by Beth | May 6, 2020 | Company Culture, Employee Hiring
When I bought my restaurant, the first problem I had to solve was how to manage workers that worked opposite hours from me. By the time my night staff left the bar at 3:30-4:00 a.m. my janitorial staff was usually arriving to get the place clean for the next day. This meant that I had someone in my building for whom I was responsible almost 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
So, how do you manage people that you never see? This question is coming at nearly all of us these days, and many people have not faced this issue before.
Here are some tips:
- Start your day with a 15-minute virtual team huddle. Have everyone give you their top 2 priorities for the day and something that they are grateful for. Ask them what they need from you that day, and then provide it. Have a longer meeting once a week to follow up and provide guidance.
- Ask questions. For example, if someone approaches you with a problem, ask them this: What do you think we need to do about that? Or how would YOU solve that problem? Remember: they know more about their job than you do, so solicit their input.
- Focus on WHY not HOW. Give your team the reason why you are working on a particular project instead of directions on how to get it done. Let them take the ball and run with it!
- Give parameters. I used to say to my managers this: “If you can justify your decision based on our core values, then I will back you up 100%.” This gives your team room to expand and innovate. They need to know that you have their back.
- And finally, don’t make excuses for people who aren’t performing. Everyone these days is frazzled and discombobulated and juggling more than usual, but your top performers are still getting the work done. If you have someone who isn’t, make the hard call for the rest of the team.
The biggest break-through that I had about managing a remote team of top performers is that I needed to trust them to do their work and do it well. Maybe they didn’t do it the way that I would have, but if the outcome is the same or better, what difference does it make?
I recently had a Zoom call with several of the people that worked for me back then, and they are all in high-powered jobs and leaders in their organizations. I am convinced that their success beyond working for me lies in the fact that I literally could not micro-manage them. I had to trust and have faith that the job would get done. And you know what? It did.
Happy Leading Remote Teams!
by Beth | Mar 25, 2020 | Employee Hiring
Last week, I got a call from a client who said to me “Beth, it seems ridiculous to be hiring during all of this uncertainty, but I still need this position filled, and I need it filled with the right fit. Let’s keep going.” Like some of you, I have owned my businesses during 9/11, during the Recession of 2008-2009, and now through COVID-19. And through all this uncertainty, the same question keeps coming up over and over.
Should I move forward with hiring?
Here are some things you should consider when making a decision.
- Hire what you need today. Many of my clients are true visionaries, and their gift in the world is to think globally rather than immediately. What I mean by that is they are thinking 5 years down the road. For example: “If I hire this Social Media Coordinator, they can become my VP of Marketing in five years.” That may or may not be true, but it doesn’t matter right at this moment. What you need TODAY is a Social Media Coordinator. Focus on that.
- Go back to basics. While you have downtime, focus on where your company isn’t doing well during the good times. Maybe your follow-through with clients isn’t speedy enough. Maybe there is a gap in your sales pipeline. Maybe production is slower than it should be. The economy will come back; it always does. So, when the boom comes, do you have the right people in the right seats on the bus? Is your infrastructure in place? Take a few minutes to really think this through, and it will help you decide if hiring is necessary and prudent right now.
- Trust your gut. Crazy or not, when you need a position filled, you need it filled right. Make sure that your interview process is solid enough to hire the right person the first time. And, if you need this position filled today, then move forward confidently.
There is no doubt that hiring during uncertain times is a leap of faith. It is a step into the unknown, which can be scary and exhilarating at the same time. When you are ready to take the leap, then let’s take it together.
by Beth | Mar 11, 2020 | Employee Hiring, Interview Process, Interview Techniques
There is so much pressure in a job interview: the employer wants to fill a position, and the potential
employee wants a job! Because of this high intensity, people are prone to saying the oddest things. If
you are the person doing the hiring, how do you objectively evaluate the potential candidate to
determine if nerves are at play, or if there is truly an issue worth examining?
Take this example from an actual interview: “I am an alcoholic. I mean, workaholic.”
Many people doing the hiring would assume the candidate was joking and ignore a comment like this;
perhaps even chalk it up to interview nerves. Some people would laugh it off and maybe follow up with
something like, “Ha! Ha! I am TOO! Workaholic, I mean!” (wink, wink, nudge nudge).
In this particular interview, however, the Freudian slip coupled with additional red flags in this interview
gave my client pause. The candidate’s speech was slurred, they complained about their past boss having
an alcohol problem, and they also pointed out that their counterpart was fired for drinking on the job.
So how do you evaluate a candidate like this one?
