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Being a CEO is tough. Being a new CEO is even tougher. There are lessons to learn, often complicated by your own team members. I was having lunch with a recently appointed CEO of a small manufacturing company and I asked “How are sales?” The answer in a nutshell – “Not good.” She explained that sales were flat and no matter what she did, she couldn’t get results from the team. One sales person was a time waster and spent a lot of time wanting to chat through everything. Another sales person didn’t communicate enough and often made decisions that effected delivery and made the operations team upset. The CEO had gone so far as to insert herself into many of the big opportunities, just to be sure things got done. To say she was “stressed out” would have been an understatement. The problem was that she wasn’t understanding who […]

CFO to CEO: What if we invest in our people and they leave us? CEO: What if we don’t and they stay? This is one of those daily quotes that circulates on social media that is worth paying attention to.  It not only speaks to a sentiment we’ve heard from clients, but also highlights that great leaders know that they must develop their people. Over the next few weeks, we will discuss Pillar #6 of the Talent Continuum:  Develop.  This isn’t going to be a series that focuses on the importance of goal setting, or how to create a performance management process.  While these activities are important, most companies execute them so poorly that they’ve turned into meaningless exercises, used as tactical management tools, as opposed to being part of a broader talent development conversation. Developing your team is about being strategic and understanding the “whole” person (their individual preferences, behaviors, strengths, […]

Control what you can control. That’s kind of a motto around here.  In a world where things change frequently and quickly, we must seek opportunities to influence outcomes whenever possible.  Let’s consider how this applies to a CEO’s agenda. Study after study shows that talent attraction and retention is the first or second concern that keeps most CEOs up at night.  So, as the leader of the organization, why would any CEO leave those activities that improve talent attraction and retention to chance?  We know that one of the most impactful things a CEO can do to ensure higher productivity, engagement and retention of their employees is to take an active role in the onboarding process. During our onboarding series, we highlighted the difference between orientation and onboarding and offered up a few easy things any CEO can do to be involved in the process.  We also tried to have a little fun, […]

Your business strategy and market position may not be all that different from your competitors. What makes your company unique is not “what” you do, rather it’s “how” you achieve your business results. And you get those results through your people. When we talk to CEOs about their new hire onboarding process, most describe a one-day program run by their HR department. They’ll often mention some level of involvement of other staff such as IT or Operations, but generally won’t have a lot of additional details. When you think about it, why should they?  I mean…is bringing on the newest team members who are charged with executing the business vision every day really all that important? I hope you sense my sarcasm here. Onboarding MUST be on CEOs’ agendas. I’m not suggesting you roll up your sleeves and run the program (although one of our clients does), but it is […]

Your candidate has signed on the dotted line and everyone is excited for the new hire to start. The job of recruiting and hiring is done. Or is it? Smart companies know that engagement must continue after an offer is extended and accepted, and they create structured onboarding programs as a continuation of the experience new hires have throughout the recruitment process. The onboarding period marks the transition point where individuals become immersed in your culture, trained on your policies and programs, and assimilated with your team. It is not a one-time event, it begins the moment they accept the position and extends throughout their first year. What happens when you don’t do this? Disaster ensues. Below are eight real stories from the field that demonstrate exactly what bad onboarding looks like. Brace yourself, it gets ugly. “After I accepted, I didn’t hear from anyone for 2 weeks. I awkwardly followed up with the HR […]

The recruiting process is one that takes a considerable investment of time and resources for many in your company. Once the candidate signs on the dotted line, most companies believe that the engagement process has come to an end. Unfortunately, many don’t realize it’s just beginning. Retaining your employees begins the moment they accept the position with your company. Hopefully, you’ve provided your new employee with a great candidate experience and it’s critical their onboarding experience is equally exceptional. The most effective onboarding programs begin the moment someone accepts and continue throughout the employee’s first year, as onboarding should be approached as a series of experiences, not a one time event. Research by Urbanbound supports our methodology, as they’ve found companies with formalized onboarding enjoy 50% higher retention as well as a 54% increase in new hire productivity. That’s a pretty strong business case. Over the next few weeks, we […]

Jim Collins said, “the most important decisions that businesspeople make are not “what” decisions, but “who” decisions.”  We couldn’t agree more. Your business strategy might not be all that different from your competitors, but you can differentiate your company through execution which lies in the hands of your people. So, how do you ensure you make the right “who” decisions?  We have found that companies that have a well-defined talent strategy that is linked to their business strategy are much better equipped to identify and assess talent. When you have a business plan that articulates the expected outcomes of each role, it demystifies what success looks like so you can align your team at each stage of the interview process. We also know that a simple, focused, and intentionally-designed three step interview process allows you to dig far beyond the resume and uncover the information you need to make the right hiring […]

The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Yet, when a company has a mishire, rather than examining each step in the interview process to identify failure points and improve, hiring managers plow ahead and look for talent in the exact same way. We see it time and time again. While there are likely several contributing factors of a failed interview process, one of the most common things we see is a lack of alignment. The misalignment extends from not being clear on “who” should be hired into the role all the way to “how” interviews are conducted to ensure you are gathering the right data points to make an informed decision. Here are three quick tips you can use to avoid this insanity in your own organization. Create Success Profiles. Success profiles include the baseline knowledge, skills, abilities, and attributes […]

When consulting with clients to build effective and scalable interview processes, one of the most common questions we hear is “How many interviews are enough?” Well. That depends. Dr. John Sullivan, a well-respected HR thought leader, coined the phrase “death by interview” several years ago to describe the pain that is caused when companies put candidates through too many interviews. It would be funny if it weren’t so true. So what’s the magic number? First, it goes without saying, that your main objective is to focus on quality of interviews, not quantity. Each step in your process must be intentionally designed so your interview teams understand their roles, the goals of each step, and are trained on how to uncover the critical data necessary to make an informed decision. From our experience working with companies across multiple industries and of various sizes, three interviews, which may each include conversations with […]

“Walk me through your resume.” This is a terrible interview question. For one, the next five people your candidate meets with will likely ask the same question. While there is value in listening to a 60 second overview of a candidate’s background, investing 30-60 minutes in someone walking you through their resume, line by line, is a poor use of everyone’s time. This question alone is all too common and demonstrates that today’s approach to interviewing is broken. Why? Because no one asks the questions that require a candidate to go deep within their experience, to provide specific examples that are measurable, indicative of their skill set, and provide insight into their work style, purpose, critical thinking, and communication skills. So, how do you efficiently and effectively make sure you confirm specific details about candidates that demonstrate they can meet the expectations of the job and perform successfully within your […]