The Costco Connection - December 2014

DECEMBER 2014 ;e Costco Connection 13

FINDING EFFECTIVE EMPLOYEES is a constant struggle for business owners. Before investing in a recruiter or search firm or buying expensive advertising, employers should try five simple techniques.

Assess your needs. Before you begin the search for a new employee, analyze the job. What measurable results and accomplishments do you expect? Identify the exact skills needed to get those results. What are the personal attributes, attitudes and qualities of the ideal candidate? Write a job description that includes the results expected of the position, the skills necessary to achieve those results and the personality traits required to fit in with the rest of the team. List every task the candidate will be expected to do. Include only what is essential. Be sure that your expectations are realistic: Can a single person do the job you are hiring for?

Promote from within. As a recruiter, I encourage my clients to look first within their organizations to fill positions. Your employees already know the culture of your company, its goals and processes. You may have the talent you need already. Review employees’ original job applications and résumés. Does that person in accounting also have an interest or background in marketing or sales? Perhaps that administrative assistant has a talent for merchandising or graphic design. Build loyalty among your employees by promoting from within.

Incentivize employee referrals

Reward employees who refer job candidates.

When I was a manager at a games company, we found many top people this way. People tend to associate with others who are like them, so if your top employees are productive, inventive and positive, their friends and associates will probably have similar attributes. Reward staff members for success-

FRESHviews

Think before you hire a recruiter

PAMELA KLEIBRINK: HELP WITH HIRING

Pamela Kleibrink Thompson is a recruiter and Costco member. You can reach her at pamrecruit@q.com.

RECOGNIZING disengagement is one thing. Ross says, “The key for managers in re-engaging employees is simple; it calls for being proactive and connecting with people.” Ross has developed a plan for re-engagement called ALIVE, which calls for a two-way dialogue between a manager and an employee designed to discover what motivates and engages the employee, or, conversely, what is causing the disengagement. It includes these five steps.

Ask to meet with the employee informally, to touch base somewhere free from office distractions, to see how the employee is doing.

Listen to what is being said, but also
to what is left unspoken. Someone who is
engaged will
speak up and share
feedback, while
awkward
silences and
looking down usu-
ally indicate someone
struggling with
disengagement.
Identify two or
three reaction steps you can commit to
doing for the employee, based on what
was seen and heard during the meeting.
Take a few days to digest
the information from the meeting.
Validate, with the employee, those
DISENGAGEMENT may be somewhat
expected this time of year, with the dis-
tractions caused by the holidays, but
what about other times?

“Disengagement isn’t always something you can see right away, as many people suffering through this might be smiling on the outside while crying on the inside,” observes Costco member Ruth K.

Ross ( ruthkross.com), author, speaker and engagement evangelist, in her new book, Coming Alive: The Journey to Reengage Your Life and Career (Authority Publishing, 2014; not available at Costco).

She offers the following tips on how to recognize signs of disengagement in employees.

Increased absences or tardiness.

Employees show up when they want, not when they are scheduled to be there.

“I don’t care” attitude. Employees come in and do what is expected, but don’t expend energy to make sure the work is high quality.

Isolating themselves from others.

Isolation can be intentional, as when a dis-
engaged employee chooses to opt out by
sitting back in a group meeting and not
participating in the discussion, avoiding
hallway conversations or turning down
an invitation to lunch with others.
No creativity or input. Employees
stop being creative and innovative and
aren’t open to trying new things, retreating
to the familiar and routine, while doing
everything they can to stay under the radar.
Lethargic. You can usually tell when
someone crosses over from engagement
into disengagement by focusing on the
person’s energy level. It’s as if their move-
ments slow down and things seem to
move at a snail’s pace.
Ross suggests, “For managers, the
most important thing they can do to re-
engage their employees is to simply con-
nect with them. It’s not about slapping a
label on anyone as engaged or disengaged.
It’s all about getting back to basics and
having a ‘stay conversation’ that focuses
on asking employees how things are going,
listening both to what they say and what
they are not saying.”
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