If all evidence is telling you it wasn’t a Freudian slip, think about the potential risk this person brings to
you and your company. There is a theme in this interview that has nothing to do with the job at hand, so
it likely isn’t just a slip, or nerves talking. At the end of the day, your gut knows best, and moving along
to the next candidate is probably the wisest course of action.
by Beth | Feb 26, 2020 | Employee Hiring, Interview Process, Recruiting
My daughter Katy is in her second semester of her freshmen year at the University of Miami, and recently she decided to go through rush for a sorority. Each sorority had a sales pitch, goodie bags and t-shirts to offer, in addition to scholarship and job opportunities during and after college. After a full week of parties, get-togethers, meetings at all hours of the day and night, and inspiring speeches, she called me on the verge of tears. “Mom, I just wish I had some answers!”
It got me thinking – the same goes for candidates. You can offer people big salaries, benefits galore, pool tables and dry-cleaning services, but all of that is meaningless if they don’t get a solid, meaningful job offer. What candidates really want are answers. Timely, relevant, definitive answers. After all, they are making a decision that will affect their life significantly.
Case in point: Last week a candidate called me to say thank you. He said the A-list Interviews process was the most transparent and informative job-seeking process he had ever been through. “Just knowing when I would have an answer really reduced my stress, and I just wanted to say thank you for communicating with me clearly through a very difficult time.”
This voicemail came AFTER we chose a different candidate for the position he was seeking.
If you want to attract and retain great employees, start treating them well from the very instant they send you a resume. Communicate when they will have answers and meet those deadlines. Treating people like people goes a long way; it gives them positive feeling, and a sense they will be treated well as an employee too.
As for my kid? She pledged AD Phi and couldn’t be happier.
by Beth | Jan 29, 2020 | Employee Hiring, Recruiting, Selecting Good Candidates
A few weeks ago, I attended the Indeed.com Academy to become a better recruiter, and boy, did I learn a ton!
First the basics – there are two different types of recruiting; inbound and outbound. Inbound is when an employer places an ad on Indeed.com and the applications start coming in. Outbound is when an internal recruiter sifts through resumes, picks up the phone and calls the candidate to invite them to interview for a position.
While this concept isn’t new, the research behind it is. If a recruiter calls a candidate who didn’t submit a resume for the job, it costs the employer significantly more money, more time and results in less success. A person who submits a resume of their own volition is infinitely better every time.
The question is why?
Here is the bottom line: there is a mental process that a candidate must go through in order to begin looking for a job. They must come to the realization that their current job isn’t going to work out, they must realize that things aren’t going to get any better, and, most importantly, that they must make a change to a different company. If your candidate hasn’t made that mental shift, your recruiting efforts cost more time, effort, and money.
Instead of focusing on outbound recruiting, focus your efforts on your inbound recruiting. Spend time to key word your ad properly, create your Ideal list and don’t forget to listen, listen, listen. In the long run, you’ll be glad that you did.
by Beth | Jan 15, 2020 | Company Culture, Employee Hiring, Firing Employees
Firing someone, even if it is the best thing for all parties is awful. It feels terrible. Even if you knew it was coming, and even if it wasn’t a surprise to your employee, it still feels totally horrendous. You have a pit in your stomach, and your overall feeling is enough to make you want to hire someone as fast as you possibly can to fill that hole.
Don’t.
Why not, you ask? “I need to fill this seat Beth!”, said a panicky client. Because that is when you make hiring mistakes, when you hire from a panic place rather than a place of reason and overall calm.
According to Robert Plotkin, who wrote How to Prevent Internal Bar Theft, “Hiring the wrong bartender can be staggering. It’s better to operate short-handed for a period of time and rely on your existing staff to cover the bar than hiring someone unqualified or inappropriate for the establishment. It will be more advantageous in the long-run to delay hiring another bartender until the right candidate can be found.”
In addition to Robert’s thoughts on the topic, Warren Buffet says “Money flows from the impatient to the patient.” I believe this to be true in any area of life. In any situation where big decisions must be made, we all operate and make decisions better from a place of measured calm than from panicked overthinking.
So, when you have the unfortunate experience of firing someone, I want you to pause. Take a big deep breath. Let the emotions settle down. Call a team meeting and rally the troops. Let everyone know that it will be okay, and that you are committed to hiring the very best candidate you possibly can. And, then wait at least two weeks before you do anything.
Our instinct as humans is to replace a person in our lives as fast as we possibly can. In the end, learning why that person no longer serves you and your organization is the better path, and proceeding from a place of calm will serve you best in the end.
