Getting the best from employees

Hi Bare Bones Consulting, what’s a good starting point to getting the best from employees?

Great question! For me, it’s about a simple evaluation of each individual against a single key criteria.

You’re probably familiar with the cliché: “your people are your most important asset”. While I agree with this concept in principle, I’m more a fan of the opinion from “Good to Great” author Jim Collins:

People aren’t your most important asset; the right people are

While your overall HR strategy should start with a smart attraction and recruitment process, getting the best from your existing employees is based on ensuring you have…. (drum roll please):

The right people in the right roles

Making sure you not only have the best people for your business, but that each of these individuals is in a role that best capitalises on their strengths.

Your starting point? Evaluation of your current team members. On a piece of paper or whiteboard, list your employee names down the page. Across the top, add 2 columns: “Yes” and “No”.

Against each person’s name, ask yourself this simple question:

Is this the right person in the right role?

There will only ever be 2 possible answers: yes or no. No need to make it any more complex or overthink things at this stage. Tick the appropriate column.

If the answer is yes, congratulate yourself on what you’ve achieved so far. There’s a range of tactical and strategic actions you can take to keep each individual engaged and operating effectively over the long term (in other words, to continue being “the right person in the right role”) but for now, pat yourself on the back.

If the answer is “no”, all is not lost. It doesn’t necessarily mean you have to dismiss the person…you just have to make the commitment to do something. What does “do something” look like? Depends on your response to some logical follow up questions. These might include:

• Why isn’t this person right?
• Will this person ever be the right person for this role?
• What does this person need to be the right person for this role?

There’s little argument that the employees in your company will ultimately determine the success or failure of your venture. Without the right person – in each and every role of your business – you will never realise optimum potential.

The good news in adopting “the right people in the right roles” as your starting point? Cost. Only the investment in your time to take the exercise and collate your findings.  The real value depends on what you do now with this information…and that’s where Bare Bones Consulting can help. We can design and roll out a follow-up process tailored to help your people reach their full potential, keep them operating at optimal level for longer and, should you determine they will never be the right person for you, an action plan to address this. Like more information? Call us for a chat.