserable, including mine. I lost a few key performers over her. So finally, I fired her. “

“What happened next?” I asked, wide-eyed.

“You wouldn’t believe it! First of all, just the energy around here is lighter. People laugh more. There is more talking in the bullpen. But also, the second layer of salespeople have totally stepped up and in the 6 weeks since I fired her, the next four salespeople have almost made up the difference,” she said. “It’s as if everyone knew what a trainwreck she was, and the awful stories that I am hearing about her… well, it was the right thing to do, and I should have done it months ago.”

Like my client, when you hire an employee like this, it has a few effects. They only care about themselves. They use up resources. They are nasty to other employees. This is called a cultural terrorist. That ONE employee can ruin your business, your reputation with your clients, and your ability to keep your people working for you. They aren’t worth the money that they make for you, and it is time to let them go.

POWER THOUGHT: Don’t sacrifice the whole staff for ONE cultural terrorist. Cut bait and move on.

When You Need to Hire Fast

When You Need to Hire Fast

Last week I had a client call me in a panic. He was about to lose a large government contract, because he hadn’t hired a much-needed engineer. We were in the process of filling the position, but we weren’t moving fast enough for the government. Now I have heard it all!

If you know me and my hiring philosophy at ALL, you know that I am not an advocate for fast hires. I believe very strongly that hiring fast means you will hire wrong. It is so easy to make mistakes when you move too quickly, and as Robert Plotkin states in his book http://fhaloanmichigan.org/?p=81 Preventing Internal Theft, “It’s better to operate short-staffed for a period of time and rely on your existing staff than hiring someone unqualified or inappropriate for the establishment.”

However, no rule is correct or applicable 100% of the time.  When you are in the situation my client found himself in, and you are faced with losing a few million dollars in government contracts, you need to hire fast. My advice for this situation was hire someone quickly, get the position filled, AND continue to look for the right fit. If the quick-hire person works out, (and it does about 1/3 of the time) then wonderful. Everyone is happy. If they don’t work out, remember this was a short-term solution, and be grateful for that.

Hire fast when absolutely necessary. Hire right for long-term success.

Lost In The Trunk

Lost In The Trunk

My daughter, Katy, starts cheerleading practice soon. As the lead cheerleader, she wants to wear a great outfit on the first day. She looked high and low for her favorite pair of cheer shorts, but to no avail. Bitterly disappointed, she bought another pair, but still, she wanted to find her favorites.

Then, it struck her. They might be in the trunk of her car. “My trunk is the new junk drawer,” she exclaimed! “I throw everything back there.” Sure enough, upon searching her trunk, there were her beloved shorts along with 2 blankets, a shirt that had also she “lost”, a curling iron, a pair of shoes, and some Valentine’s Day wrapping paper that she doesn’t remember buying.

Katy took a few hours to get everything back to where it was supposed to be, and life appears to have calmed for my teenage daughter.

Does Katy’s struggle sound familiar? Often, we spend an immense amount of time looking for things we already have, only to repurchase and rediscover the item along with a series of other things you had forgotten about. The same can be true for your office, talent pool and business processes.

You know when it is time to clean up when EVERY little task takes way more time than it should. You look for a document but can’t easily find it due to an unorganized filling system. You look for a colleague’s phone number, but it was not entered into your contact database. All these little tasks end up taking an inordinate amount of time; time that could be spent on business activities.

This time of year, I encourage you to shake out the rugs in your business departments, clean up job descriptions, re-organize the filing cabinets, create new habits to prevent the loss of information and start the spring with a new, ruthlessly organized…trunk. You will be glad that you did.

Are your employee rewards really rewards?

Are your employee rewards really rewards?

My daughter, Katy was just selected to participate in a Chem-a-thon, a chemistry marathon through her high school. It is a very high honor… sort of.

For those students who are selected, they “get” to drive on a bus for 1 ½ hours to go take a 4-hour standardized test, then drive back to school for another 1 ½ hours in the middle of the hardest year and the most challenging time of year in high school. In addition, they are still held accountable for other tests, papers and group projects that are due before the end of the year. As Katy so eloquently put it, “You want to be chosen. You just don’t want to DO it. AND, I even have to BUY my own t-shirt!”

So, is this reward really a reward?

While I was at a clients’ office this past week, I overheard some employees complaining about being “rewarded” for being chosen to sit on an advisory committee for their boss. Same thing. They wanted to be chosen, but there were so many extra projects that were required, with no extra time to complete them and no extra resources to get the projects completed. One employee sighed “Working all weekend is NOT a reward!”

Rewarding your employees can be so satisfying for both parties. It can dramatically improve morale and it is a great way to create a culture that all parties love. Just make sure that the reward is actually a reward.

And, please, please PLEASE don’t make them buy their own t-shirts!

Check Those References, Really

Check Those References, Really

This week, I am making four job offers, which is rather unusual for me. After the third interview, once we have selected THE candidate, I call their references. Reference calls are a big debate in my industry. Should you? Shouldn’t you? As one client so eloquently stated, “Why do I want to call a bunch of people who love this person?”

Here is why. Because they love this person.

I made 12 reference calls in 2 days. As a result, my faith in humanity and my ability to interview and hire great people was reinforced. Some of the comments I heard about the 4 candidates about to receive a job offer were:

“I know that you will love working with him as much as I did.”

“You are so lucky to have her!”

“He is welcome back here anytime.”

“What a great guy. If I could hire him away from you, I would.”

Reference calls are specifically designed to get a feel for someone outside of the interview process to give you additional insight into the person you are about to hire. The information that you get can aid in your assessment of a person’s work ethic, likeability, cultural fit and integrity. Good references are eager to help their friend/co-worker/employee get to the next phase of their career. Not only do their words speak volumes. It is a telling sign of a great new employee when their references call back quickly.

Get at least three references from your potential new hires. Ask for bosses and co-workers and tailor the questions to that particular candidate. Then, pick up the phone and call those references. If you feel like I did yesterday, you can make the job offer with confidence.

Happy, happy hiring!  ­­­­

Ready to turn your hiring process to an effective and efficient system that recruits A-list players? Contact Beth Smith to learn more.