WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
ways . Save the personality and behavioral assessments for building self- and others-awareness of new hires and development . In the hiring process , an assessment of the entrepreneurial talent is what ’ s needed to succeed .
As part of MLP ’ s ongoing focus on workforce development , this column features tips , tools , and topics designed to help members successfully recruit , effectively onboard , and consistently retain qualified employees .
Hiring for Talent
by Neal Glatt , CSP , ASM
Many leaders seek to hire people who fit their company culture , meaning they choose candidates who share their values , style , or goals . Their theory is that these teams will be more cohesive and aligned to enable performance of key business outcomes . Unfortunately for these leaders , the science shows exactly the opposite is true .
Finally , managers need to revisit how they interview and move to structured format where each candidate is given the same questions and answers are scored against an objective guide . These questions should also only be around exhibited behavior in previous experiences or hypothetical situations to determine how someone would perform in each role . When combined , these strategies dramatically reduce hiring bias and increase team talent and diversity .
If you need more help revamping your hiring process to succeed , check out the courses on GrowTheBench . com or contact us for one-on-one coaching .
Neal Glatt is Managing Partner of GrowTheBench . com , an online training platform for the green industry . Connect with Neal at NealGlatt @ gmail . com .
According to a 2015 McKinsey report , diverse management teams are 35 % more likely to outperform non-diverse teams in terms of financial performance . One of the reasons for this is that teams that disagree challenge each other to perform at their best . The desire for cohesiveness can in fact limit a teams ’ ability to obtain performance .
For managers who want to hire the best people , cultural fit may be undermining the entire hiring process . In fact , personality , behavioral , or cultural tests predict on-the-performance only 20 % of the time while giving hiring managers a false sense of security . One way to know that hiring methods aren ’ t working is to look at the employee turnover rate of an organization . What percentage of employees departed your organization for any reason in the past 12 months ? If the answer is 9.2 % or higher ( the average for all construction companies ), then your hiring criteria must be revaluated to outperform the competition .
The best leaders don ’ t look for a cultural fit , they target candidates who contribute cultural adds . These people have an identity , viewpoint , or experience which is new and unique to a team and brings a new perspective to an organization . Striving for diversity , as opposed to fit , is the best way to build a highperforming team with lower turnover .
A good talent assessment won ’ t reveal work styles because the best in each role achieves their results in variety of different
MLP Newsline | Summer 2023 15